Let’s face it, transportation in Metropolis is fraught with peril. Just seven minutes ago, a detective was pushed in front of a train, and now there’s a busted helicopter dangling precariously over the edge of a tall building. Elsewhere in Metropolis tonight, there’s going to be a car chase and a shootout on a boat, and Air Force One is going to be one engine short when it lands in Metropolis Airport. Honestly, you can’t even walk down the street in Metropolis without getting mugged. It seems like if you want to go anywhere in this town, you need to have Superman specifically move you from one spot to another. Otherwise, it’s probably best if you just stay put.

But let’s focus on the current crisis, which is Lois and the helicopter. As I talked about yesterday, this helicopter rescue scene is a very complex sequence with lots of exciting action shots, and it took twelve months to complete, using just about every method of special effects available except rubber monsters. So today I want to take a look at the helicopter that can’t fly, the rooftop that isn’t a rooftop, and the building that’s only about two-thirds of the building.

Like I said, it’s complex, so I’m going to tell you what I know based on what I’ve read, watched and listened to, and there is a very good chance that I’m going to be wrong about something. If a knowledgeable person feels like checking my work and correcting me in the comments, then I would be happy and grateful to hear about it.

But enough with the caveats. The sequence starts on the rooftop helipad of the Daily Planet building, which Richard Donner says in the DVD commentary was filmed in New York, on the roof of the U.S. Post Office building on Lexington Avenue.

They built this cute little hutch for the waiting room partly out of balsa wood, for reasons that will become clear pretty soon.

The helicopter doesn’t actually fly; it’s being operated with cables hanging from an enormous crane. Colin Chilvers wrote about this sequence in his 2021 book Believing a Man Can Fly: Memories of a Life in Special Effects and Film, and he explains that the effects team bought a helicopter that wasn’t being used anymore because it had been in a crash, and refurbished it to fit their needs.

They took the heavy motor out, because it wasn’t going to fly on its own; they just needed a little car motor that could power the blades. And it turns out they didn’t need full-sized blades, because when they looked at footage of helicopters in flight, the blades were mostly just a blur.

So for this part of the filming, they could get by with blades that were a third of the size — that made the helicopter lighter, and also made it safer for people on the set. Later on in the sequence, when the helicopter is stationary on the edge of the roof, they put the full-sized blades back on.

So the helicopter isn’t actually flying in circles here, it’s being swung around by the crane.

At this point, the little waiting room is destroyed, which is okay because it’s made out of balsa wood and breakaway glass, and it doesn’t have feelings.

A lot of the sequence takes place here on the edge of the roof, and there are three different versions of this set. There’s a 10-foot-high version, which they use for all the shots with Lois in them; it’s filmed to look like it’s high up, but it’s not actually that far from the ground. There’s also a 60-foot version, which they use for the shots of the helicopter dropping in free fall. Finally, there’s a miniature version made for a wide shot that’s coming up.

So I believe this is now the 10-foot high roof’s edge, with the stationary helicopter using the full-sized blades. The sparks and fire are practical pyrotechnics.

Then there’s the front projection, which is used a lot in this sequence. Front projection is an in-camera effects technique that projects pre-filmed footage over both the actors and a super-reflective background screen, and then that image is reflected back into the camera.

In these shots, they’re using front projection to position Lois against footage filmed from high above a New York street.

For the most part, the sidewalk scenes are from location filming that they did in New York in July 1977, outside the Daily News Building on 42nd Street.

When the crowd looks up, this wide shot of the helicopter is a miniature.

And this is the 10-foot-high set again. Margot Kidder’s stunt double was Wendy Leech, and I would assume that all the shots that don’t show Lois’ face are probably shots of Leech.

Then there are a couple shots of people on the sidewalk looking up at the building, seeing the helicopter on the roof. These may be the most complex shots in the sequence.

This part of the shot is an image of the building, filmed in New York.

This part is a matte painting, which is combined with the real image…

… to make the building look taller.

Then there’s a little model of the helicopter which moves down the matte painting, and later a model of Superman carrying Lois and the helicopter back up. This is all combined using front projection with actors who are turned away from the camera.

They do the same thing in a different shot, from an even lower angle…

where the real building is used as a base…

combined with a matte painting and a model of the helicopter…

and used as front projection that they stack some people in front of. This time, it’s at such a dizzying perspective that it makes the building look impossibly tall.

Back at the roof set, there’s a shot of Lois holding on to the seatbelt as she falls out of the helicopter. I’m assuming that this is the stunt double, but this seems too big to be the 10-foot high set. I’m not sure about this one.

Lois looking down is from the 10-foot set…

and her feet dangling over the street is front projection again.

Then there’s an extra scary angle of Lois, still hanging. There’s a hydraulic rig that’s shaking the helicopter.

At this point, Clark finally leaves the building, and finds Lois’ hat on the sidewalk. He looks up, and sees the miniature shot from earlier.

I think all the footage of Clark running around and changing clothes is on location, although if someone told me that part of it was in the studio I would believe them.

Then there’s an unfortunate moment with a Black pimp, who admires Jim and his bad outfit; this is a ridiculous and harmful stereotype, but it is not, in and of itself, a special effect.

Superman gets some altitude in this shot — apparently white men can jump, after all —

and he speeds upwards in another shot. This is obviously wire work, but I’m not sure if it was filmed on location or with front-projection footage.

There’s more front-projection peril for Lois…

and then there are three shots of Lois in free fall. This first one is on the 10-foot set…

but the other shots are Wendy Leech, falling from the 60-foot set.

 

Then there are a bunch of wires and front projection shots in a row…

with Superman flying up from the street…

and catching Lois against the front of the building. This is still Wendy Leech as Lois, and stunt double Vic Armstrong as Superman.

The helicopter drop at this point is using the 60-foot set…

with the helicopter being lowered by a crane…

including this dramatic shot of the helicopter heading straight for the viewer.

Everything after that is pretty obvious — Superman, Lois and the copter are all on wires, moving up against front projection. Stunt doubles Armstrong and Leech are in this shot.

In the final effects shot of the sequence, we see people on the streets of New York who are all exceptionally well-dressed and cheerful. Obviously, this is impossible, so I suspect that this crowd is computer-generated.

Tomorrow:
What happens to Clark’s clothes,
when he changes into Superman?
1.54: The Stupid Question

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— Danny Horn