For Gen X, this was our first superhero movie and Christopher Reeve will always be THE Superman. Imagine being 7 years old in a dark theater and believing a man could fly. Furthermore, Christopher Reeve proved he was Superman in how he handled the last part of his life. R.I.P.
I was 8 years old at the drive in with my parents and sister watching this. It was magical. Christopher Reeve will always be my Superman, not some whining emo guy who stood there and watched his father get killed by a tornado or entertained the thought that it might be better to let a bus load of kids die than risk revealing himself.
I don't care how much technology has improved or what film makers can do with computer graphics, there will never be a Superman movie as good as the 1978 original.
Christopher deserved an Oscar for this performance, the scenes where he does the switch between Clark and Superman by only changing his posture is simply sublime.
On the day that Ned Beatty (Otis) Passed Away, Valerie Perrine (Miss Teschmacher) tweeted: "RIP Ned Beatty!!I’ve always had such fond memories of him. He brought so much to Otis and brought him to life like no other actor could have. He’s an unforgettable performer and his talent will be missed. I’ll see you in Otisberg one of these days! 💋 Miss Teschmacher!! #superman"
The reason Christopher Reeve is the best Superman is because he based his entire performance on the line "A friend". He played it as Superman is everyone's friend, he just wants to help. He's not a savior, he's not a god, he's a good man who happens to have the power to help his friends. There's a genuine goodness that comes through, and it is very inspiring. The helicopter rescue scenes will always be one of my favorite superhero movie moments.
I believe Henry Cavell has the ability to put to put that into playing Superman. Lets hope James Gunn, and Zaslav, provide him with a script and director the facilitate that.
@@furnacefighter yes. He morphed himself in his physical performance to not resemble his "true" self, Superman. No prosthetics or CGI, just pure performance. 👍
@@dirus3142 Brandon Routh had it down. Unfortunately, they wasted him in a film that was redundant and then abandoned him for a new aesthetic with the Cavill Superman.
Superman's scream of grief after he pulls Lois out of the ground is one of the most raw, heartbreaking screams of that type in any movie ever made. Christopher knocked it out of the park with that moment alone.
Yes, it's chilling because the core of it is he was angry at himself. He blamed himself for her dying, which is why he didn't care about the rules to save her anyway. If bringing her back didn't work, it's frightening what he would have become. It's actually meant to be a little scary mixed in with heartbreaking. Superman could have easily become a monster at this point. Thank goodness though, he got Lois back. And forgave himself.
Oh man, that scene @22:50 always amaze me. Switching from from his role as Clark to his real self as Superman and back in one scene ONLY by body language … THAT‘s acting. What a shame he died that soon.
Ever heard this story Ashleigh? Christopher Reeve once randomly appeared in public after he was famous for playing Superman. Now, naturally, a big actor like him was ALWAYS swamped by fans. Everyone recognized the face of Superman. But, he later returned to the same exact location dressed as Clark Kent, glasses and all and putting on the awkwardness. Nobody noticed him. You see the reason the Clark Kent disguise works isn't just the glasses, it's the way he spoke and carried himself. And in doing so, he proved that Superman's alter ego is at least a plausible one.
@@auntydale i was at the store, walking out & my cousin was walking in & said Hi i just stared at her. she was wearing glasses & her hair was lighter never recognized her haha!
The brilliance of Christopher Reeves' performance in this is how he transitions from hunched, bumbling Clark Kent to the towering, unflappable Superman. His disguise isn't just the glasses. His mannerisms, behaviors, and tone are also completely different. Clark could literally destroy the entire planet, and no one could stop him. But instead, he's one of the kindest, most humble and selfless people on the face of it. Jonathan and Martha Kent are some of the greatest parents ever. Superman and Batman are almost inverse of each other. Clark is the real persona. His greatest desire is to be normal and to have a world where he doesn't need to be Superman at times. Batman is the real person, and Bruce Wayne is his secret identity. If Gotham didn't need Batman, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. The re-winding time part is a cheesy reach, though. No, he's not supposed to be able to do that.
There is actually a scene in the DC animated movie Justice League: Doom that I think playfully eludes to that scene a bit where a solar flare is about to hit Earth and destroy it and Superman suggests that he could simply move the Earth out of the way. Batman just looks at him with a blank stare and says "If I had a week, I couldn't list all the reasons why that won't work!" 😄
The comics addressed why people didn't recognize Clark as Superman and that is his glasses made from a Kryptonian material that slightly warps his appearance to others making him look different. It's an optical effect, get it.
One of the interesting things about this film is the fact that the only reason Marlon Brando (Jor-El, Superman's Birth Father that sent him to Earth) agreed to do the film was because he himself wanted to wear the Superman Symbol. The filmmakers decided to honor his request and basically imply that the symbol (at least in the film) wasn't actually an S as we know it, rather it's actually a Family Coat of Arms, kinda like how families in Scotland have one with different meanings and symbols and in Superman's case it's the Symbol for the House of El (as in Jor-El, Kal-El (superman's birth name), and so on an so forth), that's why all those other Kryptonians had weird symbols on their chests. And just like the Coat of Arms we have on Earth, the ones on Krypton also have different meanings and in the case of the Symbol for the House of El, it actually means Hope, something that Superman has been known for inspiring in others. The only reason it looks like an S is purely coincidence (at least in the film. In real life it originally just was a simple S that stood for Superman). This idea for Superman's Symbol meaning Hope and it being his Family's Coat of Arms would very quickly be something that got carried over into the comics and future Superman adaptations.
Kevin Feige has said in the past that before starting any new Marvel Studios production, he and a few others at the top of the production sit down and watch this movie. That's how important it is to current superhero movies ☺️
Richard Donner directed this. His Wife, Lauren Donner, hired Kevin as a production assistant. When she got the gig to direct the first X-men she made Kevin a producer because he knew the characters inside and out. This movie really is the grandfather of the MCU.
"All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel... all this, and more I... I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you... all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your own eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father, the son. This is all I ... all I can send you, Kal-El." - Jor-EL
When I saw this as a kid, the sequence starting with him finding Lois dead, his screaming in anger and flying off was one of my favorite movie sequences of all times. It still is. For the first time you saw how powerful Superman was in live action. Him flying so fast that he travels back in time and sets things "right". So good.
The way Jonathan dies in this film actually serves a point besides making Clark feel guilty for choosing to keep his powers hidden. This serves as such a humbling experience to teach him that he can’t save everyone from everything despite his immense power.
17:34 Before this movie, the cliche was that Clark ducks into a phone booth to change into his Superman costume. But by 1978, phone booths had been phased out in favor of those open stands. So there was a bit of a nod to the cliche by having Clark look one over and go "nope." On edit: Like you figured out a few seconds later (and after I'd paused to write this). And the "whoosh" costume change was new for this, too. Yeah, he usually had to duck in somewhere and physically pull off the regular clothes.
I don't even know how the phone booth thing became a cliché to begin with. It never happened in the 1953 TV show, he did it once in a 1941 cartoon, and maybe 3 times in 40 years of comic books. Yet everyone insists that Clark Kent always changed into Superman in a phone booth.
@@bobbuethe1477 I don't know either. But I saw this movie not long after it came out, and people guffawed in the theater at Clark's momentary glance at the stand-up phone kiosk, so at some level it was cultural currency enough to put into the movie.
@@fsodn I agree... I remember it being a famous cliche that Clark always changed in a phone booth... and I vividly remember everyone laughing when he glanced at the phone kiosk too. Funny gag... but really only works if everyone is thinking the same way... and I guess we all were. ;-)
Girl, you just watched not A superhero movie, but one of the greatest ever made! Richard Donner, Mario Puzo, John Williams, Christopher Reeve. So much talent involved. Without this movie we wouldn't have any of the superhero movies we have today.
Prove that without this movie, no one would ever have tried to make a superhero movie. I'll help you out and we can ignore the fact that there were superhero movies and series before this.
@@godmagnus The superhero movie before this was the Adam West Batman movie. It didn't make a ton of money and was campy and this Superman showed Hollywood that money could be made by taking superhero stories seriously.
The genius of Reeve is he makes the bumbling, stammering and such so natural that you can buy folk not looking past the glasses. It's genius how he changes voice, posture and all of it to make it work so well.
This is the granddaddy of superhero movies. It set the template for how comic book heroes should be adapted. All modern superhero media - TV shows, movies, even comics - have tipped their hats to it in some form or another. And yes, as you observed, its influence can really be felt in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire. Very happy that you finally got around to it. RIP Richard Donner and all the cast members who are no longer with us. You all made cinema history.
Superman, Tim Burton's Batman, 1990 live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the first Spider-Man will always be the tops in superhero/comic book movies for me.
John Williams wrote the soundtrack of my youth - Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters, Superman, Indiana Jones - and this is the one that gets me every damn time.
22:06 "It's cheesy, but it's cute..." When this movie was released, the tag-line for it was "You will believe a man can fly" because of the "advanced" special effects used. At the time, they were quite impressive. (Yeah, I'm old.)
During filming, when Christopher Reeve went to the studio cafeteria for lunch in the Superman costume, everyone watched him in awe, and the women swooned. When he went there in the Clark Kent costume, no one noticed or paid any attention to him.
@@danielesteve8359Clothes make the man, up to a point, but I imagine he had put so much into the Clark Kent persona, that when he was in Clark's clothes, he carried the rest of it as well. The hesitant and shy demeanor, the higher pitched voice, the stammering and stuttering, and the slumped posture. He was in the character that went with the wardrobe.
The grandpappy of them all. It got the ball rolling (slowly) on superhero movies. The best portrayal of Superman hands down IMHO. The scene where Reeves (as Kent) almost tells Lois his secret and goes from Kent to Big S and back to Kent in about 2m with just posture and tone of voice...man was one heck of an actor. RIP.
i'll reluctantly disagree and give best superman to Cavill. unfortunately the guys Clark Kent is the worst I have ever seen. Reeves Clark Kent was roughly matched By Routh's too. but noone has ever done nearly as good a job at both as Reeves and in particular noone but Reeves has ever been able to make me believe the secret identity would actually work. noone else can embody both characters the way reeves could
@@johnpaullogan1365 Everyone is entitled to their option and I do not dislike Cavill as an actor...but IMHO the writers and director of Man of Steel do not understand Superman as a character. Man of Steel is not a bad movie if you mentally remove the name Superman/Clark Kent (and the 90ish years of themes, expectations and variants) from your mind. My second runner up in the list would be from the DCAU.
