The last son of Krypton is adopted by a farm family, learns about truth, justice, and the American way, and becomes the hero Superman (Christopher Reeve). By day he is Clark Kent, a bumbling reporter who is falling for the ace reporter, Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). Under the city, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is masterminding his evil scheme that involves nuclear weapons and real estate.
Those of us who saw Superman in 1978 often forget its failings. Ask a millennial and he won’t have any problems. The plot is a mess. The Krypton scenes are a bit silly. The Smallville segment is plodding. Lex Luther’s criminal scheme is ludicrous. And the time-reversal finale, stolen from the unfinished Superman II when they couldn’t come up with a proper ending, is cheap, emotionally empty, and doesn’t even make sense when compared to other ridicules time travel stories (if Lois’s death is undone, why isn’t Superman’s heroic deeds equally undone?). Parts are overly saccharine. Others are overly camp. Marlon Brando, after his time as an actor and before his period as a mumbling, incoherent, amorphous blob, just stands there with the warmth of a cardboard cutout. Ned Beatty’s unfunny slapstick might have fit with Adam West’s Batman, but is out of place here. Yup; by most ways of evaluating a film, Superman fails.
And none of that matters. Superman changed everything, not only for superhero films, but for action movies in general. It was an epic; there were no A-picture superhero films before this. It was filled with top notch talent, both behind and in front of the camera (who hires Trevor Howard for a cameo?). It was (and is) beautiful. The FX are excellent, yet never dominate. But those don’t matter either. It has three elements that trump everything.
First, there is a quirky Lois Lane personified by Margot Kidder. She was cute as a bug and different. She was not a bland love interest. Love her or hate her, and I love her, you can’t ignore or forget her. She would not reach this level again.
Second, the heroic score by John Williams. Only his Star Wars music has captured the public more. It is driving, uplifting, and sells the epic nature of the film. I would rank it as one of the top ten cinematic scores of all time.
Third, and most importantly, there is Christopher Reeve. He is Superman to the point that I am not sure anyone else can ever pull off the role. An extremely good looking man with piercing eyes, Reeve blended strength with sensitivity. He charmed a generation. His charisma is unquestioned. And he had the acting chops to pull off what no one else has managed: to create a character of the icon.
The elements alone are not enough, or I’d be speaking of the great quality of Superman III. It is how you use them, and Richard Donner knew how. He made plenty of mistakes, but in the case of those three, he was a genus. With those three elements (and help from multiple award winning cinematographer Goeffrey Unsworth), Superman sucks you in—at least it sucked me in—to its wondrous world. There may be problems, but those are for later. While watching, there’s nothing but a man who can fly.
Superman was followed by Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983), and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1983), and the semi-sequel, Superman Returns (2006). The character was rebooted by Zack Snyder for Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. The first Superman theatrical feature was Superman verses the Mole-Men (1951), a pilot for the successful TV series.