Superman III
Encyclopedia
Superman III is a 1983 superhero film
and the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics
superhero
. Christopher Reeve
, Jackie Cooper
, Marc McClure
and Margot Kidder
are joined by new cast members Annette O'Toole
, Annie Ross
, Pamela Stephenson
, Robert Vaughn
and Richard Pryor
. The film was the last Reeve/Superman film produced by Alexander Salkind
and Ilya Salkind
. It was followed by Supergirl
(produced by the Salkinds) in 1984 and the non-Salkind produced sequel Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
in 1987.
The film 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, 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.
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.
), an unemployed ne'er-do-well, discovers a knack for computer programming. 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 (Robert Vaughn
) is obsessed with the computer's potential to aid him in his schemes to rule the world financially. Joined by his sister Vera (Annie Ross
) and his "psychic nutritionist" Lorelei Ambrosia (Pamela Stephenson
), Webster blackmails Gorman into helping him.
Meanwhile, Clark Kent has convinced his newspaper 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 acid that can produce clouds of corrosive vapor when superheated.
In Smallville, Clark is reunited with childhood friend Lana Lang
(Annette O'Toole
). Lana is a divorcée with a young son named Ricky (Paul Kaethler). Clark and Lana begin to share affection for each other, though Lana's former boyfriend Brad (Gavan O'Herlihy
), Clark's childhood bully and now an alcoholic
security guard, is still vying for her attention.
Meanwhile, 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. 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 from Superman, during which Superman identified it as his only weakness. Gus uses a computer to order Vulcan to locate Krypton's debris in outer space, but after the computer fails to analyze an "unknown" element in kryptonite, he improvises by replacing the unidentified element with tar
, garnered from a pack of cigarettes.
Lana convinces Superman to appear at Ricky's birthday party, but Smallville turns it into a celebration. Gus and Vera, disguised as United States Army
officers, give Superman the kryptonite
as a gift, and are dismayed to see that it appears to have no effect on him. However, the compound begins to produce symptoms. 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
, and, as the Kryptonite takes effect, he becomes depressed, angry, and casually destructive, committing petty acts of vandalism such as blowing out the Olympic Flame
, straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa
and ripping open the hull of an oil tanker, causing the contents to spill into the sea.
With Superman distracted, Webster furthers his plans by controlling the world's oil supply, ordering Gorman to direct all of the oil tankers to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and having them sit there until further notice. Gorman moans that Ross gets his own way all of the time and that he feels unappreciated. He then gives Webster a series of crudely drawn blueprints for a supercomputer
. Ross makes a deal with Gorman, agreeing to build his supercomputer in return for sorting out the oil tankers.
Superman assuages his depression with 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 an epic battle across the junkyard, with the evil Superman repeatedly trying and failing to kill Clark by crushing him in industrial equipment. The battle ends when Clark bursts through the walls of a car crusher
and strangles his evil identity, vanquishing him for good. As a battered but unbowed Clark gazes up at the heavens, he pulls his shirt open to reveal his crest. 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, Superman confronts Webster, Vera and Lorelei, and is forced into a battle with Gorman's supercomputer, which severely weakens him with a kryptonite ray. Gorman, guilt-ridden and horrified by the prospect of "going down in history as the man who killed Superman", destroys the 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; the intense heat emitted by the machine causes the acid to turn volatile, eventually destroying the supercomputer, which also reverts Vera back to normal. Superman flies away with Gus, leaving Webster and his cronies to deal with the authorities. After dropping Gus off at a coal mine, where he gives him a job reference, Superman returns to Metropolis and reunites with Lana Lang, who has relocated to the big city and found employment as Perry White
's new secretary.
) with a running time of 125 minutes. An extended cut was first shown on ABC
in 1986 with an extra 16 minutes of added footage (thus, making the running time 141 minutes). Just like with the previous two Superman movies, the television edition of Superman III was produced by Alexander Salkind's
company. Until recently, this version had been distributed in American television syndication
as part of Viacom's
Superman syndication package which also features Supergirl and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
(later distributed through Paramount Domestic Television
, full rights have since reverted to WB). In the United Kingdom, the extended version has been shown about two or three times in the late 1980s.
gross (not adjusted for inflation
) for Superman III was $
59,950,623. Despite poor feedback from the critics, the film was highly successful internationally, much like the Supergirl
film the next year. In fact, the film still became one of the highest grossing films of 1983 and #1 at the box office.