I always loved the cat rescue scene. It showed that superman wasn't all about the big stuff. He was literally wanting to be a friend to all, even little kids. Being a hero isn't only in the big moments, but the small ones as well.
At the time, these special effects were state-of-the-art. The poster for the movie said, "You will believe a man can fly." And we did: no one had ever seen anything like it before. I always liked Reeve's Clark Kent better than his Superman. Thing is, Kent is a person and Superman is an icon, and for a serious actor like Reeve (he was trained at Julliard; Robin Williams was his roommate), Kent was much more accessible.
At the time??! Bro, it's still the standard! That fact is related to how this film never ages a day, it always looks sleek and modern. You could release this in the theatres today and teens who don't have the info could just think it's a fresh brand new film. It also is still at #6 in the highest box office globally of all time, yes #6!!. It was actually #1 for the longest time, until the four avengers films came and that one multi spiderman thing. But prior to those, NOTHING could beat Superman at the #1 position of the highest box office globally, not Deadpool, not any of the Robert Downy Jr. iron films, none of the Hugh Jackman films, none of the Tobey McGuire spideys, not Bale Begins, none of the Snyder shit, absolutely nothing could beat it by financial fact. It held #1 for decades.
"Everybody's so selfish!" It's the 70s. Everyone's cynical, everyone's self-interested. And then Superman pops up with sort of sort of simple, sort of old-fashioned values and a living example of selflessness. Because that's who he is.
The title sequence, with its 1938-esque theater screen & curtains look giving way to the widescreen full-color opening, was INCREDIBLY freakin' cool when it came out.
One thing that was not included in this movie was Lexx Luther and how he knew so much about Superman - and that was because they left out the whole Superboy part. In his teen years, Clark Kent was experimenting with his powers as Superboy, doing the same kind of thing, but on a smaller, local scale. One of the things he did was put out a fire at the local high school. He used his superbreath to literally blow it out. But, in the process, he caused a chemical spill on one of his fellow students, ruining the project he was working on, causing him to lose prestigious science award, along with a full college scholarship. It also caused him to go prematurely and permanently bald, as well as generating a lifelong hatred for Superboy/Superman. That student's name was Lexx Luther.
You know, i never would have thought i'd enjoy watching someone else watching these movies. I'm 43 and these movies are the ones i grew up with. It brings me joy knowing they are still appreciated, i've been watching your uploads for a while now and i really enjoy seeing your reactions. It kind of takes me back to when i saw them the first time. There's still so many of them for you to watch, they are so much better than the modern movies in terms of writing. Granted, sometimes the special effects are a bit dated.. but it's all part of the charm in my opinion. I wish you a Merry Christmas and greetings from the Netherlands in advance.
@@BryanFritchie Exactly. The first time watching a really great, scary, fun, exciting, jaw dropping, unique movie... you only get that One chance. It's really the next best thing when you watch someone have that same feeling. That's why I have a group of reactors I watch certain types of movies with. It's a lot of nostalgic fun
Ashleigh, I find it amazing how you can see superman as a toddler in 1938 and still think it's the 1930's when you next see him as a high school teenager.
I saw this in the theater when it debuted and I've watched it dozens of times since. Christopher Reeve was absolutely brilliant as Superman. He embodied the spirit of Superman and made us Believe a Man Could Fly.
This movie was the prototype for every superhero movie that has come out since. The origin story, the super action, the final showdown with the villain, every superhero trope you've ever seen all started with this.
I saw this movie in the theatre in my hometown of Englewood NJ. I will never forget it because when Sups asks where the other missile is going and he said Teaneck NJ EVERY person in the theatre simultaneously yelled WHAT? DID HE SAY TEANECK NJ? Because Teaneck is literally the next town over. I even questioned whether this was a gimmick like that they dubbed in nearby cities for different theatres because who in the world would think of blowing up Teaneck. It blew the minds of the entire theatre.
It's hard to imagine now, but this was the first modern superhero movie. Sure they had superhero movies and shows before this, but this was the first one with a huge budget and state of the art effects. I was 8 when this came out and was blown away by what I saw.
Three things for me, having grown up through this era: 1) In the theatres, they were also promoting "Kryptonite Glow-in-the-Dark Rocks" - basically fist-sized rocks sprayed with lime Glow-in-the-Dark charge it up under a light bulb paint. 2) The tagline for the movie was, "You will believe a man can fly". That first flying scene in The Fortress of Solitude... Seriously REWATCH that moment and try, just TRY, to look at that and think how effortlessly Chris was in that moment of wire work. 3) The BEST advice Chris was given in how to play this role was, "You are Superman... you are ALWAYS Superman. But when you're Clark, you are Superman pretending to be Clark." And that made all the difference in the world.
Fun fact, actor David Prowse who played Darth Vader in physical form, auditioned for Superman and very nearly got the role but he just couldn't get rid of his deep southern accent. But he ended up befriending Christopher Reeve and they became workout buddies. He had a hand in getting Reeve in shape.
That’s why they call Superman “the Granddaddy of all superheroes” he came out in real life in 1938, and since then he can lift 200 Quintillion tons which is the weight of the earth and with his heat vision he can destroy planets, a lot of his powers are OP like that, like being able to hear everything on earth at once, and being able to fast travel between planets, faster than the speed of light. He’s really OP and worth watching more movies where they flush out his character 😊
Annette O'Toole (being a huge Superman fan, played Lana in the third movie and Martha Kent in Smallville) described meeting and working with Christopher Reeves on Michael Rosenbaum's Podcast. Worth the watch/listen to!
OMG, yes. This was my brother's movie when we were little. But I'm the Smallville dork. When Chris Reeves came on (with the music) I almost peed my pants. I didn't realize how much of the lore I had picked up from watching with my brother growing up. ❤️
For some reason the school I went to during my pre-teen years would send us to the local theater to watch movies sometimes. They took us to see Superman the movie and I was about 8 years old, a movie made specifically for me. Before this movie, Superman was in black and white and from the '50s or the at-that-time, part of the Superfriends on Saturday morning. This movie Superman was in color, he was real and he could fly. Blew me away as a little kid. Christopher Reeve will always be my favorite Superman.
At the phone booth, he was not going to call anyone. Back in the 40's and 50's, Superman stepped into a full sized phone booth (which had shades drawn so that no one could see you) to change into his costume. This paid tribute to that scene.
I will always remember seeing this when it opened…a crowded theater, the scene where Clark looks for a place to change (no phone booth around, where we were used to seeing him change) got such a great laugh…and the moment he catches Lois got such a cheer!! So much fun!
“How did they do that?” Yep, the tag line for the movie was literally “You’ll believe a man can fly”. It was stunning cinema back then even for the modern age.
Keep in mind that this movie came out in 1978. 11 years before Tim Burton‘s Batman came out. Superman production actually created a lot of technology used by other filmmakers further down the road. This was a three act epic and they were much more common in the 60s and 70s.
Fun fact, the Mother of Lois Lane on the train in the beginning of the movie is the original Lois Lane from both the 1940s Superman serials and the 1950s TV Show.
To add on to that to this fun fact, with the 50s TV show, Noel Neill played Lois from the 2nd season onwards. Phyllis Coates played Lois in the first season. I don't think it was ever said why Lois was recast. And decades later they did the same thing with Jimmy in Lois & Clark. And to add to the cameos, Lois' dad, General Sam Lane, is Kirk Alyn, the very first to play Superman in the 1940s serials.
I first saw this with my teenage brother when it hit the UK and it was a total blockbuster. You actually left it believing in superheroes. And it's rewarding to note that the film's star was inspirational beyond the character he portrayed. I don't think it's ever been bettered.
Superman 1 & 2 were shot simultaneously, but the director was fired after the first movie was released, so a new director was hired and lots of new material filmed - decades later, after Christopher Reeves' death, the original footage was found and an almost completely different Superman 2 released. Hope you watch them both.
Yes it was called the Donner cut. The new director was actually on board for a while helping out before Richard. Donner was let go. In order for the new director Richard Lester to be able to get the director credit he had to shoot at least 50% of the footage, hence all the changes. Lester also liked comedy and slap stick which is why 2 and 3 had so much of it.
I was born in 1961. I was in the theater for Batman: The Movie in 1966 which I loved since it was basically a long version of the TV series which I loved. I watched The Adventures of Superman TV series in syndication in the 60s too. I read the Superman comics. I watched the many, many superhero cartoons in the 60s and 70s from DC, Marvel, and others. So in 1978 when this movie comes out I was at the theater to see it and it blew me away! I loved the flying effects and Christopher Reeve was absolutely perfect as Superman! Yeah are were some scenes that were less than stellar even then such as that "Can you read my mind?" flying sequence with Lois, but on the whole it's a great movie as is the sequel! I'm still a big superhero fan and at 61 I'm still watching cartoons! LOL .
When I was running track in high school, my dad would come and film the meets and then make a highlight tape at the end of the season. One year, for whatever reason, we put a lot of credits at the start of the tape that took up a lot of time, and my friends referred to it as "Superman credits."
Him looking at the phone was a inside joke of a sort. In the old days, Superman used to run into a phone booth to change. But at the time of this movie, actual phone booths where you could walk in and close the door was a rare thing and the phone booths were replaced with the open ones. Of course now a days, there's no such thing as phone booths...
The original Superman movies are so nostalgic for me, I absolutely loved them as a kid.. I was so heartbroken when Christopher Reeve had has accident.. I'm a paraplegic myself (born a paraplegic) so I know how hard his life was afterward, especially since before his accident he was so athletic.. It's kind of hard to watch his movies now, but I'm glad I watched this..
The 1938 opening is a tribute to the year Superman first appeared in comics. Batman debut a year later. Superman has super breath, hearing (how he knew about Airforce One), X-Ray, telescopic and microscopic vision, super speed, strength, invulnerable, temperature resistance, flight and more. In the comics he has moved planets out of their orbits. When he changes and it seems to disolve, it represents his super speed. And lastly, the "human drill" into the sidewalk is SUPER human drill. Give Supes his credit.
22:50 is my favorite moment of his in this movie. Just him taking off the glasses and straightening up that little bit TOTALLY changes his character, he turns from Clark Kent to Superman just in that little moment, it's genius, and Christopher Reeve was amazing at switching personas at the snap of a finger.
