Superman: The Movie

Superman (also known as Superman: The Movie) is a 1978 superhero film directed by Richard Donner. It is based on the DC Comics character of the same name and stars Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Glenn Ford,Phyllis Thaxter, Jackie Cooper, Trevor Howard, Marc McClure, Terence Stamp, Valerie Perrine, and Ned Beatty. The film depicts Superman's origin, including his infancy as Kal-El of Krypton and his youthful years in the rural town of Smallville. Disguised as reporter Clark Kent, he adopts a mild-mannered disposition in Metropolis and develops a romance with Lois Lane, while battling the villainous Lex Luthor.

Several directors, most notably Guy Hamilton, and screenwriters (Mario Puzo, David and Leslie Newman, and Robert Benton), were associated with the project before Donner was hired to direct. Tom Mankiewicz was drafted in to rewrite the script and was given a "creative consultant" credit. It was decided to film both Superman and Superman II simultaneously, with principal photographybeginning in March 1977 and ending in October 1978. Tensions rose between Donner and the producers, and a decision was made to stop filming the sequel—of which 75 percent had already been completed—and finish the first film.[4]

The most expensive film made up to that point with a budget of $55 million, Superman was released in December 1978 to critical acclaim and financial success, earning $300 million during its original theatrical run. Reviewers noted parallels between the film's depiction of Superman and Jesus and particularly praised Reeve's performance.[5] It was nominated for three Academy Awardsincluding Best Film Editing, Best Music (Original Score), and Best Sound Mixing, and received a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects. Groundbreaking in its use of special effects and science fiction/fantasy storytelling, the film's legacy presaged the mainstream popularity of Hollywood's superhero film franchises.

Plot
On the planet Krypton, using evidence provided by scientist Jor-El, the Ruling Council sentences three attempted insurrectionists,General Zod, Ursa, and Non, to "eternal living death" in the Phantom Zone. Despite his eminence, Jor-El is unable to convince the Council of his belief that Krypton will soon be destroyed when its sun explodes. To save his infant son, Kal-El, Jor-El launches a spacecraft containing him toward Earth, a distant planet with a suitable atmosphere, and where Kal-El's dense molecular structure will give him superhuman powers. Shortly after the launch, Krypton is destroyed.

Thousands of years later, the ship crash lands on Earth, near Smallville, a farming town in Kansas. Kal-El—who has aged only three years during the voyage due to the effects of time dilation—is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who are astonished when he is able to lift up their truck. They take him back to their farm and raise him as their own son, naming him Clark after Martha's maiden name.

At age 18, soon after Jonathan's death, Clark hears a psychic "call," discovering a glowing green crystal in the remains of his ship. It compels him to travel to the Arctic, where the crystal builds the Fortress of Solitude, resembling the architecture of Krypton. Inside, a vision of Jor-El explains Clark's origins, educating him in his powers and responsibilities. After 12 years, with his powers fully developed, he leaves the Fortress and becomes a reporter at the Daily Planet in Metropolis. He meets and develops a romantic attraction to coworker Lois Lane, but she sees him as awkward and unsophisticated.

Lois becomes involved in a helicopter accident where conventional means of rescue are impossible, requiring Clark to use his powers in public for the first time to save her. During the same night, he rescues a little girl's cat from a tree in Brooklyn Heights, thwarts a jewel thief attempting to scale the Solow Building with suction cups, intercedes in a police chase where many of the robbers escape via cabin cruiser (which Superman deposits on Wall Street), and even finds time to rescue Air Force One after a flameout, making the mysterious "caped wonder" a celebrity. He visits Lois at home, takes her for a flight over the city, and allows her to interview him for an article in which she names him "Superman."

Meanwhile, criminal genius Lex Luthor has developed a cunning plan to make a fortune in real estate by buying large amounts of barren desert land and then diverting a nuclear missile test flight to the San Andreas Fault. It will sink California and leave Luthor's desert as the new West Coast of the United States, greatly increasing its value. After his incompetent henchman, Otis, accidentally redirects the first rocket to the wrong place following his first delay on the convoy, Luthor's girlfriend, Eve Teschmacher, successfully changes the course of a second missile while the military is distracted by his roadblock.

Knowing Superman could stop his plan, Luthor lures him to his underground lair and exposes him to Kryptonite. As he weakens, Luthor taunts him by revealing that the first missile is a decoy, headed east towards Hackensack, New Jersey, knowing that even Superman can't stop both impacts. Teschmacher is horrified because her mother lives in Hackensack, but Luthor does not care and leaves Superman to a slow death. Knowing his reputation for keeping his word, Teschmacher rescues him on the condition that he will deal with the New Jersey missile first. After diverting the east-bound one into outer space, he witnesses the west-bound one detonating in the San Andreas Fault. He is able to mitigate the effects of the nuclear explosion, getting rid of the pollution from the fall-out and shoring up the crumbling Earth, but the aftershocks are still devastating.

While Superman is busy saving others, Lois's car falls into a crevice that opens due to an aftershock. It quickly fills with dirt and debris and she suffocates to death. Angered at being unable to save her, Superman ignores Jor-El's warning not to interfere with human history, preferring to heed Jonathan's advice that he must be on Earth for "a reason". He travels back in time (by flying around the Earth at near-relativistic speed) in order to save Lois, altering history so that her car is never caught in the aftershock. He then delivers Luthor and Otis to prison and flies into the sunrise for further adventures.

