Movie Review – Superman (1978)

In honor of the release of Man of Steel, a reboot of the Superman story, today we’re taking a big step back to 1978 and the original Superman film, Superman.

1978′s Superman was the first film to bring the legendary superhero to the big screen.  The film introduced us to the mild-mannered Clark Kent and his alternate identity of Superman, a flying man with incredible strength who is virtually indestructible.  We learn about the doomed planet of Krypton, Kal-El’s arrival on Earth and adoption by the Kent family, and Clark Kent’s early days as a novice reporter to the Daily Planet, a newspaper in the city of Metropolis.  Along the way we meet Clark’s love interest in Lois Lane, a fellow reporter at the Daily Planet, and Lex Luthor, a criminal mastermind who wouldn’t mind killing millions of people if it earned himself a healthy profit.

Directed by Richard Donner, Superman was written by Mario Puzo.  The film’s famous music score was conducted by Hollywood legend John Williams.

Superman has a fantastic cast starting with Christopher Reeve in the starring role as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman.  Margot Kidder also stars as Lois Lane, a reporter who loves Superman from the moment he saves her life.  Gene Hackman plays the villain Lex Luthor, an evil genius who discovers Superman’s weakness and also tries to erase California from the map.  Marlon Brando has the role of Jor-El, Kal-El’s biological father who tries to save Krypton from its destruction.

Supporting them are Jackie Cooper as Perry White, the chief editor at the Daily Planet, Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter as Jonathan and Martha Kent, Jeff East as the teenage version of Clark Kent, and Terence Stamp as the Kryptonian villain General Zod.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Superman begins on planet Krypton, a planet with an advanced race of beings.  Unfortunately, the planet is doomed and only has a short time before it explodes.  General Zod (Terence Stamp) is currently in the end stages of his trial before the Council for his evil ways.  Along side of him are his co-conspirators, Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O’Halloran).  The Council finds the three of them to be guilty, and with Jor-El (Marlon Brando) as the final vote, the three evil ones are sentenced to be imprisoned indefinitely in the “Phantom Zone,” a holding cell that flies through outer space.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

After the trial, Jor-El pleads with the Council about his theory that their planet is going to explode.  They need to evacuate the planet to save their race.  The Council does not believe Jor-El’s theory, so it’s up to Jor-El to take matters into his own hands.  He and his wife, Lara (Susannah York), decide to send their infant son, Kal-El, to planet Earth and live amongst the Earthlings.  They’re aware that Earth is technologically inferior to Krypton, but because of the young Sun that the planet orbits, they know that Kal-El will be a superior being on that planet.  He’ll have superhuman strength amongst other powers.

The parents load infant Kal-El into a tiny spaceship and send him away to Earth as Krypton crumbles and is ultimately destroyed.  The flight through space takes three years, and along the way Kal-El slowly grows and learns by listening to the audio tapes provided by his father.  One of the tapes strongly warns the child against interfering with the history of the people on planet Earth.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Kal-El’s spaceship finally crashes to Earth around 1950.

Jonathan (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter) are driving through Kansas when they witness what looks like a meteor impact near the side of the road.  The impact causes one of the truck’s tires to go flat, and when investigating the tire, Jonathan and Martha are in awe with the site of the impact.  They’re even more in shock when a nude toddler climbs up the hill from the wreckage and greets them.

Martha wants to keep the boy, thinking that he’s the answer to her years of praying for a child.  Jonathan seems to be skeptical about the child.  His attitude changes when he’s trying to fix the truck’s flat tire and the truck suddenly shifts and falls onto him.  Jonathan is saved when the young toddler easily picks up the truck and holds one end high in the air.  They name the boy Clark after Martha’s maiden name.

Superman jumps forward and now Clark Kent (Jeff East) is an eighteen year old high school senior.  Clark is well aware of his superhuman abilities, but from the discretion of his father, Clark keeps his powers a secret.  As a result he’s merely a towel boy in charge of cleaning the high school football team’s uniforms, and not one of the players scoring touchdowns and standing in the spotlight.  Some of the football players torment Clark and give him a hard time.

We see some examples of teenage Clark’s abilities when he kicks a football miles into the air.  He also runs along a road and races a speeding train.  When his classmates ask how he travelled so quickly, Clark merely replies that he ran.  Unfortunately, this labels Clark as a freak and the girls don’t want anything to do with him.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Jonathan witnesses this and tries to talk to Clark and boost his feelings.  He explains that he knows for a fact that Clark is with them and on that planet for a reason.  Jonathan doesn’t know for what reason exactly, but it’s for something far greater than merely “scoring touchdowns.”  There’s a much bigger presence for his purpose there on Earth.

