Superman III 1986 ABC Sunday Night Movie

[samurainoir]

[samurainoir]

[Earth 2 Chris]

Man, I loved when ABC would show the Superman films. They always gave you extended cuts. I still have the ABC version of III taped off of TV. I have boots of the extended cuts on DVD too. WB should really release all of those.

Chris

[Hedji]

Absolutely. ABC did the extended scenes with the Jaws films also. They really made it an event.

On the downside, they had to censor the films adult content. Remember how after the credit sequence, at the bottom of the screen it would say, "EDITED FOR TELEVISION" Awwww, rats!

The best part of the promos was the voice of Ernie Anderson:

[samurainoir]

[Earth 2 Chris]

That ABC opening intro was always cool. Even if the movie was utter crap (and Superman III has enough good part that I don't think it is), it would be worth watching the first few minutes just to see it.

Chris

[Hedji]

You'd always get tired by Act III because all the commercials ended up putting you waaaay past bedtime. Ah the joys of pre-home video.

[samurainoir]

Man, I loved when ABC would show the Superman films. They always gave you extended cuts. I still have the ABC version of III taped off of TV. I have boots of the extended cuts on DVD too. WB should really release all of those.

Chris

I never knew this! What are in the extended cuts? So the extended cut of 3 wasn't part of the big box set with the Donner cut of Superman 2?

[MIB41]

Superman III will always be a personal favorite just for the pieces they got right. I loved the fight sequence between Clark and dark Supes. And I enjoyed Pryor early in the film, before he had to start sharing screen jokes with Vaughn. It has enough golden nuggets in it to be a keeper for me. Nope, it's far from being a great film, but it's a fun film with some great ideas mixed in.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I always enjoyed S3 too. it just has that crazy 80's charm and humor

[madmarva]

I liked his return to Smallville and the of course the junkyard fight and bar scene. It really harkened back to many to silver-age Superman stories.

[Hedji]

I never knew this! What are in the extended cuts? So the extended cut of 3 wasn't part of the big box set with the Donner cut of Superman 2?

Not as a complete cut, no. I can't remember if all the extra scenes from II and III are in the deleted or alternate scenes, but I do know for a fact there is an "International Cut" of Superman the Movie that has scenes not on the box set.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I know the Superman II ABC cut has the part where he destroys the Fortress. Thoughts vary on whether the now powerless Phantom Zoners were inside.

It's been a while since I looked at the extras on the box sets, so I'm not sure if this is in as a deleted scene or not.

Chris

[Mego Magyar]

I taped a copy of this at the time and still have it. The extended version made it a better movie IMO.

I also have audio from ABC's extended Superman 1 & 2 - before the days where everyone had a VCR recording the audio was the next best thing and for 1 a neighbor had their sound wired into a cassette recorder so you didn't have to have quiet, I did it for 2 and still have both recordings. I also have boot dvd's that supposedly have all the extended stuff edited back in.

[Hedji]

The scene from II I remember most was when the little boy in Houston rides away on a horse to get help and then Non flings the cop car light he tore off at him like a grenade and takes him out.

Bystander: "But he was just a boy!"
Ursa: "Never to become a Man!!!"

Great stuff.