1978 was also a big year for movies. John Travolta had another hit in theaters when he donned his leather jacket in Grease. Clint Eastwood was taking care of business in Every Which Way But Loose. And Michael Myers was chasing down Jamie Lee Curtis for the first time in Halloween.
It wasn’t until December that one movie, in particular, came out that has since found its way into the list of films that have had a profound impact on my life. On December 15th, we learned that a man could fly when Superman hit the screen.
Superman stars Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, and Gene Hackman. And it was directed by Richard Donner.
I have to confess. I was a huge Superman fan when I was a kid. I read Superman comics, watched Superfriends every Saturday morning, and even watched a lot of reruns of the old black and white series starring George Reeves on Nickelodeon. I had a ceramic lamp of the Man of Steel my mother made for me. It sat on my desk in my bedroom. And even after the lamp part broke, I still kept the statue part as a decoration. I wish that I had that statue now.
My obsession with the Last Son of Krypton didn’t die out as I grew up as most things tend to. I didn’t read comic books as much in my late teens and early twenties, but I still consumed as much as possible. The day that the animated series hit the airwaves was a happy day for me.
And when I was 19, I had the “S” shield tattooed on my right shoulder. Yes, you read that correctly. I have a Superman tattoo.
So, as soon as I was old enough to watch this movie, I was placed in front of it as often as it was on television. That must have been fairly frequent because I remember seeing it many times as a kid. My first few viewings washed over me. I didn’t understand a lot of what was happening with the Marlon Brando scenes. I remember being amazed when Reeve showed up in that costume and commenced saving the day. Looking back now, I realize that it was almost a full hour into the film before we see that famous costume, but I didn’t know that back then.
Getting Superman to the screen was a pretty big endeavor. There had been a lot of issues involving the film rights to the character that dated back a good five years before the movie finally came out. Finding the right people to make the film had been daunting as well. Mario Puzo, the man who wrote The Godfather, penned a 400-page script. That is an obscene length, much less for a simple story based on a comic book.
The production had its share of directors attached to it as well. Steven Spielberg was Puzo’s choice. He turned it down but said that George Lucas would be a good candidate. Lucas was tied up making Star Wars at the time. Finally, after a few location changes and script alterations, Richard Donner was hired. He wanted to start from scratch. The script had grown to 550 pages. He had it rewritten, which probably didn’t make Puzo very happy.
Burt Reynolds, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Charles Bronson were just a few actors considered for the role of Superman. Ultimately, Donner decided he wanted someone unknown to fill the red boots. He wanted the audience to look at the character and see…the character. If it had been someone huge like Schwarzenegger, no one would be able to see anything but Arnie in tights.
Reeve got the part. Even though he didn’t show up to the audition in a muscle suit as requested. He was in great shape, and his posture and look just resonated on the screen. He truly looks like Superman. And I always thought that making some beefcake play the part would have been a big mistake anyway. Superman isn’t strong because he’s big…he’s strong because he has superpowers. He doesn’t have to be big to have that.
The rest of the cast plays out pretty well. I’ve always thought that Margot Kidder may not have been the best choice to play Lois Lane because she’s too loud and off-putting. I find it hard to believe that this Kansas farm boy would fall for her. She fits the part of a 1970s newspaper reporter, so I guess it does work in that respect.
Gene Hackman is a fantastic actor. He is one of Hollywood’s living legends, and he has earned that distinction. But I’m not that big of a fan of his portrayal of Lex Luthor. In the comics, Luthor has evolved over the decades. While he was simply a mad scientist of some sort in the early days, he has since become a powerful and threatening foe for Superman. Hackman portrayed him as a conniving and smarmy crook bent on gaining real estate to make himself rich. It’s not representative of the character. But, in the late 70s, they were going for laughs instead of depth. The sad thing is that we have never gotten a true transfer of Luthor from page to screen. The closest we’ve ever come to the real thing was Michael Rosenbaum’s portrayal of a young Lex Luthor on Smallville.
Comic book movies are more popular than ever. Marvel releases several films and TV series every year. DC is doing its best to keep up. And there are all sorts of other comic book properties making their way to our theaters and living rooms every year. From The Avengers to The Walking Dead, adaptations of comics have proven to be a huge industry. And more importantly, we have proven that superheroes are something that we aren’t going to get tired of any time soon.
And all of that can point to 1978 as its origin. When Kal-El’s tiny ship crashed into that Kansas field, it changed a lot about movies. Superheroes have regularly found their way to us since then. And it all started when Christopher Reeve sailed over the Earth, smiled, and drifted into our hearts.
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