The planet Krypton is dying, but only one man, Jor-El, is willing to recognize that truth. To save his infant son Kal-El from the impending disaster, Jor-El sends him to Earth, where he is found and adopted by Kansas farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent. The boy, now named Clark, grows up in Smallville, hiding his amazing powers from the world…until his destiny calls him, and he moves to Metropolis, gets a job as a reporter for the Daily Planet, and befriends Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White. More importantly, he takes to the skies as Superman, defender of truth, justice and the American way – a role that inevitably puts him at odds with the criminal genius Lex Luthor, who has a grand scheme to make a killing in the real estate market…
screenplay by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, Robert Benton
additional script material by Norman Enfield
story by Mario Puzo
based on the Superman comics created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
directed by Richard Donner
music by John Williams
Cast: Christopher Reeve (Superman), Marlon Brando (Jor-El), Gene Hackman (Lex Luthor), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), Ned Beatty (Otis), Jackie Cooper (Perry White), Glenn Ford (Jonathan Kent), Trevor Howard (First Elder), Jack O’Halloran (Non), Valerie Perrine (Eve Teschmacher), Maria Schell (Vond-Ah), Terence Stamp (General Zod), Phyllis Thaxter (Ma Kent), Susannah York (Lara), Jeff East (Young Clark Kent), Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen), Sarah Douglas (Ursa), Harry Andrews (2nd Elder), Vass Anderson (3rd Elder), John Hollis (4th Elder), James Garbutt (5th Elder), Michael Gover (6th Elder), David Neal (7th Elder), William Russell (8th Elder), Penelope Lee (9th Elder), John Stuart (10th Elder), Alan Cullen (11th Elder), Lee Quigley (Baby Kal-El), Aaron Smolinski (Baby Clark Kent), Diane Sherry (Lana Lang), Jeff Atcheson (Coach), Brad Flock (Football Player), David Petrou (Team Manager), Billy J. Mitchell (1st Editor), Robert Henderson (2nd Editor), Larry Lamb (1st Reporter), James Brockington (2nd Reporter), John Cassady (3rd Reporter), John F. Parker (4th Reporter), Antony Scott (5th Reporter), Ray Evans (6th Reporter), Sue Shifrin (7th Reporter), Miquel Brown (8th Reporter), Vincent Marzello (1st Copy Boy), Benjamin Feitelson (2nd Copy Boy), Lise Hilboldt (1st Secretary), Leueen Willoughby (Perry’s Secretary), Jill Ingham (Perry’s Secretary), Pieter Stuyck (Window Cleaner), Rex Reed (Himself), Weston Gavin (Mugger), Steve Kahan (Officer 1), Ray Hassett (Officer 2), Randy Jurgensen (Officer 3), Matt Russo (News Vendor), Colin Skeaping (Pilot), Bo Rucker (Pimp), Paul Avery (TV Cameraman), David Baxt (Burglar), George Harris II (Patrolman Mooney), Michael Harrigan (1st Hood), John Cording (2nd Hood), Raymond Thompson (3rd Hood), Oz Clarke (4th Hood), Rex Everhart (Desk Sergeant), Jayne Tottman (Little Girl), Frank Lazarus (Air Force One Pilot), Brian Protheroe (Co-Pilot), Lawrence Trimble (1st Crewman), Robert Whelan (2nd Crewman), David Calder (3rd Crewman), Norwich Duff (Newscaster), Keith Alexander (Newscaster), Michael Ensign (Newscaster), Larry Hagman (Major), Paul Tuerpe (Sergeant Hayley), Graham McPherson (Lieutenant), David Yorston (Petty Officer), Robert O’Neill (Admiral), Robert MacLeod (General), John Ratzenberger (1st Controller), Alan Tilvern (2nd Controller), Phil Brown (State Senator), Bill Bailey (2nd Senator), Burnell Tucker (Agent), Chief Tug Smith (Indian Chief), Norman Warwick (Superchief Driver), Chuck Julian (Assistant), Colin Etherington (Power Company Driver), Mark Wynter (Mate), Roy Stevens (Warden)
LogBook entry and review by Dave Thomer
Review: I may not believe a man can fly, but I do believe that Superman: The Movie is the best superhero movie ever to hit the screen. I prefer to see that less as an indictment of every succeeding attempt over the last 20-odd years and more as a testament to Richard Donner, Tom Mankiewicz, Christopher Reeve and the rest of the cast and crew. Joel Schumacher, take note: this is how you do it right.
