Dreams Are What Le Cinema Is For - Superman: The Movie - 1978

SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE 1978lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/b/post-preview

I'm afraid I'm guilty of coming down pretty hard on the current appetite for comic book movies. My usual gripes:1. The cloak of self-seriousness they’ve shrouded themselves in of late.2. The need for each successive film to be busier, noisier, and more frenetically plotted than the last.3. The gradual usurpation of the kid-friendly genre by adult males (college-age to middle) willing to come to socialmedia blows and death threats over plot points, casting, trivia, and fidelity to source material— which, it bearsrepeating…is a comic book.4. There just being so darn many of them.Despite their obvious popularity and profitability, I still stand by my assertion that glutting the market with so muchideologically and stylistically identical “product” may be good for business, but it's lousy for culture. But whenever Ifind myself being a big ol’ grump about the ceaseless hype surrounding the most recent cookie-cutter entry in thelatest superhero franchise, I only have to remind myself of what a flurry of hoopla and excitement I happily allowedmyself to get swept up in way back in 1978. I don’t think there was a soul on earth more charged-up and enthusiasticabout the release of Superman: the Movie; a film that was then, and remains today, my absolute favorite superherofilm of all time.

Christopher Reeve as Superman / Clark Kent

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Margot Kidder as Lois Lane

Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor

Valerie Perrine as Eve Teschmacher

Like many people my age, Superman comic books and TV reruns of The Adventures of Superman were aninextricable part of my childhood. They were also, outside of a few Saturday morning cartoons, the only Superman Iknew (the less said about the 1975 TV adaptation of the 1966 Broadway musical, It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’sSuperman [available for viewing on YouTube] the better). While I always loved the TV show, an updating of its '50ssensibilities, cheesy flying effects, and George Reeves’ baggy-kneed Superman costume factored into my elationwhen, in 1976, it was announced that a mega-budget, all-star Superman film was to be made. This left meinundated with nearly two years’ worth of pre-production hype and trade-paper advance publicity to discover, collect,and pore over. And I didn't mind it one bit.

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Marlon Brando and Susannah York as Jor El & Lara

Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter as Ma & Pa Kent

Superman opened Friday, December 15th, 1978 at Grauman’s Chinese Theater here in LA, and, of course, I was inline opening night. The pre-release press reviews were near-unanimous raves, and the film’s marketing strategykept everyone intrigued—yet completely in the dark; its ads consisting primarily of minimalist teaser commercialsdramatically highlighting the Superman insignia and little else. In those pre-internet days, movies could keep a greatdeal of their content under wraps before release, so there was excitement, wonder, and sense of being present at an"event" buzzing through the crowd that night. What am I saying? The anticipation was unbearable! If I remembercorrectly, the theater added late-night screenings to accommodate the overflowing masses, and in the line Ioccupied that wrapped nearly completely around the block, all any of us could talk about was how Superman: TheMovie was going to stack up, special effects-wise, to last year’s megahit, Star Wars, and wonder aloud as to how thefilm could make good on its resolute tagline: “You’ll Believe a Man Can Fly.”

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The makers of Superman really had a knack for meeting and exceeding audienceexpectations

The first time Reeve is shown in his Superman outfit is also the first time theaudience finds out how this particular Superman is going to fly. The audience Isaw it with started cheering the moment they saw the cape and blue tights, but

when he took off in graceful flight, throwing us a literal curve by banking the wallof the fortress (no prior Superman had ever flown in any direction other than

horizontal and vertical) ...they lost it.

To this day, whenever I watch Superman, I can still remember, clear as a bell, the rumble of excitement that wentthrough the packed house when the lights dimmed. I’ll never forget the moment preceding the credits, when thescreen expanded, the black and white intro footage changed to color, and (with the assist of MAJOR amplifiedsound) those laser-like “flying names” whooshed towards us. The loudest sound (the sound of a jet plane taking offor Superman himself flying directly overhead), accompanied by the first blare of horns from composer John Williams’majestically heroic score, came with the Superman insignia. And with that, the audience totally lost its collectivemind. The biggest collective gasp you ever heard filled the cavernous theater, followed by deafening excitedapplause and cheers. Here Superman wasn't even two-minutes-old and it had the audience eating right out of itshand.

