Superman III is a 1983 British-American superhero film directed by Richard Lester. It is the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics superhero. The film is the last Superman film to be produced by Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind, and stars Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, and Robert Vaughn. This film is followed by Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, released on July 23, 1987.
Although the film still managed to recoup its budget of $39 million, it was less successful than the first two Superman movies, both financially and critically. While harsh criticism focused on the film's comedic and campy tone, as well as the casting and performance of Pryor, Reeve was praised for his much darker performance as the corrupted Superman. Following the release of this movie, Pryor signed a five-year contract with Columbia Pictures worth $40 million.
n id="Plot">Plot
August "Gus" Gorman, a chronically unemployed and down on his luck man, discovers that he has a knack for computer programming and soon gets a job at WebsCo. Gorman is soon quite unhappy with his pay and after embezzling from his new employer's payroll (through a technique known as salami slicing), Gorman is brought to the attention of the CEO Ross Webster. Webster is obsessed with the computer's potential to aid him in his schemes to rule the world financially, and is more impressed than angry at Gorman's embezzlement. Joined by his sister Vera and his "psychic nutritionist" Lorelei Ambrosia, Webster blackmails Gorman into helping him.
Meanwhile, Clark Kent has convinced his Daily Planet boss Perry White to allow him to return to Smallville for his high school reunion. En route, as Superman, he extinguishes a fire in a chemical plant containing vials of highly-unstable Beltric acid that can produce clouds of corrosive vapor when superheated. At the reunion Clark is reunited with childhood friend Lana Lang, a divorcée with a young son named Ricky, and constantly harassed by Brad Wilson, an ex-boyfriend of hers.
Webster schemes to monopolize the world's coffee crop. Infuriated by Colombia's refusal to do business with him, he orders Gorman to command an American weather satellite named Vulcan to create a tornadic storm to decimate the nation's coffee crop. Gorman uses the Smallville branch of WebsCo to activate the satellite, unknowingly aided by Brad when Gus takes advantage of his alcoholism to have a drinking party, then use him to utilize the keycodes. Webster's scheme is thwarted when Superman neutralizes the tornado and saves the harvest. Webster then orders Gorman to use his computer knowledge to create Kryptonite, remembering Lois Lane's Daily Planet interview with Superman, in which Superman identified it as his only weakness. Gus uses Vulcan to locate Krypton's debris in outer space.
Lana convinces Superman to appear at Ricky's birthday party, but Smallville turns it into a town celebration. Gus and Vera, disguised as United States Army officers, give Superman the Kryptonite as a gift, but are dismayed to see that it appears to have no immediate effect on him. However, Superman goes through a descent into darkness as he becomes selfish, focusing on his lust for Lana, which causes him to delay rescuing a truck driver from his jackknifed rig. Superman begins to question his own self-worth, he becomes depressed, angry, and casually destructive, committing petty acts of vandalism such as blowing out the Olympic Flame and straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Webster plots to control the world's oil supply, ordering Gorman to direct all tankers to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and have them sit idly until further notice. Ross makes a deal with Gorman, agreeing to build a supercomputer in return for sorting out the oil tankers .The captain of one tanker refuses to follow Gorman's orders to sit idly. Superman dumps its oil into the ocean.
Superman goes on a drinking binge, but is eventually overcome by guilt and undergoes a nervous breakdown, after Ricky calls out to him urging him to fight against his descent into evil. After nearly crash-landing in a junkyard, Superman splits into two personas: the immoral, selfish, corrupted Superman and the moral, righteous Clark Kent. They engage in a battle, ending when Clark strangles his evil identity, vanquishing him for good. Restored to his normal heroic self, Superman sets off to repair the damage his evil counterpart had caused.
After defending himself from numerous rockets and an MX missile en route to the Grand Canyon and the villains' hideout, Superman confronts Webster, Vera and Lorelei for a final showdown. He is forced into a battle with Gorman's supercomputer, which severely weakens him with a beam of pure Kryptonite.Unlike the computer Gorman earlier operated, the supercomputer has gotten the composition of kryptonite right.
Gorman, guilt-ridden and horrified by the prospect of "going down in history as the man who killed Superman", destroys the Kryptonite ray with a firefighter's axe, whereupon Superman flees. The computer becomes self-aware and begins to defend itself against Gus's attempts to disable it, draining power from electrical towers, causing massive blackouts. Ross and Lorelei escape from the control room, but Vera is pulled into the computer and forcibly transformed into a cyborg. Empowered by the supercomputer, Vera attacks her brother and Lorelei with beams of energy that immobilize them. Superman returns to the battle with a canister of the Beltric acid from the chemical plant he saved earlier. Superman places the canister by the supercomputer, which does not fight back as it suspects no immediate danger. After Superman flees, the intense heat emitted by the machine causes the acid to turn volatile, eventually destroying the supercomputer. Superman flies away with Gus, leaving Webster and his cronies to deal with the authorities. He drops Gus off at a West Virginia coal mine.
