What's your favorite superman movie?

[johns0]

I liked the newest superman movie the best, Superman Returns.

[Baldrick]

They all sucked.

[usually_quiet]

I have seen them all. I even grew up watching the 1950s series in syndication.

There's nothing wrong with "Superman Returns", but "Superman I" is my favorite, then "Superman II". I suppose I am nostalgic. The special effects in the first two movies were spectacular at the time, although they seem a bit cheesy now.

[hech54]

Lex Luthor: It's amazing that brain can generate enough power to keep those legs moving.

[SallyDog]

I liked the original best, but Supergirl was entertaining in its own, odd way.

[zoobie]

I've met a few Supergirls in my time....very talented at what they do best

They all sucked.

exactly

[yoda313]

I would say the first - the first Christopher Reeves movie.

I didn't have a problem with Superman Returns. However it was a bit long. I also liked 4 more than most people seemed to.

[lordsmurf]

Superman (1978) fully extended cut -- unreleased officially, but I have a HQ copy, excellent.
Superman II, the Richard Donner Cut -- excellent

Superman III is only good to watch witch lady turn in computer monster
Superman IV sucked
Superman Returns was Jesus in a cape. Fail.

[Case]

Superman III for the salami slicing scheme.

[Des]

I like the first two almost equally, but Love! Superman II The Richard Donner Cut.
The last one was good, but I didn't feel that Superman was quite 'Super' enough. Most of the movie was spent dealing with thugs and thuggish event, with little in the way of extraordinary events except for near the end.

I still like George Reeves and how he handled The Mole Men

--dES

[Moontrash]

1 & 2...the rest were for actors paychecks and to put butts in seats

[SallyDog]

I like the first two almost equally, but Love! Superman II The Richard Donner Cut.
The last one was good, but I didn't feel that Superman was quite 'Super' enough. Most of the movie was spent dealing with thugs and thuggish event, with little in the way of extraordinary events except for near the end.

I still like George Reeves and how he handled The Mole Men

--dES

The Mole Men scared the ever loving shit outta me as a kid.

[16mmJunkie]

I'm with Baldrick on these...they all sucked

[freebird73717]

Liked them all but my favorite is the original 1978.

[julitomg]

I´d vote for the first one...Superman returns is Ok but after I saw it I felt it didn´t add a lot to the series.
Bye the way, not a movie as such but Max Fleischer´s 40s Superman cartoons are really great

[AlanHK]

"the first one"?
"the original 1978."?




Kirk Alyn, 1948

[julitomg]

"the first one"?
"the original 1978."?




Kirk Alyn, 1948

Sorry...I was thinking about the 1978 Richard Donner´s movie, listed first in the poll. By the way...I think Kirk Alyn appeared in the 1948 serial....not a feature length film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040852/

[AlanHK]

Sorry...I was thinking about the 1978 Richard Donner´s movie, listed first in the poll. By the way...I think Kirk Alyn appeared in the 1948 serial....not a feature length film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040852/

I know what you meant, I just get a bit annoyed that people blandly say Christopher Reeve's version was the "first".
I deliberately did not quote and name anyone as I wasn't tryng to put down anyone.

Anyway, the word "feature" wasn't stated; and the serial was shown in cinemas and adds up to over 4 hours so it's certainly "feature length". I'm sure it's been cut down to a single feature for TV release.

[ashe09]

definitely Superman Returns(2006)

[filmboss80]

I still like George Reeves and how he handled The Mole Men.

Yeah, too bad "Superman and the Mole-Men" wasn't listed in the poll.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044091/

[AlanHK]

Not to mention:Turkish Superman

[julitomg]

...or Friedrich Niezsche´s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cbermensch

[orsetto]

The 1978 Superman nailed it: the combination of clever stunt casting (in even the smallest parts) with off-the-scale production values that still managed to be cheesy, and several remarkably poetic f/x sequences. Christopher Reeve pulled off the flying scenes in such a way that you really couldn't laugh and had to buy into it right along with him. Some of the humor is forced, but Reeve is really invested when he isn't trying for the laugh. Margot Kidder was the exact right Lois for 1978, and Gene Hackman remains peerless as Luthor. I like the non-campy parts better, but one of my all-time favorite "villain moments" in movies occurs when Hackmen tells his team he's gonna divert a warhead to Hackensack NJ. His mistress (Valerie Perrine) whines "but Lex, my MOTHER lives in Hackensack!" Hackman raises an eyebrow, studies his watch for a moment, then looks back at her and shakes his head "not anymore" with an expression of mock sympathy. Priceless.

