Because of the new Superman movie coming out I had a showing of the 1978 Christopher Reeve version for the two younger grandsons.\u00a0 I was curious to see how they reacted to the somewhat slow startup to this version.\u00a0 After all I think half the movie is gone before Superman actually dons the suit.\u00a0 But from all appearances they liked it.<\/p>\n
Now the youngest one is a very analytical viewer of science fiction and fantasy so he gave me a short lecture on why kryptonite kills Superman.\u00a0 Come to think of it he gave me several lectures about various esoteric aspects of the Man of Steel; how he could fly, how he got from one galaxy to another so quickly, why he could never die of old age, how he was able to handle people without killing them by accident.\u00a0 It was very interesting to find out he had worked out all of these theories in just the time since the beginning of the movie.<\/p>\n
I could sense the greatest annoyance with the movie when Lois Lane was on the screen.\u00a0 Apparently, the love story wasn\u2019t intensely popular with this part of the audience.\u00a0 But somehow, they soldiered through.\u00a0 By the time Superman was flying around Earth at ludicrous speed to turn back time and save Lois from death I think they were prepared for the end.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure they felt Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor and Ned Beatty as his mentally challenged henchman were sufficiently serious to be credible enemies for Superman.<\/p>\n
But by the time the (extremely long) credits were rolling they seemed to forgive some of the weaknesses of the production and wanted to discuss viewing (at least) Superman 2.\u00a0 Apparently, they wanted to see the return of General Zod after I hinted that he was much more formidable a foe than Luthor.\u00a0 So maybe we\u2019ll have a second Superman feature this month.<\/p>\n
It was funny seeing this movie for the first time in forty-seven years.\u00a0 What struck me most was how odd Margot Kidder was as Lois.\u00a0 The rest of the actors and actresses came across as much more professional.\u00a0 Kidder seemed almost like a fish out of water.\u00a0 Maybe that was the vibe they were going for.\u00a0 Probably the worst acting and dialog was Marlon Brando as Jor-El; Superman\u2019s Kryptonian father.\u00a0 All of the exposition and lecturing about his duty to help humans and his fate is a bit boring.\u00a0 But I guess some introduction is necessary to establish how he ends up as the man flying around in the suit.<\/p>\n
My impression of Christopher Reeve in the movie is very positive.\u00a0 He brings enormous likeability to the character and he does the comedy part of the role very deftly.\u00a0 As far as the special effects in the film, this was 1978.\u00a0 All of the effects are non-CGI.\u00a0 To a modern audience some of them are less than overwhelming.\u00a0 There is a scene where Superman is causing an avalanche to stop a flooded river from washing away a town.\u00a0 But the scene is so obviously done with a miniature set using some sand and pebbles that it\u2019s kind of silly.\u00a0 But that couldn\u2019t be helped back then.<\/p>\n
All in all, the boys and I gave a thumbs up to Superman (1978).\u00a0 Now bring on General Zod and \u201cPlanet Hooston!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Because of the new Superman movie coming out I had a showing of the 1978 Christopher Reeve version for the two younger grandsons.\u00a0 I was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,239,2860,237,4,243],"tags":[4958,4959,43,1631,4427],"class_list":["post-33867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-movie-reviews","category-reclaiming-the-family","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-movie-reviews","tag-christopher-reeve","tag-margot-kidder","tag-movie-review","tag-superhero","tag-superman"],"yoast_head":"\n