Superman III Movie Minute #16 – Damsel in Distress?

SUPERMAN III MOVIE MINUTE #16 - Damsel in Distress?

Fire and Water Network All-Stars Chris Franklin and Rob Kelly are back with SUPERMAN III MOVIE MINUTE, where they analyze, scrutinize, and you'll-believe-a-man-can-fly-ize the Man of Steel's third big screen adventure starring Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Annette O'Toole, and Robert Vaughn, five minutes at a time!

In minutes 1:15:00-1:20:00, Superman engages in some Super-Dickery, and Gus and Ross make a deal.

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Opening theme and closing theme by John Williams.

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5 responses to “Superman III Movie Minute #16 – Damsel in Distress?

  1. Boy did the 80s insist that computers would be our downfall. That no matter what a computer “told” us to, we’d blindly commit. They were the terrifying future! Wargames told us they’d at best, help slacker hackers change their grades. “Hey that pain in the butt Matthew Broderick is always late to class and mouthing off, yet I gave him a passing grade. Hmm, odd, but that’s what the computer says!” Or at worst bring about the complete destruction of mankind! “Launch all our nuclear missiles! The computer says the commies are coming!”
    Here in Superman III they can cause weather catastrophes, oil crisis, and cybernetic creatures of destruction. (Oops, jumped ahead there!)
    I agree that Gus needed an origin story. How did he become a computer wiz? Was there a deleted scene were he’s in his Tandy Computer and was struck by lightning and showered with chemicals? Did he accidentally consume a microchip thinking it was a potato chip? Maybe he was raised by a family of Commodore 64s in the mountains of Tibet!
    I’m guessing the fake kryptonite altered Superman’s costume colors as well, assuming the costume in the movie was also made from his kryptonian blankets.

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  2. Funny you mention the headshake during the scene at the top of the Statue of Liberty with Lorelai.

    I don’t know how or I know this, or if I read it somewhere, but I believe in the original script, Clark Kent was trying to come out at that point, but Superman is able to keep him inside.

    Obviously, he can’t hold him in during the junkyard.

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  3. You guys continue to put out great show after show. Now, regarding Gus and his Savant bit. I had always wished that DC had written Gus into the Superman books back in the day as it appeared that Gus was getting a nudge in luck. He would have been a great tool for a character like Mr. Mxyzptlk (wow, I spelled it without having to look it up) to use in making Superman miserable.

    Also, regarding Christopher Malcolm, in Highlander, he played the former Marine that got skewered by the Kurgan and lived. Tough sucker.

    And lastly, I had always thought that the dark Superman look came from the oil spill he created. Now watching it, you can see he stays clear of the oil gushing. regardless, when Superman got with Lorelei, I as a kid wondered why she would want to be with someone that was covered in oil and probably smelled of it. that always bothered me, but giving it the hard look as an adult years later, it is just the artistic license.

    Please continue through all the other Superman movies: IV, Returns and even the Snyder stuff. While you may not have the love for them that you do for the Reeve movies, I really like how you dissect the choices of the directors and actors. Who knows, you might find something to really like in the later movies. I am not making any promises, but. . . you never know.

    You keep recording, I’ll keep listening.
    Brian Hughes
    3rd Degree Byrne
    Twotruefreaks.com

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  4. Great episode this week guys. I really enjoyed these five minutes. I agree that the background music is awesome when Gus is programming the computer to make all the boats go to the middle of the Atlantic. And the Evil Kryptonian music used for Zod in the first two movies and now for evil Superman here is awesome.

    I like the special effect shots of Superman flying towards and then circling the oil tanker. It’s very well done for 1983. The competency of the special effects is part of what makes Superman III, despite its flaws, enjoyable, in addition to Christopher Reeve being at the top of his game and his charisma with Annette O’Toole.

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  5. Thinking of the scene atop the Statue of Liberty, and the obvious sexual tension meant to be in this moment, I can recall watching it when I was a child in the 80s and not quite getting the scene.
    A small aside that leads to a point. I watched Short Circuit at the drive in when it was released, and many times afterwards on VHS and loved every moment of that film. It again was the 80s and I was young.
    Fast forward to the 2010s, and I put on Short Circuit for my own children. Lo and behold the number of subtle and not subtle sexual jokes and references in the movie were staggering.
    It went to show me that as a child many of these moments in family films were not a big deal because our parents understood that we had no frame of reference for the humour and the relationship dynamics. Sexual tension is men and women talking, women batting eyelashes and men doing what they ask the same way Donald Duck calms down when Daisy Duck asks nicely.
    And here’s what I enjoy about the Superman movies in the Reeve era: I enjoyed Superman, the comedy, and the general plot when I was a child. In my adult years, I come to enjoy and love the movie for the characters, cheering on poor Clark trying to find his way in the world while hiding behind his secret identity.
    Anyways gents, love the podcast and please keep them coming!

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