So Long, Superman
Posted on | October 11, 2004 at 9:18 pm | 1 Comment
The winter of ‘78 was a magical time… blah blah blah… believe a man could fly… husky-voiced Margot Kidder… Ned Beatty? Why oh why? And Chris Reeve in that shiny colorful suit, catching that falling helicopter. As a comic book geek, it was the first movie I saw where I felt they got it mostly right. And saw it I did, over and over again. On the big screen at the Century 21 Theater (R.I.P.) on Colorado Blvd. Or was it the Cooper? I think it was the Century 21. If Star Wars was the template for all big SF movies to come, Superman was it for comics-based movies. Every superhero movie since then owes a debt to it, one way or another. The thrilling Superman’s-first-night sequence is the one to top. Yeah, there were a lot of things that didn’t quite work for me – Gene Hackman’s flippant Lex Luthor and Ned Beatty’s comic relief henchman for two. And that awful turn-back-time denouement. But there was so much that worked, and most of it was because of Reeve’s great performance. You could believe that Superman and Clark Kent were two different people and that no one could see through the disguise. You could believe in all that truth, justice, and the American Way hooey, because he looked like he believed in it. It was indeed a different time, and I guess in a lot of ways, I keep trying to return to it.
R.I.P., Christopher Reeve. Y’know, I guess I had been harboring the fantasy that someday he would fly out of that chair, but I’ve gotta let that one go.
Latre.
Comments
One Response to “So Long, Superman”
October 12th, 2004 @ 12:47 pm
Y’know I’m not the comic book fan you are; even if I was, Superman wasn’t my favorite character, and even if he had been, Reeve’s version wouldn’t've been my fave Superman. But I have to admit two things – his performance in the movies stood out in at least one or two scenes, and for ME to notice such things, that must mean he had some real acting chops when he wanted to use them. (My attention was often misdirected with movies I saw during my youth – in 1978 my favorite movie was probably "Cannonball Run" and that inspired an entire book about bad movies by Joe Queenan…)
Secondly – have you forgotten your education from MST3k so soon? The Superman movies were all Golan-Globus productions! "Golan-Globus – NOOO!"
But, he’s gone and Larry Flynt’s probably having a nice evening somewhere far too close to where I live. There’s comedy everywhere you look.