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View Full Version : Superman (1978)



Johann
08-19-2005, 09:47 PM
This Warner Bros. disc is sheer excellence.


Richard Donner's masterpiece has gotten a fine DVD release.

3 documentaries, 2 trailers, commentaries, stills, screen tests (check out Stockard Channing as Lois Lane- she looks just like Rizzo from Grease!), etc..

Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman and others explain how this classic was made.

The fact that it was Geoffrey Unsworth's last film (the movie is dedicated to him) is reason enough to watch it for infinity.
He was Kubrick's DP on 2001, and it shows. The scenes on Krypton with Brando & "The Council" are sheer movie magic.
Coupled with one of John Williams' most well-known scores and you have near-perfection.
**CORRECTION**
Unsworth's last film was Polanski's TESS- the last scene he shot was the barn dance- apologies for the error.

Reeve is Superman. Brandon Routh has big boots to fill.
Reeve was (in retrospect) a special actor. He embodies Superman in every conceivable way. His Clark Kent is gonna be hard to top. His relationship with Lois is dynamic. Christopher and Margot had good on-screen chemistry. A scene that stands out in my mind and one that is so right for Superman is when Lois is trapped in her car in the fault line earthquake. He thinks he's too late to save her and flies around the earth to reverse time (something Jor-El told him not to do- to never interfere with human history)

Granted, he's not shredded like Arnie as most people would expect Supes to be portrayed, but he looks good in that costume.
It works.

The clip of Brando is pretty funny in the making-of. He gives us some insight into his acting, and it involves his paycheck...


History has shown this film to be an unmitigated classic.
The cinematography, the sfx, the performances, the characters, the whole thing is of supreme cinematic quality.

Who knew that a film of Superman could be so super?