In July 1983, ITV
showed the Royal Premiere of Superman III. This show included interviews with actors in the film, who had flown to London
for the United Kingdom and European premiere. Some clips from the film were shown, including where Superman is flying Gus to the coal mine and explaining how he used the acid to destroy the supercomputer, thus revealing the ending of the film.
, only 24% of critics have given the film positive reviews, based on 41 reviews. 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.
Audiences also saw Robert Vaughn's
villainous Ross Webster as an uninspired fill-in for Lex Luthor
. Gene Hackman
, along with Margot Kidder
(Lois Lane
), 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 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 didn't return due to prior 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 - including The Beatles
' A Hard Day's Night
- 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:
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."
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).
A video game for Superman III was planned for the Atari 5200
but was never released. The game (perhaps intended to be like Missile Command
) would've been loosely based on the plotline for Superman III.
Superhero film
A superhero film, superhero movie, or superhero motion picture is: action, fantasy and science fiction film; that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, individuals who usually possess superhuman abilities relative to a normal person and are dedicated to protecting the public...
and the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
superhero
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
. Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
, Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
, Marc McClure
Marc McClure
Marc A. McClure is an American actor. McClure was born in San Mateo, California. He is not, despite a popular misconception, related to the late Doug McClure.-Superman film series:...
and Margot Kidder
Margot Kidder
Margaret Ruth "Margot" Kidder is a Canadian-born American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Lois Lane in the four Superman movies opposite Christopher Reeve, a role that brought her to widespread recognition....
are joined by new cast members Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
, Annie Ross
Annie Ross
Annie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
, Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Helen Stephenson Connolly is a New Zealand-born Australian clinical psychologist and writer now resident in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s...
, Robert Vaughn
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
and Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. The film was the last Reeve/Superman film produced by Alexander Salkind
Alexander Salkind
Alexander Salkind was the second of three generations of successful international film producers.-Life and career:...
and Ilya Salkind
Ilya Salkind
Ilya Juan Salkind Dominguez , usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a film and television producer, well known for his contributions to the live-action Superman films of the 1970s and '80s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind....
. It was followed by Supergirl
Supergirl (film)
Supergirl is a 1984 superhero film directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and stars Helen Slater in her first motion picture role in the title role of the DC Comics superheroine Supergirl. Faye Dunaway played the primary villain, Selena. The film was a spin-off from the Salkinds' Superman film series which...
(produced by the Salkinds) in 1984 and the non-Salkind produced sequel Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film directed by Sidney J. Furie. It is the fourth film in the Superman film series and the last installment to star Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. It is the first film in the series not to be produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, but...
in 1987.
The film 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, 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
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
worth $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
40 million.
Series producer Ilya Salkind
Ilya Salkind
Ilya Juan Salkind Dominguez , usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a film and television producer, well known for his contributions to the live-action Superman films of the 1970s and '80s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind....
originally wrote a treatment
Film treatment
A film treatment is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed than an outline , and it may include details of directorial style that an outline omits...
for this film that included Brainiac
Brainiac (comics)
Brainiac is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics #242 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
, Mister Mxyzptlk
Mister Mxyzptlk
Mr. Mxyzptlk , sometimes called Mxy, is a fictional impish supervillain who appears in DC Comics' Superman comic books.He was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and first appeared in Superman #30 . He is usually presented as a trickster, in the classical mythological sense, in that he enjoys...
and Supergirl
Supergirl
Supergirl is a female counterpart to the DC Comics Superman. As his cousin, she shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. She was created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino in 1959. She first appeared in the Action Comics comic book series and later branched out...
, but Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
did not like it. The treatment was released online in 2007.
Plot
August "Gus" Gorman (Richard PryorRichard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
), an unemployed ne'er-do-well, discovers a knack for computer programming. After embezzling from his new employer's payroll (through a technique known as salami slicing
Salami slicing
Salami slicing is a series of many minor actions, often performed by clandestine means, that together results in a larger action that would be difficult or illegal to perform at once...
), Gorman is brought to the attention of the CEO, Ross Webster. Webster (Robert Vaughn
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
) is obsessed with the computer's potential to aid him in his schemes to rule the world financially. Joined by his sister Vera (Annie Ross
Annie Ross
Annie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
) and his "psychic nutritionist" Lorelei Ambrosia (Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Helen Stephenson Connolly is a New Zealand-born Australian clinical psychologist and writer now resident in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s...
), Webster blackmails Gorman into helping him.
Meanwhile, Clark Kent has convinced his newspaper 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 acid that can produce clouds of corrosive vapor when superheated.
