So onto Part 3 of my critique of the Superman films, which is of course all about Superman 3, which was directed by Richard Lester, so the comic tone that he added to Superman 2 is on full flight here, and we also have the inclusion of Richard Pryor, to further the comedy elements. But more on that soon, now onto the plot.
So Supe 3 starts with Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) an umemployed fella who is down on his luck when the social security cut off his money, who finds out he has a knack for computers, as he takes a job with the firm Webscoe and manages to embezzle $85000 in half cents from the organisation. After Gus unintentionally draws attention to himself by buying a fancy sports car with his money, the CEO Ross Webster (Robert Vaughan) brings him up and decides to use his talents for hacking for his own ends.
Meanwhile Clark Kent (Reeve) gets permission from Perry White (Jackie Cooper) to do a story on his hometown school reunion in Smallville, where he returns and strikes up a friendship with his childhood friend Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole, lovely). Lana is now single and a divorcee with one young son Ricky, however she is still pestered by her ex-boyfriend from high school, Brad Wilson (Gavan O'Herlihy).
Back to Gus, Webster now manipulates Gus into doing his dirty as he makes him hack into one of Webscoe's small computer offices (in Smallville funnily enough!) where he contacts the Vulcan satelitte, which controls the weather, and makes it create a torando to destroy Colombia's coffee crop, as a result of the country refusing to do business with Webster. However Superman intervenes and stops the tornado and dries up the crops, which incenses Webster, who now wants to get rid of Superman. With his busty blonde nutrionist Lorelei (Pamela Stephenson) telling Webster that kryptonite is the only thing that can hurt Superman, Wesbter gets Gus to use the Vulcan satelitte to track the whereabouts of Krypton's former location in hopes to find a chunk of Kryptonite. The computer scans show up an unknown element in the kryptonite, which Gus substitutes as Tar (taken from his pack of cigarettes).
Superman on Ricky's birthday turns up, and the event is turned into a parade, where Gus and Webster's sister Vera (Annie Ross) drive up, dressed in an army uniform, Gus give a speech to the audience and hands Superman as a gift, the chunk of synthetic kryptonite, made up from the elements scanned by the Vulcan satelitte. However the kryptonite appears to have no effect on him, at first that is, but soon after, the kryptonite starts to make Superman behave strangely, as he becomes moody, apathetic, and commits some petty acts of vandalism, such as straightening the learning tower of Pisa and blowing out an olympic runner's torch just at the crucial moment of lighting the olympic flame. Webster also takes advantage of Superman's behaviour as he get Lorelei to lure Superman into helping them with their oil scam, as they get all the oil tankers to go to a certain destination, except one, which Superman flies to and punctures the hull, to bleed the oil out into the sea. This also causes chaos as Metropolis, doesn't get its oil supplies and the oil pumps dry up, which creates riots in the city. Superman's mood worsens, as his sinks into depression, which culiminates with him sitting in a bar getting drunk, smashes bottles of alcohol, simply by flicking peanuts at them! With Lana and Ricky arriving in Metropolis, they witness the drunken Superman walk out of the bar, growling at the spectators, he flies off, while Ricky calls out after him, with his words echoing in his head, Superman's torment reaches its limit, as he flies into a junkyard. In the junkyard Superman persona splits into two, as Clark Kent emerges from himself, as the two of them fight it out for their right to live, and after repeated attempts to kill off Clark, the bad Superman puts Clark in a car crusher, who burts out of it to strangle the bad Supe, who vanishes. At this point Clark opens his shirt, revealing his Superman suit, as he flies off and puts the damage he did to rights and goes off to find Webster.
By this time Gus has ideas to build a supercomputer, which he has written out blueprints for, the computer is essentially an invincible machine that can counter attack and wipe out its enemies. Intruiged by the possibilities of what the computer can do for him, Webster agrees to have the computer built. The supercomputer once fully built, is ready in time for Superman arriving, which attacks the caped dude with missiles. Superman survives the attacks and then goes in to confront Webster in the climactic sequence. (Sheesh what a long plot summary!).
