Superman The Movie (1978) Retrospective/Review - Superman Retrospective, Part 1

these days the cinematic landscape of blockbuster movies has become utterly dominated by the superhero genre on the big screen marvel's interconnected universe of films is the most successful movie franchise ever made and dc's looser connected standalone efforts continue to take bold creative risks with their characters but it's arguable this era of superhero dominance never would have happened if not for a film released way back in 1978 [Music] clark kent aka superman made his debut in 1938 in action comics number one the character was truly the first of his kind while mythology was already replete with superhumans and comic books were already filled with pulp heroes jerry siegel and joe shuster's creation was the first true superhero the character was an instant smash hit eventually getting his own dedicated solo comic the following year it wasn't long before the character leapt off the page and into other mediums such as the radio show the adventures of superman which invented kryptonite the fleischer superman cartoons which invented his flying ability as well as the kirk allen and george reeves live action serials and tv show thanks to superman's success in these forms and his and other superheroes playing a part in world war ii morale boosting the character had gone from a comic book power fantasy to an american cultural icon despite this pop cultural status however few saw potential in a big screen big budget superman feature film one who did though was ilya sulkind ilia's father alexander solkind was a seasoned movie mogul at this point in time the sulkins had found great success producing historical epics like the daughter of the regiment austelitz and cervantes drama films like orson welles is the trial as well as adventure films like the light at the edge of the world the three musketeers and its sequel the four musketeers alexander sulkine had little knowledge or interest in superman and in truth his son ilia had only a general familiarity with the character however ilya saw great potential in bringing superman to the big screen he pitched to his father the idea of bringing the scope of the lavish european epics they had already produced to a cultural icon like superman and alexander sulkin agreed the picture could be a huge hit warner brothers however who had already bought dc comics by this point didn't agree and in 1974 a long and intensive round of negotiations began for the sulkins to acquire the film rights for the character part of negotiations was dc's demanded to see a full list of potential actors who the sulkins were considering for the lead role this list included muhammad ali al pacino dustin hoffman james khan steve mcqueen and clint eastwood among many others eventually the sulkins were successful in securing the rights in a negative pickup deal however due to the expected expense of the production and the arduous process of securing the rights the sulkins decided to shoot not one but two superman movies back to back to write the film ilya sulkind initially hired acclaimed science fiction author alfred bester however he only got as far as a rough treatment before alexander sulkind demanded they hire a superstar writer to lend the production some legitimacy thus the producers hired godfather screenwriter mario puzo while puzzo began work on the script the sulkins went in search of a director to helm the project among those considered were francis ford coppola william friedkin sam peckinpah and george lucas negotiations either fell through or the directors were committed elsewhere such as george lucas's commitments to star wars elias solkind championed steven spielberg and his father was convinced following the release of jaws but he too was committed to other projects like close encounters of the third kind eventually the producers succeeded in hiring guya hamilton famous for directing a number of james bond movies hamilton was hugely enthusiastic about the project and began filming test footage for the elaborate special and visual effects meanwhile the sulkins had started casting the film and as with the writer and director the producers wanted some big names to lend the production further legitimacy at the time marlon brando was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet and the sulkins believed if they could land an actor of his power then other stars would be lining up to join the project negotiations with brando to play superman's father jorel were difficult and demanding with the actor eventually securing a 3.7 million dollar salary as well as a cut of the box office as well this was an astronomically high payday at the time for what would be an incredibly short amount of screen time but with brando on board the production ran into some difficulties the sulkins had originally planned to shoot the film in italy at the famous chinichita studios in rome however brando couldn't shoot in italy as he was wanted on an obscenity charge following the release of last tango in paris therefore the production was relocated to england at pinewood studios this meant losing guy hamilton as director though as he was wanted for tax evasion and so had to drop out mark robson known for directing the disaster movie earthquake was briefly considered as a replacement but eventually the producers became interested in director richard donner following his helming of the hit horror film the omen i was on the jaw on the phone rings and this funny little voices this is alexander sulkin you know who i am i said no he's what do you mean you don't know who i am i don't know i don't know where you are what are you selling he said i'm not selling anything i'm a very famous