‎Superman (1978) directed by Richard Donner • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Superman

1978 Directed by Richard Donner

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.

Christopher Reeve Marlon Brando Margot Kidder Gene Hackman Ned Beatty Jackie Cooper Glenn Ford Trevor Howard Jack O'Halloran Valerie Perrine Maria Schell Terence Stamp Phyllis Thaxter 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…

143 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Arielrocks5 ★★★★½ 28

Watched this to get in the Holiday mood with some friends. We all had a lovely time.

It's been about two or so years since I viewed this for the first time and I still find new things to appreciate about it after each new viewing around the season.

From the score, to the actors, to the direction, to even the dated mid seventies visuals, everything feels like a genuine sense of care was put into creating the best possible creation of this character for the big screen.

This movie is absolutely wonderful and it makes me sad that most tend to dismiss it due to some of it's more dated elements along with some (admittedly glaring) issues, but whatever, I guess that's life.

P.S: I could watch an entire movie based around Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, and Valerie Perrine's characters.
Review by Cinemonster ★★★★½ 5

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…
Review by Sir William Blake 🎥 ★★★★½ 7

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…
Review by YI JIAN ★★★½ 3

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!!
Review by <Todd> ★★★★★ 7

"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…
Review by Katie ★★★½

Can someone please teach Lois Lane how to spell?

Recent reviews

Review by Claire

Scavenger Hunt 45 (7/30)
Task 20: a film where a character gets buried alive
Review by Javier Candia ★★★½

Ha envejecido bastante bien.
Review by MoovyDK ★★★★

Tænk, at en 40 år gammel superheltefilm føles som et friskt pust her i 2018. Jovist, dens (efter nutidens standarder) simple special effects er tydeligt forældede, men Richard Donners "Superman" er forfriskende optimistisk, romantisk og tålmodig her i en tid, hvor både den virkelige verden og mange superheltefilm er præget af håbløshed, hastværk og had. Og idet man i 1978 ikke havde ressourcerne til at lave ekstravagante actionscener badet i computereffekter, så bruger "Superman" i stedet sine (super)kræfter på den gode historie og dens karakterer.

Vi starter på planeten Krypton, hvor lederne er lige så indifferente over for deres verdens forestående død som mange af Jordens politikere er i dag. Lige før Krypton eksploderer, bliver Kal-El (Supermans fødenavn) sendt væk…
Review by Teddydog ★★★★½

Superman is a classic Superhero movie with an amazing main theme and some entertaining action scenes.
Review by Jovan Djurasic ★★★★½

EXTENDED CUT

December 2018
Review by David Knight ★★★★★

The greatest superhero film ever made, it set the benchmark for every comic book film that followed, it recently celebrated it 40th anniversary but has aged beautifully, due to its use of actual physical effects.
It is an epic masterpiece from director Richard Donner that doesn't waste a single minute of its running time spanning the slightly clinica planet Krypton, through the the dusty plains of Smallville All the way to the hustle & bustle of Metropolis
The late great Christopher Reeve made the world believe a man really was able to fly & remains the definitive iteration of the character along with Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor & Margot Kidder as Lois Lane
Review by Milton Mendes ★★★★★

"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."
Review by Dave Howlett ★★★★½

This movie has plenty going for it, but none of it would have mattered without an absolutely perfect Christopher Reeve in the lead. It’s the kind of bang-on comic book movie casting that we wouldn’t see again until the days of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, and Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern (just making sure you were paying attention on that last one).
Review by Matthew ★★★★½ 3

I’m very ashamed to say I haven’t seen this before, but with it being it’s 40th anniversary, I thought why not.

I couldn’t help but smile whenever Superman does a “Superman” thing and that little motif of the theme plays. I just couldn’t help but smile in general. That scene where Superman saves Lois after she falls from the helicopter made me cry tears of joy and feel like a kid again.

The film’s pacing is surprisingly the best executed part. The backstory of Superman (from Krypton to the Kent Family) goes by very fast. I love Christopher Revee and Margot Kidder in this! Both compliment each other excellently and the whole relationship of Lois and Clark/Superman is fantastic. Lois…