DC Saturdays #5 - Superman (1978)

Another trip down Memory Lane for me. I've actually seen all four of the late '70s/'80s Superman films (five if you count Supergirl) but the last time was probably about 30 years ago as a kid. While some of the films from this series are still much-loved to this day, it's safe to say that time hasn't been so kind to others and it'll be interesting to revisit this series over the next few weeks. This week though, we're going back to where it all began and the first Superman film (well okay, if you discount the Mole Men one from 27 years before) released way back in 1978.

The story begins on Krypton with a trio of criminals led by General Zod (Terence Stamp who we'll encounter again in the sequel) being sentenced to an eternity imprisoned in...well, a prism, called the Phantom Zone for attempting to overthrow the planet's ruling council. The Kryptonian elder who carries out their sentence is Jor-El (Marlon Brando), the planet's head scientist and Zod swears vengeance upon him and his family before being imprisoned.

As it turns out though, Jor-El has bigger things to worry about than Zod as he's deduced that the sun in Krypton's solar system is about to go supernova and wipe out the planet. However, his fellow Kryptonians believe that it's just a case of the planet spinning off it's axis a bit and everything will be fine. Realising that doom is imminent, Jor-El manages to construct a spacecraft to send his infant son Kal-El to the nearest planet where life is sustainable which just happens to be Earth.

Kal-El escapes just as the planet blows and his voyage through space takes three years with him crashlanding in Kansas. He's discovered by an elderly couple called Jonathan and Martha Kent - Martha wants to adopt him while Jonathan is initially reticient but quickly changes his mind when the kid stops a truck falling on him!

We see a bit about Clark (as he's now known)'s formative years in Smallville including him having a crush on a girl in his class called Lana who has a boyfriend called Brad, something that'll be revisited in Superman 3. Upon Jonathan's advice, Clark always keeps his powers secret so as not to stand out in a crowd but when Jonathan dies from a heart attack just after Clark turns 18, he hears a psychic call and leaves Smallville behind.

Clark travels to the North Pole where he builds an ice palace (the Palace of Soltitude). Upon entering, he is reunited with Jor-El who lives there as a sort of spectre. Jor-El trains him in the ways of Krypton warriors and how to use his powers responsibly. This process takes another 12 years and we finally see Clark, now 30, leaving as the Christopher Reeve version of Superman that we're all familiar with.

Clark moves to Metropolis and takes up a job as a reporter with the Daily Planet where he strikes up a slow-burner of a romance with his colleague Lois Lane. Initially, he keeps his powers secret but when Lois is involved in a helicopter accident and ends up dangling from the edge of a skyscraper, he's left with no alternative but to transform into Superman to save her.

With his powers out in the open, Superman quickly kicks off a life of fighting crime while trying to keep his double identity as Clark Kent secret including saving Air Force One during a thunderstorm, apprehending robbers and, erm, saving cats. This puts him on a collision course with Metropolis' chief criminal mastermind Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman). We see a policeman trailing Luthor's henchman Otis (Ned Beatty) to his underground lair but Luthor uses the technology to use the door to spring the guy into the path of an oncoming subway train! Luthor's team is completed by his other sidekick/PA Eve Teschmacher who, as well as being the film's resident eye candy, serves as the occasional voice of moderation with regards to his evil doings.

Luthor lures Superman to his underground lair under the false pretences of being about to set off a nerve gas explosion if he doesn't and promptly puts a piece of Kryptonite on a chain around his neck before pushing him in a swimming pool. It turns out Luthor has managed to scramble the codes on two missiles that the US military are due to launch that day to send one at New Jersey and one at the San Andreas fault which would sink half of California and turn the new coastline into prime real estate for him to redevelop. Can Superman stop him? Well, I think you can probably guess the answer given that there's three sequels to this thing but this is a good film so I'm leaving it light on the spoilers here...

Although it's very different in tone, "Superman" works for the exact same reason that a lot of the early noughties "game-changer" films for Marvel did, namely that it does exactly what it says on the tin and is a big epic feelgood old-school summer action movie. Yes, it does look a bit dated in places but I said at the beginning that when we rated these films we were gonna take the constraints of the time frame into account and on those grounds, it passes with flying colours with a big epic storyline, some great performances (although it has to be said that although Reeve is a good Superman, it's Hackman's half-diabolically evil and half pratfallingly-daft Luthor who steals the show) and just a good enjoyable film all round. It should also be noted that this is the last '70s DC film we'll be covering in this blog - take a look at the table below and compare it to the one from when we reviewed "Captain America 2", the last '70s Marvel film and I think we can safely conclude that DC were very much kicking their chief rivals' arses at this stage...

FINAL RATING: 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 (8/10)

CURRENT DC FILM TABLE

1. Superman (1978) (8/10)
2. Batman (1966) (8/10)
3. The New Wonder Woman (1975) (5/10)
4. Superman and the Mole Men (1951) (5/10)
5. Wonder Woman (1974) (3/10)

NEXT WEEK: Superman 2 - the sequel so good they did it twice...