Despite the mixed reviews that Superman III got at the time, I have to say I really did enjoy it as a film, and despite the overly comic tones in certain scenes it has alot going for it. One of the things that really works in the film is Clark's development as a character, as he no longer is as bumbling and awkward as he was before, now he is more confident and sure of himself. His scenes with Lana are also nicely played, especially the way they keep talking at cross purposes, as an example Clark helps Lana clean up after the school reunion party, and she talks about her ex-husband while sorting out the potato salad, "You know what the problem is???" and Clark says "Eehhh, too much mayonaisse??" "What?? No my husband loved mayonaise!". And also the scene where they picnic out in the fields, and Lana says to Clark "Clark, can I tell you something. My oil pan is leaking!".
And another highlight of Superman III is of course the casting of Richard Pryor, who plays the neurotic Gus Gorman with a wonderful sense of comic neurosis, a computer genius, who starts off being a little naughty by embezzling Webster's company, only to find himself out of his depth with the overly ambitious millionaire forcing to be involved in his dastardly schemes. Gus of course at no point really comes across as the bad guy, he's just an ordinary joe, who gets caught up in some bad events with some bad people. And toward the end Gus realises just how maniacal Webster is, when Superman is nearly killed by one of the supercomputer's ray beams (harnessing kryptonite rays) he tries to turn off the computer, and smashes up the kryptonite ray beam that is hurting Superman. Its also in a way a neat touch, that the computer at that point becomes self aware and turns itself back on, feeding off the powerlines of Metropolis, but in the end Superman manages to save the day. And there is a nice symmetrical touch to Gus's character, as Gus at the end of the movie ends up right back where he started, having gone from rags to riches, and back again, starting off the film as being unemployed, and ending it as the same! There was also a bit of criticism levelled at the film because it appeared to be more like a comedy vehicle for Richard Pryor than an actual Superman film, and to an extent maybe you could say that, but overall I don't think Pryor overshadows Christopher Reeve in it too much.
There are of course quite a few highlights in the film, and without a doubt of the film's best scene is Superman's dual with himself in the junkyard, as the evil Superman and good Clark Kent fight it out for survival. Christopher Reeve always wanted to play the part of the evil Superman, and he was reported as having really enjoyed it, and its something he does really well in the film. And in a way the dark cape, also neatly lends to his darkening personality in the film, its also perhaps the single best aspect of the film in fact, as it helps lend a bit of much needed dramatic weight to offset much of its comedic tone. Another highlight scene is of course, when the good Superman flies off to confront Webster, who attacks him with the supercomputer's defence system, firing missiles galore at him, its a scene that always stuck in my mind as I remember seeing it as a clip on TV as a kid when it first came out back in 1983 (yup I'm old!). I also like the scene with Richard Pryor sitting getting drunk with Brad Wilson in the Webscoe office, wearing the ridiculously big cowboy hat!
But if there are any weaknesses in the film then yes it is the overly comedic slapstick tone set by Richard Lester, the opening scene with the busty Lorelei, getting the attention of an onlooker who bumps into a mime, sets off a chain reaction of accidents. Its well staged, but it just looks silly, and it no longer looks like we are in Metropolis, it might as well be an village idiot's convention. Another silly scene is where Gus goes to Smallville and hacks into the computers and wreaks havoc with computer systems controlling the ATM machines, the traffic, and especially with the green and red traffic men signs fighting with one another. Its just silly and naff. The terse relationship between Lorelei and Vera is also enteratining but it is also a bit too farcical as well, although I do like their exchange when they argue infront of Webster, and Lorelei shouts about Vera "She's a big pig!".
On the music front Ken Thorne once again provides the score, again he delivers much of John Williams score from the first film, but he also adds some nice passages of music himself. Lester often used Ken Thorne as his regular composer, although if one criticism can be levelled at the score, it still does sound like TV film music, and not something that really belongs to a film on the big screen.
So overall for me Superman III is an underrated sequel, and yeah ok, there a few criticisms that can be levelled at it for its overtly comic tone, but I feel it doesn't really deserve or deserved the stick it got from the critics or the public. And without a doubt it stands head and shoulders above the abysmal Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which in itself was mystifying that any of the original cast, such as Kidder and Hackman wanted to be even involved in it, in the first place. In fact its so naff I won't even give it a critique, as its horribly written, badly drected, cheaply made, and makes a total mockery of the previous films and everyone involved in it. Its also a great shame that Christopher Reeve bowed out of the Superman films, in such a dire way with Superman IV, as he and the character deserved so much better than that. But that unfortunately was the way it went, although the series did go some way in redeeming itself by getting restarted by Bryan Singer who directed Superman Returns, which to be fair does deserve a critique, so it will be getting one next.
So cue part 4.......
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