producer i could congratulate what this is sunday what do you want he said we're making the movie superman and i wonder if you want to direct he said i'll give you a million dollars i said well give me some information and i'd written it down on a little tiny card that was in the bathroom it was a hairdresser's card this girl that came to your house to cut hair and i wrote down on the back of it million dollars which i don't think i got enough zeros in and i wrote gene hackman marlon brando the dates they were available and superman that card today is still it's the most important card in my life donner unlike hamilton was a huge superman fan having read many of the comics as a child he was happy to accept the gargantuan task of directing both movies but first he had to make a few changes first of which was retooling mario puzo's script which was over 550 pages long donna recalled they had prepared the picture for a year and not one bit was useful to me you can't shoot this screenplay because you'll be shooting for five years that was literally a shooting script and they plan to shoot all 500 pages you know 110 pages is plenty for a script so even for two features that was way too much donner brought on tom mankowitz to rewrite the script from scratch however due to the writer's guild of america's regulations donner could only credit mankowitz as a creative consultant among other things mankowitz was the one who conceived of the idea of krypton having noble houses symbolized by a unique crest with superman's famous s being the crest for the house of el and so on donner also hired production designer john barry cinematographer jeffrey unsworth and editor stuart baird as well as many in the special and visual effects teams donner's mandate for all the department heads was verisimilitude meaning the appearance of being true or real their goal was to make the fantastical world of superman feel as believable to the audience as possible donner's efforts in energizing the production crew also helped him handle the cast as the start of shooting approached marlon brando in a meeting with donner and ilya sulkind famously suggested playing jorel as either a talking green suitcase or a bagel he said i uh i thought maybe i should play it like a i'm witty green stream guys he says a bagel i said a bigger pardon he's like a bagel i said it's different what do you what do you what do you mean he said well who's to say what krypton's like who's to say what maybe the people look like bagels up there but i'm smart enough to know what humans look like so i make my child in the form of a humor so i can send him an earth but i'll be a bagel i mean i said this is it i mean i'm i'm gone and i'm gonna go in brazil and hide the film will blow this is it this man is completely nuts i was completely petrified i said you know marlon there was a kid from six to my age that doesn't know what girl looks like he said what do you mean i said the comic books around since 39. he says i talk too much don't i i said well you could go on he said but i talked myself into what you're here for i said kind of he said okay show me what i look like i showed him and from there on in he was a doll paul newman was offered the role of lex luthor and superman but turned both down after marlon brando was on board however gene hackman pursued the villainous role with hits like the poseidon adventure the conversation and a bridge too far under his belt hackman had exactly the kind of star power the sulkins were looking for and so he was cast as lex luthor with two big names on board production was ramping up but the film was still yet to find its lead ilius alkyne's wife had gone to the dentist the day before and while she was sitting there having her teeth repaired she looked up and in the eyes of the dentist and said my god it's clark kent i mean this is how bizarre and how extreme and how desperate we were to find superman he tested for the part it's all over luther you're coming with me we were looking in every corner of the earth for another candidate to play superman the sulkins continued to favor american movie stars like robert redford and paul newman however casting director lin stallmaster soon came to donner in the sulkiness with the name of a 24 year old christopher reeve christopher reeve a graduate of the renowned juilliard acting school had just started to break into screen acting in the mid-1970s having landed a role in the soap opera love of life and later a bit part in the naval submarine thriller grey lady down however his most acclaimed work was on broadway and plays like a matter of gravity where he became close friends with the legendary katherine hepburn it was while acting to play my life with william hurt that he was told he was being considered for superman stallmaster had put reeve's picture in front of donner and the sulkins three separate times and each time they moved him to the bottom of the pile for being too unknown and too skinny but over time stall master was able to convince them to give reeve a shot at a screen test he hopped off the balcony and said good evening miss lane and jeffrey unsworth looked over at me and went because the tone was just right the thing he went through the test and we knew we had him good evening miss lane careful you'll okay so you won't thank you very much for finding the time for this interview i realize there must be many questions about the world like know the answers to instantly the team was convinced reeve was the perfect man for the job and with warner brothers approval he was cast as superman reeve's approach for the clark kent side of the character was largely inspired by carrie grant's performance in bringing a baby only more bumbling and