Superman: The Movie 4K UHD (1978)

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

At least we have this:

[Show spoiler]

Never seen it. Is it delicious trash?

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Never seen it. Is it delicious trash?

It's delicious and nutritious.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Albert Pyun was robbed.

[Show spoiler]

Well, approximately a third of the investors would have been...

cannon.jpg

[Kamdan]

The original script had Brainiac ship come to earth to which it hovered over Metropolis and cut the city out from the earth. Then the city was miniaturized. Superman was out in space on another planet on peace mission to a galactic council. Supergirl enters the story, teams up with Superman to defeat Brainiac. It was big, and WB was afraid to invest so much money in the film.

You left out the parts where Brainiac intercepts Supergirl’s fleeing ship from Krypton and has her become his ward that he eventually falls in love with, whom she rejects and comes to Earth disguised as a gym teacher. Lana Lang becomes the Daily Planet’s new star lreporter now that Lois Lane has moved to Tokyo. Superman and Supergirl fall in love with each other (they’re not cousins in this treatment) which makes Brainiac jealous enough to change Superman personality and manages to go into the medieval past where he becomes a tyrant. Superman eventually follows him to the past with the help of Mxyzptlk where they have a dueling knights match.

Even though it sounds like a wacky Silver Age comic, it would have required some heavy reconceptualizing to be made cohesive. Think once they heard that Richard Pryor was interested in being in the movie they decided to take the cheaper approach and they eventually paid the price for it.

[Zimmy]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Here's something I found:

https://meatfighter.com/superman3/pa...ginal_idea.pdf

I love Salkind's number one goal. get Lois Lane out of the picture so he doesn't have to pay Margot Kidder.

There were probably numerous scripts for Supes 3, I bet every single one of them had to have Lois go on a "sabbatical".

[ditcin]

Originally Posted by Kamdan

You left out the parts where Brainiac intercepts Supergirl’s fleeing ship from Krypton and has her become his ward that he eventually falls in love with, whom she rejects and comes to Earth disguised as a gym teacher. Lana Lang becomes the Daily Planet’s new star lreporter now that Lois Lane has moved to Tokyo. Superman and Supergirl fall in love with each other (they’re not cousins in this treatment) which makes Brainiac jealous enough to change Superman personality and manages to go into the medieval past where he becomes a tyrant. Superman eventually follows him to the past with the help of Mxyzptlk where they have a dueling knights match.

Even though it sounds like a wacky Silver Age comic, it would have required some heavy reconceptualizing to be made cohesive. Think once they heard that Richard Pryor was interested in being in the movie they decided to take the cheaper approach and they eventually paid the price for it.

No, I didn't leave it out - I read a re-written script. What was posted here was an early concept. I read a finished script given to me by Ilya.

[ditcin]

Originally Posted by Zimmy

I love Salkind's number one goal. get Lois Lane out of the picture so he doesn't have to pay Margot Kidder.

There were probably numerous scripts for Supes 3, I bet every single one of them had to have Lois go on a "sabbatical".

Nope, not true.

[motorheadache95]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I'll happily watch Supes III because of Richard Pryor. It's like he's in a different film from the others so I can see why it doesn't gel for some folks, but I dig RP so much I'm just glad to have him there at all.

As for Supes IV, that was the first time I got to see Supes on da big screen and the memory of it is still very vivid 30 years later. Crap movie but great nostalgia and that's enough for me to enjoy it immensely.

I love Pryor but I didn't think he was funny at all in the film-- although there were some moments I thought were funny playing off the character with the villain Ross Webster. "I ask you to kill Superman, and you can't even do that one simple thing."

Superman IV is my earliest memory going to the theater. When I was a young I loved it and didn't question the story or terrible effects. Superman getting clawed in the neck and getting sick was real drama for me

[fighthefutureofhd]

Originally Posted by ditcin

Truthfully, I like Superman IV better than III - I know Ilya Salkind and have told him this. He defends himself by saying III was Warner's fault. He's right, especially after he sent me the script for what III was originally planned to be.

Me too. In fact, I have a rather soft spot for Superman IV and really dig it. It might in my top 20/30 comic book movies. Despite how bad it really is. There's just a lot of great memories surrounding that film that I can't ignore.

[Ernest Rister]

SISKEL AND EBERT AT THE MOVIES

(clip)

RICHARD PRYOR
Superman's bad.

SISKEL
Superman III IS bad.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by Zimmy

I love Salkind's number one goal. get Lois Lane out of the picture so he doesn't have to pay Margot Kidder.

There were probably numerous scripts for Supes 3, I bet every single one of them had to have Lois go on a "sabbatical".

Kidder herself wanted out, refusing to work with Richard Lester after he supplanted Donner as director of Superman II.

She referred to Lester as an "...amoral a$$hole".

[Ernest Rister]

Blast from the past....

Superman (1978) movie review - Sneak Previews with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel - YouTube

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

I love Pryor but I didn't think he was funny at all in the film-- although there were some moments I thought were funny playing off the character with the villain Ross Webster. "I ask you to kill Superman, and you can't even do that one simple thing."

Superman IV is my earliest memory going to the theater. When I was a young I loved it and didn't question the story or terrible effects. Superman getting clawed in the neck and getting sick was real drama for me

Agreed. Pryor was immensely talented but his persona simply wasn't a good organic fit for the fairly serious and dramatic Donner Superman. He apparently begged the studio to be included in the film and I suspect the movie executives thought he'd be a perfect crossover star bringing in new audiences.

A "straight" Superman III featuring a real Brainiac would have been better received.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Never seen it. Is it delicious trash?

It is. It also features (I maybe misremembering this) the glorious scene of Captain Freaking America car-jacking poor old Ned Beatty and leaving him for dead in the middle of nowhere as the Deliverance style banjo music swells up in the background.

It's also fun to think that a lot of trees were used to print J.D. Salinger's books, but they saved one to make a glorious plank of wood, his son, Matt.

[ltb2.0]

Originally Posted by chip75

It is. It also features (I maybe misremembering this) the glorious scene of Captain Freaking America car-jacking poor old Ned Beatty and leaving him for dead in the middle of nowhere as the Deliverance style banjo music swells up in the background.

And he pulls the same stunt later in the movie as well.

But seriously, this movie bears little resemblance to the comics, of any age. Golden, Silver, Bronze, Modern.

[Show spoiler]Italian Red Skull and failed first mission is really all you need to know about its fidelity to the source.

And yet, I still enjoy this cinematic disaster that shows the resourcefulness of its director.

[Kamdan]

No, I didn't leave it out - I read a re-written script. What was posted here was an early concept. I read a finished script given to me by Ilya.

There is a script? Who wrote it? Far as I know, Salkind only wrote a treatment and it was rejected for being too cosmic (i.e. expensive), so they went with the Pryor approach. I’d love to hear more about this if you actually own a screenplay.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Albert Pyun was robbed.

We were robbed.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

We were robbed.

At least we got Cyborg.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

At least we got Cyborg.

Now there's a film that really needs a better release.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

Now there's a film that really needs a better release.

[Show spoiler]

I've got the MGM triple-pack with Double Impact and Death Warrant, but wasn't Shout's collector's edition regarded as a respectable release? Or did they screw the pooch?