Otis (Ned Beatty) and Miss Teschmacher read about the Man of Steel. I think Otismoves his lips.

Although production on Superman had begun before Star Wars was released, Superman: The Movie arose from thesame cultural zeitgeist in that it was another affectionate update of and tribute to the kinds of films kids of mygeneration grew up seeing at Saturday matinees. Superman had somehow accomplished the miracle of beingsomething totally new, yet nostalgic; something self-aware, yet charmingly corny; something playful and fun, yetrespectful of both the Superman legend and its legions of fans. All at the same time! For once, a film had lived up toits massive hype. And it makes me happy to think back to that evening in December of 1978, andhow Superman reduced me and an entire audience of fully-grown adults to a giddy state of childlike awe and wonderat the magic of the movies.

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WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILM:I always take umbrage when action films and summer blockbusters run to the defense of “It’s pure escapism!” or “It’sintended for kids!” when coming under critical fire for being moronic, shoddily written, or just a series of explosionsand special effects strung haphazardly together (directors Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich come to mind). As Dr.Seuss and Roald Dahl knew, kids aren't stupid. And just when did mindless become synonymous with “escapist”?

Jackie Cooper as Perry White

What I love about Superman is how smart it is. Correction: make that ingenious. It's the canniest transfer of a comicbook character to the movie screen I've ever seen. There's fun, there's escapism, and there are certainly a greatmany thrills to be had in the masterfully-handled action sequences. But not once does the film play its audience formindless drones in need of little more than bright, shiny objects flashed before our eyes to keep us in our seats.Expertly balancing ever-shifting tones of adventure, romance, drama, and comedy, Superman employs classic,three-act story structure, fulfilling the basic need for solid storytelling that every film, whether for adults or children,requires.

Jeff East as Young Clark Kent

Perhaps what plays best for me these days is the scale of the film's story. Hewing closely to the simplicity of thecomic books and TV series, the goal of the villain and the stakes of the peril in Superman: The Movie might comeacross as somewhat minimal compared to the overcrowded, overplotted, mass-mayhem destruction noisefests of

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today; but that's part of the film's charm.I like a Superman who has time to rescue cats from trees and apprehend common thieves. That whole globaldestruction angle of contemporary superhero films is just too emotionally distancing for me.

Jor-El sentences Ursa, Non, and General Zod to the Phantom ZoneVillains Sarah Douglas, Jack O'Halloran, & Terence Stamp don't really make their

presence felt until Superman II (1980)

PERFORMANCESDuring the entirety of my childhood George Reeves and Noel Neill were the only Superman and Lois Lane I knew.Now, rather spontaneously, when I think of Superman and Lois Lane, I can only see Christopher Reeve and MargotKidder. Their performances have blotted out all prior and subsequent incarnations of the characters. Both actors aresuch spot-on, visually witty, temperamentally ideal incarnations of the characters in the comic, that they havebecome Superman and Lois for me.

Much like Jeremy Irons in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers, Reeve's dualperformance involves a great deal of incredibly subtle shifts in body language

that seem to transform his features right before your eyes

I've loved and studied movies most of my life, but in all these years I've never fully understood that imperceptible,interdependent alchemy the camera captures that goes into screen chemistry and star quality. It strikes me as amost elusive, ethereal factor, yet multimillion-dollar movies can crash or soar because of it. I like Reeve and Kidder agreat deal, but in my opinion neither has ever been better than they are than in this film and paired with one another.

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The casting of Marlon Brando was the major thrust of Superman's early publicity, but time has revealed the film's tobe worthy of praise. I sense a great deal of the credit is owed to director Richard Donner (The Omen), who sets theright tone and creates a kind of cartoon reality, then has his actors pitch their performances to just the right level ofbelievable and comic. It's a marvelous cast no matter how you slice it, but Donner gets wholly captivatingperformances out of everyone assembled. Jackie Cooper's excitable Perry White is a hoot, and I particularlydelighted in Gene Hackman and his barely-up-to-the-task minions, Valerie Perrine and Ned Beatty.

Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen

THE STUFF OF FANTASYSwoon alert. I think one of the top reasons Superman is my fave rave superhero movie is because I am absolutelyenchanted by the Superman/Lois Lane romance; and as embodied by Reeve and Kidder, they make for one ofcinema's great screen couples. I'm a sucker for corny romance anyway, but in taking the time to create a Lois andClark that are quirky, imperfect, and endearing, Superman made the pair so likable that you're practically rooting forthem to fall in love. This in spite of the fact that as any Superman fan knows, they HAD to fall in love.Spoiler alert*I'm past middle-age, I've seen the film dozens of times, and this is a movie adapted from a comic book, forChrissakes; but when Lois dies at the end, I get waterworks each and every time. Christopher Reeve's performanceis just remarkable (love that bit where, when he's tenderly placing her body on the ground, he winces as if afraid tohurt her, even in death), and the sequence is a tribute to what writers are able to achieve in a big-budget, genre filmif they remember a film's audience is comprised of human beings, not market-analysts. Superman got me to believein these fictional characters by getting me to care about and identify with them. Today, I think superhero films wantme to to identify with the stunts, gadgetry, and hardware.

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The Effects Are Fake, The Characters Are RealSince the relationship between Lois and Clark looms so large in my fondness forthe film, it never bothers me that the special effects in Superman look dated. I'mtoo involved in what's going on between the engaging cast of characters. Sure,films today give us painstakingly realistic CGI, but who cares if it's only in the

service of synthetic, one-dimensional mannequins.

THE STUFF OF DREAMSI’d be remiss in praising Superman without making special mention of the indispensable contributions of famedcinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (Murder on the Orient Express, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Cabaret) andcomposer John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind). A master of light with an eloquenteye for composition, Unsworth gives Superman a distinctive sheen (obvious in the screen caps used here), itsdegree of impact made all the more conspicuous by how significantly subsequent Superman films suffered due to itsabsence.

And what can I say about John William’s epic Superman theme? Absolute perfection! It deftly strikes the right chordof nostalgia by recalling the classic TV show theme, yet feels like a wholly new take on those soaring themes fromserials and adventure films of yesteryear. Williams' score is one of those real goosebump-inducing anthems thatabsolutely MAKES the film. As far as I'm concerned, in this case, John Williams is as responsible for Superman's

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success as Richard Donner.

Past Meets PresentThe best joke in the film and the one that got the absolute biggest, loudest laughof the night was the sight gag featuring Clark Kent, in full retro "This looks like ajob for Superman!" mode, encountering his first modern phone booth. Self-aware

gags like that are what made Superman so appealing to me.

After 1980s Superman II (which I very much enjoyed) it's fair to say I haven't liked a singleSuperman incarnation—film or TV program—since. A fact having more to do with my preferential fondness for thisfilm than for any implied deficiencies in those projects themselves. I do plan on seeing Man of Steel (2013) when itcomes out on DVD*, my only hope being that it at least be a moderately well-made film (my expectations forsuperhero films are pretty downsized these days).

*Update: Saw Man of Steel and my jaw never left the floor, stunned as I was for how epic a miscalculation the wholecostly enterprise was.

So, the point of this post is that, in spite of my grousing, I really do "get it" when it comes to the public'spreoccupation with comic book movies today. I mean, the hardest thing to recapture as I get older is that wide-eyedsense of amazement and fun that was a regular part of the moviegoing experience for me when I was young. Theability to transport us into worlds of unimaginable fantasy is a significant gift that films have to offer, so who canentirely blame people for wanting to feel that kind of exhilaration when they go to the movies? However, I DO wonder who needs a non-stop, steady diet of escapist fantasy to the exclusion of all else. But that'sjust me.

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Copyright © Ken Anderson

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