with an added stutter for his performance as superman he essentially let the costume do the work and underplayed the character eschewing the need to puff his chest or pose dramatically he recalled by the late 1970s the masculine image had changed now it was acceptable for a man to show gentleness and vulnerability i felt that the new superman ought to reflect that contemporary male image to get in shape for the role the producers hired david prouse the famous bodybuilder who played darth vader in the original star wars to train reeve for the role to play the young clark in smallville the producers cast jeff east albeit in heavy prosthetic makeup to closer resemble christopher reeve initially east used his real voice in the scenes but was later dubbed over by reeve without his knowledge this was something which apparently greatly upset the actor at the time among those considered for the crucial role of lois lane were leslie ann warren and ann archer who both screen tested with christopher reeve but it was margo kidder who immediately won over richard donner so this girl came in and i mean she didn't walk into her she tripped him margot is a klutz a born accident waiting to happen i remember being quite nervous looking over at superman who was the skinniest dorkiest thing i'd ever seen and going that's superman this is something's wrong with this picture it was quite a project with margot but her charm shined through and made her very lovable very adorable and audiences really responded i think to fill out the other roles of the daily planet were mark mcclure known for freaky friday and i want to hold your hand and the legendary jackie cooper is perry white who was a last-minute replacement in the role after the original actor keenan nguyen suffered a heart attack completing lex luthor's gang of criminals were ned beatty as otis and valerie perrine as miss tishmaka meanwhile glen ford was cast as jonathan kent and phyllis faxter was cast as martha kent though in the film they are only credited simply as pa and market back on krypton susanna york was cast as superman's mother lara l though only credited as lara to play the evil kryptonian insurrectionists terence stamp was cast as general zod sarah douglas as ursa and jack o'halloran as non with the cast finally in place studio and location secure and a promising start to the special effects work filming began on the 28th of march 1977. [Music] the scope of principal photography was enormous shooting the two movies back to back would eventually take 19 months and 11 units shooting simultaneously across three continents with over a thousand crew members it's no surprise then that superman became the most expensive film production in movie history at the time filming began at pinewood studios where the fortress of solitude and related krypton sets were built at the famous 07 soundstage and even spilled over into shepparton studios production designer john barry researched the superman comics and found a preoccupation with the crystal motif related to the famous varieties of kryptonite he suggested to donner this crystal motif be expanded to all krypton related settings making the fortress and the interiors on krypton all resemble the inside of crystals donner loved the idea which also inspired costume designer yvonne blake to create something which would give the kryptonians an almost angelic quality she sourced a material from the company 3m which built cinema screens it was a highly reflective material made out of thousands upon thousands of minuscule glass balls after the costume department spent weeks sewing these glass balls into the costumes they would be lit by bouncing a white light onto them creating a bright glowing effect while filming the krypton scenes marlon brando was famously lazy refusing to learn lines and instead reading them off cue cards and even off baby superman's nappy he even admitted to not having actually read the full script on the first day i came onto the set and then he said you read this i said yeah haven't you read it no i'm not real small why haven't you read it well it might be crap and i need the money you know so i haven't read it though apparently after he did read it brando was immensely supportive of the film using every opportunity to sing its praises to the press for the metropolis scenes the production moved to new york city where the new york daily news building stood in for the daily planet during filming the city suffered a major blackout and cinematographer jeffrey unsworth joked that it must have been his fault due to the amount of lighting equipment he had plugged in at the time the production also moved up to alberta canada which stood in for all of the smallville scenes warner brothers was very encouraged by the footage they were seeing of the film and expanded their distribution arrangement to include all foreign distribution rather than just north america they also gave the production an extra 20 million dollars when costs ran over budget in exchange for the television rights while warner brothers was extremely excited by the film the reality of the shoot was much more contentious richard donner clashed harshly with the soul kinds and in particular their longtime producing partner pierre spengler fierce arguments broke out almost on a daily basis concerning the escalating budget and production schedule dick never in the course of the picture got a budget he never got a schedule he was constantly told that he was over scheduled way over budget but nobody told him what that budget was or how much he was over that budget and at one point he said why don't you just schedule the rest of the film for two days and i'll be nine months over the relationship between donner