5 Questions: Superman (1978)
When the opportunity presented itself to attend a 40th Anniversary screening of 1978’s Superman, the granddaddy of all big budget superhero movies, there was no way I was going to let that opportunity pass me by.
Getting the chance to relive a piece of my childhood and sit down in a darkened theater and totally immerse myself in the fantastic world that Richard Donner and his crew created for a super talented cast to play in was something I had to do.
But as I sat there watching Superman’s origin story unfold from the cold and futuristic Krypton, to the Norman Rockwellesque Smallville to the hustle and bustle of Metropolis, I couldn’t help but ask myself a few questions…
Q1: How talented is John Williams?
Seeing Superman in the theater, really showcased the excellence that was the majestic score composed by the master himself, John Williams. I did not just hear the music, I felt it… literally and figuratively.
If Superman was the only movie Williams ever worked on I’d still refer to him as a master… but Superman was just one of many films Williams was the composer of including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars and Jurassic Park.
Q2: Has any other movie set up its own sequel during its first 10 minutes?
Superman begins on the planet Krypton, with Superman’s birth father Jor-El (Marlon Brando) serving as a prosecuting attorney of sorts as three vile villains stand trial. The accused are unanimously found guilty by the Kryptonian council. The ring leader of the treacherous trio, General Zod, puts the blame solely on Jor-El and vows that either Jor-El or his heirs will one day kneel before him… big talk for a guy who is about to be banished for an eternity to The Phantom Zone.
But Zod and his two criminal co-horts Ursa (Sarah Douglas, Spitfire) and Non (Jack O’Halloran, Hero and the Terror) end up busting out of The Phantom Zone at the beginning of Superman II, but it was their brief appearance in the opening scene of the original that set the whole thing up. I can’t think of any other movie where a sequel was set up so early.
Q3: Do you think Superman regretted revealing that he could not see through lead during his interview with Lois Lane?
When Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) probed Superman (Christopher Reeve) about his x-ray vision and asked him to tell her what color underwear she had on as she was standing on the other side of a lead planter on her balcony… this led (get it?) to Superman revealing one of his few weaknesses… his inability to see through lead.
The evil genius, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman, The French Connection) would use that little tidbit of information to setup Superman and pave the way for his plan of creating a new west coast to come to fruition.
I can’t help but think if Superman was able to keep his super hormones in check, Lex may have had to come up with a new diabolical plan.
Q4: Where was the gauntlet scene?
Speaking of Lex Luthor, when Lex lures Superman to his palatial underground lair, I could not help but wonder why Superman didn’t go through Lex’s gauntlet of bullets, fire and ice before busting down Lex’s door.
After watching so many special edition releases of Superman over the past few decades, I forgot that the gauntlet scene was not actually in the original theatrical release of the film. It was first included as part of the television cut (which was initially shown over a two day period on ABC) and would later be included in several home video releases.
Q5: Would changing the direction of the Earth’s rotation really turn back time?
The subject of time travel is ripe for debate in general, but time travel depicted in movies really gets people talking.
Some movies do make an effort to throw in some level of science to try to make their time travel at least seem plausible on the surface. Superman was not one of those movies. To me it felt like Superman said screw science, we are dealing with freaking Superman and it is completely in the realm of possibility that he’d be able to turn back time.
While I don’t buy that changing the direction of Earth’s rotation would turn back time… watching Superman again, did turn back the clock for me. If you have not seen this one in a while, or if you’ve never seen it… I’d suggest tracking down a copy and take yourself back to a simpler time, when the world was not so cynical, filmmakers could not rely on CGI to make their superheroes come to life and people everywhere believed a man could fly.