In Smallville, Clark is reunited with childhood friend Lana Lang
Lana Lang
Lana Lang is a fictional supporting character in DC Comics' Superman series. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist John Sikela, the character first appears in Superboy #10...
(Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole
Annette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
). Lana is a divorcée with a young son named Ricky (Paul Kaethler). Clark and Lana begin to share affection for each other, though Lana's former boyfriend Brad (Gavan O'Herlihy
Gavan O'Herlihy
Gavan O'Herlihy is an Irish actor.O'Herlihy was born in Dublin, the son of Elsa Bennett and Irish actor Dan O'Herlihy. In his youth, he was an avid tennis player, and even became Irish National Tennis Champion...
), Clark's childhood bully and now an alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
security guard, is still vying for her attention.
Meanwhile, Webster schemes to monopolize the world's coffee crop. Infuriated by Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
's refusal to do business with him, he orders Gorman to command an American weather satellite named Vulcan
Vulcan (mythology)
Vulcan , aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. Vulcan is usually depicted with a thunderbolt. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
to create a tornadic storm to decimate the nation's coffee crop. 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
Kryptonite
Kryptonite is a fictional material from the Superman mythos —the ore form of a radioactive element from Superman's home planet of Krypton. It is famous for being the ultimate physical weakness of Superman, and the word kryptonite has since become synonymous with an Achilles' heel —the one weakness...
, remembering Lois Lane's Daily Planet
Daily Planet
The Daily Planet is a fictional broadsheet newspaper in the , appearing mostly in the stories of Superman. The building's original features were based upon the AT&T Huron Road Building in Cleveland, Ohio...
interview from Superman, during which Superman identified it as his only weakness. Gus uses a computer to order Vulcan to locate Krypton's debris in outer space, but after the computer fails to analyze an "unknown" element in kryptonite, he improvises by replacing the unidentified element with tar
Tar (tobacco residue)
Tar is the common name for the resinous partially combusted and healed particulate matter produced by the burning of tobacco and other plant material in the act of smoking. Tar is purportedly the most destructive component in habitual tobacco smoking, accumulating in the smoker's lungs over time...
, garnered from a pack of cigarettes.
Lana convinces Superman to appear at Ricky's birthday party, but Smallville turns it into a celebration. Gus and Vera, disguised as United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
officers, give Superman the kryptonite
Kryptonite
Kryptonite is a fictional material from the Superman mythos —the ore form of a radioactive element from Superman's home planet of Krypton. It is famous for being the ultimate physical weakness of Superman, and the word kryptonite has since become synonymous with an Achilles' heel —the one weakness...
as a gift, and are dismayed to see that it appears to have no effect on him. However, the compound begins to produce symptoms. 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
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...
, and, as the Kryptonite takes effect, he becomes depressed, angry, and casually destructive, committing petty acts of vandalism such as blowing out the Olympic Flame
Olympic Flame
The Olympic Flame or Olympic Torch is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the 1928...
, straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa...
and ripping open the hull of an oil tanker, causing the contents to spill into the sea.
With Superman distracted, Webster furthers his plans by controlling the world's oil supply, ordering Gorman to direct all of the oil tankers to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and having them sit there until further notice. Gorman moans that Ross gets his own way all of the time and that he feels unappreciated. He then gives Webster a series of crudely drawn blueprints for a supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
. Ross makes a deal with Gorman, agreeing to build his supercomputer in return for sorting out the oil tankers.
Superman assuages his depression with 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
Clark Kent
Clark Kent is a fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, he debuted in Action Comics #1 and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Superman....
. They engage in an epic battle across the junkyard, with the evil Superman repeatedly trying and failing to kill Clark by crushing him in industrial equipment. The battle ends when Clark bursts through the walls of a car crusher
Car crusher
A car crusher is an industrial device used to reduce the dimensions of derelict cars prior to transport for recycling.Car crushers are compactors and can be of two types: "pancake", where a scrap automobile is flattened by a huge descending hydraulically-powered plate, or the baling press type,...
and strangles his evil identity, vanquishing him for good. As a battered but unbowed Clark gazes up at the heavens, he pulls his shirt open to reveal his crest. 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, Superman confronts Webster, Vera and Lorelei, and is forced into a battle with Gorman's supercomputer, which severely weakens him with a kryptonite ray. Gorman, guilt-ridden and horrified by the prospect of "going down in history as the man who killed Superman", destroys the 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
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
. 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; the intense heat emitted by the machine causes the acid to turn volatile, eventually destroying the supercomputer, which also reverts Vera back to normal. Superman flies away with Gus, leaving Webster and his cronies to deal with the authorities. After dropping Gus off at a coal mine, where he gives him a job reference, Superman returns to Metropolis and reunites with Lana Lang, who has relocated to the big city and found employment as Perry White
Perry White
Perry White is a fictional character who appears in the Superman comics. White is the Editor-in-Chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet.White maintains very high ethical and journalistic standards...