and the producers became so bad they could no longer speak to each other and director richard lester who had worked with the sulkins on the three and four musketeers was brought in as a mediator while lester and donner got on much better his presence still resulted in a lot of tension during production donna recalled he'd been suing the sulkins for his money on three and four musketeers which he'd never gotten he won a lot of his lawsuits but each time he sued the sulkins in one country they'd move to another from costa rica to panama to switzerland when i was hired lester told me don't do it don't work for them i was told not to but i did now i'm telling you not to but you'll probably do it and end up telling the next guy lester came in as a go-between i didn't trust lester and i told him he said believe me i'm only doing it because they're paying me the money that they owe me from the lawsuit i'll never come on to your sets unless you ask me i'll never go to your dailies if i can help you in any way call me in spite of this bad blood and behind the scenes conflicts donner made sure to keep spirits high on set and ensure the cast and crew were not privy to the full extent of his difficulties with the soul kinds he was under a great deal of stress too because for whatever reasons the producers either wanted him to hurry up or or do better or whatever producers want dick kept the problems between him and the salkins from us as much as possible but we all at that point had opinions prejudices it was a lonely period it was a long period it was tiring it was exhausting but i had taken on the project of making superman and damn it nothing was going to stop me due to the spiraling budget and delays in the schedule it was decided to stop filming on superman 2 and ensure the first film was completed though this meant changing the ending originally the first film would end in a cliffhanger with general zod and his cohorts escaping the phantom zone in the sequel zod would end up destroying the earth forcing superman to turn back time in order to save humanity but with the movie now costing so much the film's fate at the box office was now less certain and so donner decided it would be unwise to end the first film with a cliffhanger if it wasn't a hit therefore superman turning back time to save the day was moved to the ending of the first film when it came to the special and visual effects the first hurdle to clear was making the audience believe a man could fly guy hamilton had already spent six million dollars on test footage before richard donner joined the production and when he viewed the flying footage none of it was usable donner found a lot of the tests resembled the cheap methods used in the early black and white serials donner wanted something much more dynamic and believable director of special effects colin chilvers tried a number of techniques to create the flying sequences such as a mannequin dressed as superman fired out of a cannon and a remote control flying superman doll in the end a number of different methods were used for takeoffs and landings the actors would be mounted on wires christopher reeve proved to be an invaluable asset for these sequences as he had taken up hand gliding as a hobby this gave him the necessary core strength to hold himself on the wires properly and control his movements with great precision while a lot of stunt men trained on the wires in the end the vast majority of the wire work was done by reeve himself blue screen compositing was also used reeve would be suspended on wires the camera would then move towards or away from reeve to give the illusion of movement the final technique was the famous zoptic process reeve would be suspended in front of a front projection screen and two interconnected zoom lenses one on the camera and one the projector combined with interactive lighting and haze would give the illusion of superman actually flying through space rather than simply swinging on wires in front of the screen the visual effects team also made extensive use of miniatures and map paintings the golden gate bridge miniature was over 70 feet long and 20 feet tall many of the miniature map painters also created full-scale paintings to extend the fortress of solitude sets among others to compose the music of the film richard donner initially hired jerry goldsmith as the two had worked together on the omen when i got into this picture i immediately called jerry and i said i'd love to have you do the story so i'd love to so we had a date set but as the picture prolonged itself i lost jerry i saw god why she said i'd love to go for john williams i wonder if we can get him called john williams sent him the script he called he said i'd love to do it i said oh great i had john williams but then we lost him because we went past that date we wouldn't got jerry back and then when we just found out we were gonna go for christmas and we're gonna be that much later i lost jerry again those guys were doing pictures back to back and i got john williams williams was delighted to score the movie and aimed to create a light theatrical tone in the music today we went into a recording studio and we ran the opening credits and as superman came on the screen i swear to god if you listen carefully that literally the music speaks the word [Music] i screwed up this taken because i just ran out on the floor healing genius genius fantastic you know the orchestra reported him and everything but it was i if you listen you can actually hear the music say the word the film had already missed its original summer 1978 release date and so to get the film delivered to cinemas for christmas donner worked around the clock with editor stuart baird to finish the movie