Countdown to Man of Steel Part III–Superman III (1983)

Superman versus Superman versus Richard Pryor. 

When I look at the poster for Superman III, I see a different tale from what was intended.  I see Christopher Reeve – stoic, all-powerful – straining to curl his lips, feigning behind the heavy burden of towing co-star Richard Pryor; a far cry from his trademark grin that ended parts I and II.      

Superman III takes a perfectly prepared gourmet meal and tosses in some new extra ingredients that ruins the taste.   After establishing a mythology, Part III tosses in a comic performer — Richard Pryor — and an disconnected theme – computers.   With Richard Lester fully in charge, Superman III attempts to imbue more comedy, less scale.  It also commits a fatal error by trying to reflect modern times, which dates the film in ways that the previous films avoided. 

We see the film’s weak hand in the first five minutes.  Rather than propelling us through the splendor and awe of the cosmos, a pre-credit sequence subjects us to a waiting line at an unemployment office.  (Maybe Part IV should begin at the DMV.)   An unemployed Gus Gorman (Pryor) glimpses a matchbook ad, immediately takes a computer job and slowly attains a skill level that dwarfs any M.I.T. grad.  When billionaire tycoon, Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn) catches him embezzling company funds, he seduces Gus into becoming his technological patsy.  When Superman interferes, Webster gets Gus to replicate Kryptonite.  However, a missing element thwarts their plan to kill Superman – but, instead, turns the Man of Steel evil.     

The film is bifurcated; devoting one-half to Pryor’s comedy distilled for family audiences.  Rather than showcase Pryor’s comic gifts, Lester places Pryor into some bizarre – and unfunny – physical pratfalls, including an inconceivable free fall from the top of a skyscraper – while donning a pink cape.  Pryor is also subjected to moments where he dons a cheesy, giant cowboy hat and engages in a verbal dispute with a mule.  Pryor does manage to play a convincing dote, but there’s no dimension and his stints are simply never funny.  . 

Margot Kidder has now been demoted to brief appearances at the film’s beginning and end.  She’s on a trip to Bermuda!   Deeming Lois and Superman’s romantic intrigue had run its course; Clark is now reunited with high school crush, Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole), during a high school reunion in Smallville. The new romance offers potential for unraveling new elements to Superman.  It allows us to glimpse the Man of Steel as Clark, not the Clark disguise, but the Clark we remember from Superman’s prologue.  Rather than explore the “man” between the Clark disguise and the “Superman” symbol, the film only focuses on Lana’s personal crisis.  Their blossoming romance pales when we reflect on Lois and Superman exchanging glances while flying circles around the Statue of Liberty. 

Superman III’s best contribution is Superman’s evil turn.  Yet, the film – keeping within the restrictions of its family demographic – doesn’t explore this twist far enough.  Instead, evil Superman is regulated to a feeble prankster, puffing out Olympic torches and straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Reeve’s evil twist is about as menacing as Tobey Maguire’s evil Spiderman, where one performance tricks — the other dances.  Also, there is some bizarre conflicts in Superman lore, such as when evil Superman takes to the bottle in a Metropolis bar and becomes inebriated.   Since Superman is capable of being drunk, does that make Superman susceptible to poison also? 

The evil arch does conclude with an interesting twist when Superman “splits” from his Clark identity.  The two engage in fight for good and evil, which posits the question: Does Clark represent the good, human conscience? 

“Bill, glance over to your right.  Did I have too much Captain Morgan’s or is that Superman gulping down Jim Bean?”

Once Superman regains his moral fiber, he engages in a final confrontation with Gus’s “super computer”.  But the sequence feels lethargic and lacks the imagination and scale we witnessed in Superman’s California rescue or his bout with the three Kryptonian villians.  Superman III has one impressive sequence when he rescues a Smallville bio-laboratory from a fire.  We actually get a sense of how power Superman really is, such as when he freezes the surface of a lake and tows the giant ice layer onto the blaze and extinguishes the threat.  But Superman’s greatest feats, such as his Columbia rescue are limited to only quick snippets while Pryor “explains” the sequence to his villain. 

The moment when Pryor reiterates Superman’s actions displays the lack of imagination at work.  Pryor was hired for the third Superman film based on an interview he gave to Johnny Carson where he enthusiastically mimicked his favorite moments from the first film.  This gave the Salkands the idea to incorporate two bankable factions.   Instead, it merely polarized them. 

Superman III pales when compared to its predecessors in regards to scope, awe and excitement.  It retains the high production values, but none of the heart.  There is no one singular scene that destroys Superman III as a whole.  On the surface, Superman III should have been a disaster.  Instead, its focus is merely misplaced.  It feels like 2-3 films routinely intercutting.  It also suffers the wounds leftover from Richard Donner’s premature dismissal.  Instead, Superman III corroborates how Richard Lester clearly lacked the same level of interest in what made Richard Donner’s films the classics they are today.  Superman III remains entrenched in 1980s popculture and serves solely as a product of that era.  It’s the misstep that hindered the Christopher Reeve saga worse than any Kyrptonite could.