Superman returns to Metropolis. As Clark, he pays a visit to Lana, who has relocated to the big city and found employment as the new secretary to Perry White. He is attacked by Brad, who has stalked Lana in Metropolis, only to end up thrown out on a room service cart. The film ends with Superman flying into the sunrise for further adventures.
Cast
- Richard Pryor as August "Gus" Gorman: A bumbling computer genius who works for Ross Webster to destroy Superman.
- Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent / Superman: After discovering his origins in the earlier films, he sets himself to helping those on Earth. After beating arch enemy Lex Luthor twice, Superman meets a new villain: Ross Webster, who is determined to control the world's coffee and oil supplies. Superman also battles personal demons after an exposure to a synthetic form of kryptonite that corrupts him.
- Robert Vaughn as Ross Webster: A villainous multimillionaire. After Superman prevents him from taking over the world's coffee supply, Ross is determined to destroy Superman before he can stop his plan to control the world's oil supply. He is an original character created for the movie.
- Annette O'Toole as Lana Lang: Clark's high school friend who reconciles with Clark after seeing him during their high school reunion. O'Toole later portrayed Martha Kent on the Superman prequel television series Smallville.
- Annie Ross as Vera Webster: Ross' sister and partner in his corporation and villainous plans.
- Pamela Stephenson as Lorelei Ambrosia: Ross' assistant and girlfriend. Lorelei, a voluptuous blonde bombshell, is well-read, articulate and skilled in computers, but conceals her intelligence from Ross and Vera, to whom she adopts the appearance of a superficial fool. As part of Ross' plan, she seduces Superman.
- Jackie Cooper as Perry White: The editor of the Daily Planet.
- Margot Kidder as Lois Lane: A reporter at the Daily Planet who has a history with both Clark Kent and Superman. She is away from Metropolis on vacation to Bermuda, which put her in the middle of a front-page story.
- Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen: A photographer for the Daily Planet.
- Gavan O'Herlihy as Brad Wilson: Lana's former boyfriend.
Film director/puppeteer Frank Oz originally had a cameo in this film as a surgeon, but the scene was ultimately deleted. That scene had been included in the TV extended version of the film.
Production
Development
Series producer Ilya Salkind originally wrote a treatment for this film that included Brainiac, Mister Mxyzptlk and Supergirl, but Warner Bros. did not like it. The treatment was released online in 2007. The Mr. Mxyzptlk portrayed in the outline varies from his good-humored comic counterpart, as he uses his abilities to cause serious harm. Dudley Moore was the top choice to play the role. Meanwhile, in the same treatment, Brainiac was from Colu and had discovered Supergirl in the same way that Superman was found by the Kents. Brainiac is portrayed as a surrogate father to Supergirl and eventually fell in love with his "daughter", who did not reciprocate his feelings, as she had fallen in love with Superman.
Music
As with the previous sequel, the musical score was composed and conducted by Ken Thorne, using the Superman theme and most other themes from the first film composed by John Williams, but this time around there is more original music by Thorne than the Williams re-arrangements. To capitalize on the popularity of synthesizer pop, Giorgio Moroder was hired to create songs for the film (though their use in the film is minimal).
Distribution
Promotion
William Kotzwinkle wrote a novelization of the film published in paperback by Warner Books in the U.S. and by Arrow Books in the United Kingdom to coincide with the film's release; Severn House published a British hardcover edition. Kotzwinkle thought the novelization "a delight the world has yet to find out about." However, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, Roberta Rogow hoped this would be the final Superman film and said, "Kotzwinkle has done his usual good job of translating the screenplay into a novel, but there are nasty undertones to the film, and there are nasty undertones to the novel as well. Adults may enjoy the novel on its own merits, as a Black Comedy of sorts, but it's not written for kids, and most of the under-15 crowd will either be puzzled or revolted by Kotzwinkle's dour humor."
A video game for Superman III was developed for the Atari 8-bit family of computers by Atari, Inc. in 1983, but was ultimately cancelled. A prototype box for the Atari 5200 version also exists, although existence of the actual game for this console remains unconfirmed. The game (perhaps intended to be like Missile Command) would have been loosely based on the plotline for Superman III.