The talk works and Clark feels better.  He joyfully challenges his dad to a race, but after a few steps Jonathan suffers a fatal heart attack.  He dies there on the farm, leaving behind Martha and Clark.

One night Clark hears a psychic call and discovers a green glowing crystal hidden in the family’s barn.  He says goodbye to his mother and gives in to the crystal, following its calling north to the Arctic.  Clark throws the crystal and watches in amazement as the crystal transforms into a magnificent structure, the Fortress of Solitude.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Inside the Fortress of Solitude, Clark discovers a set of crystals.  One of the crystals activates a hologram of his biological father, Jor-El.  Jor-El explains Clark’s origins along with his powers and responsibilities there on Earth.  Clark spends twelve years in the Fortress of Solitude as his powers fully develop.

Twelve years later Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) arrives in Metropolis and begins his career as a reporter at the Daily Planet.  Chief editor Perry White (Jackie Cooper) introduces and assigns him to work with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), one of the newspaper’s top reporters.  Also there is Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure), a young photographer for the newspaper.  As we see, Lois is aggressive and a bit of a bitch, but she produces results and keeps seeking headlines for the paper.  We also see that she’s somewhat impressed by Clark’s manners and the way he requests to send half of his pay check back home to help his mother.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Out on the street, Lois and Clark are taken into an ally and mugged by an armed robber.  Clark wants to give in to the robber but Lois tries to fight back.  He actions cause the gunman to fire a shot and Clark, using his superhuman speed, catches the bullet and saves Lois’s life.  He pretends to faint as the robber flees.

Meanwhile, two FBI agents are following Otis (Ned Beatty), a somewhat stupid person who allegedly works with the criminal mastermind Lex Luthor.  The agents follow Otis into a subway terminal and one of the men follows him down the tracks.  He sees Otis activate a secret door, but when the agent tries to follow, the door is reversed and he’s pushed into an oncoming train.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Inside of his secret underground lair, evil genius Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) begins telling Otis and Eve Teschmacher (Valerie Perrine) his latest evil plan.  Luthor is holding a newspaper that mentions a nuclear missile test while talking about swindling a massive deal for land.  That’s all we really know at this point in time.

Back at the Daily Planet, Clark tries to ask Lois out on a date, but she’s not interested.  Her official excuse is that she’s heading to the airport to cover the arrival of the president on Air Force One.  After being ditched by Lois, we see that other workers at the Daily Planet also show no respect to Clark.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

A helicopter lands on top of the Daily Planet to transport Lois to the Metropolis airport.  A control cable snaps and the helicopter spins out of control.  It crashes into a structure and makes a crash landing on top of the Daily Planet.  The helicopter tips over the side of the building and Lois Lane hangs on for dear life.  Clark Kent is down on the streets when he looks up and sees the commotion.  He races into a revolving door, changes into his Superman costume, and flies up to rescue Lois as she’s falling to the ground.  He also grabs the helicopter as it falls, and both the helicopter and Lois Lane are safely set back on top of the Daily Planet.  Lois is in awe of her rescuer and instantly falls in love with Superman.

We then see a series of rescues and criminal apprehensions as Superman flies around Metropolis and introduces himself in a grand style to the city’s citizens.  Superman stops a cat burglar scaling the side of a building.  He also stops a group of robbers who are making a getaway from the police while on a boat.  In a kind gesture, Superman even rescues a cat in a tree for a little girl, though the girl’s mother clearly doesn’t believe her story about a flying man.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Air Force One is transporting the president and on approach to Metropolis while flying through a heavy thunderstorm.  A bolt of lightning destroys the aircraft’s number one engine, removing the engine and part of the outer wing of the aircraft.  The co-pilot makes a may-day call to the Metropolis airport while the pilot and engineers try to save the plummeting aircraft.  Suddenly Air Force One regains power, and when the pilot looks out of his window he sees Superman taking the place of the lost engine.  He provides enough strength to help bring Air Force One down for a safe landing.

The next day all of Metropolis is talking about Superman.  Everybody wants to know more about the city’s number one resident.  While in a meeting with her boss, Lois receives a note from “a friend,” promising to meet her that night at her place.  Lois remembers Superman identifying himself from the previous night as “a friend.”