As a long-time fan of this movie, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed watching your reactions to it. Your comment about the first part dragging and taking too long is absolutely valid, for today, but movies today in general move faster. The long title sequences were the norm back then, and this was before the time of movies filled with a million super-fast cuts. (see what I did there? 😉 haha) I do remember feeling like this was two or maybe even three different movies stuck together -- one on Krypton, a short one in Smallville, and then one in Metropolis. Thanks for reacting to this -- I look forward to seeing what else you'll be watching. 😁 (Hey, have you ever seen the series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman"? I'd love to see you react to that! I know -- gotta be a movie member to make a request.) Oh, and I LOVED Somewhere In Time -- fantastic movie!
Stuff moved too fast in movies these days. It’s fine to move slower. This movie didn’t move too slow though. They actually went pretty quick in his back story. It needed to happen. Millennials and gen Z needs to appreciate that more
As a kid first watching this film, i had no idea what a "Superman" is or was. So seeing his life before he donned on the suit made me care about him alot. plus i also had the pleasure of having Superman series on VHS so i didn't have to wait long before seeing the next film.
You should watch the sequel. It feels odd and long in the beginning because Superman and Superman 2 were originally designed as one four movie, but the studio thought it would be too long, so they cut it in half without balancing the scenes and time to really make the first movie stand-alone. It feels complete if you watch them back to back.
@@1tonyvalle i actually liked routh's kent. it was good andhavng seen the cws crisis event he's grown to where he can pull off superman too. such a shame the writing was somehow worse than IV's
Christopher Reeve was born to be Superman. He was basically Clark Kent anyway, just a kind and generous guy who, from all accounts, was a delight to work with. For a fun twist, you should watch a movie called Deathtrap. it's a psycho thriller and Christopher Reeve was just brilliant at being dangerously crazy. Edit Before 1989, John Williams did the music for everything. After 1989, it was pretty much Danny elfman.
Chris Reeve was not a delight to work with according to Jack O'Halloran who played Non from Superman II. Chris was a very opinionated Liberal and Jack was not and Chris smarted off at Jack about something and the director had to rush out of his trailer screaming and begging Jack not to punch Chris in the face. Jack was a beast and would have stomped Chris.
@@Falcun21 What kind of person punches people over words? Jack was the kind of guy who punched people to solve a Problem. I know the incident you're referring to and it sounds like the problem was Jack being easily provoked by a difference in opinion with a guy who wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Some people just can't take a joke. Michael Caine said he was great, as did Margot kidder and Jane Seymour. That's at least 3 to 1.
@@Falcun21 How does Jack being a violent conservative prove Reeve was a problem? You literally explain why Jack was the entire problem--a whiny conservative who resorts to violence over opinions. Reeve was not the problem.
In this movie, the theme that John Williams wrote has a piece that plays during the funeral for Pa Kent. It is the same exact theme that John Williams wrote that played during the funeral of the character that John Wayne played in "The Cowboys."
Dick Donner was shooting 2 movies at once. SuperMan II was being filmed at the same time. The writers and Dick Donnor had a falling out. In Dick Donnor's version of SuperMan 2, the missile he sent into space hits the glass and sets the villains free that were arrested at the beginning of the movie. The Writers ended up going with another Director, so there were some changes. on another note, just for some fun trivia, Dick Donnor also Directed the Lethal Weapon movies, and the Cop sitting in the Car at 14:36 is the Captain in Lethal Weapon. He's Dick Donnor's Cousin.
2:51 - You have no idea! This title sequence, with John Williams's score, was beyond EPIC for my 11-year-old self! 8:01 - Because they immediately cut to the train after this, I thought the football was going to hit the train and derail it. 🤣 9:11 - The time setting of the movie is VERY confusing because of the opening. It's not taking place in the 30's, but don't look at me for an exact year. I only know we land in the 70's once he grows up. 11:30 - Elsa has a little more sway in her hips when she walks. 😉 12:35 - Gods above and below, I miss New York! That thick NY accent in the background of this establishing shot makes me think of home. ❤ 13:08 - Welcome to the 70's, Ashleigh. We recommend you not stay. Just visit a short while. 😉 14:37 - Ashleigh's having a big day, recognizing canonical bad guys and stuff. 😁 17:05 - This whole sequence... This is what makes this movie special to me. As a young comic book nerd, this was superheroing done right. My heart STILL picks up the pace when I watch it! ❤❤❤ 17:34 - Clark Kent used to change into Superman using phone booths. This was VERY funny back in the 70's. 🤣 (You realize this later.) 19:21 - Superman essentially has "super-everything." He can see and hear trouble around the world, so he's able to rush to save the day. This opens an entire debate about why he isn't saving everyone all the time from everything, but we ain't got time for that. 22:36 - And here we have the part of the movie I absolutely hate. This was supposed to be a song. It's bad enough spoken-word. I had the misfortune of hearing the "song," and it was as bad as I imagined. 22:50 - This brief moment is probably the greatest bit of character building in a superhero movie. Christopher Reeve's posture and demeanor change completely as the glasses come off, showing how it's not just the glasses that hide his identity. ❤❤❤ 29:48 - Later in life, I, along with many others, had something of a problem with Superman's solution for all of the disasters. But then I thought, "It's a comic book movie. I should NOT be looking for realistic applications of science!" 😉 When I was a kid, I watched this movie so many times that I had it memorized, word-for-word, including every tone inflection. This movie was my childhood! My favorite bit of trivia is that Gene Hackman, Lex Luthor, refused to shave off his moustache for the movie. Director Richard Donner promised that he would shave off HIS moustache if Gene would do the same. So when they finally met face-to-face and Gene saw Donner was clean-shaven, he gave in and shaved. Just one little thing... Richard Donner never had a moustache to begin with. 🤣🤣🤣
Title sequences in general have changed a LOT - and most of those changes took place during the mid-70s to early 80s. Take a look at most films made before the 1970s and most of them pack ALL their credits into the BEGINNING of the film and leave just a perfunctory "the end" at the end. (Or something else that makes it obvious that the movie is over - like the ending of Planet of the Apes). It was a rare film that opened just on the title alone. Like so many things - this was changed by none other than Star Wars. If I recall correctly, much of the reason why credits were placed at the beginning of films was due to union rules. And you had to pay extra in the form of some penalty to place them at the end. But for Lucas it was worth it. Superman being made almost at the same time as Star Wars kinda had it both ways. All the major players, director, producers and production company credits were in the big main title sequence. But all of the technical stuff - like the effects companies - were in the end credits. 8:01 Ha! Never made THAT connection. But okay! 17:05 and 17:34 Yes - every reactor I've seen watch this movie - no matter the age difference - is affected in a similar way. And it is THE classic introduction of a superhero saving the day! And I saw this film when I was about 12 years old - and even I got the joke with the phone booth! And that theater ROARED in laughter! That joke KILLED it at the time! 19:21 - I think the idea is that he tries to tone DOWN his senses lest it drive him mad - he CAN process all the input for a short time. But it gets to be too much if he keeps it up. So he listens or looks for SPECIFIC things - like the gunshots down at the docks. Or someone crawling up the side of a building. Or the sound of an explosion in the sky and an airplane's remaining 3 engines going into high power mode (or whatever it is) to compensate etc. For the rest of the world, his job as a reporter is meant to provide him with a way to know about things happening outside his normal range of senses. AND a cover for his activities. "Where's Clark?" "Oh - probably doing some investigating." Plus - in a pinch he can write about Superman's activities as a "witness". Heh. 22:36 Yeah - not a fan either. The one part of the movie I tend to fast forward through. 22:50 - The best answer - for ALL TIME - to the question - how does just putting on glasses disguise him? Because it's NOT just the glasses! He could almost pull it off WITHOUT the glasses! But not quite. So the glasses are merely the finishing touch and distraction. 29:48 - This is also known as "Bellisario's Maxim". tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BellisariosMaxim "Bellisario's Maxim is an unashamed admission of handwaving details unnecessary to the enjoyment of a show, and an exhortation to not let the obsession with those details get in the way of the story. Implicit in the Maxim is a request to understand that the story is being told by a small production team that (due to the limitations of the medium) has to work quickly, with a limited budget and tight deadlines, and has to dodge Executive Meddling, all while trying to turn out the best product it can." 😅
Superman doesn't actually turn back time, he travels back in time by flying faster than the speed of light. But I'll admit the movie makes it confusing.
I watched this in the theater when it came out; I was five years old. The part when Lois sinks into the fault line in her car very nearly traumatized me. That being said, I will always have a soft spot for this movie.
The square thing In the beginning I believe is supposed to represent the phantom zone Basically a pocket like dimension where you can be imprisoned forever....potentially
There was a brief scene on the speeding train. The sleeping mom was portrayed by Noel Neill was Lois Lane in most episodes in the TV series of the Adventures of Superman. The father was Kirk Alyn was the father. He played Superman in a couple of 1940’s Superman serials. The little girl was supposed to be Lois Lane as a tween. There was a deleted scene of the three of them on the train
The woman riding the train we briefly saw as Clark raced by was Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane for years in both the 1948 and 1950 movie serials, and the television program, "The Adventures of Superman" that ran from 1952 to 1958, and that was in television syndication for a couple of decades afterwards, and which was the primary Superman many people knew for many years, although the television program was just a translation of the radio show that ran from 1938, when Superman first appeared in the comics as the first superhero. The man with the smooth line going into the Daily Planet as Lois and Clark first exit the building was Rex Reed, who was the movie reviewer for the NYC Daily News, whose building they were actually exiting and filming by; Reed appeared on TV and was very well-known at the time. Much Superman mythology evolved and changed over the years; his mythos was completely revised in 1986, changing the story so that he only gained his super powers as an adolescent/young teen; "Superbaby" and "Superboy" no longer had existed. (DC later rechanged all this stuff again about forty times; they've never been able to make up their mind about continuity in the past forty-odd years, revising it constantly; Superman's power levels changed drastically over the decades, and this movie gave him powers he's never had before or since, specifically shooting rays out of his hands. Consistency with the comics was not a priority for this movie, sigh.) Just all FYI.
@@sea-envy3137 She appeared in a few other Superman things later (such as the "Superboy" TV show and "Superman Returns"), but the other '50s TV Lois, Phyllis Coates, was on "Lois & Clark." According to IMBD, Ms. Coates is still around in 2022.
