Super Saturday...on Sunday

So, the second post is a week and a day late. To be honest, last week we were in Vancouver for a wedding and yesterday was my wife and my 26th anniversary. But enough excuses, on with the show!

This week I give you one of the quintessential Superman portrayals. Christopher Reeve. I have nothing but fond memory's of this movie and this version of Superman. I remember the awesome excitement of seeing this in the theaters when it came out. Back in the day before multi-plex's and multiple screen mall movie houses. I grew up in a small town and there was one theater and the movie would play for a week (or longer if it was good) then something else begin the next week. Big movies would be there for weeks, and the line-ups would be a block and a half long. I think I saw this movie 7 or 8 times. Many lawns where mowed so I could get my fix. The movie's tag line was "You'll Believe A Man Can Fly", and it did deliver that. The effects which in this age of digital magic seem simple were state of the art for their day and wowed audiences with the shots of Superman flying all around Metropolis.

But the reason this movie really means a lot to me is because I got to watch it over and over again about a couple of years after it came out. You have to remember movies would take years to turn up on TV and this was the early days of VHS tapes. VCR's were unbelievably expensive and hard to get and the tapes where just as expensive and hard to find (I remember my wife getting me a copy of Star Trek II for Christmas years later and that cost her $125 or so). Organizations could afford them (schools, hospitals etc.) I spent a few weeks of my summer in Vancouver Children's Hospital for knee surgery. I was kind of bummed about missing so much of those precious few months of warm, school-less time and to be honest a little stressed and freaked out about having to go "under the knife" as they say. The nurses there asked if I wanted to watch a movie on their new video machine. One of the few tapes they had was Superman the Movie. I must have watched it again and again for about 3 or 4 times a day, 5 days straight. It really cheered me up during a bit of a scary time in my young life.

Clark Kent

One of the funnier moments from the "First Night" part of the movie.

The Planet Krypton

That charming smile.

Chris Reeve really nailed it. He really was Superman. Years later, after his accident and his paralysis he showed the world that he really was just like the hero he portrayed on film. Every bit as heroic and brave, even without the powers...a true super-man.