Cast

 * Marlon Brando as Jor-El: Superman's biological father on Krypton. He has a theory about the planet exploding, though the Council refuses to listen. He dies as the planet explodes but successfully sends his infant son to Earth as a means to help the innocent. Brando sued the Salkinds and Warner Bros. for $50 million because he felt cheated out of his share of the box office profits.[6] This stopped Brando's footage from being used in Richard Lester's version of Superman II.[7]


 * Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor: An evil scientific genius armed with vast resources who would prove to be Superman's nemesis. It is he who discovers Superman's weakness and hatches an evil plan that puts millions of people in danger.


 * Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman: Born on Krypton as Kal-El and raised on Earth, he is a being of immense power, strength and invulnerability who, after realizing his destiny to serve mankind, uses his powers to protect and save others. As a means to protect his identity, he works in Metropolis at the Daily Planet as mild-mannered newspaper reporter Clark Kent. Reeve was picked from over 200 actors who auditioned for the role.


 * Ned Beatty as Otis: Lex Luthor's bumbling henchman.


 * Jackie Cooper as Perry White: Clark Kent's hot-tempered boss at the Daily Planet. He assigns Lois to uncover the news of an unknown businessman purchasing a large amount of property in California. Keenan Wynn was originally cast, but dropped out shortly before filming because of heart disease. Cooper, who originally auditioned for Otis, was subsequently cast.[8]


 * Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent: Clark Kent's adoptive father in Smallville during his youth. He is a farmer who teaches Clark ideal skills that will help him in the future. He later suffers a fatal heart attack that changes Clark's outlook on his duty to others.


 * Trevor Howard as the First Elder: Head of the Kryptonian Council, who does not believe Jor-El's claim that Krypton is doomed to its own destruction. He threatens Jor-El, "Any attempt by you to create a climate of fear and panic amongst the populace must be deemed by us an act of insurrection."


 * Margot Kidder as Lois Lane: A reporter at the Daily Planet, who becomes a romantic interest to Clark Kent. Over 100 actresses were considered for the role. Margot Kidder (suggested by Stalmaster), Anne Archer, Susan Blakely, Lesley Ann Warren, Deborah Raffin and Stockard Channing screen tested from March through May 1977. The final decision was between Channing and Kidder, with the latter winning the role.[9][10]


 * Jack O'Halloran as Non: Large and mute, the third of the Kryptonian villains who are sentenced to be isolated in the Phantom Zone.


 * Valerie Perrine as Eve Teschmacher: Lex Luthor's girlfriend and accomplice. Already cynical of his increasing grandiosity and disturbed by his cruelty, she saves Superman's life after learning that Luthor has launched a nuclear missile toward her mother's hometown of Hackensack, New Jersey. She shows a romantic interest in Superman, implied by her fixing her hair before she makes her presence known to him, and then by kissing him before she saves his life.


 * Maria Schell as Vond-Ah: Like Jor-El, a top Kryptonian scientist; but she too is not swayed by Jor-El's theories.


 * Terence Stamp as General Zod: Evil leader of the three Kryptonian villains who swears vengeance against Jor-El when he is sentenced to the Phantom Zone.


 * Phyllis Thaxter as Martha Kent (née Clark): Clark Kent's faithful adoptive mother. A kindly woman who dotes on her adoptive son and is fiercely devoted to her husband, Jonathan. She is her son's emotional support after Clark is devastated by Jonathan's death. Thaxter was producer Ilya Salkind's mother-in-law.[11]


 * Susannah York as Lara: Superman's biological mother on Krypton. She, after learning of Krypton's fate, has apprehensions about sending her infant son to a strange planet alone.


 * Jeff East as the teenage Clark Kent: As a teenager, he is forced to hide his superhuman abilities, making him unpopular among his classmates and frustrating his efforts to gain the attention of classmate Lana Lang (Diane Sherry). Following the death of his adoptive father, he travels to the Arctic to discover his Kryptonian heritage (All of East's dialogue in the film is dubbed over by Christopher Reeve).[12]


 * Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen: A teenage photographer at the Daily Planet. Jeff East, who portrayed the teenage Clark Kent, originally auditioned for this role.[12]


 * Sarah Douglas as Ursa: General Zod's second in command and consort, sentenced to the Phantom Zone for her unethical scientific experiments.

Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill have cameo appearances as Lois Lane's father and mother. Alyn and Neill portrayed Superman and Lois Lane in the film serials Superman (1948) andAtom Man vs. Superman (1950), and were the first actors to portray the characters onscreen in a live-action format. Neill reprised her role in the 1950s Adventures of SupermanTV series, and also appeared as Lex Luthor's elderly wife in the opening scene of the film Superman Returns (2006). Neill thus not only originated the roles of both Lois and Ellen Lane, but began the tradition of former Lois actresses later portraying Ellen, a tradition followed by Phyllis Coates on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Teri Hatcher on Smallville.
 * Harry Andrews as the Second Elder: Council member, who urges Jor-El to be reasonable about plans to save Krypton.

Larry Hagman and Rex Reed also cameo; Hagman plays an army major in charge of a convoy that is transporting one of the missiles, while Reed plays himself as he meets Lois and Clark outside the Daily Planet headquarters. A then unknown John Ratzenberger briefly appears as a missile control technician.