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

That evening Lois dresses in a formal gown and is still in awe when Superman arrives at her penthouse apartment.  She manages to interview Superman, asking him basic questions about himself and where he’s from, but she stumbles with some of the words.  It’s clear that she’s impressed with him and cannot speak correctly because of it.  Superman then takes Lois for a night flight around the city.  They spread their arms and fly like birds.  Lois discovers that she also has the power of flight as long as she touches Superman’s hands.  They land back at her apartment and Lois is clearly in love with the superhero.

Just after landing at her apartment and saying goodbye to Superman, Clark Kent knocks on Lois’s door and reminds her about the date they had set for tonight.  Lois is still in shock of her encounter with Superman and goes into the next room.  We see Clark remove his eyeglasses and try to summon the courage that he’s really Superman, but he doesn’t go through with it.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

The next day, Lex Luthor reads Lois’s newspaper article about Superman, and he begins making some theories about the strange man from another world.  He takes the evidence in the newspaper article and surmises that the planet Krypton exploded back in 1948.  He believes that some of the particles from that planet also drifted to Earth and landed upon the planet as meteorites.  Luthor believes that a specific meteorite that landed in Ethiopia is originally from Krypton and therefore lethal to people from that planet, i.e. Superman.

We then see Lex Luthor begin setting the stage for his evil plan.  He crashes a remote control car and has Eve Teschmacher pose as a sexy car crash victim.  This stops a military convoy transporting a nuclear missile (yeah, I know).  While the soldiers all gather around the unconscious “victim,” Otis sneaks to the missile and alters the missile’s coordinates to Lex Luthor’s specifications.  Once he’s finished, Luthor arrives as the ambulance driver, and the three of them safely drive away.  Unfortunately, Otis didn’t enter the coordinates correctly, so they’ll have to get it right on the second nuclear missile.

The sabotage act against the second nuclear missile occurs when Lex Luthor drives a massive truck hauling a house, and he blocks the military convoy on a small bridge.  As the soldiers are again distracted, this time Eve Teschmacher sneaks to the missile and enters in the coordinates correctly.

Out west, Lois Lane is interviewing land owners who have recently sold their land to an unknown buyer and for very high prices.  It’s a mystery as all of the land recently purchased is out in the desert and seems to be worthless to most people.  As she’s interviewing people, Jimmy Olsen is out taking pictures of Hoover Dam.

Back at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent is speaking with Perry White when Clark hears Lex Luthor calling to him on a very high frequency, something that only he and canines can hear.  Luthor lures him to his underground lair by claiming that he’ll be launching an attack against the citizens of Metropolis.  Clark jumps out an upper window and changes into Superman while falling.  He then makes his way to Luthor’s lair and demands that Luthor tell him his plans.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Lex Luthor taunts Superman and shows him around his underground lair.  They stop at a giant map of the United States and Luthor reveals his grand plan.  It turns out that Lex Luthor has been the mystery person who’s been purchasing land out west.  He plans on using a nuclear missile to target the San Andreas Fault and trigger an earthquake powerful enough to wash most of California into the Pacific Ocean.  Then all of his land in the desert will become prime real estate on the coastline, making him a billionaire.

The two nuclear missiles launch on their test flights, and from his lair Lex Luthor watches them suddenly shift and head to his predetermined coordinates.  When Superman demands to access the detonation trigger, he’s tricked into opening a lead box with Kryptonite.  This greatly weakens Superman, and Lex Luthor makes him wear the Kryptonite as a deadly necklace.  He reveals that one missile is headed to the San Andreas Fault while the second nuclear missile (the one with the incorrect coordinates set by Otis) is actually heading to Hackensack, New Jersey.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Luthor pushes Superman into his underground pool, trapping the man of steel as the Kryptonite threatens to kill him.  Eve Teschmacher is concerned about the second nuclear missile as her mother lives in Hackensack, but Lex Luthor refuses to stop it to spare her mother.

Eve Teschmacher goes to the pool and watches Superman struggle with his bonds.  He sees her and calls for Eve to help him.  She does after making Superman promise to stop the missile heading to New Jersey first.  He makes the promise and Eve frees Superman from his Kryptonite chains.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Superman flies at top speed and catches the nuclear missile bound for New Jersey.  He pushes it up into the upper atmosphere and the missile detonates safely in outer space.  As he looks down, he can only watch as the other missile detonates on the San Andreas Fault, triggering a massive earthquake.

