- John Williams' music is simply amazing. I can't hear his Superman theme without wishing I could take off and fly around. Such a beautiful, triumphant piece of music.
- ZOD! General Zod isn't even the villain of this film; he and his partners in crime are there in the beginning to set up the sequel. But Zod's speech to Jor-El (Superman's father) is incredibly chilling. "You will bow down before me, Jor-El! Both you and then one day, your heirs!"
- Young Clark Kent's comments after Pa Kent dies always get me. "All those things that I can do, all those powers, and I couldn't even save him." Brutal stuff.
- I absolutely adore the scene where the gunman tries to mug Lois and Clark. Margot Kidder is a fantastic Lois. She's unafraid of the mugger and even tries to kick the gun out of his hand. I love it when Clark catches the bullet and half-winks to the camera before going on to tell Lois everything that's in her purse. Classic.
- The big reveal of Superman is nothing short of epic. He soars up to catch Lois, who's plummeting toward the pavement. ("You've got me! Who's got you?") Then Superman catches the falling helicopter in his other hand. The whole thing looks effortless. It's brilliant.
- The chemistry between Superman and Lois is great. It feels like it should be cheesy when he flies her around the world, but it never comes across that way to me. The characters just seem to be head over heels for each other.
- Christopher Reeve knocks the Superman/Clark Kent role out of the park. He's mind-blowingly good. The way he transitions back and forth between the Superman persona and the Clark Kent persona when he picks Lois up for their date is so good.
- Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor is cunning and diabolical. He can be witty and even funny. ("You know why the number 200 is so vitally descriptive to both you and me? It's your weight and my IQ.") But at the core he's pure evil. As he says, he gets his kicks plotting the deaths of innocent people, millions of innocent people. Such a great foil for Superman.
- The feats Superman pulls in the climax are incredible. Director Richard Donner and company really understood how to challenge Superman without a huge fight: multiple emergencies at the same time. Superman is there to stop a runaway misslie, fix the earth's crust, save a busload of kids, shut off an out-of-control power main, and stop a river that bursts its dam. And all of that is leading up to the finale when he flies fast enough to reverse the rotation of the earth, go back in time, and save Lois. I understand how ridiculous that is, but I can't get past how cool it is. Superman does incredibly cool things. I love that.
- The conclusion of the movie, where Superman smiles at the camera as he flies in orbit around the earth, is just perfect.
If you've never seen Superman, I highly recommend it. If you have seen it, I highly recommend watching it again. Just let me know when you do. I'd love to watch it with you.
Grace and peace,
BMH
