Superman

Superman (1978)

Runtime: I saw the version that was 151 minutes long

Directed by: Richard Donner

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty, Marlon Brando

From: Warner Bros.

Here's another movie I had seen before but never talked about here. I always enjoyed it from when I first saw it on VHS as a little kid. Thankfully I still enjoy it now. I got the Blu-ray set imported from the UK (but as far as I can tell identical to the one released in the States) with all the ones starring Reeve plus Superman Returns, which I've never seen but is the 21st century version of the character, meaning “he appears in movies that are incredibly polarizing”. I'll get to that eventually... but now, onto the original; you can read my lengthy review of it below, via Letterboxd: 

NOTE: The version I saw was the 2001 Expanded Edition that is 151 minutes long... and a famed longer version, which I'll talk about at the very end.

I have mentioned before in a few other reviews how I don't really watch superhero movies so that's why you rarely see reviews of them done by me. That goes for both Marvel and DC; I can explain why I have seen some of the ones I have but I won't do so except to say that some of the older ones I did see as a kid, from the 80's and 90's Batman (I'll get to those one day as I hadn't seen any of them in years) to all the Superman films starring Christopher Reeve. I figured it was about time I saw all of them again so I can review them here, as I hadn't seen any of those in at least a few years either.

While I am curious in a perverse way about the Zack Snyder movies w/ the character (plus, I have absolutely no idea how I would rate what has to be two of the most polarizing films of recent times), I know that the Jor-El portrayed there is different from the classic version in the comic books, which of course this was more aligned with. I know that some people of today may see this character as played by Reeve as “not cool” as Clark Kent is a dorky newspaper reporter and Superman may be seen as “a square” as he is unfailing in believing that everyone is good and he's all that is righteous and pure. Well, I can say from my childhood that I really enjoyed the first two and I managed to find things about 3 and 4 that I thought were fine (at the time; as an adult, it's not necessarily the same story, but when I see those movies in the future I'll give my thoughts there), and as an adult I still enjoy this old-fashioned filmmaking.

I will admit that as much as modern superhero films can have some nonsensical elements, this has things that I say are on the silly side at best; Lex Luthor's ultimate scheme is rather wacky and that deus ex machina ending raises more questions than answers; I'll just blame that on “things that you'd expect from a comic book” and say that overall I still enjoy this a whole lot. It's a standard origin story where the main players people expected at the time were present and thankfully the right people were cast for the roles.

I could not imagine people like Pacino, Stallone, Beatty or Caan in the lead, yet they were asked to. I don't even know what to make of the story of NEIL DIAMOND in the role; it almost sounds too ludicrous to believe yet it's true. An unknown at the time Christopher Reeve was perfect, as he was great as both the dorky Kent and the heroic Man of Steel. This Lois Lane was pretty cool, and she was played by a pretty cool Margot Kidder; thankfully she has been doing fine since “those few days” around this time 20 years ago where she had that infamous manic episode. The rest of the roles... like I said they were well cast and what a cast of famous faces it was.

The story, it's not too serious (and not just the moments where the dim-witted Otis is on screen) and it's always interesting and entertaining. The special effects are still nice now and they still work; yeah, you can believe that a man can fly. The miniatures and models give me nostalgic feelings for those old movies I saw as a kid. The score from the incomparable John Williams is still pretty grand. But despite it being about a nearly indestructible alien, he has many human moments, from vanity and jealousy to wishing he could save dying people and the pain of being bullied as a teen. Thus, he ends up being a character we could all relate to and that definitely helps in liking Kal-El. Overall, I was happy to see this again as this is a picture I can still rate highly. The sequels, I don't rate them this highly but sometime in the future I'll talk about them.

Soon after I saw the Expanded Edition, I watched something I had known of for years and I had acquired... nevermind how. It was the 188 minute “Salkind International Cut”, after the producers made a deal where they could make more money by releasing a version that long to be shown all across the world on television. Me, I was happy to see the additional footage and some cool things were present that weren't even in the Expanded Edition. It is still a thrilling watch... but overall I say that the “best” version to watch is still the Expanded Edition.