with such an enormous amount of work still to do shooting allegedly only finished 10 weeks before the release date with the edit being locked only a month before release but after a grueling production superman the movie was released on the 10th of december 1978. i'll admit to where a few problems which by the way is uh target zero right here when it comes to talking about this film i see no reason why i should mince words here i absolutely love superman the movie it's easily one of my favorite movies of all time and in my opinion remains the greatest superhero movie ever made even to this day not only is it one of the highest technical achievements in blockbuster filmmaking of the day but smartly adapted and truly heartwarming in its presentation richard donner's direction and jeffrey unsworth cinematography is spectacular everything has this enormous sweeping scope to it krypton is spellbinding to look at but the smallville scenes are also gorgeous it feels like a david lean 70 millimeter historical epic with its sense of grandeur and majesty unsworth's choice of lighting lenses and filters also gives everything this soft almost dreamlike look to it it gives everything this classic 1940s hollywood texture but with the vibrant colors of the comic book i think what primarily dates the movie however are the visual effects now make no mistake the effects in this film are pretty much phenomenal however this did come out in the wake of star wars where ilm's motion controlled camera innovations took the miniatures matte paintings and animation techniques of the day and elevated everything to a whole new level superman's effects techniques by comparison are much older and a little rougher the movie does showcase many of these older techniques at the absolute top of their capabilities but it does place the film firmly in the 1970s that being said the miniature work map paintings and of course many of the flying scenes look terrific the golden gate bridge sequence especially is a big highlight the 70-foot miniature looks fantastic on screen the weaker miniature effects surround the hoover dam unfortunately the original miniature effect supervisor had to leave early and this sequence was completed by a different team and it does show when it comes to the flying sequences the blue screen work is easily the weakest in several shots the colours on superman's suit look either washed out underexposed or blown out and the movements can feel a bit stiff as well that being said the wire work and front projection shots hold up extremely well the first time superman takes off inside the fortress of solitude and flies past camera looks incredible christopher reeve looks so smooth and in control and the way he bangs his body when making turns really helps sell the effect when it comes to the front projection work i feel like the scenes in the california desert do look a little rough the team who worked on these sequences always regretted using 35 millimeter film for the background rather than 70 millimeter which would have given a sharper image however during superman's first night out stopping crime and saving the day all of the flying shots looked great i've always loved this shot of superman flying away from the city the way the lighting interacts with him is just perfect and what is there to say about john williams's music which hasn't already been said while there have been some decent attempts at other superman themes over the years nothing has ever come close to topping john williams's main title mark for this movie it's a spectacular piece which feels powerful touching and optimistic just what superman needs beyond the main theme however the film's score is packed with other memorable themes and enjoyable tracks the opening track introducing krypton might be my personal favorite the build up to the first crescendo is tremendous and whenever the krypton motif reappears throughout the film like in the formation of the fortress of solitude it's just magical a number of tracks are also very moving the piece which plays during jonathan kent's funeral is amazing and the love theme between superman and lois is almost as iconic as the main march although the strange poem lois says to herself during that sequence is quite bizarre aside from the film's technical aspect however what makes superman the movie so special is that it simply nails its main character although i have seen some superman fans object to the way lex luthor is portrayed rather than a mad scientist or ruthless businessman he feels more like a bond villain and while i do prefer the mad scientist take on the character myself gene hackman's performance is endlessly charismatic and quite intimidating while the bond villain influence might seem like an odd direction to go in he's basically the coolest bond villain double07 ever had the portrayals of many other superman elements were also quite different than the comic books at the time but they were so successful it's hard to imagine them in any other way it's easy to forget krypton and the fortress of solitude taking on a crystal motif and the superman s being a family crest were all invented for this film but they're such great ideas and are executed so well they've basically become the default when many people think of superman lore this is really the definitive origin story for the character despite brando's laziness on set the way he delivers his final words to kal-el before sending him to earth are really touching the speech is wonderfully written and the emotion of the scene is brilliantly carried by john williams music jonathan kent dying of a heart attack with clark being unable to save him despite all of his powers makes superman as a character feel truly