Superman III is a 1983 superhero film based on the DC Comics character Superman, portrayed by Christopher Reeve. It is the third installment in the Superman film series and the sequel to Superman II (1980). Directed by Richard Lester and written by David and Leslie Newman, the film stars Reeve, Richard Pryor, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn, and Margot Kidder. In the film, Superman battles Ross Webster, a corrupt businessman who has constructed a powerful supercomputer to kill him.

Superman III was released in the United States on June 17, 1983. The film proved less successful than its predecessors, both critically and financially, grossing $80.2 million worldwide. A sequel, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, was released in 1987.

Plot

The conglomerate Webscoe Industries hires computer programmer Gus Gorman, who secretly embezzles $85,000 from the company payroll. Gus comes to the attention of Webscoe's CEO, Ross Webster. A cunning billionaire fixated on using technology for financial domination, Webster sees Gus's skills as a valuable asset. With the help of his stern sister, Vera, and his mistress Lorelei Ambrosia, he blackmails Gus into aiding his schemes.

Superman extinguishes a fire in a chemical plant, and, as Clark Kent, he returns to Smallville for his high school reunion. Clark reconnects with childhood friend Lana Lang, who has a young son named Ricky. Superman later saves Ricky from a combine harvester accident during a picnic with Lana.

Webster orders Gus to use the weather satellite 'Vulcan' to create a storm that destroys coffee crops in Colombia, aiming to corner the market. Gus complies, but Superman neutralizes the storm. Recognizing Superman as a threat, Webster orders Gus to synthesize Kryptonite. When the computer fails to recognize the total chemical composition, Gus substitutes tar for the unknown elements.

Lana invites Superman to Ricky's birthday party. Gus and Vera infiltrate the party and give Superman the synthetic Kryptonite, which leaves him unharmed, to their confusion. Instead, he gradually becomes corrupted after exposure to it, committing sophomoric acts such as straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa and blowing out the Olympic Flame.

Gus proposes building a supercomputer for Webster in exchange for creating an energy crisis by redirecting oil tankers. Lorelei seduces Superman and manipulates him into causing an oil spill. Superman suffers a nervous breakdown and splits into two beings: the corrupted Superman and Clark Kent. The two fight, and Clark defeats his corrupted counterpart by strangling him to death. Superman then repairs the damage of the oil spill.

After surviving exploding rockets and a missile, he confronts Webster, Vera, and Lorelei in the supercomputer. The computer becomes self-aware and defends itself against attempts to disable it as it transforms Vera into a cyborg. Vera attacks Webster and Lorelei with energy beams that immobilize them. Superman retrieves a can of acid from the chemical plant and uses it to destroy the computer.

Gus starts anew in West Virginia. Meanwhile, Clark visits Lana in Metropolis, where she begins working as a secretary for Perry White. Lois Lane returns from Bermuda with an exposé on corruption, and Superman restores the Leaning Tower of Pisa before flying into space.

Cast

  • Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent / Superman: After discovering his origins, he makes it his mission to help the Earth. Superman battles megalomaniac Ross Webster, who attempts to control the global coffee and oil supply.
  • Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman: A bumbling computer genius who works for Ross Webster and becomes linked with his plan to destroy Superman.
  • Jackie Cooper as Perry White: The editor of the Daily Planet.
  • Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen: A photographer for the Daily Planet.
  • Annette O'Toole as Lana Lang: Clark's high school friend who reconciles with Clark during their high school reunion. O'Toole later portrayed Martha Kent on the television series Smallville.
  • Paul Kaethler as Ricky, Lana's son.
  • Annie Ross as Vera Webster: Sister and partner of Ross in his company and plans.
  • Pamela Stephenson as Lorelei Ambrosia: Ross's assistant and mistress/girlfriend. Lorelei is skilled in computers but hides her intelligence from Ross and Vera. As part of Ross's plan, she seduces Superman.
  • Robert Vaughn as Ross Webster: A villainous, wealthy industrialist and philanthropist. 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 film.
  • Margot Kidder as Lois Lane: A reporter at the Daily Planet who has history with both Clark Kent and Superman. She is on vacation in Bermuda.
  • Gavan O'Herlihy as Brad Wilson: Lana's ex-boyfriend and Clark's high school bully; now an alcoholic security guard.

Shane Rimmer appears as a state police officer. Pamela Mandell appears as the hapless wife of a Daily Planet sweepstakes winner. Aaron Smolinski, who played young Clark Kent in Superman, appears as the boy next to the photo booth that Clark uses to change into Superman.

