SUPERMAN MOVIE MINUTE #28 – Credit Cards
Fire and Water Network All-Stars Chris Franklin and Rob Kelly bring you SUPERMAN MOVIE MINUTE, where they analyze, scrutinize, and you’ll-believe-a-man-can-fly-ize the classic 1978 film starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, and Marlon Brando, five minutes at a time!
In minutes 136:00 – 143:00, Chris and Rob wrap up their look at SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE with…eight minutes of credits!
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- Opening theme and closing theme by John Williams
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Can I reserve a spot now for “Man of Steel Minute”?
Too soon!
Sphinx-
You’ll have to ask the guys covering MOS, because it sure as hell ain’t us!
…but I have thoughts!
Bravo fellas!
FYI As a bit of a coda to the Superman Movie Minute, here is a recent episode with actress/author Diane Sherry Case who played Lana Lang in the 1978 film:
http://comicbookcentral.net/episodes/
Congrats to Rob and Chris for making it through Superman Movie Minute! It’s been a wonderful series and I’m sad that it’s coming to a close after Episode 29… Maybe you guys had so much fun you would consider doing Superman II Movie Minute? The Lester Cut, of course. I’ve been bugging Chris through email about this for a while, and I will not stop until you guys cave in! Great show, you guys, thank you for committing to it and providing us with this podcast. The guests have been a great touch, too, and have actually turned me on to even more podcast content to listen to! Thanks again!
Congrats, fellas. You made it. Now I can tell you both what I told Rob about how miraculously structured this film is and how much with which it gets away.
First off, this movie is a contradiction of styles. We open on curtains parting, then to shots of a comic book with that kid reading it, so the film has begun to distance itself from the viewer. Then, we go to Krypton, to Smallville, and to Metropolis in a pretty standard fashion. Then, we get the Clark breaking the fourth wall by winking at the audience. Then, there’s nigh-slapstick comedy from Otis. Then, the Lois voice over. And then time travel. Finally, the movie closes with Superman yet again acknowledging the audience before flying off.
Now let’s say this had been a spec script or something from a film class. Everyone would say to have all these competing tropes would be insane. Voice-over – which by many a screenwriting teacher calls the laziest of devices – along with time travel and breaking the fourth wall?!?! How dare they!
And yet they did. And more importantly, it worked. Was it a perfect movie? No, of course not. But holy shit, does this movie sing. It may have been a total mess behind the scenes, but you’d never know it by looking at it.
Yes, on paper, and under different hands, this movie would NOT work. Its a miracle it does, and the main Blue Fairie behind that miracle is Richard Donner. As much as I love Chris Reeve, the balance was never on point as it was in this film, and what was missing from the other two Salkind-produced films? Dick Donner.
Chris
How involved was Mankiewicz with the Lester production? Any idea?
AFAIK Mankiewicz was not involved in II after Donner was let go.
Then that Donner/Mankiewicz combo was gold!
In many ways, we were rescued from Kojak cameo.
It was fun to hear Rob and Chris discuss the matte paintings and props in the movie. It reminded me of the time my family and I happened across a touring exhibition of Lucasfilm props at the Newark Science Center. Somehow my family couldn’t seem to get why I was so excited to see props like the Ark of the Covenant or Indiana Jones’ fedora. Sigh…
But this made me want to see what sort of Superman The Movie props I could find on the Interwebs. The pickings were a little slim, but I found this website (http://mondoprop.blogspot.com/search/label/Superman%20%28all%20props%29) where they offer a few things which should be recognizable, including the badge of the policeman Superman speaks to after catching that human fly. They also have some storyboard images for the Krypton chamber of judgement but only one image is shown. (Even though it’s no covered in this podcast, there are lots of storyboard images for the elaborate beginning sequence in Superman 3. The storyboards were illustrated by artist Mike Ploog.)
I bet there’s a smattering of props and pieces in private collections. I watched a Hollywood auction show once where Debbie Reynolds sold off a number of props from classic movies which she had collected over the years. My favorite story about movie props is recounted here (http://collectingclassicmonsters.com/collector-resources/video-monsterama-episode-22-alien-collectibles/) and showed how Monster Kid Bob Burns got almost all of 20th Century Fox’s props for the film ALIEN.
I like to think that somewhere out there, someone’s frustrated because they still have that Kryptonian Executioner outfit that valuable-but-not because the executioner never made it into the final cut of the movie.
Bob Burns put on a gorilla suit for Lou Scheimer’s Ghost Busters TV series. He can have any prop he wants 🙂
Congrats on finishing this guy’s. It has been tremendous.
If I had enough time I could do a Supergirl movie five minutes. But that would be a tall order, even for me. It ain’t Superman the Movie, know what I’m saying?
No. But Supergirl’s got Popeye’s.
Well done in the achievement of retaining your significant others. Now on to Catwoman!
Wow! Who would’ve guessed that the longest episode would be about the end credits?
Chris & Rob, you did a great job with this entire series. I’m sad it’s (almost) over. If only I could turn back the world and have you do it all over again! I guess I’ll just have to go back to the first episode and listen to a Superman Movie Minute Marathon instead.
And Chris, I hope it’s OK to say that the highlight of this episode for me was your announcement that BATMAN: KNIGHTCAST will be returning soon. It’s about time! I’ve been having severe Max Allan Collins withdrawal for months.
“Groovy” Mike
That has to have been the best discussion of closing credits to which I’ve ever listened. Great job, guys, and congrats on finishing the movie. As a personal observation, I found it interesting, not having watched the movie in a few years, that I remembered the first half of the movie much more clearly than the second half. I’m not sure why. Perhaps the excellent character building at the start of the film just stuck with me more than the action towards the end. Regardless, I’m looking forward to your next movie minute project.
Thank you very much for providing all of us with such an excellent and entertaining podcast! I fell in love with Superman: The Movie when I was a kid (mostly because of Christopher Reeve, I’ll admit) and it’s been my favourite film ever since. I didn’t think it was possible, but, after listening to this podcast, I think I may love and admire this fantastic film even more.
Looking forward to listening to the last episode. You certainly have my vote for Superman II Movie MInute if you have the time, energy and courage to pursue it. 😉
I can’t speak for their time or energy, but anyone who collaborates so frequently with the Irredeemable Shag must have courage beyond that of mortal men! 🙂
I’m looking forward to the last episode (and beyond) too!
“Groovy” Mike