Synopsis
You'll Believe a Man Can Fly!
Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.
1978 Directed by Richard Donner
Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.
Christopher Reeve Margot Kidder Gene Hackman Ned Beatty Marlon Brando Jackie Cooper Terence Stamp Glenn Ford Phyllis Thaxter Trevor Howard Jack O'Halloran Valerie Perrine Maria Schell Susannah York Jeff East Marc McClure Sarah Douglas Harry Andrews Vass Anderson John Hollis James Garbutt Michael Gover David Neal Penelope Lee John Stuart Alan Cullen Lee Quigley Aaron Smolinski Diane Sherry Case Show All…
Superman I: The Movie, Superman - Der Film, Superman - O Filme, Superman: The Movie, Superman: The Movie - Special Edition, Superman: La Película
With apologies to Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, and people who pronounce the word ‘Krypton’ wrong, this movie would be even stronger if you cut out the first 45 minutes entirely and started with the very first shot in Metropolis. That’s when the story really begins anyway. Even in 1978, everyone knew Superman’s origin — or at least enough to understand the rest of the movie.
The thing Superman still has going for it, even as its cutting edge you-will-believe-a-man-can-fly effects age, is Christopher Reeve. Very few comic book movies feature one performance as good as his Clark Kent or his Superman — and he’s doing both equally well.
This is my dad's favorite film he even brought my mom to see it on their first date, 30 years later when this was on TV my mom admitted to all of us that it was a pretty shitty date because my dad was so transfixed by the movie he didn't pay any attention to her at all, what a nerd!!
During a discussion with friends about Man of Steel the other day, it quickly grew into a discussion about all Superman films. More specifically: Superman the Movie, Superman Returns and Man of Steel. We compared highs and lows and kept coming back to the same question: Why don't the latter two work as well? The answer is very simple. Because Richard Donner is a better storyteller than Bryan Singer or Zack Snyder.
Neither Singer nor Snyder has demonstrated a consistent grasp of combining visual and story elements throughout their careers. Their projects skew heavily towards one or the other (primarily one for Snyder). Donner, despite a clunk project here and there, has always had command of all necessary elements to…
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"...if I did, Miss Lane, you'd be the first to know about it."
I remembered that this movie was good. I didn't remember it being that good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say Richard Donner's Superman is the greatest, most charming, and most joyful comic book movie of the 20th century. If it isn't, I don't know what is.
Every element of the production is perfect: from John Barry's fantastic design work, to Geoffrey Unsworth's dreamlike cinematography, and especially John Williams' breathtaking score. As a result, this film is captivating in a way few modern blockbusters could ever be, let alone most of the identikit superhero movies that come out now.
Oh, and did I mention how absolutely bloody incredible Christopher Reeve is as Clark Kent and Superman?
Because he is.
Boom! That intro music hit me like a hurricane and in an instant I was transported back to the very first time I saw this movie. The very first movie I ever saw at 'The Pictures' with my Dad.
He was a busy guy and always doing what he could for us. At the time, we really didn't get to see very much of him what with work and one thing and another, so having him all to myself (while my teen sister and Mum went shopping) was a dream for this 9 year old. When we arrived at the local Odeon I had no idea what was happening, but I do remember seeing the huge <S> posters on the…
Jor-El: [bidding his son farewell, as Lara looks on] You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But we will never leave you... even in the face of our death. The richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel... all this, and more, I... I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you, all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father the son. This is all I... all I can send you, Kal-El.
SUPERMAN
With these lines, we open this cinematic…
"I'm here to fight for truth, and justice, and the American way." -S
Superman Franchise Ranked: boxd.it/2dqj4
I love this film and it was great to see it on the big screen a few days ago. It was fun because there was a critics intro and an original superman short ahead of time.
Superman is the Psycho of the superhero genre and it still is a fucking delight. Give me that 40 minute prologue! I love it! This is a film that had the guts to make the first damn scene a setup for the sequel. They made what Marvel does with post-credits scenes the first fucking scene in the movie. That is amazing. Then this movie is like now…
On January 6, 2021, The U.S. Capitol suffered an insurrection. The next day I read something that made me realize that I am, at least, particularly to blame for it. It said:
"This is the result of America raised on childlike action films. Simplistic storylines, battling in costumes, good vs. evil. You can't punch your way to better politics results, there's no final boss to fight. The actual change comes from boring legislative process and elections."
I hope you will join me where I post about certain Superman entries and their effect on the American psyche that lead us to last Wednesday...
Prior entries:
boxd.it/1A6ZnT
boxd.it/1AeOSn
boxd.it/1AnW1J
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Here we go the big one. As much as intellectuals want to…
”Been showing off a bit, haven't you, son?”
“Um... I didn't mean to show off, Pop.”