's new secretary.
Cast
- Christopher ReeveChristopher ReeveChristopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
as Clark KentClark KentClark Kent is a fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, he debuted in Action Comics #1 and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Superman....
/ SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
: After discovering his origins in the earlier films, he sets himself to helping those on Earth. After beating arch enemy Lex LuthorLex LuthorLex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
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. - Richard PryorRichard PryorRichard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
as Gus Gorman: A bumbling computer genius who works for Ross Webster to destroy Superman. - Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
as Perry WhitePerry WhitePerry White is a fictional character who appears in the Superman comics. White is the Editor-in-Chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Planet.White maintains very high ethical and journalistic standards...
: The editor of the Daily Planet. - Marc McClureMarc McClureMarc A. McClure is an American actor. McClure was born in San Mateo, California. He is not, despite a popular misconception, related to the late Doug McClure.-Superman film series:...
as Jimmy OlsenJimmy OlsenJimmy Olsen is a fictional character who appears mainly in DC Comics’ Superman stories. Olsen is a young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet. He is close friends with Lois Lane, Clark Kent/Superman and Perry White...
: A photographer for the Daily Planet. - Annette O'TooleAnnette O'TooleAnnette O'Toole is an American actress, dancer, and singer-songwriter. She is most recently known for portraying Martha Kent, the mother of Clark Kent on the television series Smallville.-Early life and career:...
as Lana LangLana LangLana Lang is a fictional supporting character in DC Comics' Superman series. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist John Sikela, the character first appears in Superboy #10...
: Clark's high school sweetheart who reconciles with Clark after seeing him during their high school reunionHigh School ReunionHigh School Reunion may refer to:*"High School Reunion" *Romy and Michele's High School Reunion*High School Reunion *Class reunion...
. - Annie RossAnnie RossAnnie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
as Vera Webster: Ross' sister and partner in his corporation and villainous plans. - Pamela StephensonPamela StephensonPamela Helen Stephenson Connolly is a New Zealand-born Australian clinical psychologist and writer now resident in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s...
as Lorelei Ambrosia: Ross' assistant and sweetheart. Lorelei, a voluptuous blonde bombshell, acts unintelligent to fool people but is in fact quite smart, outwitting both Ross and Vera multiple times. She also seduces Superman. - Robert VaughnRobert VaughnRobert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
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. - Margot KidderMargot KidderMargaret Ruth "Margot" Kidder is a Canadian-born American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Lois Lane in the four Superman movies opposite Christopher Reeve, a role that brought her to widespread recognition....
as Lois LaneLois LaneLois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
: A reporter at the Daily Planet who has a history with both Clark Kent and Superman through the first two films in the series. - Gavan O'HerlihyGavan O'HerlihyGavan O'Herlihy is an Irish actor.O'Herlihy was born in Dublin, the son of Elsa Bennett and Irish actor Dan O'Herlihy. In his youth, he was an avid tennis player, and even became Irish National Tennis Champion...
as Brad: Lana's former boyfriend.
Distribution
Superman III was released on June 17, 1983 (one month after the release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the JediStar Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
) with a running time of 125 minutes. An extended cut was first shown on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1986 with an extra 16 minutes of added footage (thus, making the running time 141 minutes). Just like with the previous two Superman movies, the television edition of Superman III was produced by Alexander Salkind's
Alexander Salkind
Alexander Salkind was the second of three generations of successful international film producers.-Life and career:...
company. Until recently, this version had been distributed in American television syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
as part of Viacom's
Viacom Enterprises
Viacom Enterprises was a television distribution company formed in 1971 as the successor to CBS Enterprises, and spun off in 1973 due to now-repealed FCC bylaws prohibiting networks from syndicating their own shows....
Superman syndication package which also features Supergirl and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film directed by Sidney J. Furie. It is the fourth film in the Superman film series and the last installment to star Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. It is the first film in the series not to be produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, but...
(later distributed through Paramount Domestic Television
Paramount Domestic Television
Paramount Domestic Television was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the TV arm of Paramount Pictures...
, full rights have since reverted to WB). In the United Kingdom, the extended version has been shown about two or three times in the late 1980s.