Release
Superman III was released on June 17, 1983 with a running time of 125 minutes. An extended cut was first shown on ABC in 1985 with an extra 16 minutes of added footage (thus, making the running time 141 minutes). The credits were moved to the beginning of the film with the traditional "in space" format in order to insert the deleted material from the streets of Metropolis scene where the credits were in the theatrical version. Just like with the previous two Superman movies, the television edition of Superman III was produced by Alexander Salkind's company.
Although Warner Bros. released the film, once it hit broadcast syndication the distribution rights were held by Viacom's syndication unit and its successor Paramount Domestic Television. Viacom/Paramount also distributed Supergirl and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, the rights to which were sold to Cannon Films (and a portion of whose library was acquired by Paramount after the company folded). Warner eventually acquired the full rights to the Superman franchise but no longer has the rights to Superman IV. In the United Kingdom, the extended version had been shown about two or three times in the late 1980s.
Reception
Box office
The total domestic box office gross (not adjusted for inflation) for Superman III was $59,950,623. The film was the 12th highest grossing film of 1983 in North America.
Critical response
Reviews for the film were mixed from fans and mostly negative from critics. At Rotten Tomatoes, only 26% of critics have given the film positive reviews, based on 47 reviews. The summary on Rotten Tomatoes goes as follows: "When not overusing sight gags, slapstick and Richard Pryor, Superman III resorts to plot points rehashed from the previous Superman flicks." A frequent criticism of Superman III was the inclusion of comedian Richard Pryor. Film critic Leonard Maltin said of Superman III that it was an "appalling sequel that trashed everything that Superman was about for the sake of cheap laughs and a co-starring role for Richard Pryor". After an appearance by Pryor on The Tonight Show, telling Johnny Carson how much he enjoyed seeing Superman II, the Salkinds were eager to cast him in a prominent role in the third film. The film was nominated for two Razzie Awards including Worst Supporting Actor for Richard Pryor and Worst Musical Score for Giorgio Moroder.
Audiences also saw Robert Vaughn's villainous Ross Webster as an uninspired fill-in for Lex Luthor. Gene Hackman, along with Margot Kidder, were angry with the way the Salkinds treated Superman director Richard Donner, with Hackman retaliating by refusing to reprise the role of Lex Luthor entirely (though he would later be persuaded to come back for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in 1987, with which the Salkinds had no connection). After Margot Kidder publicly criticized the Salkinds for their treatment of Donner, the producers "punished" the actress by reducing her role in Superman III to a brief cameo.
In his commentary for the 2006 DVD release of Superman III, Ilya Salkind denied any ill will between Margot Kidder and his production team and denied the claim that her part was cut for retaliation. Instead, he said, the creative team decided to pursue a different direction for a love interest for Superman, believing the Lois and Clark relationship had been played out in the first two films (but could be revisited in the future). With the choice to give a more prominent role to Lana Lang, Lois' part was reduced for story reasons. Salkind also denied the reports about Gene Hackman being upset with him, stating that Hackman was unable to return because of other film commitments.
Fans of the Superman series also placed a great deal of the blame on director Richard Lester. Richard Lester made a number of popular comedies in the 1960s â€" including The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night â€" before being hired by the Salkinds in the 1970s for their successful Three Musketeers series, as well as Superman II. Lester broke tradition by setting the opening credits for Superman III during a prolonged slapstick sequence rather than in outer space. Superman III is commonly seen as more or less a goofy (albeit uneven) farce rather than a grand adventure picture like the first two movies.
On Richard Lester's direction of Superman III, Christopher Reeve stated:
[He] was always looking for a gag - sometimes to the point where the gags involving Richard Pryor went over the top. I mean, I didn't think that his going off the top of a building, on skis with a pink tablecloth around his shoulders, was particularly funny.
The film's screenplay, by David and Leslie Newman, was also criticized. When Richard Donner was hired to direct the first two films, he found the Newmans' scripts so distasteful that he hired Tom Mankiewicz for heavy rewrites. Since Donner and Mankiewicz were no longer attached to the franchise, the Salkinds were finally able to bring their "vision" of Superman to the screen and once again hired the Newmans for writing duties.
Despite such harsh criticisms, Superman III was praised for Reeve's performance of a corrupted version of the Man of Steel, particularly the junkyard battle between this newly darkened Superman and Clark Kent. One of the film's positive reviews was from the fiction writer Donald Barthelme, who praised Reeve as "perfect" and described Vaughn as "essentially playing William Buckley - all those delicious ponderings, popping of the eyes, licking of the corner of the mouth."
References
External links
- Superman III at the Internet Movie Database
- Superman III at the TCM Movie Database
- Superman III at AllMovie
- Superman III at Rotten Tomatoes
- Superman III at Box Office Mojo