To celebrate the release of Man of Steel this month, the Flickering Myth writing team are looking back over Superman’s previous screen adventures; next up is Tom Jolliffe with a review of 1983’s Superman III…
As a kid growing up in the 80s, the Christopher Reeve Superman films were firm favourites. In my younger days my two favourite comic book characters were both from DC. Superman was one and Batman was the other. Very typical, but there you go. Even my more favoured of the Marvel troupe came a distant third behind the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel.
Superman: The Movie was fantastic. I loved it and still do. It has its faults, but I love the mixture of adventure and comedy. The cast were great. Christopher Reeve was immense. For me, he’ll always be Superman. I don’t think anyone will ever come close. Now, with maturity and a more analytical eye I look back on his performance in the series (and the first film in particular) and I can’t fault him (even in the disaster of the fourth film, his hearts in it). The shift between Kent and Superman was impeccably played. Reeve wasn’t just beefcake, he was a great actor too. Okay, putting aside the silliness of turning the Earth back on its axis to travel back in time, that moment when he finds Lois Lane dead and just unleashes an almighty, heartbroken yell, still gives me goose-bumps to this day.
The second film of course had problems, the fourth was a disaster. The third film is just an oddity. Now I have to say that of all four movies, the third instalment has my absolute favourite moment of Reeve’s Superman legacy. That moment is Superman vs Superman. Now at this point in the film, Supes has found himself in a pretty dark place (more on the cause later). He’s become sadistic, moody, lazy, angry, resentful and needs a shave. In a scene strangely metaphysical, Clark Kent separates from Superman, and then we have Kent, with the last remnants of Superman’s good, facing off against this new disturbed and nasty version. It’s epically good. What’s more it shows further range in Reeve’s fantastic portrayal as the icon. This dark Superman was yet another facet. For me it’s a really standout, really brilliantly delivered scene in an otherwise weirdly inconsistent film.
Superman III is just all over the place. The strange slapstick opening sequence pretty much sets the tone for the picture. It feels out of place. It doesn’t fit. There’s a lot of comedy in this film, which the cast gamely deliver and actually I do find this film amusing. There’s also much amusement to be had from just how illogical and daft the film is at times. Now nothing here gets close to beating a woman breathing in space without a space suit or anything on, but there are some doozies in this picture.
One such oddity is Richard Pryor. I love Pryor. He’s great. His stand up is unrivalled, and he’s been in some great comedy films. Here he seems as if he’s wondered in from another movie set and accidentally become a key character in a Superman movie. He doesn’t quite fit, but that said, he’s amusing in the film. His character becomes a computer genius completely by accident. Seriously, it’s true. Everything that Pryor’s character does on a computer is purely by accident. He never knows how he did it. It’s ridiculous(ly brilliant). Then later in the film Pryor is given the task of creating the ultimate computer. He does this using only scraps of paper to come up with how to do it, and again it all seems to be purely by accident that he manages it. Pryor is tasked with creating Kryptonite. At first it goes wrong, but has another effect on Superman, leading to him becoming evil. Incidentally the computer can somehow analyse deep into the recesses of space, exploded fragments from the long destroyed Planet Krypton, and in doing so come up with the exact mineral breakdown of Kryptonite. Luckily all the ingredients happen to be on Earth.
Despite how goofy the film is and how it meanders at times, I can’t help but love it. It’s still watchable. Everyone is on their game here. Margot Kidder is the exception for the already established characters. She appears very briefly just enough to pick up a pay cheque. There’s a sense of irony that Lane is taking a holiday in Bermuda, and Kidder probably funded a few holidays making her brief cameo in this (though she had issues with the producers over Richard Donner getting canned in pre-production). Jackie Cooper is typically good as Perry White. Robert Vaughn makes a decent villain, whilst Annette O’Toole is likeable as Lana Lang (she would of course later star as Martha Kent in Smallville).
Richard Lester directs. He’s a bit like he’s on a stagecoach that’s hurtling down a steep rocky mountain road. He’s lost grip of the reigns and is trying to grab them back, but can never quite do it. He gets the odd purchase on them, but then slips and loses them again. He’s certainly no Dick Donner. Likewise Richard Thorne’s score pales lamely in comparison to John Williams iconic original. Even when the theme pops up, it never quite has the Williams punch to it.
Despite its many glaring flaws and pretty rote scripting, Superman III has more than enough memorable moments and a typically reliable Reeve, making it an easy watch. Certainly it’s far more watchable to me than Superman Returns which was an exercise in futility.
Tom Jolliffe
Originally published June 4, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