Box office
The total domestic box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
gross (not adjusted for inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
) for Superman III was $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
59,950,623. Despite poor feedback from the critics, the film was highly successful internationally, much like the Supergirl
Supergirl (film)
Supergirl is a 1984 superhero film directed by Jeannot Szwarc, and stars Helen Slater in her first motion picture role in the title role of the DC Comics superheroine Supergirl. Faye Dunaway played the primary villain, Selena. The film was a spin-off from the Salkinds' Superman film series which...
film the next year. In fact, the film still became one of the highest grossing films of 1983 and #1 at the box office.
In July 1983, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
showed the Royal Premiere of Superman III. This show included interviews with actors in the film, who had flown to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for the United Kingdom and European premiere. Some clips from the film were shown, including where Superman is flying Gus to the coal mine and explaining how he used the acid to destroy the supercomputer, thus revealing the ending of the film.
Critical reaction
Reviews for the film were mixed from fans and mostly negative from critics. At Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, only 24% of critics have given the film positive reviews, based on 41 reviews. A frequent criticism of Superman III was the inclusion of comedian Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
. Film critic Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
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
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
, telling Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
how much he enjoyed seeing Superman II
Superman II
Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
, the Salkinds were eager to cast him in a prominent role in the third film.
Audiences also saw Robert Vaughn's
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
villainous Ross Webster as an uninspired fill-in for Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
. Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
, along with Margot Kidder
Margot Kidder
Margaret Ruth "Margot" Kidder is a Canadian-born American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Lois Lane in the four Superman movies opposite Christopher Reeve, a role that brought her to widespread recognition....
(Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
), 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
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film directed by Sidney J. Furie. It is the fourth film in the Superman film series and the last installment to star Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. It is the first film in the series not to be produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, but...
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
Ilya Salkind
Ilya Juan Salkind Dominguez , usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a film and television producer, well known for his contributions to the live-action Superman films of the 1970s and '80s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind....
denied any ill will between Margot Kidder and his production team and denied the claim 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 didn't return due to prior commitments.
Fans of the Superman series also placed a great deal of the blame on director Richard Lester
Richard Lester
Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...
. Richard Lester made a number of popular comedies in the 1960s - including The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
- before being hired by the Salkinds in the 1970s for their successful Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers (1973 film)
The Three Musketeers is a 1973 film based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It was directed by Richard Lester and written by George MacDonald Fraser . It was originally proposed in the 1960s as a vehicle for The Beatles, whom Lester had directed in two other films...
series, as well as Superman II. Lester broke tradition by setting the opening credits for Superman III during a prolonged slapstick sequence
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
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:
The film's screenplay, by David
David Newman (filmmaker)
David Newman was an American filmmaker. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s he frequently collaborated with Robert Benton. He was married to fellow writer Leslie Newman, with whom he had two children, until the time of his death...
and Leslie Newman
Leslie Newman
Leslie Newman is a screenwriter who co-wrote the first three Superman films with husband David Newman, who died in 2003. They had two children together...
, 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
Tom Mankiewicz
Thomas Frank Mankiewicz was a screenwriter/director/producer of motion pictures and television, perhaps best known for his work on the James Bond films and his contributions to Superman: The Movie and the television series, Hart to Hart.-Early life and career:Mankiewicz was born in Los Angeles on...
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
Donald Barthelme
Donald Barthelme was an American author known for his playful, postmodernist style of short fiction. Barthelme also worked as a newspaper reporter for the Houston Post, managing editor of Location magazine, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston , co-founder of Fiction Donald...
, 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."
Promotion
As with the previous sequel, the musical score was composed and conducted by Ken Thorne
Ken Thorne
Kenneth Thorne is a British-American television and film score composer.- Early life :Thorne was born in East Dereham, a town in the English county of Norfolk. Thorne began his musical career as a pianist with the big bands of England during the 1940s, playing at night clubs and the dance halls...
, using the Superman theme and most other themes from the first film composed by John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
, but this time around there is more original music by Thorne than the Williams re-arrangements. To capitalize on the popularity of synthesizer pop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
, Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
was hired to create songs for the film (though their use in the film is minimal).
A video game for Superman III was planned for the Atari 5200
Atari 5200
The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, commonly known as the Atari 5200, is a video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a higher end complementary console for the popular Atari 2600...
but was never released. The game (perhaps intended to be like Missile Command
Missile Command
Missile Command is a 1980 arcade game by Atari, Inc. that was also licensed to Sega for European release. It is considered one of the most notable games from the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games...
) would've been loosely based on the plotline for Superman III.