Production

Development

Richard Donner confirmed that he had been interested in writing at least two more Superman films, which he intended Tom Mankiewicz to direct, and use Brainiac as the villain of the third film. Donner departed the series during the production of Superman II. The film was announced at the 33rd Cannes Film Festival in May 1980. In December 1980, producer Ilya Salkind wrote a treatment for this film that included Brainiac, Mister Mxyzptlk and Supergirl. The treatment was released online in 2007. The Mister Mxyzptlk portrayed in the outline varies from his comic counterpart as he uses his abilities to cause chaos. Dudley Moore was the first choice to play the role. In the treatment, Brainiac was from Colu and had discovered Supergirl in the same way that Superman was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent. 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. Brainiac retaliates by using a personality machine to corrupt and manipulate Superman. The climax of the film would have seen Superman, Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang and Brainiac time travel to the Middle Ages for a final battle against Brainiac. After defeating him and leaving Brainiac behind, Superman and Supergirl would have married at the end of Superman III or in Superman IV.

Casting

Both Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder are said to have been angry with the way Ilya and Alexander Salkind treated Superman director Donner, with Hackman retaliating by refusing to reprise the role of Lex Luthor. After Kidder publicly criticized the Salkinds for their treatment of Donner,

After an appearance by Richard Pryor on The Tonight Show, telling Johnny Carson how much he enjoyed seeing Superman and Superman II, and Pryor jokingly stated his desire to appear in a future Superman installment, the Salkinds were eager to cast him in a prominent role in the third film, using the success of Pryor in the films Silver Streak, Stir Crazy and The Toy. Pryor accepted a $5 million salary.

Filming

Principal photography began on June 21, 1982. Most of the interior scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios outside London. The junkyard scene was filmed on the backlot of Pinewood. The coal mine scene was filmed at Battersea Power Station. Most exteriors were filmed in Calgary because of tax breaks for film companies. Superman's drinking was filmed at the St. Louis Hotel in Downtown East Village, Calgary, while other scenes such as the slapstick comedy opening were shot several blocks to the west. While the supercomputer set was created on the 007 Stage, exteriors were shot at Glen Canyon in Utah.

Effects and animation

The film includes the same special effects team from the first two films.

To create the video game computer animation for the missile scene, Time Warner's CEO at the time, Steve Ross, contacted Ray Kassar, the CEO of its subsidiary Atari. Kassar assigned the task to Steve Wright, head of Atari's special project department. Wright worked with Pat Cole and Paul Hughett among others to complete the project. Rather than create high-resolution, realistic computer graphics, the project aimed to depict a "video game of the future". The project cost around US$120,000, with between $95,000–$100,000 USD going towards technology hardware. Before the request, Wright had developed a high-end graphics system to quickly create video game prototypes at Atari, which allowed them to create the footage more quickly than traditional programming in assembly language at the time. The system was a Lisp machine with a Symbolics microprocessor connected to an Ikonus framebuffer, which acted as the graphics chip. It was released on June 17, 1983, in the United States and July 19, 1983, in the United Kingdom.

Marketing

William Kotzwinkle wrote a novelization of the film published by Warner Books in the US and by Arrow Books in the UK; 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."

Extended television edition

Like the previous films, a separate extended edition was produced and aired on ABC. The opening credits were in outer space, featuring an edited version of the film's end-credit theme music, serving as an opening theme. This is followed by several scenes, including additional dialogue but not added in any of the official VHS, DVD, or Blu-ray cuts of the film. The Deluxe Edition of Superman III, released in 2006 along with the DVD release of Superman Returns, included these scenes in the extra features section as deleted scenes.

Reception

Box office

Superman III grossed $60 million at the United States box office, and $20.2 million internationally, for a total of $80.2 million worldwide.

Critical response

Superman III holds a 31% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 102 reviews. The critical consensus reads, "When not overusing sight gags, slapstick, and Richard Pryor, Superman III resorts to plot points rehashed from the previous Superman flicks." The film has a Metacritic rating of 44, indicating "mixed or average reviews" from 13 professional reviewers.

Film critic Leonard Maltin said that Superman III 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". The film was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Supporting Actor for Richard Pryor and Worst Musical Score for Giorgio Moroder at the 4th Golden Raspberry Awards. Audiences also saw Robert Vaughn's villainous Ross Webster as a weak replacement for Lex Luthor.

Christopher John reviewed Superman III in Ares magazine #16 and commented that "compared to the first film in this series, everything about Superman III is a joke, a harsh cruel joke played on all the people who wanted to see more of the Superman they saw a few years ago."

Colin Greenland reviewed Superman III for Imagine magazine, and stated that "What ultimately spoils the fun in Superman III is not the incoherent story or even the technophobia. It is simply overloaded—too many ideas, too many gadgets, too many stars (Pamela Stephenson is completely wasted in a part which would have been too dumb for Goldie Hawn). The wiring all comes loose at the end; an anticlimax, and a rushed one at that."

Fans of the Superman series placed a great deal of the blame on director Richard Lester.

Notes

References

  • Official DC Comics Site
  • Official Warner Bros. Site