Superman III bombed heavily. Eventually, the rights were sold to Canon Films. Reeve had sworn off ever playing Superman again. But four years later he was back. In part, he was promised that he could be involved with the story. And the story we got was Superman getting rid of all our nuclear weapons. He puts them in a net and hurls them into the son. Gene Hackman is back as Lex Luthor…he gets busted out of prison by his dope of a nephew Lenny (Jon Cryer, looking like he stepped on the set of Hiding Out). His plan is to take advantage of Superman’s plan by using Superman’s DNA (from a strand of Superman’s hair) and get it in with the missiles. He succeeds and creates the weirdest enemy for Superman the screen has seen.
Nuclear Man is Luthor’s creation…and has Luthor’s actual voice. He is super strong, can fly, breathe in space, grow his fingernails long and sharp…he even scratches Superman and makes him sick. Nuclear Man has one weakness
In addition, there is a subplot where businessman David Warfield (Sam Wanamaker)and his attractive daughter Lacy (Mariel Hemingway) are buying the Daily Planet and want to turn it into a tabloid paper. Which would be a decent story-line if the Planet had ever shown itself interested in anything other than fluff pieces in the previous films.
Lacy starts to pursue Clark, while Lois still only has eyes for Superman. This leads to a double date sequence where Reeve keeps switching personas based on which woman he is visiting. Eventually Clark reveals himself to Superman (no worries, she forgets by the end through story magic). This plot feels problematic and unnecessary.
The return of Hackman does not improve the film, his character feels like a cartoonish version of the character he was. If Nuclear Man gave actor Mark Pillow any hope of a big movie career…it appears the film killed it.
This film is quite terrible, and using a plot where Superman solves such a real world issue as nuclear war…it just does not play effectively. The performers all feel like they are sleepwalking through the roles, with little more to say about them. The Quest for Peace really earned it’s terrible reputation. And it killed the Superman Franchise for almost twenty years.
Superman three came three years after Superman II, riding high on it’s success, but behind the scenes things looked bleak. There was a divide between some of the cast and the Salkinds over how they had treated Richard Donner. Kidder was not really feeling up to participating. To address this, Perry sends her off to the tropics, while sending Clark to do a story in Smallville at his High School Reunion.
Assemble almost 30 years later, the Donner cut restores the original footage Donner shot and also uses some of the Lester material to fill in the blanks. It was not assembled by Donner, but it had his blessing.
Superman the Movie and Superman II were filmed back to back, but director Richard Lester came in when there was friction between the Salkinds and Donner. He threw out a lot of what Donner filmed and started over. Remember Zod and his Cronies? They are still floating through space in the Phantom Zone. When Superman thwarts a terrorist plot by launching a bomb into space, they are set free and make their way to earth.
Richard Donner’s Superman is often presented as a more upbeat and hopeful film than more recent Superhero efforts. And, in a lot of ways, it is a brighter view overall. Donner opens the film with life on Krypton. His version of Krypton has influenced countless versions of Superman. It became a ruling vision. And I get it…it is a society and world at it’s end. But the severely antiseptic frozen tundra look is actually unpleasant and does not really speak of an advanced society. Jor-El is introduced presiding over the trial of General Zod and his army. Well, him, Ursa and Non. Not really an army. What stands out was that in the middle of this trial, Zod tries to convince Jor-El to join him. And then they are zapped by a giant reflective record sleeve. Then, they never appear in the rest of the film.
Halloween is often cited as the father of the slasher genre. But three years prior was Bob Clark’s Black Christmas. If you are wondering why the name Bob Clark might sound familiar, there is a reason. For about a decade, for 24 hours every Christmas, TNT aired back to back showings of Clark’s “A Christmas Story”. Yeah, that guy who brought us a beloved holiday classic also gave us another, lesser known (but no less classic) holiday film.
Tripping Through Gateways 