The original "Superman" film was released in 1978 and starred the relatively unknown (and unfortunately late) Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. Warner Bros. had originally wanted a bigger name star such as Paul Newman to portray Clark Kent / Superman, but filmmaker Richard Donner was very impressed with Reeve and his decision proved to be the correct one as Reeve is now the iconic embodiment of Superman. After strong screen tests, Margot Kidder landed the role of Lois Lane. To give the film some starpower, Marlon Brando got top billing as Superman´s father, Jor-El. Gene Hackman was cast as the villainous and highly entertaining Lex Luthor. Regardless of the bigger names in the film, Christopher Reeve won the world over as Clark Kent and his red-cape wearing alter-ego, Superman.
The first film in the series finds Jor-El sending his son off to the distant and primitive planet of Earth to find refuge as his home planet of Krypton is on the brink of being consumed by their dying sun. Jor-El also imprisons three villains into a crystal prison that will carry them endlessly through space. Oddly, I never quite understood the need to send three prisoners off of a planet ready to be pulverized by its supernova sun, but this little plotline sets up the entire debacle known as "Superman II." The son of Jor-El lands in Smallville, Kentucky and is discovered by Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford, "Teahouse of the August Moon") and his wife Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter). They adopt the boy that they find inside of a meteorite and name him Clark. They know of his powers, but raise him in a manner that perfectly facilitates a secret identity of the nerdy and uncharismatic Clark Kent.
Clark arrives in the big city and finds his calling as Superman and quickly rescues a lot of innocent people who find themselves facing danger and death. Having taken a job working for a newspaper, Superman becomes the target of a media frenzy and Clark helps Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) get an exclusive interview with Superman and fulfills his desires to spend more time with Lois, whom has caught his romantic yearnings. All is not well and the supervillain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) puts together a plot that will allow him to own a tremendous amount of beachfront property after he plunges California into the sea and incapacitates Superman with a small dose of Kryptonite.
Running at a lengthy 151 minutes, the first film of the Superman franchise feels like a very long and slow building story for much of its running length. A few daring rescues do take place and the flying sequences were quite tremendous for their day. A scene where Superman rescues Lois Lane from a helicopter accident has become one of the more memorable scenes in the series. If it weren´t for the incredible acting of Christoper Reeve as both Clark Kent and Superman, I don´t feel this film would have succeeded. I never found Margot Kidder appealing as Lois Lane and though Gene Hackman did have a few very good lines, he seemed out of place as Lex Luthor. The whole plot to destroy California to simply obtain some high priced real estate worked, allow for a lot of plot holes. For instance, after Superman rolled back time, how did he stop the missiles?
Highly flawed, at time tedious, "Superman: The Movie" still succeeds as a picture. When the film is running along nicely, it is one of the better comic book adaptations to ever hit the big screen. Watching Clark grow up on the farm and stumble around New York City are high points of the film. His interactions with Lex Luthor and the doldrums of the grand finale are low points. There are a lot of fans of the man in red and blue tights and they hold this picture in very high regard. Director Richard Donner made a lot of great decisions, but I feel he left his first effort directing the Man of Steel bordering on a greatness it could have achieved with just a bit more vision, better pacing and greater conflict between Lex Luthor and Superman.
The first film in the series finds Jor-El sending his son off to the distant and primitive planet of Earth to find refuge as his home planet of Krypton is on the brink of being consumed by their dying sun. Jor-El also imprisons three villains into a crystal prison that will carry them endlessly through space. Oddly, I never quite understood the need to send three prisoners off of a planet ready to be pulverized by its supernova sun, but this little plotline sets up the entire debacle known as "Superman II." The son of Jor-El lands in Smallville, Kentucky and is discovered by Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford, "Teahouse of the August Moon") and his wife Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter). They adopt the boy that they find inside of a meteorite and name him Clark. They know of his powers, but raise him in a manner that perfectly facilitates a secret identity of the nerdy and uncharismatic Clark Kent.
Clark arrives in the big city and finds his calling as Superman and quickly rescues a lot of innocent people who find themselves facing danger and death. Having taken a job working for a newspaper, Superman becomes the target of a media frenzy and Clark helps Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) get an exclusive interview with Superman and fulfills his desires to spend more time with Lois, whom has caught his romantic yearnings. All is not well and the supervillain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) puts together a plot that will allow him to own a tremendous amount of beachfront property after he plunges California into the sea and incapacitates Superman with a small dose of Kryptonite.
Running at a lengthy 151 minutes, the first film of the Superman franchise feels like a very long and slow building story for much of its running length. A few daring rescues do take place and the flying sequences were quite tremendous for their day. A scene where Superman rescues Lois Lane from a helicopter accident has become one of the more memorable scenes in the series. If it weren´t for the incredible acting of Christoper Reeve as both Clark Kent and Superman, I don´t feel this film would have succeeded. I never found Margot Kidder appealing as Lois Lane and though Gene Hackman did have a few very good lines, he seemed out of place as Lex Luthor. The whole plot to destroy California to simply obtain some high priced real estate worked, allow for a lot of plot holes. For instance, after Superman rolled back time, how did he stop the missiles?
Highly flawed, at time tedious, "Superman: The Movie" still succeeds as a picture. When the film is running along nicely, it is one of the better comic book adaptations to ever hit the big screen. Watching Clark grow up on the farm and stumble around New York City are high points of the film. His interactions with Lex Luthor and the doldrums of the grand finale are low points. There are a lot of fans of the man in red and blue tights and they hold this picture in very high regard. Director Richard Donner made a lot of great decisions, but I feel he left his first effort directing the Man of Steel bordering on a greatness it could have achieved with just a bit more vision, better pacing and greater conflict between Lex Luthor and Superman.
