Synopsis
Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.
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Cast
- Christopher ReeveClark Kent / Superman
- Marlon BrandoJor-El
- Gene HackmanLex Luthor
- Ned BeattyOtis
- Jackie CooperPerry White
- Glenn FordPa Kent
- Trevor Howard1st Elder
- Margot KidderLois Lane
- Jack O'HalloranNon
- Valerie PerrineEve Teschmacher
- 100
Austin Chronicle
Boasts a smart screenplay by Robert Benton and David and Leslie Newman, striking cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth (especially in the Smallville sequence), bright comic turns by Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman, and of course, that winning performance by Christopher Reeve in the title role. Believe a man can fly? You bet! - 100
Chicago Sun-Times
Superman is a pure delight, a wondrous combination of all the old-fashioned things we never really get tired of: adventure and romance, heroes and villains, earthshaking special effects, and -- you know what else? Wit. - 100
Dallas Observer
If not the best superhero movie ever, it's definitely in the top 3. Reeve will forever be Superman to most of us. - 100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Estimates of the movie's costs range between $35-and $70-million; whatever the price, it was not too much to pay. As gods go, Superman is one of the godliest; his movie is one of the best. - 100
Variety
Magnify James Bond's extraordinary physical powers while curbing his sex drive and you have the essence of Superman, a wonderful, chuckling, preposterously exciting fantasy. - 88
ReelViews
There's no doubt that it's a flawed movie, but it's one of the most wonderfully entertaining flawed movies made. - 80
Washington Post
it's the simple, earth-bound quality of the film that makes this comic-book fantasy soar. - 70
Chicago Reader
The film is best when it takes itself seriously, worst when it takes the easy way out into giggly camp--as it does, finally and fatally, when Lex Luthor enters the action; Gene Hackman plays the arch-villain like a hairdresser left over from a TV skit.