relatable and human and his first appearance saving lois from the helicopter accident is so awe-inspiring and exciting i've got you who's got you i have a personal fondness for the disaster movies of this era and so modeling superman's action sequences after those kinds of films is something i've always felt was a very smart decision we see ordinary people caught in the fray pushed to the very edge of death so when superman finally swoops into the rescue it feels like a huge relief these days online i often see a lot of criticism thrown superman's way with people saying that he's too powerful and too good to properly work in a film in response i always use this movie as a rebuttal to those criticisms because despite this being the first superman movie at the time the character was already 40 years old and many of these criticisms are actually addressed in the film itself the opening of the film showing as a child reading a comic book introduces us to a more innocent world view and when superman says i'm here to fight for truth and justice in the american way lois bursts out laughing which is why christopher reeve's performance as the character is so crucial to the film's success not only was he the first actor to truly distinguish clark kent and superman as two completely different personalities but it also showcases his range as an actor the scene where he briefly switches from clark to superman adjusting his posture and deepening his voice is exceptionally well performed it's the sincerity of the character which makes him work the very idea of a person like superman existing is too good to be true and yet here he is walking talking and flying exactly how such a person would the script and direction do a lot of the heavy lifting but none of it would have worked without christopher reeve in the role this is part of the reason why superman turning back time at the end has never really bothered me because the emotion of the scene is so strong superman pulling lois from the wreck of her car and realizing he's too late is heartbreaking to be so grief-stricken that he's unable to let her die to be so compassionate that he simply can't let even a single person be lost and actually have the power to put things right is something i've actually always found to be quite beautiful and that to me is what a great superman movie should do it should uplift the viewer by the end superman the movie more than succeeds in this regard it embodies a sense of childlike wonder which can penetrate even the most hardened cynic it's miraculous not just for allowing us to believe a man can fly but more importantly it allows us to believe in hope [Music] upon release superman the movie was a box office smash on a budget of 55 million dollars it went on to gross over 300 million dollars worldwide and spent 13 weeks at number one at the us box office it was the sixth highest grossing film of all time and warner brothers most financially successful movie at the time to this day it remains the highest grossing superman movie ever made with an adjusted gross of 1.3 billion dollars the movie also received critical acclaim with praise given to the direction cinematography visual effects and christopher reeve's performance it went on to be nominated for three academy awards although richard donner publicly criticized the academy for not recognizing john barry's production design unsworth cinematography or the efforts of the visual effects team it did however win big at the hugo and saturn awards where the cast and the crew that were snubbed by the academy won their deserved recognition following the film's theatrical run an extended three-hour cut of the movie was created for television in order to add more commercial breaks in 2001 a special edition dvd restored eight minutes of footage from this version supervised by richard donner making it the spiritual director's cut this is my preferred version of the film as well while it adds more action i especially love the scene where superman speaks to jorel after revealing himself to the world it's another wonderful piece of acting from reeve and further serves to humanize superman as a character and superman's success is also partly responsible for the later batman in 1989 and highly influential on sam raimi's spider-man the continuity of the movie was also recently continued in comic book form with dc's new superman 78 series but in 1980 the film's original and highly anticipated sequel superman 2 would see a release despite the triumph of superman's first big screen outing it wasn't long before cracks began to show both in front and behind the camera [Music] thank you for watching if you like my videos be sure to like subscribe and share and make sure to hit the bell icon to stay up to date with all of my new uploads if you want to help the channel grow join my patreon or youtube members using the links down below there you can see videos early as well as some exclusive content speaking of which i'd like to quickly thank all of my patrons and members who are now appearing on screen have a good one and as always live long and prosper

Channel: Rowan J Coleman

Views: 94,903

Keywords: superman, superman the movie, superman the movie retrospective review, superman the movie review, superman movie review, superman retrospective, superman movie retrospective, superman 1978, superman 2, superman documentary, the making of superman, superman behind the scenes, christopher reeve superman, richard donner superman, superman 3, superman 4 the quest for peace, superman returns, man of steel, retrospective review, superman retrospective part 1, rowan j coleman

Id: qsuLZH3qkRw

Length: 35min 17sec (2117 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 31 2022