The original "Superman" film was released in 1978 and starred the relatively unknown (and unfortunately late) Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. Warner Bros. had originally wanted a bigger name star such as Paul Newman to portray Clark Kent / Superman, but filmmaker Richard Donner was very impressed with Reeve and his decision proved to be the correct one as Reeve is now the iconic embodiment of Superman. After strong screen tests, Margot Kidder landed the role of Lois Lane. To give the film some starpower, Marlon Brando got top billing as Superman´s father, Jor-El. Gene Hackman was cast as the villainous and highly entertaining Lex Luthor. Regardless of the bigger names in the film, Christopher Reeve won the world over as Clark Kent and his red-cape wearing alter-ego, Superman.
The first film in the series finds Jor-El sending his son off to the distant and primitive planet of Earth to find refuge as his home planet of Krypton is on the brink of being consumed by their dying sun. Jor-El also imprisons three villains into a crystal prison that will carry them endlessly through space. Oddly, I never quite understood the need to send three prisoners off of a planet ready to be pulverized by its supernova sun, but this little plotline sets up the entire debacle known as "Superman II." The son of Jor-El lands in Smallville, Kentucky and is discovered by Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford, "Teahouse of the August Moon") and his wife Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter). They adopt the boy that they find inside of a meteorite and name him Clark. They know of his powers, but raise him in a manner that perfectly facilitates a secret identity of the nerdy and uncharismatic Clark Kent.
Clark arrives in the big city and finds his calling as Superman and quickly rescues a lot of innocent people who find themselves facing danger and death. Having taken a job working for a newspaper, Superman becomes the target of a media frenzy and Clark helps Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) get an exclusive interview with Superman and fulfills his desires to spend more time with Lois, whom has caught his romantic yearnings. All is not well and the supervillain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) puts together a plot that will allow him to own a tremendous amount of beachfront property after he plunges California into the sea and incapacitates Superman with a small dose of Kryptonite.
Running at a lengthy 151 minutes, the first film of the Superman franchise feels like a very long and slow building story for much of its running length. A few daring rescues do take place and the flying sequences were quite tremendous for their day. A scene where Superman rescues Lois Lane from a helicopter accident has become one of the more memorable scenes in the series. If it weren´t for the incredible acting of Christoper Reeve as both Clark Kent and Superman, I don´t feel this film would have succeeded. I never found Margot Kidder appealing as Lois Lane and though Gene Hackman did have a few very good lines, he seemed out of place as Lex Luthor. The whole plot to destroy California to simply obtain some high priced real estate worked, allow for a lot of plot holes. For instance, after Superman rolled back time, how did he stop the missiles?
Highly flawed, at time tedious, "Superman: The Movie" still succeeds as a picture. When the film is running along nicely, it is one of the better comic book adaptations to ever hit the big screen. Watching Clark grow up on the farm and stumble around New York City are high points of the film. His interactions with Lex Luthor and the doldrums of the grand finale are low points. There are a lot of fans of the man in red and blue tights and they hold this picture in very high regard. Director Richard Donner made a lot of great decisions, but I feel he left his first effort directing the Man of Steel bordering on a greatness it could have achieved with just a bit more vision, better pacing and greater conflict between Lex Luthor and Superman.
The first film in the series finds Jor-El sending his son off to the distant and primitive planet of Earth to find refuge as his home planet of Krypton is on the brink of being consumed by their dying sun. Jor-El also imprisons three villains into a crystal prison that will carry them endlessly through space. Oddly, I never quite understood the need to send three prisoners off of a planet ready to be pulverized by its supernova sun, but this little plotline sets up the entire debacle known as "Superman II." The son of Jor-El lands in Smallville, Kentucky and is discovered by Jonathan Kent (Glenn Ford, "Teahouse of the August Moon") and his wife Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter). They adopt the boy that they find inside of a meteorite and name him Clark. They know of his powers, but raise him in a manner that perfectly facilitates a secret identity of the nerdy and uncharismatic Clark Kent.
Clark arrives in the big city and finds his calling as Superman and quickly rescues a lot of innocent people who find themselves facing danger and death. Having taken a job working for a newspaper, Superman becomes the target of a media frenzy and Clark helps Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) get an exclusive interview with Superman and fulfills his desires to spend more time with Lois, whom has caught his romantic yearnings. All is not well and the supervillain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) puts together a plot that will allow him to own a tremendous amount of beachfront property after he plunges California into the sea and incapacitates Superman with a small dose of Kryptonite.
Running at a lengthy 151 minutes, the first film of the Superman franchise feels like a very long and slow building story for much of its running length. A few daring rescues do take place and the flying sequences were quite tremendous for their day. A scene where Superman rescues Lois Lane from a helicopter accident has become one of the more memorable scenes in the series. If it weren´t for the incredible acting of Christoper Reeve as both Clark Kent and Superman, I don´t feel this film would have succeeded. I never found Margot Kidder appealing as Lois Lane and though Gene Hackman did have a few very good lines, he seemed out of place as Lex Luthor. The whole plot to destroy California to simply obtain some high priced real estate worked, allow for a lot of plot holes. For instance, after Superman rolled back time, how did he stop the missiles?
Highly flawed, at time tedious, "Superman: The Movie" still succeeds as a picture. When the film is running along nicely, it is one of the better comic book adaptations to ever hit the big screen. Watching Clark grow up on the farm and stumble around New York City are high points of the film. His interactions with Lex Luthor and the doldrums of the grand finale are low points. There are a lot of fans of the man in red and blue tights and they hold this picture in very high regard. Director Richard Donner made a lot of great decisions, but I feel he left his first effort directing the Man of Steel bordering on a greatness it could have achieved with just a bit more vision, better pacing and greater conflict between Lex Luthor and Superman.
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