PERFECT MOVIE MOMENTS PART 2:  ONE THAT EVERYONE I KNOW WILL PROBABLY BE SICK OF HEARING ABOUT.

I know to those people who are close to me this choice will be one they will no doubt be rolling their eyes at as it is one that I have before now.  It is the first scene after the legendary credits of a seventies blockbuster and it features one of the cleverest first lines of dialogue ever created.  It made everyone in the cinema sit up and pay attention and it was arguably the first Superhero blockbuster and eventually (VERY eventually in fact) it became the blueprint for most of the superhero films that came after.  It is of course SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE.

SUPERMAN (1978)

Now while the intro is stunning, and probably on it’s own deserves to classed as a perfect movie moment (fancy that ...Credits, as a perfect moment) with an opening musical score that is one of John Williams finest.  The score at the beginning sounds as if the Director’s notes on the opening intro just said “Go nuts!”  But it’s not my perfect movie moment, oh no, that distinction falls to the first scene past the credits which for a superhero movie was incredibly bold for this was the first time anyone had really tried to take the idea of a Superhero film seriously and so it needed to launch itself in a way that the audience would as well.  But how?

In the casting of course for Jor-El and Lex Luthor the producers cast 2 oscar-winning giant thespians in the shape of Marlon Brando (who is very good) and the Gene Hackman (who is AMAZING as Luthor in an absolute acting masterclass that is criminally under-rated!)  These two actors ground the work and take it seriously so that we take it seriously.  But that alone would not be enough, in order for the film to work the opening scene needed to have a statement of intent that the film-makers were taking the idea seriously also.

So we start with the trial of the three super-villains, Non, Ursa and General Zod, with Jor-El acting as the prosecution to the council of wise-men who govern Krypton.  All of the council, Jor-El included banish the villains to the phantom zone and send them spinning into space to be trapped forever (or so it seems).  It is a great scene and both Brando as the implacable Jor-El and Terence Stamp as General Zod give their all as both captor and captive. 

But it is the opening piece of dialogue that makes this a perfect movie moment.  The writers, director and producer clearly wanted a way to tell the audience that this wasn’t just a comic book for kids, but a serious movie idea, so how best to say that?  why, do it in the first line of course.  When Jor-El states...

“THIS IS NO FANTASY, NO CARELESS PRODUCT OF WILD IMAGINATION!”

He may be referring to the trial, but his is also saying this to us the viewer.  What we are about to witness is “SUPERMAN” as if real.  As if the world of the comic-book and ours had truly combined, it is not subtle, it is unashamedly direct and it is brilliant for it.

So without further ado or analysis, my second perfect movie moment made real.

Enjoy and please feel free to check out my other posts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfIieHxfF3o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTiTh6ViNLY