SUPERMAN review

There are few films for me that achieve such complete tonal perfection, then suddenly and without warning do a complete breakdown of that same perfection through the same film.

I love SUPERMAN, the 1978 film. It’s one of my all-time favorite films, but.... God does it have flaws the like of which makes Ewoks incredibly welcome.

Tonight at The Paramount Theater here in Austin was presenting SUPERMAN in 70mm. Ahhhh... The glory of 70mm. I love it. The clarity and purity it allows.

Nearly everyone in the AICN group herded to see the film in this glorious format.

When the movie begins, and we see those cinematic curtains part and that ACTION COMIC flip open and a child’s voice reading about a great Metropolitan city as that perfect John Williams accompaniment attached strings to each valve of my heart as it began racing.

For the next hour, the most perfect portrayal of a comic book hero unfurled. For in all other comic book movies we never really get that feeling of what makes someone so undeniably good.

Why fight crime and injustice? If you have special abilities, why not just exploit them for your own good? Why help others?

What is it in a hero that makes them dedicate their life for truth, justice and the ‘American’ way?

When we see the sheer joy on the young Clark Kent’s (Jeff East) face as he tears across those dirt roads and out leaps that train.... I just want to cry with elation. And when he brags that he ran home, and ol Pa Kent nails him ever so slightly, checking that ego of his son’s... And ol Clark shuffles his feet in that ‘Gee whiz’ sort of way... I smile.

Then there’s that whole speech about ‘You are here for a reason.’ For the first hour of this film it is not just a wonderful comic book film, but it is headed towards being one of the great American films. The shot selection, the music, the heart strings and soul searching this film takes Clark Kent on is amazing. This isn’t flash in a pan action sequences, this is humanity that is being explored. A sense of self-exploration that we all go through when we leave High School. Are we meant for the farm? Are there grander and better things to which we should dedicate our lives?

From Glenn Ford to Marlon Brando to Terrence Stamp, Jeff East, Phyllis Thaxter, Susannah York, the two young Kal-el’s... and so on. This first hour is as utterly perfect as can be.

And then about one hour and ten minutes into the film.... He shows up. Ned Beatty. Otis. All cued by John Williams’ unshakable Otis Theme which completely goes off into another tone all together. I hate Otis. Cause he leads us into the subway where that damn carpeted Lex Luthor and Miss Teschmacher lay in wait to ambush my beloved movie.

My god, can you imagine if this movie had held on when we reached Metropolis. Had it not turned campy and filled with over-acting. Had the exact same sense of awe and wonder been followed through on.

Imagine Lex Luthor as a character that is truly criminally insane... but a genius. That didn’t surround himself with morons. That was proudly bald. A character bent on world domination, not simply as a landgrabber. Had he been a super-scientist instead of a blowhard. Had he been realistic evil at the scale of Superman’s capacity for good.

And if he had every bit the John Williams theme as say.... Darth Vader, instead of his Ewok-y theme. But no. Oooooh no. We couldn’t very well have that. Instead we get Otis trying to steal a pretzel from a blind man. Arguments about ‘long arms’ and ‘Otisburg’.

Meanwhile, in the world of Clark Kent/Superman the film still exists in the same tonal plane of the first hour, being interrupted from time to time with the inanities of ladder sight-gags and burlesque from beneath the city.

Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent/Superman is a work of majesty. Here we had one of the purest examples of.... from out of nowhere.

I remember the night I met Superman. I was seven years old. For two months that rainbowy-with-S-shield poster proclaimed in my room that I would believe a man could fly.

I can’t remember seeing trailers for the film, but that night at the Americana theater on December 11th, my birthday, I saw an advance screening of the film. My birthday cake had a Superman Shield upon it. My father gave me a stash of 1940’s and 50’s and 60’s comics. I read like crazy all day with my friends. And when we got to that theater we all had towels tied around our necks.

We were ready to not only believe a man could fly, but we were going to learn the secret for ourselves, and when we left that theater we were determined to fly to the moon and play low gravity kickball.

I sat frontrow with my neck stretched back, alongside me was Rylan and Josh. Back about 6 rows... our parents, their friends and we were ready for the magic.

I was stunned. When Glenn Ford dies, I cried (I still do, even tonight) and when Superman first flies off that white stuff, a welling of pride as it was confirmed... A man can fly. A Superman. This Man.

Tonight, during the film I was that kid again. Only afterwards, the spell was gone and I began analyzing again. Hating Otis and the depiction of Lex. But so long as that screen was lit... I believed. I believed in it all.

I tell you. Christopher Reeve is Superman. Just look into that face. Those eyes. That smile. That little curl. He embodies everything good about humanity and he’s not even human.

His Clark Kent played with a nasal accent and bumbling lack of confidence posture is fantastic. That scene at Lois’ place where he plays with his glasses, and is toying with the idea of telling Lois the truth, then chickens out. It’s perfection.

The look on his face is that of pure Clark Kent.... Even when the glasses are gone... it’s Clark Kent, but then.... ever so slightly... the man of steel begins to irk his way in there. And gosh. It’s beautiful. Some people herald what Spencer Tracy or Fredric March or John Barrymore did as Jekyll and Hyde... But here... this transformation is... breathtaking. And a pure joy to behold.

It’s what made me hate Michael Keaton’s same attempt in BATMAN. It wasn’t complete and was played for laughs and wasn’t near as earnest as Reeve’s delivery.

There has been one aspect of SUPERMAN that has always been a thorn in my shoe as far back as I can remember. The “Can You Read My Mind” sequence. My god I hate that. John Williams’ music is gorgeous there, but the Lois Lane narration... I once played this sequence at home with just the John Williams music on my CD player, whilst muting the screen and it worked very well. Reminded me a bit of that fantastic scene of Chaplin and Paulette Goddard’s sequence in the shop in MODERN TIMES somehow.

This is a film I love. And I don’t mean that lightly. John Williams’ theme I carry in me and play often. There is still so much that can be done with this character, but I fear people with a lack of understanding about the innocence of the character will get too involved. People more concerned with the action scenes than the humanity and issues involved here. Superman is after all a man. He wants everything a simple man would want, but has a duty forced upon him simply because of his abilities to serve humanity. He has to choose between helping humanity move forward, or to simply live his own life. What makes him Super is his capacity to sacrifice so much of his own personal life for the sake of all of us.

God I love this character. Earlier today I saw IRON GIANT at the paid sneak, and then went on to see SUPERMAN and I was struck with how tonally similar the first act of SUPERMAN is with the entirety of IRON GIANT.

How IRON GIANT has the strengths of SUPERMAN, but none of it’s weaknesses. God, I can’t wait to see that film again tomorrow night.

I wish Warner Brothers would do the right thing and issue a super-deluxe DVD of the SUPERMAN series with all the extra footage included in the supplemental section. Interviews with the cast and director. This film is a jewel to be preserved in every film lover’s collection. Now, if only Warner Brothers shared that feeling.... and soon.