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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 443625" data-attributes="member: 8">Superman (1978)[ATTACH=full]59511[/ATTACH]It may have been re-marketed as Superman: The Movie, but there cannot be a more official source than the film itself. Also, I believe that the image posted here is the original film poster. With that out of the way....The story starts as a disaster movie in which the warnings of a sympathetic Kryptonian scientist are being ignored. I wonder if it was a collision with planet Gallifrey.Only one alien survives and crashes into planet earth. Teenager Clark Kent looks weird and not particularly attractive but all that is fixed during a 12 years make-over in the Fortress of Solitude.For such a spectacular film featuring such an iconic character I think it's interesting that all the best scenes are between Clark/Superman and Lois.The (at that time) relatively unknown Christopher Reeve showed a comedic charm and leading man quality that could easily rival the likes of Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. I have liked Margot Kidder in everything I've seen of her and together they have terrific on-screen chemistry.However, the villians are rather weak imo. The dialogue between these characters is unimaginative, it's not funny or deliciously evil. Miss Teschmacher is actually quite horrible as a Bad Superman Girl.It improves a little towards the final act of the film when the situation becomes more urgent but I had expected better from Gene Hackman who knows how to play a good villain.Incidentally, the absence of the Zod Trio (except for the opening scene) made me realise I had never actually seen this first Superman film.Technically speaking the film holds up very well. The special effects are creative with only a few shoddy inserts here and there, and I really believed Christopher Reeve could fly.  I do not believe that Lois Lane can fly therefore that romantic flying scene doesn't make sense. Gravity-wise her body could not be in a horizontal position like Superman's.The story also ends as a disaster movie, based on an a nuclear attack similar to the villainous scheme in The Spy Who Loved Me. Lois Lane's demise looks surprisingly gruesome and I assumed that Superman's kiss would bring her back to the land of the living. Instead, we get a "never happened" solution which feels a bit like a cop-out although Superman's father had made it very clear to never ever change the history of planet Earth.When the point has been made that something should never be done then you can expect that point to be challenged, so I guess in a way it's still related.As for Jimmy Olsen, let's all pretend he's not gay despite the fact that he's the first man to fly in Superman's arms and also the person who prevented Lois and Superman's first kiss. I know drama when I see it.It looks like the film has maintained the original superhero worshipping and I think it's precisely the simplicity of it all that gives this film such an enduring charm.I mean, there's something liberating and perfectly uncomplicated about loving a character that much, even if Superman himself admits that being a superhero is not without a whiff of vanity.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?