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Bill on Gene Hackman:
The way I've read it and seen it in "Superman III", Lana Lang represents the love and friendship Clark Kent sought as a youth and into his teenage years, from simpler and more innocent times when all he had to worry about was wanting to like Lana and wanting Lana to like him for his heart. In the comics prior to the John Byrne revision, the adult version of Lana Lang served as Lois Lane's rival love interest for Clark Kent. While Clark wanted Lois to love him for him, he used his Superman identity to win Lois over, which attracted Lois to him. Lana, on the other hand, was determined to win Clark's heart no matter what. (Talk about a four-person menage a trois!! Very similar to what was seen in the double date scenario in Superman IV.). This rivalry was briefly insinuated at the end of III, as Lois noticed Lana's diamond ring, believing Clark to have proposed to his childhood girlfriend. Apparently at this point in the movie series there is an underlying current between Lois and Clark where she still remembers some of the events of "Superman II", though it is never overtly stated. Furthermore, from what is implied, Lois has read Clark's article on the evolution of a small Kansas town from the perspective of one who has made it in the big city. This jealousy toward "the little girl back home... the prettiest girl in the school" becomes evident toward the end of III. This desire for something greater is what Lana Lang seeks during the course of III, as she is attracted to the calm, self-assured successful reporter of Clark Kent. She is no longer looking for popularity or being a trophy on Brad Wilson's arm, she simply wants a better life for her and her son, and who happens to point her in the right direction than the one man who loved her for her - Clark. She's friendly and respectful toward Superman, of course, but she connects with Clark and is attracted to his calm demeanor that would have turned her off toward him back in high school. Apparently the old adage of "things get better with age" still holds true with people. When John Byrne revised the comic, he gave Lana a sad edge to her character of bearing the burden of Clark's mysterious powers and of wanting to escape Smallville along with Clark. Held back by her aunt's illness and eventual death, Lana fell into hard times financially but remained a faithful friend of the Kents, until she clawed her way out of her problems. Instead of Clark being there for her, Pete Ross, now a successful US congressman and a boyhood friend of Lana's and Clark's, was there for her, eventually marrying Lana. Her role in III, sweetly portrayed by Annette O'Toole, was defined fully, even though she was brought in to replace Lois as the female lead in the picture.
We have to remember just who was responsible for bringing the resulting abomination to the screen - master shlockmeisters Golan and Globus of the Cannon Group. And a large chunk of the blame has to be placed on Christopher Reeve, who accepted responsibility (and blame) for the story ideas he contributed to the project, as he says in "Still Me". But another problem with the film is that they had run out of money during post-production and could not improve on the visual effects. That explains the numerous scabs throughout the movie. Who knows? Perhaps the missing 42 minutes of footage also contains some serious scabs as well with the visual effects. With today's CGI technology proving to be a selling point in films like the "Star Wars" series, "Lost in Space", "Jurassic Park", and "Titanic", it's certainly possible for an effects shop like ILM or Lucas Digital Arts or Digital Domain to clean up and really improve on the effects for a revised release of "Superman IV", if we press hard for it. We're not asking that it be a classic, since nothing can replace the original "Superman" movie and Derek Meddings' effects in that film.
Bill on the problems of Superman III and IV
According to Christopher Reeve in his book "Still Me", the script for III was built around the Gus Gorman character after Richard Pryor appeared on the Tonight Show and stated that he wanted to appear in a Superman movie. The Salkinds immediately got hold of Pryor, the Newmans rushed the script, which Reeve had absolutely no control or input over, and what resulted was a very unfunny and bad movie from start to finish. Superman IV, however, had a very simplistic but servicable script from the start. The idea of Superman destroying the world's nuclear arsenals sounded good in the pitches, and the final script reads much better, but it was Cannon Group's lowering the budget to $32 million (as opposed to the average $40-$45 million for each of the previous films) and their decision to switch to blue-screening instead of Zoran Perisic's front projection screening that really crippled a lot of the visual effects. That, and the fact that you could see wires and flying harnesses (and even some poor airbrushing and a rotating platform) in the effects shots, really hurt what could have hurt a good movie. And who is to say what the other third of the film might have looked like, had it been released intact? So far, nobody has come forth to admit to seeing the original version of IV either in the sneak preview or in its lone SFM broadcast in 1989, and until the general public at large has that opportunity to see the original film, there's no way of knowing.
In my opinion, John Williams' original score for "Superman" is the best ever! His themes for Superman, Lois Lane, Krypton, Lex Luthor, you name it, have that timeless, epic quality to them. No wonder this particular score is long overdue for digital remastering in an expanded 2-CD release, in the same vein as the "Star Wars Trilogy", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "E.T.", and "Close Encounters" expanded CDs. Right behind it, I would have to place the John Williams/Alexander Courage score for "Superman IV". Though this good score was never released on CD (and it is loooooong overdue), Williams contributed two new themes to the series, and Courage took great care to respect the original themes while adapting them for the fourth movie. Had Courage himself done the music for IV, it still would have been very good - after all, this is the man who gave us the legendary "Star Trek" fanfare in the 1960's. Ken Thorne's adaptations for "Superman II" and "Superman III", however, stink royally. Very rinky-dink and tinny-sounding. (Just listen to side 2 of the III soundtrack... if you think all of this alternative music and rock music being shoehorned into the background of a movie like "Batman and Robin" sounds awful, give a listen to the Giorgio Moroder mess for III).
In the original script for "Superman II", Lois Lane attempts to prove in Metropolis that Clark Kent is Superman. When given an assignment by Perry White, Lois holds a news article about Superman and has drawn a pair of glasses over Superman's face. As Clark mentions going on assignment, Lois playfully replies, "Sure, but only if we can fly there." Lois then attempts to prove that Clark is Superman by risking her life. She jumps from the Daily Planet window, and then Clark rushes in a blur to the streets and blows a window awning upward. Lois bounces off the awning and lands onto the fruit stand. By now Clark has rushed back to the office and says, "Lois, are you all right?" Richard Donner had filmed this sequence with Margot Kidder and actress/stuntwoman Ellen Bry doing the stunt in the longer shots, and photos of this scene were published in the "Superman" movie magazines by DC Comics and in some other places like Starlog Magazine. But this scene, and another in which Lois proves Clark is Superman by pointing a gun at him, were scrapped when Richard Lester took over production from Donner in 1979 and replaced the scenes with the insipid waterfall jump at Niagara Falls. Looking back, Donner's material is much stronger than what is seen in Lester's bastardization of "Superman II", and it's easy to tell which clips are Donner's (all of the scenes with Gene Hackman, and borrowed clips from I), and which are Lester's (including the Paris sequence, the cab scene, everything at Niagara Falls, and a good portion of the fight in Metropolis).
Bill Williams is a regular source of information on the Superman movies, one of the most acknowledged and respected on the Web; he makes frequent contributions to numerous Superman Websites. His most recent works include the campaign petitions that appeared at both Megadeth and Hiphat's sites, the soundtrack campaign petition that was at Hips' site and at Scott Hansen's Unofficial John Williams Web Site, and the co-writing of the recent Warner Bros. article with Megadeth. He also hosts a weekly Superman Chat Hour at Talk City every Tuesday at 5:00 PM central. The above are all his opinions, many of them previously posted to message boards. He has no affiliation with Warner Brothers or DC Comics but has worked diligently to see the 1978 Superman film done proper justice, especially through a re-release of the full, original John Williams soundtrack.