Your comments during the film are always so fun, and it's so great to witness your on-the-spot responses to the unexpected moments. This "Superman" was my first superhero film, which I remember watching with my older sister when we were kids, and it remains my favorite Superman. Christopher Reeve really is dreamy in this film; the superhero costume really helps, too!
The helicopter rescue scene is still one of my favorite scenes in a superhero movie... the build-up, the music, the costume reveal, just perfect!... Also Jackie Cooper (Daily Planet editor Perry White) was one of the Little Rascals when he was a kid...
Christopher Reeve was and still is the best Superman so far. And Ashleigh makes an nteresting point about the pacing of the movie, you can tell it was made in a different era, now we are more used to action sequences than character development on comic book movies (not all of them). It would be really interesting to see a Superman movie properly made in modern times that really understand how the character works best (not a dig at Man of Steel, really like the movie, but it could've been better).
Superheroes had been on the big screen decades before Superman:The Movie, but mostly in 12 episode serials. This was the first realistic and serious superhero film. My dad and I saw this in the theater when I was ten. I was already a comic book fans; dad did not grow up reading comics at all. This was HIS favorite comic book movie and we watched quite a few between Superman and dad's passing.
I absolutely love Lois Lane as the spunky, comedic relief. It's such a change from the usual "pretty girlfriend with no personality" of these superhero movies. She's a damsel at times yes, but she's not shy about mouthing off or using her fists to back up her talk. "You've got me... who's got you?!?" is one of my favorite lines of all time and the way Margot Kidder delivered it was brilliant. Rest in peace to all the great talent behind this film.
Please continue with this series. There are two different cuts of the second film Film 3 was a noted slip down in quality, but had some good moments, plus an actress later came back in the SMALLVILLE series as a main character The 4th film was very low standards of production value quality, but decent enough story even though it was a bit more on the nose with its preachiness The “5th” film was more of an homage to the stylings of a now bygone era of comic book hero movies, and a love letter to the original pair of films.
When I was a kid, the helicopter scene and Louis/car being buried was the most thrilling and terrifying thing I’d ever seen. Christopher Reeve will always be Superman to me. I also love part 2 but after that the franchise really suffers.
First, please watch the sequel! There's no more setup so he has more time to face down the villains (the criminals in the glass prison), and it has some deeper, scarier, more heartfelt moments. Second, this was made as superheroes were transitioning from the goofy comics-for-kids era to the darker, grittier era of the 80s, and so it's fun to see elements of both during this middle time. Lastly, the tagline was "You'll believe a man can fly" but it could just as well have been "You'll believe you only need glasses for a disguise" because of how masterfully Christopher Reeve played both personalities so differently. And yet they both still had that pure boy-scout sincerity that marks Superman.
there's another movie where a character has to disguise themselves, and they go for the cheap option. someone asks them "You think that's gonna fool anyone?", and they go "Hey, it worked for Superman!"
A technical note on your appreciation for the miniature effects in this movie: This movie, like the "Star Wars" movies, was shot in England. And the preeminent special effects supervisor of miniatures at the time was Derek Meddings, who did almost all of them for this film. And since you're now watching James Bond films, Meddings worked on all the Bond films from "Live and Let Die" to "GoldenEye" before passing away. To me, he was the king of the plane crash explosion. He crashed Batman's plane in the 1989 movie.
I forgot to add that Otis is played by the lovely Ned Beatty, another in that long line of supporting actors who make a movie great. He also has a huge range of talent, able to bumble his way through a comedy or to chill an audience with stillness and carefully-phrased words.
Ned Beatty in "Network" is FANTASTIC!!! The "You have meddled with the Primal forces of nature" speech is just BRILLIANT! He should've gotten the Supporting Actor Award for it!!!!!
This movie was huge for me when it came out. I was four at the time and when we came home from the theater, I grabbed a red towel, tied it around my neck and ran around the backyard with my arms out in front of me pretending I was flying. Superman was my first hero, someone I could look up to and want to aspire to be like. I’m forty-eight years old and I STILL aspire to be like Superman!
The Godfather's Mario Puzo contributed to the script, and while it's naturally been contested just how much of his work ended up in the movie, the one scene that really feels like him is Clark lamenting that he couldn't save his father even with all his powers.
While there are a lot of things in this movie that are definetly 70s, the one thing that will never get old is Reeve's performance. He was so good you really could believe how someone could not connect that Clark and Superman are the same person. Body language, voice, everything. Years later, Brandon Routh pulled off the same kind of performance in the underwhelming "Superman Returns." You should put that on the list for later, too. It's actually a direct sequel to this movie made in the 2000s.
Honestly, it would have been perfect had it immediately come after 1/2. But... unfortunately, things had changed enough that it wasn't considered as good.
reeves perfectly nailed both the persona of clark kent and superman , and also the tagiline for this movie in 1978 was "you'll believe a man can fly" so it was the first believable sfx for flight. it also is the movie that made all superhero movies that were amzing and popular since happen
"Sweet Grey haired old lady" was a euphemism for your bookie. Lois was implying he gambled but of course being clark, he's too "golly-gosh-gee" for that kinda thing.
Fun fact: when teenage Clark was racing the train, little girl Lois exclaimed to her mom a boy running as fast as a train 🚆. Little girl Lois's mom is played by Noel Neill. Noel Neill played the ORIGINAL Lois Lane in the old black and white Superman serials and the George Reeves Adventures of Superman series. Noel Neill passed away not too terribly long ago. -OG
This is what Superman is meant to be. A through and through amazing person. Besides his super powers he is supposed to be something to aspire to be. A true force for good
I remember watching this in a packed movie theater when I was 11 years old. The soundtrack was on another level. Plus, Marlon Brando as Jor El, Superman's father, was a HUGE GET back then. He received a million dollars for less than 10 minutes of screen time. That was a big deal at the time!
Fun Fact: Superman, Batman, Robin Williams, and Fraser Crane all went to Juilliard together. Christopher Reeve, Kevin Conroy, Robin Williams, and Kelsey Grammar were all there at the same time!
For Gen X, this was our first superhero movie and Christopher Reeve will always be THE Superman. Imagine being 7 years old in a dark theater and believing a man could fly. Furthermore, Christopher Reeve proved he was Superman in how he handled the last part of his life. R.I.P.
THIS ^
YOU SAID IT PERFECTLY. He IS, WAS, and ALWAYS will be Superman.
By flying off a horse?
I was 10 when this came out. Awesome time to be a kid.
I was 8 years old at the drive in with my parents and sister watching this. It was magical. Christopher Reeve will always be my Superman, not some whining emo guy who stood there and watched his father get killed by a tornado or entertained the thought that it might be better to let a bus load of kids die than risk revealing himself.
I don't care how much technology has improved or what film makers can do with computer graphics, there will never be a Superman movie as good as the 1978 original.
Amen to that.
I concur!
I got the complete DVD set lol. I remember as a kid part 2 came on tv i was so hyped , it was during the Batman The Animated Series period
And there will never EVER be a Superman as great as Christopher Reeves. He IS Superman.
well, you could remake the original with updated effects and some tweaks (no poem scene). But no living actor can play Kak-el that perfectly.
Christopher deserved an Oscar for this performance, the scenes where he does the switch between Clark and Superman by only changing his posture is simply sublime.
Wait...it's the SAME GUY??!!
One of the weirdest things in this movie is that Clark Kent and Superman part their hair on different sides of the head.
On the day that Ned Beatty (Otis) Passed Away, Valerie Perrine (Miss Teschmacher) tweeted:
"RIP Ned Beatty!!I’ve always had such fond memories of him. He brought so much to Otis and brought him to life like no other actor could have. He’s an unforgettable performer and his talent will be missed. I’ll see you in Otisberg one of these days! 💋 Miss Teschmacher!! #superman"
I'll always remember him squealing like a pig in Deliverance
Really?! How sweet from Valerie.
Wow
The reason Christopher Reeve is the best Superman is because he based his entire performance on the line "A friend". He played it as Superman is everyone's friend, he just wants to help. He's not a savior, he's not a god, he's a good man who happens to have the power to help his friends. There's a genuine goodness that comes through, and it is very inspiring. The helicopter rescue scenes will always be one of my favorite superhero movie moments.
I believe Henry Cavell has the ability to put to put that into playing Superman. Lets hope James Gunn, and Zaslav, provide him with a script and director the facilitate that.
Christopher Reeve was the best Superman because he played Clark Kent his nerd secret identity sooooo well.
@@furnacefighter yes. He morphed himself in his physical performance to not resemble his "true" self, Superman. No prosthetics or CGI, just pure performance. 👍
@@dirus3142 Brandon Routh had it down. Unfortunately, they wasted him in a film that was redundant and then abandoned him for a new aesthetic with the Cavill Superman.
@@pineconey IMO the worst thing they did to Brandon Routh in his Superman movie was try to make him too much like Chris's Superman.
Superman's scream of grief after he pulls Lois out of the ground is one of the most raw, heartbreaking screams of that type in any movie ever made. Christopher knocked it out of the park with that moment alone.
First time I saw that I thought “Oh shit, Supes is going to rip Lex in half”
It's so heartbreaking. As a child, that scene scared the crap out of me. As an adult, I identify with that scene to my core.
I love that moment so much. Reeves really sells it in that moment.
It's so raw it broke the rest of the script. 😉
Yes, it's chilling because the core of it is he was angry at himself. He blamed himself for her dying, which is why he didn't care about the rules to save her anyway. If bringing her back didn't work, it's frightening what he would have become. It's actually meant to be a little scary mixed in with heartbreaking. Superman could have easily become a monster at this point. Thank goodness though, he got Lois back. And forgave himself.
Oh man, that scene @22:50 always amaze me. Switching from from his role as Clark to his real self as Superman and back in one scene ONLY by body language … THAT‘s acting. What a shame he died that soon.
That's why Christopher Reeves is the best Superman. There's actually a difference with and without the glasses, such a great actor.
Ever heard this story Ashleigh? Christopher Reeve once randomly appeared in public after he was famous for playing Superman. Now, naturally, a big actor like him was ALWAYS swamped by fans. Everyone recognized the face of Superman.
But, he later returned to the same exact location dressed as Clark Kent, glasses and all and putting on the awkwardness. Nobody noticed him. You see the reason the Clark Kent disguise works isn't just the glasses, it's the way he spoke and carried himself. And in doing so, he proved that Superman's alter ego is at least a plausible one.
