It's Friday night, y'all. Time for #wenchwatches

Tonight: #superman1978

I have a odd relationship with this film. I didn't much care for it, since it felt more like a fantasy to my little kid self, and I was (and still am) all about the sci-fi.

It didn't help either that my sibling -- who ended up on the opposite side of the 2025 USian political divide -- *loved* this film. He'd rewatch it several times, and make me watch it with him. In particular, he loved the sequel, Superman II.

I did get around to watching again years and years after estrangement, and I recall it being...okay. With the recent death of Gene Hackman, however, I wanted to give it a second look. We've seen him in the background of several films on previous #wenchwatches , but only as a villain in one -- The Quick and the Dead. Here, his Lex Luthor is much, much more fun.

Let's watch!

#wenchwatches #superman1978

The court scene right after the intro sequence continues to be deliciously iconic, even 47 years later. A beam of light and a pair of rotating rings hold our three antagonists captive. Rear projected floating heads in monochrome look down in judgement.

It's a minimalism that sticks in the mind. Indeed it became part of the greater cultural zeitgeist. Lampooned, referenced, and homaged, repeatedly ever since. The looming heads in particular have a kind of final gravitas that stuck with me ever since the first viewing:

"Guilty".

#wenchwatches #superman1978

The look of Krypton continues the feeling of simple, but effective design choices. Their glowing outfits achieved by use of microscopic retroreflectors. Only the outline of each person's crest in black as the only detail. As much as I like the effect, it can make the scenes with multiple people harder to watch. The backsplash of light overpowering.

The icy, crystalline nature of the architecture and technology makes for an impressive portrayal of an alien planet. In fact, the only color we get is on Jo-El's blanket and the boiling red Kryptonian sun. Simple elements altogether, but when followed to their conclusion creates an effective design.

The use of retroreflective coating and the boiling sun makes the destruction of the planet even more convincing. No longer overwhelmed with angelic light, we're subsumed into a hellish conflagration without a need for a costume change. It's damn, damn clever, working well with the budget.

It makes the sudden crash of Kal-el's ornament-like craft into an unremarkable blue-green world in the Saggitrarian arm of the Milk Way all the more impressive.

#wenchwatches #superman1978

Oh, Martha. You were a hellraiser in your youth, weren't you?

#wenchwatches #superman1978

Hah. It took until now for me to actually get the reference of child Kal-El lifting the car to save his adoptive father. That goes all the way to the cover Action Comics No. 1.

Since I last watched this film, I warmed considerably to the superhero genre. Mostly because of the excellent animated shows in the 90s and 00s. From there, I fell into commentary shows such as Atop The Fourth Wall, which allowed me to vicariously enjoy other comics within the genre without needing to invest significant reading time. As such, my knowledge of the genre is spotty and incomplete at best. Still, I know enough to enjoy it.

#wenchwatches #superman1978

Considerable ink has already been written about the creation of a empathetic and heartfelt superhero already, so I won't go into any of that myself.

I do bring it up, however, because the film shows us this development simply, and effectively in only a few minutes. Spurned by his classmates, Clark could easily run faster than a train, score a touchdown, anything. His physical capabilities are unmatched. With all that power, comes the risk of becoming self-centered, and considering himself superior to those around him.

Right at this moment, his adoptive father takes him aside, and counsels Clark in his unique circumstances. "You're here for a reason." It's moments later, his father's heart condition mentioned only a few short scenes before, takes his life.

"With all my power, I couldn't save him."

He says this with a powerful sense of frustration and sadness. A clear moment where he sees his limitations, but does not rail against them in anger. He acknowledges them. He beholds the human condition, and feels sympathy.

Sympathy. Not power. Not superiority.

I love how this moment happens before the more fantastical elements of the film return. It's a key establishment of the character

#wenchwatches #superman1978

Reeve's performance as the mild mannered Clark Kent is just delightful. He hits all the cues for being an awkward dork. It makes moments where his Superman abilities are displayed all the more enjoyable.