As predicted by Lex Luthor, this nuclear missile triggers a massive earthquake along the San Andreas Fault.  The landscape rolls like crazy and there’s utter destruction throughout the region.  Superman flies down to the fault and continues going deep into the Earth.  He’s able to use his strength to stop the two tectonic plates from moving, stopping the earthquake.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

The quake stopped but people are still in extreme danger.  Superman first stops a school bus full of children from falling off the Golden Gate Bridge.  Then he repairs a part of broken train track, and using his own body as part of a missing rail, allows a passenger train to safely pass over the damaged section.  An aftershock destroys part of the Hoover Dam, sending a wall of water right to communities down stream.  Superman causes two landslides that form a new dam that stops the water, saving a countless number of lives.

Despite all of his actions, there’s still a victim from Lex Luthor’s evil plan.

Lois Lane is driving in her car when the massive aftershock opens a hole in the desert.  She accidentally drives into it and is trapped in the giant hole.  Next to her, a mountain is still shaking and all the loose dirt rolls down the mountain and into her car.  Lois tries to escape but she’s trapped and suffocates.  By the time Superman arrives, Lois Lane is dead.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

Furious with Lex Luthor and himself not stopping her death, Superman flies into the clouds and debates his options.  He hears Jor-El’s voice reminding him not to interfere with human history, but he also hears Jonathan Kent reminding him that he is here for a reason.  Going against the advice of Jor-El, Superman flies into space and goes fast enough to spin the Earth backwards and reverse time.  He returns to California and alters her car so that she’s out of gas and won’t reach the sink hole during the aftershock.  Superman then flies back into space and spins the Earth back to its position just after the earthquake.

Lois Lane is not happy that her car ran out of gas, but she’s alive and well.  Jimmy Olsen arrives on scene and Superman flies away.

Superman (1978) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

That night Superman flies into a prison and delivers Lex Luthor and Otis to the warden.  He expects them to stay there until they stand trial for their crimes.  The warden thanks Superman for helping keep the country safe, but Superman doesn’t accept that theory.  He claims that it’s safer because they’re all part of the same team.

Superman ends with Superman orbiting the Earth, ready for his next challenge.

So is 1978′s Superman a good film?

Superman merely isn’t a good film.  It’s a great superhero film that does justice when bringing the greatest superhero of all time to the big screen.  In fact, I appreciate this version of the film significantly more after watching the 2013 film Man of Steel.  In many of the ways that Man of Steel failed, this original version of the comic book got it right.

Let’s face it.  Christopher Reeve is Superman.  He does a fantastic job playing both roles of Clark Kent and Superman, and he has a commanding presence on the screen.  Margot Kidder does a great job as the pushy reporter who is hopelessly in love with Superman, and Gene Hackman is awesome as the criminal mastermind.

It’s just a shame that the criminal element and Lex Luthor’s actions are just too comedic for this film.  The part involving retargeting the nuclear missiles was way too easy and quite stupid for a film of this magnitude.  I’d expect simplicity like that for a cheesy made-for-TV movie, not for this otherwise fine film.

Superman has it all from thrills to humor to moments of suspense and utter sadness to a fitting love story thrown into the middle of it all.  Take away some of the stupidity in Lex Luthor’s scheme, and otherwise you’d have not just a fantastic superhero film, but a nearly perfect movie as a whole.  John Williams’s memorable soundtrack is just icing on the cake for this gem.

Superman (1978) – movie trailer

If you love good films and especially superhero films, then 1978′s Superman is an absolute must-see.  The special effects may not be up to today’s standards, but this movie has a solid story and some fantastic characters driven by some of Hollywood’s best talent.  Simply put, you cannot go wrong with Superman!

Jor-El – “Live as one of them, Kal-El, to discover where your strength and your power are needed. Always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you… my only son.”

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[Watching Otis approaching the hideout]
Lex Luthor – “It’s amazing that brain can generate enough power to keep those legs moving.”

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Superman – “I’m here to fight for truth, and justice, and the American way.”
Lois Lane – [laughs] “You’re gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country!”

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Superman – “Is that how a warped brain like yours gets its kicks? By planning the death of innocent people?”
Lex Luthor – “No, by causing the death of innocent people.”