Yes! You can literally see him “transform” back into Clark when he decides to not tell her.
@@auntydale i was at the store, walking out & my cousin was walking in & said Hi
i just stared at her.
she was wearing glasses & her hair was lighter
never recognized her haha!
Recognizing a John Williams score, you are official an OG now. Mad props.
IKR ..
John Williams was synonymous with 70s-2000s scores.
Here Here.
its not too hard to put 2 and 2 together when you hear it.
its ridiculously apparent.
MAD PROPS INDEED!
The brilliance of Christopher Reeves' performance in this is how he transitions from hunched, bumbling Clark Kent to the towering, unflappable Superman. His disguise isn't just the glasses. His mannerisms, behaviors, and tone are also completely different. Clark could literally destroy the entire planet, and no one could stop him. But instead, he's one of the kindest, most humble and selfless people on the face of it. Jonathan and Martha Kent are some of the greatest parents ever.
Superman and Batman are almost inverse of each other. Clark is the real persona. His greatest desire is to be normal and to have a world where he doesn't need to be Superman at times. Batman is the real person, and Bruce Wayne is his secret identity. If Gotham didn't need Batman, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.
The re-winding time part is a cheesy reach, though. No, he's not supposed to be able to do that.
There is actually a scene in the DC animated movie Justice League: Doom that I think playfully eludes to that scene a bit where a solar flare is about to hit Earth and destroy it and Superman suggests that he could simply move the Earth out of the way. Batman just looks at him with a blank stare and says "If I had a week, I couldn't list all the reasons why that won't work!"
😄
The re-winding time part was in the original comic. My dad told me that when we saw the movie back then.
That’s why he’ll always be my favorite Superman cause he played Superman and Clark Kent as 2 completely different characters unlike modern versions.
The comics addressed why people didn't recognize Clark as Superman and that is his glasses made from a Kryptonian material that slightly warps his appearance to others making him look different. It's an optical effect, get it.
He was traveling back in time, something he did VERY frequently in the silver age comics.
One of the interesting things about this film is the fact that the only reason Marlon Brando (Jor-El, Superman's Birth Father that sent him to Earth) agreed to do the film was because he himself wanted to wear the Superman Symbol. The filmmakers decided to honor his request and basically imply that the symbol (at least in the film) wasn't actually an S as we know it, rather it's actually a Family Coat of Arms, kinda like how families in Scotland have one with different meanings and symbols and in Superman's case it's the Symbol for the House of El (as in Jor-El, Kal-El (superman's birth name), and so on an so forth), that's why all those other Kryptonians had weird symbols on their chests. And just like the Coat of Arms we have on Earth, the ones on Krypton also have different meanings and in the case of the Symbol for the House of El, it actually means Hope, something that Superman has been known for inspiring in others. The only reason it looks like an S is purely coincidence (at least in the film. In real life it originally just was a simple S that stood for Superman).
This idea for Superman's Symbol meaning Hope and it being his Family's Coat of Arms would very quickly be something that got carried over into the comics and future Superman adaptations.
Do you imagine that only Scotland has coat of arms? All of the European gentry had them.
@@DaviniaHill I only knew Scotland had them. I wasn't aware if that was the case for the rest of Europe.
Nothing's more romantic than LITERALLY turning back time to save the one you love. Ultimate Superballer move.
Kevin Feige has said in the past that before starting any new Marvel Studios production, he and a few others at the top of the production sit down and watch this movie. That's how important it is to current superhero movies ☺️
Richard Donner directed this. His Wife, Lauren Donner, hired Kevin as a production assistant. When she got the gig to direct the first X-men she made Kevin a producer because he knew the characters inside and out.
This movie really is the grandfather of the MCU.
Kevin lies
Current Marvel movies are made by people who hate the past.
@@LarryBonson About as often as Reeve's Superman does.
For some reason, I always get choked up when I hear Jonathan say, "You are here for a reason". That line is relevant on so many levels.
I cry like five times in this movie. Every single time lol
"All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel... all this, and more I... I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you... all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your own eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father, the son. This is all I ... all I can send you, Kal-El." - Jor-EL
For me, it's when Lois asks, "who are you" and he reply's... "a friend"
When I saw this as a kid, the sequence starting with him finding Lois dead, his screaming in anger and flying off was one of my favorite movie sequences of all times. It still is. For the first time you saw how powerful Superman was in live action. Him flying so fast that he travels back in time and sets things "right". So good.
The way Jonathan dies in this film actually serves a point besides making Clark feel guilty for choosing to keep his powers hidden. This serves as such a humbling experience to teach him that he can’t save everyone from everything despite his immense power.
Exactly! It adds a layer of pathos to the Superman story
If not for that lesson, he probably would have just been given the power of super-CPR 🤣
... Unless he turns the world back in time
17:34 Before this movie, the cliche was that Clark ducks into a phone booth to change into his Superman costume. But by 1978, phone booths had been phased out in favor of those open stands. So there was a bit of a nod to the cliche by having Clark look one over and go "nope." On edit: Like you figured out a few seconds later (and after I'd paused to write this). And the "whoosh" costume change was new for this, too. Yeah, he usually had to duck in somewhere and physically pull off the regular clothes.
I don't even know how the phone booth thing became a cliché to begin with. It never happened in the 1953 TV show, he did it once in a 1941 cartoon, and maybe 3 times in 40 years of comic books. Yet everyone insists that Clark Kent always changed into Superman in a phone booth.
@@bobbuethe1477 You should try to read the comic books
@@bobbuethe1477 I don't know either. But I saw this movie not long after it came out, and people guffawed in the theater at Clark's momentary glance at the stand-up phone kiosk, so at some level it was cultural currency enough to put into the movie.
@@fsodn I agree... I remember it being a famous cliche that Clark always changed in a phone booth... and I vividly remember everyone laughing when he glanced at the phone kiosk too. Funny gag... but really only works if everyone is thinking the same way... and I guess we all were. ;-)
Phone booths were still fairly common. Consider Bill & Ted using one over a decade later.
Girl, you just watched not A superhero movie, but one of the greatest ever made! Richard Donner, Mario Puzo, John Williams, Christopher Reeve. So much talent involved. Without this movie we wouldn't have any of the superhero movies we have today.
Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, Jackie Cooper…
Donner threw out Puzo's script. Tom Mankiewicz wrote the movie.
Prove that without this movie, no one would ever have tried to make a superhero movie. I'll help you out and we can ignore the fact that there were superhero movies and series before this.
@@godmagnus The superhero movie before this was the Adam West Batman movie. It didn't make a ton of money and was campy and this Superman showed Hollywood that money could be made by taking superhero stories seriously.
@@doughbafett and and the man that played ZOD (Terence stamp) did the voice for superman's father in the tv show Smallville
"You are there to have sex and look hot, stop touching stuff"
best quote of the day.
Words to live by
The genius of Reeve is he makes the bumbling, stammering and such so natural that you can buy folk not looking past the glasses. It's genius how he changes voice, posture and all of it to make it work so well.
This is the granddaddy of superhero movies. It set the template for how comic book heroes should be adapted. All modern superhero media - TV shows, movies, even comics - have tipped their hats to it in some form or another. And yes, as you observed, its influence can really be felt in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire. Very happy that you finally got around to it. RIP Richard Donner and all the cast members who are no longer with us. You all made cinema history.
Superman, Tim Burton's Batman, 1990 live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the first Spider-Man will always be the tops in superhero/comic book movies for me.
Not sure "granddaddy" is the right term, we had things like Batman The Movie 1966 and things like Atom Man vs. Superman before that.
John Williams wrote the soundtrack of my youth - Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters, Superman, Indiana Jones - and this is the one that gets me every damn time.
22:06 "It's cheesy, but it's cute..."
When this movie was released, the tag-line for it was "You will believe a man can fly" because of the "advanced" special effects used.
At the time, they were quite impressive. (Yeah, I'm old.)
Old is always better than ignorant.
Ashleigh. This is amazing. How do you know absolutely _nothing_ about Superman. It's a complete joy watching you experience this for the first time.
During filming, when Christopher Reeve went to the studio cafeteria for lunch in the Superman costume, everyone watched him in awe, and the women swooned. When he went there in the Clark Kent costume, no one noticed or paid any attention to him.
Because people is unable yo see further than you wear. They're so damned superficial
@@danielesteve8359Clothes make the man, up to a point, but I imagine he had put so much into the Clark Kent persona, that when he was in Clark's clothes, he carried the rest of it as well. The hesitant and shy demeanor, the higher pitched voice, the stammering and stuttering, and the slumped posture. He was in the character that went with the wardrobe.
The grandpappy of them all. It got the ball rolling (slowly) on superhero movies. The best portrayal of Superman hands down IMHO. The scene where Reeves (as Kent) almost tells Lois his secret and goes from Kent to Big S and back to Kent in about 2m with just posture and tone of voice...man was one heck of an actor. RIP.
So true,I always notice that bit class act Christopher Reeve.
Yep, that one moment is the answer to questions about why no one recognizes that Clark and Superman are one and the same. Thank you Christopher Reeve!
No, sorry. This didn’t start the superhero boom.
i'll reluctantly disagree and give best superman to Cavill. unfortunately the guys Clark Kent is the worst I have ever seen. Reeves Clark Kent was roughly matched By Routh's too. but noone has ever done nearly as good a job at both as Reeves and in particular noone but Reeves has ever been able to make me believe the secret identity would actually work. noone else can embody both characters the way reeves could
@@johnpaullogan1365 Everyone is entitled to their option and I do not dislike Cavill as an actor...but IMHO the writers and director of Man of Steel do not understand Superman as a character. Man of Steel is not a bad movie if you mentally remove the name Superman/Clark Kent (and the 90ish years of themes, expectations and variants) from your mind. My second runner up in the list would be from the DCAU.
I always loved the cat rescue scene. It showed that superman wasn't all about the big stuff. He was literally wanting to be a friend to all, even little kids. Being a hero isn't only in the big moments, but the small ones as well.
I also liked the moment when mom slapped the girl for "lying"
Child abuse in the 70s was uproarious 😄👍
At the time, these special effects were state-of-the-art. The poster for the movie said, "You will believe a man can fly." And we did: no one had ever seen anything like it before.