Historically the 1978 Superman is kinda interesting as one of the few examples of a dragged-out, trouble-plagued production that sucked down investment dollars like a Hoover but actually managed to pay off handsomely in the end. No one thought it would work, especially with a nobody in the lead, and certainly not with all the money it cost (the credits alone followed by the first ten minutes with Brando cost more than the entire budget of the average all-star movie at that time- more than the entire "Star Wars" budget).

If you were a kid or teen in '78, "Superman" really stuck in your head and became iconic. Viewed today out of context, many consider it plodding and dull, and if you don't know who the many great old-time actors were you won't appreciate the fun of seeing them in it. (Even in 1978, I must have been the only kid who knew who Phyllis Thaxter was, due to the Late Late Show movie reruns I stayed up for on TV.) The simultaneously-filmed "Superman II" was very entertaining, and became the template for all comic book movies that followed, but doesn't quite have the heft of "Superman." "S-III" was a waste other than the still-amusing concept of Richard Pryor stealing billions of $ by simply skimming a half-cent off every computer banking transaction in the world. The franchise ran out of gas with "S-IV." "Superman Returns" in 2006 was a sleep aid: the typical CGI-fest with no soul. Brandon Routh had no charisma at all, and the dismally "updated" plot making Lois an unwed mother was grating as hell. All due props to the old Kirk Alyn serial, but it doesn't quite hold up- if the 1978 version is considered "dated", the Kirk Alyn version is fossilized. The George Reeves "Mole Men" and TV series probably came closest to the comic book's original tone, especially Phyllis Coates take on Lois.

[oldfart13]

The 1978 one. Nuff said...

As to the comics? Which ones? The original 1940's ones or the current ones with the (once again) remade DC universe? I sorta liked the Wayne Boring ones from the 1960's with Superman having virtually godlike powers. I don't like the "New 52" version currently spooling in the new DC universe. Pretty artwork though...

[dwisniski]

Superman: The Movie (1978, theatrical version) is a classic and is still to this day one of my top 10 favorite movies. From the instantly recognizable John Williams score, to Mario Puzo's screenplay, to all of the actor's performances, the movie was created and treated with love and respect.

Superman II is a mixed bag. There is good and bad to both versions (Lester's theatrical and Donner's directors cut) but overall, besides the never rewritten or filmed ending, I prefer Donner's cut. The inclusion of Marlon Brando's Jor-El and the slighty more serious tone give it the edge for me.

III and IV were both terrible, enough said.

Where do we start with Superman Returns? While the movie is moderately entertaining (Kevin Spacey was born to play Lex Luthor!), the movie is essentially a beat for beat remake of Superman The Movie (Kal-El crash lands on Earth, spends time in Kansas, goes to big city, rescues Lois from air disaster, Lex Luthor looking to get involved in real estate fraud while killing millions of innocent people, takes girl out for flying lessons...). Plus, let's talk timeline; after Superman II (Donner's version, since Superman was still super when he slept with Lois, hence superkid, plus Bryan Singer doesn't acknowledge III and IV) Lois gets pregnant and Superman splits to check out Krypton. Again, this is 1980 when all of this happens. He comes back 5 years later (which should be around 1985), and instead it's 2006?! The Daily Planet has LCD flat screen HDTV's all over the place, kids are taking pictures of Superman with their cell phones...

That said, really looking forward to the Nolan's and Zack Snyder's The Man Of Steel

[vectorthom]

I think Richard Donner's Superman II, had he completed it in '79 the way he wanted to, could likely have been the best one. In the first one, he understood the proper tone and John Williams' score supported it flawlessly - another Williams Superman score is one of the great losses of Donner being fired. The villains' destruction was to have been on a more global scale. And I'm sure Donner would've polished it to perfection with whatever scenes and moments were needed to make it great - including a new ending which was never written. The current Richard Donner Cut gives us an idea of how it could've been, but it's impossible to realign the stars today the way they were back then.