I saw the first film the night of release. I hated it. It was a miserable rendition. Margot Kidder was not Lois Lane, she was a trashy version of Fran Drescher (if a trashier version could be), Luthor was a caricature instead of an evil icon, his henchman was not of the Luthor style whatsoever, his moll was ridiculous, the plot full of holes (who the hell would buy irradiated real estate?).

Don't get me wrong, Hackman and Brando were good in their performance, the story simply was not Superman. But Kidder, Beatty, Valerie Perrine, and Reeves were so over the top that it defined campy acting for me for years. What was the worst for me was that the best acting in the film was by Jackie Cooper and Marc McClure, minor secondaries at best.
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I was extremely disappointed when I saw the first movie back in 1978. Then, after reducing my expectations, I was able to enjoy it when I watched it again, although I have to agree that Gene Hackman's comedic portrayal of Lex Luthor was terrible, and it sure would have been nice if they had chosen a hot actress to play Lois Lane.

I expected nothing when I went to see movie #2 a couple of years later, so I was pleasantly surprised. I actually liked the movie the first time I saw it. It still wasn't a completely serious movie, but it came a lot closer.

Movies III and IV were just plain boring, and subsequent viewings didn't make them any better.

I hate to even think about the abomination that was Superman Returns. Even though I wasn't really expecting much, I was pretty pissed off at how horrible that movie was. I tried to watch it a second time a few years later, but I just couldn't get through it.

Having said all of that, now I can say this: the trailer for Man of Steel looks like it might actually be a good movie. If it opens at midnight, I'll be there. As you might guess from my name on this site, I'm about as big a Superman geek as you will ever find. I was a big fan of reruns of the original television show with George Reeves, and I read the comic books when I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s. The Smallville television show just about got everything right in that there were no elements of farce in it and all of the women were extremely hot, but Tom Welling's absolute refusal to ever put on the Superman costume or use the Superman name was a little disappointing. But at least they used the name and the costume at the very end of the finale.

I'm ready for the Man of Steel movie.
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:-)
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That first Donner Superman film is hilarious in all the wrong ways. I love Reeve in the part, but there's too much that I don't like for any of the actors to save the thing.

I like Superman II a WHOLE lot more. The Donner cut especially.

All the rest of them are abysmal. Superman IV was fun for me when I was a little kid. I was 7 when that came out and it was great. As I got older, the movie revealed itself. I can't even watch it as a joke anymore.

Man of Steel has me excited.
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I was 8 when I first saw Superman in theaters. It was pretty magical for an 8 year old. All depends on your frame of reference. For an older kid or adult, it was probably corny.
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I remember not liking the goofiness of Lex but the movie as a whole was awesome for me as an 8 year old. Personally, I still like it today even though it is ultimately campy as all hel.
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Even as a kid, I didn't understand Ned Beatty's character. I had read Superman comics, and I never really remembered a comedy relief guy like that in the stories.
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Never, ever in the original comics and graphic novels, nor Perrine as Luthor's girlfriend.
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Yea, I'd love to know the thought process behind the Beatty character and why they felt the need to make him so stupid.

I'm guessing they probably felt they needed comedy relief with kiddie appeal.
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They didn't know you can have a serious movie and still have a little comic relief back then. They overloaded on the comic relief.
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They overloaded on character development at the cost of plot and story line.
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I'll take character over plot any day.

This is not the problem with the original Superman film.
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Really?

Luthor's plan is to buy up land in Arizona and then blast it with nuclear bombs so he can sell it for a profit. You don't see plot holes there? I see holes big enough to pass Jupiter through unscathed.
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Well, if I remember right, it was the first big budget superhero film, so they were sort of blazing a trail. Different era and obviously wouldn't work in today's film world.
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