I always liked Reeve's Clark Kent better than his Superman. Thing is, Kent is a person and Superman is an icon, and for a serious actor like Reeve (he was trained at Julliard; Robin Williams was his roommate), Kent was much more accessible.
At the time??!
Bro, it's still the standard!
That fact is related to how this film never ages a day, it always looks sleek and modern. You could release this in the theatres today and teens who don't have the info could just think it's a fresh brand new film. It also is still at #6 in the highest box office globally of all time, yes #6!!. It was actually #1 for the longest time, until the four avengers films came and that one multi spiderman thing. But prior to those, NOTHING could beat Superman at the #1 position of the highest box office globally, not Deadpool, not any of the Robert Downy Jr. iron films, none of the Hugh Jackman films, none of the Tobey McGuire spideys, not Bale Begins, none of the Snyder shit, absolutely nothing could beat it by financial fact.
It held #1 for decades.
"Everybody's so selfish!" It's the 70s. Everyone's cynical, everyone's self-interested. And then Superman pops up with sort of sort of simple, sort of old-fashioned values and a living example of selflessness. Because that's who he is.
The title sequence, with its 1938-esque theater screen & curtains look giving way to the widescreen full-color opening, was INCREDIBLY freakin' cool when it came out.
One thing that was not included in this movie was Lexx Luther and how he knew so much about Superman - and that was because they left out the whole Superboy part. In his teen years, Clark Kent was experimenting with his powers as Superboy, doing the same kind of thing, but on a smaller, local scale. One of the things he did was put out a fire at the local high school. He used his superbreath to literally blow it out. But, in the process, he caused a chemical spill on one of his fellow students, ruining the project he was working on, causing him to lose prestigious science award, along with a full college scholarship. It also caused him to go prematurely and permanently bald, as well as generating a lifelong hatred for Superboy/Superman. That student's name was Lexx Luther.
11:00 'Is it kinda like a seed?' YES! Very good take on Clark throwing the crystal in order to create his Fortress of Solitude. 👌
You know, i never would have thought i'd enjoy watching someone else watching these movies. I'm 43 and these movies are the ones i grew up with. It brings me joy knowing they are still appreciated, i've been watching your uploads for a while now and i really enjoy seeing your reactions. It kind of takes me back to when i saw them the first time. There's still so many of them for you to watch, they are so much better than the modern movies in terms of writing. Granted, sometimes the special effects are a bit dated.. but it's all part of the charm in my opinion. I wish you a Merry Christmas and greetings from the Netherlands in advance.
It is good to hear :D
She's the best!!
Reaction videos are a way for me to remember exactly how I felt the first time I watched a movie.
@@BryanFritchie Exactly. The first time watching a really great, scary, fun, exciting, jaw dropping, unique movie... you only get that One chance. It's really the next best thing when you watch someone have that same feeling. That's why I have a group of reactors I watch certain types of movies with. It's a lot of nostalgic fun
Reeve's portrayal of Clark Kent was the absolute class of the field. He was PERFECTLY cast in this.
Ashleigh, I find it amazing how you can see superman as a toddler in 1938 and still think it's the 1930's when you next see him as a high school teenager.
I saw this in the theater when it debuted and I've watched it dozens of times since. Christopher Reeve was absolutely brilliant as Superman. He embodied the spirit of Superman and made us Believe a Man Could Fly.
This movie was the prototype for every superhero movie that has come out since. The origin story, the super action, the final showdown with the villain, every superhero trope you've ever seen all started with this.
Never has there been more perfect casting. Christopher Reeve is Superman.
I saw this movie in the theatre in my hometown of Englewood NJ. I will never forget it because when Sups asks where the other missile is going and he said Teaneck NJ EVERY person in the theatre simultaneously yelled WHAT? DID HE SAY TEANECK NJ? Because Teaneck is literally the next town over. I even questioned whether this was a gimmick like that they dubbed in nearby cities for different theatres because who in the world would think of blowing up Teaneck. It blew the minds of the entire theatre.
It's hard to imagine now, but this was the first modern superhero movie. Sure they had superhero movies and shows before this, but this was the first one with a huge budget and state of the art effects. I was 8 when this came out and was blown away by what I saw.
"You'll believe a man can fly" is a tag line they used for this movie.
For me, Christopher Reeve is my Superman. Always and forever.
Three things for me, having grown up through this era:
1) In the theatres, they were also promoting "Kryptonite Glow-in-the-Dark Rocks" - basically fist-sized rocks sprayed with lime Glow-in-the-Dark charge it up under a light bulb paint.
2) The tagline for the movie was, "You will believe a man can fly". That first flying scene in The Fortress of Solitude... Seriously REWATCH that moment and try, just TRY, to look at that and think how effortlessly Chris was in that moment of wire work.
3) The BEST advice Chris was given in how to play this role was, "You are Superman... you are ALWAYS Superman. But when you're Clark, you are Superman pretending to be Clark." And that made all the difference in the world.
Fun fact, actor David Prowse who played Darth Vader in physical form, auditioned for Superman and very nearly got the role but he just couldn't get rid of his deep southern accent. But he ended up befriending Christopher Reeve and they became workout buddies. He had a hand in getting Reeve in shape.
That’s why they call Superman “the Granddaddy of all superheroes” he came out in real life in 1938, and since then he can lift 200 Quintillion tons which is the weight of the earth and with his heat vision he can destroy planets, a lot of his powers are OP like that, like being able to hear everything on earth at once, and being able to fast travel between planets, faster than the speed of light. He’s really OP and worth watching more movies where they flush out his character 😊
Annette O'Toole (being a huge Superman fan, played Lana in the third movie and Martha Kent in Smallville) described meeting and working with Christopher Reeves on Michael Rosenbaum's Podcast. Worth the watch/listen to!
OMG, yes. This was my brother's movie when we were little. But I'm the Smallville dork. When Chris Reeves came on (with the music) I almost peed my pants. I didn't realize how much of the lore I had picked up from watching with my brother growing up. ❤️
For some reason the school I went to during my pre-teen years would send us to the local theater to watch movies sometimes. They took us to see Superman the movie and I was about 8 years old, a movie made specifically for me. Before this movie, Superman was in black and white and from the '50s or the at-that-time, part of the Superfriends on Saturday morning. This movie Superman was in color, he was real and he could fly. Blew me away as a little kid. Christopher Reeve will always be my favorite Superman.
At the phone booth, he was not going to call anyone. Back in the 40's and 50's, Superman stepped into a full sized phone booth (which had shades drawn so that no one could see you) to change into his costume. This paid tribute to that scene.
I will always remember seeing this when it opened…a crowded theater, the scene where Clark looks for a place to change (no phone booth around, where we were used to seeing him change) got such a great laugh…and the moment he catches Lois got such a cheer!! So much fun!
“How did they do that?”
Yep, the tag line for the movie was literally “You’ll believe a man can fly”. It was stunning cinema back then even for the modern age.
Keep in mind that this movie came out in 1978. 11 years before Tim Burton‘s Batman came out. Superman production actually created a lot of technology used by other filmmakers further down the road. This was a three act epic and they were much more common in the 60s and 70s.
Fun fact, the Mother of Lois Lane on the train in the beginning of the movie is the original Lois Lane from both the 1940s Superman serials and the 1950s TV Show.
To add on to that to this fun fact, with the 50s TV show, Noel Neill played Lois from the 2nd season onwards. Phyllis Coates played Lois in the first season. I don't think it was ever said why Lois was recast. And decades later they did the same thing with Jimmy in Lois & Clark.
And to add to the cameos, Lois' dad, General Sam Lane, is Kirk Alyn, the very first to play Superman in the 1940s serials.
I first saw this with my teenage brother when it hit the UK and it was a total blockbuster. You actually left it believing in superheroes. And it's rewarding to note that the film's star was inspirational beyond the character he portrayed. I don't think it's ever been bettered.
Superman 1 & 2 were shot simultaneously, but the director was fired after the first movie was released, so a new director was hired and lots of new material filmed - decades later, after Christopher Reeves' death, the original footage was found and an almost completely different Superman 2 released. Hope you watch them both.
Yes it was called the Donner cut. The new director was actually on board for a while helping out before Richard. Donner was let go. In order for the new director Richard Lester to be able to get the director credit he had to shoot at least 50% of the footage, hence all the changes. Lester also liked comedy and slap stick which is why 2 and 3 had so much of it.
@@SteveODonnell I wonder if the camp humour that was given to this film by lester influenced the silly but watchable 80’s/90’s batmans films
I had no idea about this I am gonna go look for that thanks
What could've been if only the Salkinds didn't have their heads up their asses.
Theatrical cut for Superman 2. Not the Dinner version. Just my two cents.
I was born in 1961. I was in the theater for Batman: The Movie in 1966 which I loved since it was basically a long version of the TV series which I loved. I watched The Adventures of Superman TV series in syndication in the 60s too. I read the Superman comics. I watched the many, many superhero cartoons in the 60s and 70s from DC, Marvel, and others. So in 1978 when this movie comes out I was at the theater to see it and it blew me away! I loved the flying effects and Christopher Reeve was absolutely perfect as Superman! Yeah are were some scenes that were less than stellar even then such as that "Can you read my mind?" flying sequence with Lois, but on the whole it's a great movie as is the sequel! I'm still a big superhero fan and at 61 I'm still watching cartoons! LOL .
Same here.
the flying scenes were pure magic. You will believe a man can fly!
Same. I was 16 and was so excited at the prospect of seeing this movie. It was so hyped and Christopher Reeve... 😍 ::sigh::
44 still watch cartoons my oldest boy 9 loves my cartoons 😁
Did you recognize the TV Lois Lane as the mother of the little girl on the train?
When I was running track in high school, my dad would come and film the meets and then make a highlight tape at the end of the season. One year, for whatever reason, we put a lot of credits at the start of the tape that took up a lot of time, and my friends referred to it as "Superman credits."
Him looking at the phone was a inside joke of a sort. In the old days, Superman used to run into a phone booth to change. But at the time of this movie, actual phone booths where you could walk in and close the door was a rare thing and the phone booths were replaced with the open ones. Of course now a days, there's no such thing as phone booths...
The original Superman movies are so nostalgic for me, I absolutely loved them as a kid.. I was so heartbroken when Christopher Reeve had has accident.. I'm a paraplegic myself (born a paraplegic) so I know how hard his life was afterward, especially since before his accident he was so athletic.. It's kind of hard to watch his movies now, but I'm glad I watched this..