The movie works by taking itself seriously without forgetting it’s supposed to be a fun action movie. The Superman mythos is full of absurd and ridiculous elements (Beppo the Super-Monkey, Superman’s power of super-ventriloquism) that could pull the story irredeemably into the realm of camp; Donner and company strip the story down to its core and play the characters up without taking them over the top. I’m not going to argue that these are all highly nuanced, three dimensional characters, because for the most part they’re not – they’re archetypes. But they feel real, and so do the crises they endure.
Credit for this must go to Christopher Reeve, who embodies Superman’s nobility and innocence perfectly. The man walks around in tights, but never looks ridiculous doing it. (Kudos to the costuming people for that.) He also has a wit and playfulness about him that keeps the character from being the boring boy scout that he’s often accused of being. I’m less fond of his portrayal of Clark Kent, not because Reeve does a bad job, but because I have never been too fond of the Kent-as-bumbler characterization; in most versions of the Superman story, that portrayal never made sense to me. I give credit to this film for making that portrayal more logical, but I liked the moments where Reeve, as Kent, relaxes his guard and lets some of his strength and self-confidence show through. That’s probably a rant for another time, though.
The rest of the cast is great, too – Margot Kidder is a fine Lois Lane; you believe that she’s the best reporter on the beat, but you also believe that she could be swept off her feet. She’s not a sidekick or a foil here, but a character in her own right. Gene Hackman brings a perfect blend of ego, brilliance and amorality to Lex Luthor; it certainly looks like he was having a great time throughout the film. Hackman, Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine have some very good chemistry in their scenes in Luthor’s underground lair, and Jackie Cooper as Perry White holds down the scenes at the Daily Planet quite well. Glenn Ford does a brief but fine job as Jonathan Kent, using a few scenes to suggest the kind of upbringing that formed Clark’s character. And I shouldn’t neglect Jeff East’s job as the young Clark Kent, even though Reeve ended up dubbing the lines – even without dialogue, East does a good job at expressing Kent’s adolescent doubts about who he is and what his role is meant to be.
The cast is ably supported by the technical and creative crew. The movie’s effects look a little dated now, but no worse than a TV movie or some of the more ambitious attempts to use CG effects in films today. The cinematography and set designs do a wonderful job of making Krypton, Smallville and Metropolis feel like real places – Luthor’s underground recreation of Grand Central Station and the crystalline structures of Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude are high points. And of course, there’s John Williams’ score, which I used to confuse with his theme from Star Wars as a kid, but which I now can’t stop humming. The rest of the score is adventurous, fun, and dramatic, with the possible exception of the ill-advised spoken-word performance of Can You Read My Mind?, which I think disrupts the flow and wonder of the sequence where Superman takes Lois flying for the first time.
From a look at the credits, there would seem to be little hope of this movie succeeding. Screenplay credit is split between four people, plus Mankiewicz’s Creative Consultant credit. The warning about too many chefs would seem to imply, and while that doesn’t guarantee a disaster, it can lead to a muddled movie that tries to cobble together pieces of multiple visions instead of showcasing one. However, Superman doesn’t feel incoherent at all, despite its having three extended story arcs – Krypton’s destruction, Clark Kent growing up in Smallville, and Superman’s arrival in Metropolis. Each arc has its own style, but all fit into the coming of age/arrival of the hero “origin” story.
Most importantly, Donner does a superb job of bringing all of these contributions together into a coherent whole. With few exceptions, this is a story you can believe in, about a hero worth believing in – one that we can use as much now as we did in 1978.