And finally, we get to Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Hackman's gruff voiced combined with his towering, self-assured presence really makes the scenes. Sure, he's the bad guy, we know he's the bad guy, but part of the fun is seeing how the bad guy almost gets away with it.

Much of the second act is about reveals. First we get Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), then Clark (Reeves), and then Luthor (Hackman). The end of the reveals happens with the biggest one of all: Superman himself.

As Superman, Reeves not only gives off a cool and confident demeanor, but presents himself as a polar opposite of the bumbling Clark. Not a single stammer, a smooth retort effortlessly delivered. Yet, the presentation still feels like Clark.

#wenchwatches #superman1978

I haven't mentioned it thusfar, but my DVD copy of this film is...middling. Coming from a cheap collection, the transfer is grainy with significant light blooming. I seem to recall this was also the case in the VHS recording of a TV broadcast version of the film. There may be a later remaster which corrects some of these issues, but I certainly don't have it.

It is, however, an extended cut of the film, clocking in at two and a half hours. This results in longer sequences and a few additional exchanges of dialog that I don't think I've ever seen before. It's fun, but it does result in the film feeling like it's dragging a bit in places.

By the time we're get to the famous "can you read my mind" sequence, I find myself rolling my eyes in boredom. I want to shout at the screen. "Villainy! Crimes! I want crimes!" It helps little that Lane's internal monologue feels frustratingly cheesy even today.

In fact, I just don't feel the scene is...romantic at all. In all presentations of Superman I've seen, the relationship never feels genuine, but contrived. It's possible the problem isn't so much the film, but me. It's rare an on-screen straight relationship seems to work for me. I just can't get myself emotionally invested in it.

"There were no signs!" etc., etc..

#wenchwatches #superman1978

Thank the Universe the second act is finally over.

I want CRIMES, dammit!

CRIMES! You know? Capers! VIllainy! Subterfuge and nefariousness!

#wenchwatches #superman1978

Actually, that's one thing that stands out in this film compared to my early watchings. While the film debuted in 1978, the movie feels profoundly pro-USian. Superman has always been deeply linked to an idealized form of Americana. That's present in this film too, but I'm also picking up a distinctly pro-cop sentiment I don't typically expect from a 70s film. In a way, it's a forerunner of later 80s films with a more fascistic bent.

The ending line to the Warden after delivering Luthor really seals this feeling:

"We're all part of the same team."

Sure, the ethics and morals of this film are simplistic, but that unexamined boosting of the USian criminal justice system feels...urksome.

#wenchwatches #superman1978

The fourth act has a similar problem to the middle of the second act. Both seem to be overly concerned with amazing feats. Superman stops and earthquake, saves a train, pushes a bus back from the edge of a bridge...

It should be amazing, enthralling stuff, but instead I'm...bored. The frequency of things going wrong and the expectation of them being rectified merely moments later by Kal-El robs the entire sequence(s) have energy entirely. In fact, the only one with any tension at all is when Lane's vehicle becomes trapped in a rapidly filling fissure. Even then, we know that the consequences of that will be short lived.

The Monolith Monsters had more tension!

Likewise, Luthor's evil scheme doesn't doesn't quite seem diabolical enough despite Hackman's delightful performance. Sinking southern California into the sea so he can clean up in the real estate market sounds more like a campaign trail promise in 2025...

#wenchwatches #superman1978

So, that's #superman1978 and that's #wenchwatches

"Superman (1978)" is a flawed classic. A thing I remember from all those rewatchings with my sibling is how the first film seemed...the worst. It feels rambling and preoccupied with amazing feats of superheroing instead of telling a more cohesive story.

Yes, much of this film become stereotype and joke retold throughout popular media. I could type out in frustration, "That's now how missiles work, Superman. That's not how plate tectonics works, Superman. That's not how time travel wor---."

Nevermind.

As a film, it's okay. It's nothing you or I actually need to take seriously. Reeves and Hackman own the scenes they're in, and the first act is a loving rendering of the early life of the character. Even so, it's hard not to see past the problems, particularly in the extended cut.

Take it or leave it, Fedi.