The 1938 opening is a tribute to the year Superman first appeared in comics. Batman debut a year later. Superman has super breath, hearing (how he knew about Airforce One), X-Ray, telescopic and microscopic vision, super speed, strength, invulnerable, temperature resistance, flight and more. In the comics he has moved planets out of their orbits. When he changes and it seems to disolve, it represents his super speed.
And lastly, the "human drill" into the sidewalk is SUPER human drill. Give Supes his credit.
The helicopter scene gets me every time
22:50 is my favorite moment of his in this movie. Just him taking off the glasses and straightening up that little bit TOTALLY changes his character, he turns from Clark Kent to Superman just in that little moment, it's genius, and Christopher Reeve was amazing at switching personas at the snap of a finger.
Look at you, recognizing John Williams right off the bat. You've come so far, Ashleigh!!
RIGHT?! I'm so proud.
I simply don't know how we are going to fix this: Ashleigh A bunch of us at this moment were getting a huge grin on our faces as she said this.
As a long-time fan of this movie, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed watching your reactions to it. Your comment about the first part dragging and taking too long is absolutely valid, for today, but movies today in general move faster. The long title sequences were the norm back then, and this was before the time of movies filled with a million super-fast cuts. (see what I did there? 😉 haha) I do remember feeling like this was two or maybe even three different movies stuck together -- one on Krypton, a short one in Smallville, and then one in Metropolis. Thanks for reacting to this -- I look forward to seeing what else you'll be watching. 😁 (Hey, have you ever seen the series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman"? I'd love to see you react to that! I know -- gotta be a movie member to make a request.) Oh, and I LOVED Somewhere In Time -- fantastic movie!
Stuff moved too fast in movies these days. It’s fine to move slower. This movie didn’t move too slow though. They actually went pretty quick in his back story. It needed to happen. Millennials and gen Z needs to appreciate that more
As a kid first watching this film, i had no idea what a "Superman" is or was. So seeing his life before he donned on the suit made me care about him alot. plus i also had the pleasure of having Superman series on VHS so i didn't have to wait long before seeing the next film.
You should watch the sequel. It feels odd and long in the beginning because Superman and Superman 2 were originally designed as one four movie, but the studio thought it would be too long, so they cut it in half without balancing the scenes and time to really make the first movie stand-alone. It feels complete if you watch them back to back.
Should be the Donner cut though.
Definitely, you need to see the second movie. Some of the threads from the first will make much more sense.
@@DesertBob53 2nd - yes.
3rd - no.
4th - absolutely not.
Returns... not anymore.
@@1tonyvalle i actually liked routh's kent. it was good andhavng seen the cws crisis event he's grown to where he can pull off superman too. such a shame the writing was somehow worse than IV's
Christopher Reeve was born to be Superman. He was basically Clark Kent anyway, just a kind and generous guy who, from all accounts, was a delight to work with. For a fun twist, you should watch a movie called Deathtrap. it's a psycho thriller and Christopher Reeve was just brilliant at being dangerously crazy.
Edit
Before 1989, John Williams did the music for everything.
After 1989, it was pretty much Danny elfman.
Seconding Deathtrap!
Deathtrap is a great suggestion!
Chris Reeve was not a delight to work with according to Jack O'Halloran who played Non from Superman II. Chris was a very opinionated Liberal and Jack was not and Chris smarted off at Jack about something and the director had to rush out of his trailer screaming and begging Jack not to punch Chris in the face. Jack was a beast and would have stomped Chris.
@@Falcun21
What kind of person punches people over words?
Jack was the kind of guy who punched people to solve a Problem. I know the incident you're referring to and it sounds like the problem was Jack being easily provoked by a difference in opinion with a guy who wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Some people just can't take a joke. Michael Caine said he was great, as did Margot kidder and Jane Seymour. That's at least 3 to 1.
@@Falcun21 How does Jack being a violent conservative prove Reeve was a problem? You literally explain why Jack was the entire problem--a whiny conservative who resorts to violence over opinions.
Reeve was not the problem.
In this movie, the theme that John Williams wrote has a piece that plays during the funeral for Pa Kent. It is the same exact theme that John Williams wrote that played during the funeral of the character that John Wayne played in "The Cowboys."
Dick Donner was shooting 2 movies at once. SuperMan II was being filmed at the same time. The writers and Dick Donnor had a falling out. In Dick Donnor's version of SuperMan 2, the missile he sent into space hits the glass and sets the villains free that were arrested at the beginning of the movie. The Writers ended up going with another Director, so there were some changes. on another note, just for some fun trivia, Dick Donnor also Directed the Lethal Weapon movies, and the Cop sitting in the Car at 14:36 is the Captain in Lethal Weapon. He's Dick Donnor's Cousin.
2:51 - You have no idea! This title sequence, with John Williams's score, was beyond EPIC for my 11-year-old self!
8:01 - Because they immediately cut to the train after this, I thought the football was going to hit the train and derail it. 🤣
9:11 - The time setting of the movie is VERY confusing because of the opening. It's not taking place in the 30's, but don't look at me for an exact year. I only know we land in the 70's once he grows up.
11:30 - Elsa has a little more sway in her hips when she walks. 😉
12:35 - Gods above and below, I miss New York! That thick NY accent in the background of this establishing shot makes me think of home. ❤
13:08 - Welcome to the 70's, Ashleigh. We recommend you not stay. Just visit a short while. 😉
14:37 - Ashleigh's having a big day, recognizing canonical bad guys and stuff. 😁
17:05 - This whole sequence... This is what makes this movie special to me. As a young comic book nerd, this was superheroing done right. My heart STILL picks up the pace when I watch it! ❤❤❤
17:34 - Clark Kent used to change into Superman using phone booths. This was VERY funny back in the 70's. 🤣 (You realize this later.)
19:21 - Superman essentially has "super-everything." He can see and hear trouble around the world, so he's able to rush to save the day. This opens an entire debate about why he isn't saving everyone all the time from everything, but we ain't got time for that.
22:36 - And here we have the part of the movie I absolutely hate. This was supposed to be a song. It's bad enough spoken-word. I had the misfortune of hearing the "song," and it was as bad as I imagined.
22:50 - This brief moment is probably the greatest bit of character building in a superhero movie. Christopher Reeve's posture and demeanor change completely as the glasses come off, showing how it's not just the glasses that hide his identity. ❤❤❤
29:48 - Later in life, I, along with many others, had something of a problem with Superman's solution for all of the disasters. But then I thought, "It's a comic book movie. I should NOT be looking for realistic applications of science!" 😉
When I was a kid, I watched this movie so many times that I had it memorized, word-for-word, including every tone inflection. This movie was my childhood!
My favorite bit of trivia is that Gene Hackman, Lex Luthor, refused to shave off his moustache for the movie. Director Richard Donner promised that he would shave off HIS moustache if Gene would do the same. So when they finally met face-to-face and Gene saw Donner was clean-shaven, he gave in and shaved. Just one little thing... Richard Donner never had a moustache to begin with. 🤣🤣🤣
9:11 It's 1966 when Clark is a teenager
Title sequences in general have changed a LOT - and most of those changes took place during the mid-70s to early 80s. Take a look at most films made before the 1970s and most of them pack ALL their credits into the BEGINNING of the film and leave just a perfunctory "the end" at the end. (Or something else that makes it obvious that the movie is over - like the ending of Planet of the Apes). It was a rare film that opened just on the title alone.
Like so many things - this was changed by none other than Star Wars. If I recall correctly, much of the reason why credits were placed at the beginning of films was due to union rules. And you had to pay extra in the form of some penalty to place them at the end. But for Lucas it was worth it.
Superman being made almost at the same time as Star Wars kinda had it both ways. All the major players, director, producers and production company credits were in the big main title sequence. But all of the technical stuff - like the effects companies - were in the end credits.
8:01 Ha! Never made THAT connection. But okay!
17:05 and 17:34 Yes - every reactor I've seen watch this movie - no matter the age difference - is affected in a similar way. And it is THE classic introduction of a superhero saving the day!
And I saw this film when I was about 12 years old - and even I got the joke with the phone booth! And that theater ROARED in laughter! That joke KILLED it at the time!
19:21 - I think the idea is that he tries to tone DOWN his senses lest it drive him mad - he CAN process all the input for a short time. But it gets to be too much if he keeps it up. So he listens or looks for SPECIFIC things - like the gunshots down at the docks. Or someone crawling up the side of a building. Or the sound of an explosion in the sky and an airplane's remaining 3 engines going into high power mode (or whatever it is) to compensate etc.
For the rest of the world, his job as a reporter is meant to provide him with a way to know about things happening outside his normal range of senses. AND a cover for his activities. "Where's Clark?" "Oh - probably doing some investigating." Plus - in a pinch he can write about Superman's activities as a "witness". Heh.
22:36 Yeah - not a fan either. The one part of the movie I tend to fast forward through.
22:50 - The best answer - for ALL TIME - to the question - how does just putting on glasses disguise him? Because it's NOT just the glasses! He could almost pull it off WITHOUT the glasses! But not quite. So the glasses are merely the finishing touch and distraction.
29:48 - This is also known as "Bellisario's Maxim".
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BellisariosMaxim
"Bellisario's Maxim is an unashamed admission of handwaving details unnecessary to the enjoyment of a show, and an exhortation to not let the obsession with those details get in the way of the story. Implicit in the Maxim is a request to understand that the story is being told by a small production team that (due to the limitations of the medium) has to work quickly, with a limited budget and tight deadlines, and has to dodge Executive Meddling, all while trying to turn out the best product it can." 😅
Superman doesn't actually turn back time, he travels back in time by flying faster than the speed of light. But I'll admit the movie makes it confusing.
The John Williams Superman theme is the best superhero theme of all time. It is epic, iconic, and embodies everything Superman.
I watched this in the theater when it came out; I was five years old. The part when Lois sinks into the fault line in her car very nearly traumatized me. That being said, I will always have a soft spot for this movie.
Right?! Didn’t know I needed to be afraid to suffocating in a faultline. Thanks for the trauma, Superman. Lol.
Wow, same! Even the same age.
An absolutely HORRIFYING way to die. I was the same age and that may have been the first on-screen death I ever saw.
same age and it was probably the first 'horror' scene i ever saw. When we got a betamax i always skipped forward that part.