Superman is the Star Wars of Superhero movies
Believe it or not, there was a time when superhero movies were completely out of fashion and pretty much nonexistent. Sure, we had campy tv shows, but they were just silly fun and never taken all that seriously.
And then came Superman.
Written by Mario Puzo with groundbreaking special effects, spectacular casting and a massive budget which included a record breaking 3.7 million dollar salary to Marlon Brando for two weeks worth of work, Superman is the film that jumpstarted an entire genre.
Christopher Reeve makes a pitch perfect Superman and his chemistry with Margot Kidder…
After the disaster that was The Man of Steel, my wife and I decided to cleanse our palettes with a dose of the 1978 Christopher Reeve classic.
Leapin’ Lizards they went all out with this one. An A list cast as second bananas, behind the scenes names like Geoffery Unsworth ( Cinematographer on 2001: A Space Odyssey ), 7 Second units filming simultaneously. A larger budget for credits than most entire film budgets of the day. Hmm, sounds remarkably like Man of Steel.
The cost of this one, $55M, in 2014 adjusted dollars $198M is pretty much in line with the Man of Steel budget. In this case money well spent. Why, because it’s funny and touching and wonderfully stylish…
Richard Donner had a single word printed in big letters on signs sent to every creative department involved with this film: VERISIMILITUDE. "It's a word that refers to being real...not realistic—yes, there IS a difference—but real," explained Donner. "It was a constant reminder to ourselves that, if we gave into the temptation we knew there would be to parody Superman, we would only be fooling ourselves."
I’ve not seen this film properly since I was barely cognizant and was almost in tears when this film started with an overture—curtains open, and we are reminded of how this character found his start as John Williams’ eternal strings begin to swell: in the pages of a comic book, serving as a salvo…
This grandfather of the superhero genre owes more to 70s era disaster movies than it does to the action genre, but it's worth it to see Brando obviously reading from cue cards while pronouncing Krypton wrong and Gene Hackman yelling "MISS TESCHMACHER!!!!!" in the campiest way possible.
Despite being the first major motion picture in the Superhero genre in Hollywood, Superman (1978) still holds up as not only a great superhero movie but also a great entertainer in general. While the superhero genre may seem like a safe bet now, it was quite risky to make a superhero film in the New Hollywood era as back then superhero meant something as wacky as Batman TV Series of Adam West (which I also like). They needed someone like Richard Donner who had just directed The Omen (1976) to take up this risky task. Whole backstory of Superman was shown in a brilliant way, which is something that Man of Steel struggled with. It was nicely laced with humour…
Christopher Reeve charms this intonatie instant classic, much enhanced by John Williams iconic score. Set up as the first part of a two act story this film focussed mostly on Supes’ origin story. Some of the more goofy bits, such as Lois Lane’s poem, reveal a very different attitude to DC’ God-like heroes then we’ve been seeing onscreen recently.
extended version > theatrical version
Watched this with my 8-year-old daughter. Magic.
--model-- Superman [Christopher Reeve remains the definitive Man of Steel], superhero film, NFR...
Richard Donner's comic-book superhero classic.
It is the --1st-- first installment in the Superman film series.
The --topp most expensive film made up to that point, with a budget of $55 million, "Superman" was released in December 1978 to critical and financial success; its worldwide box office earnings of $300 million made it the --2nd-- second-highest-grossing release of the year.
It received praise for Reeve's performance and John Williams' musical score.
On the planet Krypton, Jor-El of the Kryptonian high council discovers that the planet will be destroyed when its red supergiant sun goes supernova. The other council members dismiss his claims. To save Kal-El, his infant…
Necesitaba ver esta película para hacerle justicia a Superman. Me gusta tanto Batman que olvidé meterme en Kripton y su historia. Qué bueno el inicio con Marlon Brando como Jor-El y el enorme tema principal que se mandó John Williams. Cuánta fuerza tiene la música y qué buenos los efectos de sonido.
Pensé que iba a ser peor pero esta súper bien. Tiene algunas cosas raras, pero es una gran peli y además, la primera de esta leyenda.
PD: Nunca me va a convencer el hecho de que Clark Kent se oculte con un par de anteojos, no no no.
Corny and sentimental as hell. Holds that special place due to nostalgia. Best superhero movie of the 70's for sure. Countless viewings, this was the Blu-ray bare bones.
Superman remains the greatest superhero movie of all-time, largely on the strength of everything we see before Christopher Reeve even dons the cape. Each moment of the origin story swells with grandeur, majesty, and wholesomeness: there's just an unabashed sincerity to how Donner treats this material with the right amount of seriousness while still letting loose with the silliness on the back end. But the one thing that never wavers is just how good Superman is: when we finally get back around to revisiting this character, I hope Hollywood remembers to give us a Superman who takes the time to rescue cats from trees and says the word "swell." Superman is cool precisely because he's not cool: he's an old-fashioned…
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