SUPERMAN (1978)

Although introduced in comics in 1938, Superman’s early big-screen incarnations consisted of a cartoon series produced by Max Fleischer of Popeye fame, two serials, and a low-budget 1951 feature. So, when producers Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler got Warner Bros. to invest $55 million dollars in a feature film, it was something of a revolution. State-of-the-art special effects made audiences believe that a man could fly, while an all-star cast—including Oscar-winners Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman—helped turn the film into an “event.” Their smartest move, however, was casting the then-unknown Christopher Reeve, who captured the innocence of the Man of Steel and his bumbling secret identity, Clark Kent—the latter of which he modeled after Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby (1938). His pitch-perfect performance made him an overnight star. Teamed with Margot Kidder as the feisty Lois Lane, Reeve would go on to play the role in three sequels and be forever identified with truth, justice and the American way.

d. Richard Donner, 143m, DCP

Preceded by the short film THE ARCTIC GIANT (1942), dir. Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky, 9 min, DCP

Courtesy of Warner Brothers Classics.