VHS : Superman

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- superman forever
this is the verson that the so called x-men producer brain singer or director whatever tried to remake. this verson tells the story of superman coming to earth and growing up in smallville in this verson the lex luthor villian works great in the new movie it does not. superman needs super villians in the first movie he does not fight super villians in the next movie he fights not one but three super powered villians.
if you think the new superman movie has superman fighting a villian with powers you will be very very very very very disappointed.

Rating:

- Excellent movie with good DVD extras.
This is the excellent movie that effectively began the superhero movie genre.

The DVD version of the movie has two additional scenes not in the theatrical version.

One is an additional scene of Superman listening to a recording of his dead father, Jor-El, in the Fortress of Solitude before "becoming" Superman. This apparently takes several years, as he is a late-teen Clark Kent when he enters the Fortress, and Christopher Reeve when he leaves.

The other is the famous "Gauntlet of Death" Superman must pass through before the first time he enters Lex Luthor's subterranian home.

In my opinion, both scenes are weak, unnecessary, and hurt the pacing, particularly the latter.

The DVD also has two deleted scenes.

The first develops the relationship between Lex Luthor and Miss Teschmacher. I think this is an excellent scene that should have been included in the movie.

The other shows a vengeful Luthor preparing to kill Teschmacher for betraying him. Superman shows up and saves her at the last moment. This scene was unnecessary and would have harmed continuity with the sequel, so I agree with the decision to leave it out.

The DVD also contains some screen tests for the parts of Superman, Lois Lane, and Ursa. Margot Kidder was chosen over Stockard Channing for the part of Lois Lane. Go figure. The director explains that Channing projected too much strength and intelligence. This would have been more in keeping with the character of Lois Lane as she is traditionally depicted in other sources, and Superman's attraction to her would have been much more understandable. Donner chose to go in a different direction. I think this was a huge mistake.

There are also other extras, listed in Amazon's description above, but these are not as memorable as the deleted scenes and screen tests.

Bottom line: Excellent movie (though weakened by the added scenes) and interesting extras.

Rating:

- My Second Favorite Superman
After taking my 15 year old son to see the new Superman Returns movie, I decided to purchase this one and Superman II to show him. He really enjoyed both. Christopher Reeve is my second favorite Superman because no one can beat George Reeves in the original Superman TV Show (which my son also loves to watch)but both of these movies are worth watching.

Rating:

- SUPER BONUS EXTRAS MAKE THIS A SUPER DVD!
My title says it all. This two sided disc is LOADED with special extras. Outstanding commentary track with Richard Donner and amazing extras showing how they made Superman fly, all deleted scenes added to the movie and shown separately, screen tests of various actors trying out for the role of Superman, Lois Lane, etc., just loaded with outstanding extras. I can't say enough about this DVD and what's most amazing of all about this disc is the low price. It could easily sell for triple the price and still be a bargain.

Rating:

- And still the best Superman movie.
This is still the preeminent Superman movie. It's still the one against which all others are judged, and rightfully so. It has action and humor, love and tension. Plus, it has the best acting by a bunch of people no one had ever heard of before (except for Gene Hackman and Ned Beaty, of course).

Christopher Reeve got it. He got the characters, both Clark Kent and Superman. In the current Superman Returns, Brandon Routh got Superman, but didn't really have a clue about Clark Kent. This is one of the reasons why this first Superman extravaganza is the gold-standard.

Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) was very much on target with her character too.

Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor was more comical than menacing, but I think it was more entertaining that way.

What I liked was that this movie was taken seriously by those involved. It had humor (the phone booth scene was hilarious to those of us who remember the older days of Superman) but it wasn't campy.

Special effects weren't bad for a movie made in the 1970s and like the promo said "You'll believe that a man can fly!" The effects can't quite compete with what we have today, but I noticed that there weren't any dramatic improvements in Superman Returns.

It's entertaining and you can even watch it with your whole family! What a concept!

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