Thirty years before the release of Iron Man, director Richard Donner’s big-screen adaptation of The Man of Steel ushered in the blockbuster era of superhero films. Christopher Reeve is perfectly cast as Clark Kent and his Kryptonian alter-ego as the film follows his life and adventures from birth to space to Earth to Metropolis, dealing with his special abilities and how to fit in to modern society. The cast is filled with wonderful performances, including Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, Academy Award-winner Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, and 50-year Hollywood veteran Jackie Cooper as editor Perry White. John Williams’s sweeping score does the rest trumpeting the triumphant theme that supports the tagline, “You’ll believe a man can fly,” especially in this 4K digital restoration that uses the six-track mix heard on 70mm prints released in 1978.
Introduction by co-curator Will Scheibel.