Superman Movie Review

Yeah, it was 1978 when Superman first hit theaters in the version most of us remember -- with Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel and Marlon Brando as his disco-inspired pop. Superman is a lovable epic full of quaint nostalgia and incredible mysteries of logic (because if the earth spun the other way round, time would apparently reverse... riiiight). The story tells the bulk of the Superman legend -- his escape from Krypton, coming to terms with his powers as a youth in Smallville, moving to big old Metropolis and becoming Clark Kent (and falling for crusty Lois Lane), and dealing with a Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman, excellently over the top) plan to buy up real estate in Nevada and then destroy most of California, thus making his new coastline worth millions. Watch for Terence Stamp's Zod in the first scene -- he'll be back to rule as one of cinema's great villains in Superman II.

The new DVD features an amazing four discs, including the original cut of the film and a 2000 "expanded edition," both with commentary tracks. Three making-of documentaries plus restored scenes and one of the best sets of screen tests I've ever seen (Anne Archer, Lesley Ann Warren, and Stockard Channing as Lois!) fill a third disc, while vintage Superman materials from the 1940s and '50s take up the fourth. Exhaustive, and recommended.