The square thing In the beginning I believe is supposed to represent the phantom zone
Basically a pocket like dimension where you can be imprisoned forever....potentially
Otis is low-key my fav character in this movie. The comedic performance by Ned Beatty is HILARIOUS.
"Otis Burg? OTIS BURG?"
@@rickshorrock6046 it's a little bitty place
And his theme music fits so perfectly! :D
There was a brief scene on the speeding train. The sleeping mom was portrayed by Noel Neill was Lois Lane in most episodes in the TV series of the Adventures of Superman. The father was Kirk Alyn was the father. He played Superman in a couple of 1940’s Superman serials. The little girl was supposed to be Lois Lane as a tween. There was a deleted scene of the three of them on the train
The woman riding the train we briefly saw as Clark raced by was Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane for years in both the 1948 and 1950 movie serials, and the television program, "The Adventures of Superman" that ran from 1952 to 1958, and that was in television syndication for a couple of decades afterwards, and which was the primary Superman many people knew for many years, although the television program was just a translation of the radio show that ran from 1938, when Superman first appeared in the comics as the first superhero.
The man with the smooth line going into the Daily Planet as Lois and Clark first exit the building was Rex Reed, who was the movie reviewer for the NYC Daily News, whose building they were actually exiting and filming by; Reed appeared on TV and was very well-known at the time.
Much Superman mythology evolved and changed over the years; his mythos was completely revised in 1986, changing the story so that he only gained his super powers as an adolescent/young teen; "Superbaby" and "Superboy" no longer had existed.
(DC later rechanged all this stuff again about forty times; they've never been able to make up their mind about continuity in the past forty-odd years, revising it constantly; Superman's power levels changed drastically over the decades, and this movie gave him powers he's never had before or since, specifically shooting rays out of his hands. Consistency with the comics was not a priority for this movie, sigh.)
Just all FYI.
Also, in one of the deleted scenes, the little girl who was on the train was Lois Lane.
Noel Neill also was on Lois and Clark as Lois Lane's grandmother
The guy on the train with Noel Neill was Kirk Alyn, who played Superman in the original movie serials starting in 1948.
@@sea-envy3137 She appeared in a few other Superman things later (such as the "Superboy" TV show and "Superman Returns"), but the other '50s TV Lois, Phyllis Coates, was on "Lois & Clark." According to IMBD, Ms. Coates is still around in 2022.
@@tacktill thanks
Your comments during the film are always so fun, and it's so great to witness your on-the-spot responses to the unexpected moments. This "Superman" was my first superhero film, which I remember watching with my older sister when we were kids, and it remains my favorite Superman. Christopher Reeve really is dreamy in this film; the superhero costume really helps, too!
The helicopter rescue scene is still one of my favorite scenes in a superhero movie... the build-up, the music, the costume reveal, just perfect!... Also Jackie Cooper (Daily Planet editor Perry White) was one of the Little Rascals when he was a kid...
Jackie Cooper was excellent in " Treasure Island ".
Christopher Reeve was and still is the best Superman so far. And Ashleigh makes an nteresting point about the pacing of the movie, you can tell it was made in a different era, now we are more used to action sequences than character development on comic book movies (not all of them). It would be really interesting to see a Superman movie properly made in modern times that really understand how the character works best (not a dig at Man of Steel, really like the movie, but it could've been better).
Ashleigh i am impressed you are the first person i have seen who realised exactly what supe was doing with the tectonic plate.
This is among the VHS hoard I had growing up. Pre-internet, my weekends were full of cartoons, outside play time, and all the best movies.
Superheroes had been on the big screen decades before Superman:The Movie, but mostly in 12 episode serials.
This was the first realistic and serious superhero film.
My dad and I saw this in the theater when I was ten. I was already a comic book fans; dad did not grow up reading comics at all.
This was HIS favorite comic book movie and we watched quite a few between Superman and dad's passing.
I absolutely love Lois Lane as the spunky, comedic relief. It's such a change from the usual "pretty girlfriend with no personality" of these superhero movies. She's a damsel at times yes, but she's not shy about mouthing off or using her fists to back up her talk.
"You've got me... who's got you?!?" is one of my favorite lines of all time and the way Margot Kidder delivered it was brilliant. Rest in peace to all the great talent behind this film.
Please continue with this series.
There are two different cuts of the second film
Film 3 was a noted slip down in quality, but had some good moments, plus an actress later came back in the SMALLVILLE series as a main character
The 4th film was very low standards of production value quality, but decent enough story even though it was a bit more on the nose with its preachiness
The “5th” film was more of an homage to the stylings of a now bygone era of comic book hero movies, and a love letter to the original pair of films.
Traditionally Superman's first appearance is saving an airplane/helicopter/spaceship, they also did that with Supergirl on her show.
When I was a kid, the helicopter scene and Louis/car being buried was the most thrilling and terrifying thing I’d ever seen. Christopher Reeve will always be Superman to me. I also love part 2 but after that the franchise really suffers.
First, please watch the sequel! There's no more setup so he has more time to face down the villains (the criminals in the glass prison), and it has some deeper, scarier, more heartfelt moments.
Second, this was made as superheroes were transitioning from the goofy comics-for-kids era to the darker, grittier era of the 80s, and so it's fun to see elements of both during this middle time.
Lastly, the tagline was "You'll believe a man can fly" but it could just as well have been "You'll believe you only need glasses for a disguise" because of how masterfully Christopher Reeve played both personalities so differently. And yet they both still had that pure boy-scout sincerity that marks Superman.
there's another movie where a character has to disguise themselves, and they go for the cheap option.
someone asks them "You think that's gonna fool anyone?", and they go "Hey, it worked for Superman!"
Agreed. I personally recommend the original 1980 release over the Donner cut (it is what I grew up with, and I frankly think it is better)
yep, the first movie was like Superman vs donald trump.
Fan! Congratulations 🥳 I got a prize for you 👍🌹
Especially the Richard Donner cut of Superman 2
A technical note on your appreciation for the miniature effects in this movie: This movie, like the "Star Wars" movies, was shot in England. And the preeminent special effects supervisor of miniatures at the time was Derek Meddings, who did almost all of them for this film. And since you're now watching James Bond films, Meddings worked on all the Bond films from "Live and Let Die" to "GoldenEye" before passing away. To me, he was the king of the plane crash explosion. He crashed Batman's plane in the 1989 movie.
Superman has super hearing. This enables him to hear, basically, everything. By focusing he can pinpoint a sound and follow it to the source
I forgot to add that Otis is played by the lovely Ned Beatty, another in that long line of supporting actors who make a movie great. He also has a huge range of talent, able to bumble his way through a comedy or to chill an audience with stillness and carefully-phrased words.
lol...first time I've ever heard Ned Beatty described as "lovely".
@@donkey3187 Very likely! I guess lovely is as lovely does ... or doesn't....
He's been voicing animated villains lately
Ned Beatty in "Network" is FANTASTIC!!!
The "You have meddled with the Primal forces of nature" speech is just BRILLIANT! He should've gotten the Supporting Actor Award for it!!!!!
@@Alexandrashepiro Absolutely: that was the chilling moment I was thinking of!
This movie was huge for me when it came out. I was four at the time and when we came home from the theater, I grabbed a red towel, tied it around my neck and ran around the backyard with my arms out in front of me pretending I was flying. Superman was my first hero, someone I could look up to and want to aspire to be like. I’m forty-eight years old and I STILL aspire to be like Superman!
Have you seen the movie Iron Giant?
@@cindyknudson2715 of course! That was the first time I ever cried watching a movie. And I was flipping twenty-seven years old at the time!
@@Clownboy15 I LOVE Iron Giant. "Superman"
💗
Jor-El: "He will never be alone."
Ashleigh: "Because I'm gonna give him this little ice crystal."
“That cat’s ugly, so he’s really doing charity work.”
BAHAHAHAHAHA!
The Godfather's Mario Puzo contributed to the script, and while it's naturally been contested just how much of his work ended up in the movie, the one scene that really feels like him is Clark lamenting that he couldn't save his father even with all his powers.
While there are a lot of things in this movie that are definetly 70s, the one thing that will never get old is Reeve's performance. He was so good you really could believe how someone could not connect that Clark and Superman are the same person. Body language, voice, everything. Years later, Brandon Routh pulled off the same kind of performance in the underwhelming "Superman Returns." You should put that on the list for later, too. It's actually a direct sequel to this movie made in the 2000s.
Direct sequel to superman 2.
Honestly, it would have been perfect had it immediately come after 1/2. But... unfortunately, things had changed enough that it wasn't considered as good.
@@vederianl9723 Ah, yes. You're right.
reeves perfectly nailed both the persona of clark kent and superman , and also the tagiline for this movie in 1978 was "you'll believe a man can fly" so it was the first believable sfx for flight.
it also is the movie that made all superhero movies that were amzing and popular since happen
"Sweet Grey haired old lady" was a euphemism for your bookie. Lois was implying he gambled but of course being clark, he's too "golly-gosh-gee" for that kinda thing.
I always get chills when the baby lifts the truck. The scene is set up so perfect.
Fun fact: when teenage Clark was racing the train, little girl Lois exclaimed to her mom a boy running as fast as a train 🚆. Little girl Lois's mom is played by Noel Neill. Noel Neill played the ORIGINAL Lois Lane in the old black and white Superman serials and the George Reeves Adventures of Superman series. Noel Neill passed away not too terribly long ago. -OG
This is what Superman is meant to be. A through and through amazing person. Besides his super powers he is supposed to be something to aspire to be. A true force for good
I remember watching this in a packed movie theater when I was 11 years old. The soundtrack was on another level. Plus, Marlon Brando as Jor El, Superman's father, was a HUGE GET back then. He received a million dollars for less than 10 minutes of screen time. That was a big deal at the time!
@𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗺𝗲 +𝟏𝟓𝟒𝟎𝟓𝟗𝟒𝟑𝟕𝟒𝟗 Dude! Ashleigh doesn't do that. Stop trying to scam her followers! It's lame and 😫
His salary was a big issue and the reason why the studio execs cut all his scenes from the second movie
Fun Fact: Superman, Batman, Robin Williams, and Fraser Crane all went to Juilliard together. Christopher Reeve, Kevin Conroy, Robin Williams, and Kelsey Grammar were all there at the same time!