Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ** (1987, Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Jackie Cooper, Jon Cryer, Sam Wanamaker, Mariel Hemingway, Marc McClure) – Classic Movie Review 2242

Christopher Reeve is back for one last time as The Man of Steel in director Sidney J Furie’s 1987 fourth and final episode in the series with a story and screenplay he co-wrote about Superman tackling the ultimate menace of nuclear weapons. It is the first film in this series not to be produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind who decided the films had run their course, and sold the franchise to Golan-Globus’s Cannon Films, who made it in association with Warner Bros.

Gene Hackman also returns in his too broad portrayal of Superman’s arch-enemy and nemesis Lex Luthor, who this time creates a foe just as strong as Supe by cloning him from one of his hairs, creates an evil Solar-powered Superman clone called Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow).

Though some have exaggerated terribly and put this in the category of worst films ever made, the movie is professionally made and adequately entertaining. But it is easily the weakest of the original series of four, ending the franchise at the time. It was neither a critical nor a box-office success.

Reeve is just as appealing as ever, and the support cast is strong – Jackie Cooper (Perry White), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen), Sam Wanamaker (as David Warfield), Mariel Hemingway (as Lacy Warfield), Jon Cryer (as Lex Luthor’s nephew Lenny), William Hootkins, Jim Broadbent, Stanley Lebor, Don Fellows. Robert Beatty and Esmond Knight. Susannah York returns as Voice of Lara.

Budget slashing and post-production cutting seem certainly to be responsible for the suspiciously short running time of only 89 minutes that leaves gaping holes in the plotlines. And alas the film, made by producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus for their Cannon outfit, has a cut-price look about it that extends to both the visual effects trick work and the sets.

Superman lands on 42nd Street and walks down the double yellow lines to the United Nations, where he gives a speech. But, said Reeve, ‘we had to shoot at an industrial park in England in the rain with about 100 extras, not a car in sight, and a dozen pigeons thrown in for atmosphere.’ Reeve and Furie begged to film that sequence in New York because everyone knew how they looked and the Milton Keynes setting looked nothing like them, but Cannon refused.

Reeve regretted his decision to be involved in the film, saying: ‘Superman IV was a catastrophe from start to finish. That failure was a huge blow to my career.’ Jon Cryer, who plays Lex Luthor’s nephew Lenny, claimed that Cannon ran out of money during the production and ultimately released an unfinished movie. It cost $17million and the total north American domestic gross was $15,681,000. According to co-writer Mark Rosenthal, there are about 45 minutes of the film that have not been seen by the general public.

In the film, Superman restores part of the damaged Great Wall of China using energy beams from his eyes, apparently manipulating some kind of telekinetic power that was never given to Superman in the comics.

The franchise fell silent till the release of Superman Returns in 2006, which uses the first two films as back story while ignoring the events of Superman III and IV. Director Bryan Singer credited the 1978 Superman: The Movie as an influence for Superman Return and even used restored footage of Brando as Jor-El.  Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut also was released in 2006. The Superman franchise was rebooted as Man of Steel in 2013.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2242

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