The Man of Steel becomes the man of gold

[huedell]

If only the script and the rest of the production was up to his performance . . .

The script was pretty dang tight. But leaned harder than ever on farce and satire. Elements that had been lightly inserted in the original movie, but even more implanted into SII. And without it having gone too far, no one really raised a fuss.

The production included a lot of the investment the first two had but it was an investment in what we'll call a "Pryor/Lester" type movie rather than what we could call a "Donner/Brando" type film.

In hindsight, it was bound to rub adults the wrong way... I mean, they already bought into Superman as something (finally) more serious in the cinema.... "You'll believe a man can fly" WORKED.

THEN you have Pryor with a pink tablecloth "fly".

See what I mean?

I'm not sure kids hated it as much overall as adults did.

I know I loved it back then (despite the horrifying robot... which would have been less harrowing if Vera's "assimilation" wasn't so visceral).

Reeve was at his Superman-best in III. He'd built up physically and really looked the part, and he knew the character well enough that it's just . . . Superman . . . we see on screen.

I have a proclamation to make.

NO where has Reeve's Superman seemed SO much as if he WAS Superman than in the Superman III sequence during the chemical plant fire.

The way Reeve performs alongside the actors who play fire fighters and fire victims/those in peril is captivatingly convincing. I especially love the "Jimmy Olsen breaks leg" bit. Which comes off even MORE impressive when you remember those same two characters were interacting JUST as convincingly moments before, except Reeve was in his "Kent" persona and Olsen, not knowing Kent was Superman.

OLSEN
Clark.
KENT
Yeah?
OLSEN
I want you to keep them distracted. So they don't see what I'm doing.
KENT
What are you doing?
OLSEN
What am I doing? Remember what the chief said? A photographer always goes after a story.
KENT
That could be dangerous.
OLSEN
Danger goes with the territory, Mr. Kent.

Now, that's not "Pryor-farce" forced silly...it sets up a great "fire photo" sequence for them that runs up to putting Olsen in the ambulance. AND it has multiple callbacks to Perry White's dialogue in Superman II. This level of care is seen throughout the S3 script.

So, yeah, while I can admit Superman III has its flaws... my feelings are that Superman III criticism has been "over-done" mostly brought by the type of viewers of the original two films who saw Pryor with his "pink tablecloth cape" and thought to themselves "No WAY do I believe THAT man can fly."

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I love that chemical fire scene too. And for those who grouse about Superman freezing the lake with all the fish, etc. If you look closely, he only froze the top layer of the water. There is still water in it as he flies away.

Plus the chemical fire scene is a nice setup for how he defeats the ultimate computer at the end. If this had all been Brainiac as originally intended...think how awesome THAT would have been?

Chris