It’s the ultimate battle between good and evil, or if not quite that, then at least the ultimate battle between cheerful and cranky. I don’t know if anybody’s in the market for one of those, but here it is happening anyway.
Three Kryptonian supercriminals from the other side of a twirling parallel hell have descended upon New York City, where they’ve challenged Earth’s greatest hero to a game of three-on-one grab-ass, hurling each other into things and engaging in general endangerment.
Caught between glam rock and a hard place, Superman has been knocked off the playing field for a moment, so the nearby movie New Yorkers — once again demonstrating that they’ll do anything for a good time — have turned on their snooty overlords, armed only with sticks and traffic cones.
And then the villains start to blow.
What follows is a two-minute sequence where three shiny supervillains stand in a line in front of a front-projection screen, blowing people down the street for far longer than you would ever expect. Pedestrians tumble, cars go flying, umbrellas flip inside out, takeaway purchases are taken away. And still they blow.
This celebration of exhalation is played almost entirely as comedy. The victims’ reactions are exaggerated and often inappropriate, even for movie New Yorkers. The crowd has been ridiculously blasé about the perils of remaining in the combat zone, continuing to gawk and goggle as the skyscrapers fall to pieces around them, but now — fully eight minutes after the start of hostilities on the street where they’re standing — residents are still eating ice cream, buying fried chicken and making personal phone calls. It is a triumph of shtick over sense, and it lasts approximately forever. I think this scene may be its own unique genre; I can’t think of a single thing in the history of cinema that’s even remotely like this.
None of this is in the script, by the way. Here’s what it says on the page:
EFFECTS — It’s a hurricane force wind, wreaking incredible damage. Before the mighty, relentless gale nothing can hold. Cars, trucks, people are blown down the street, smashing, tumbling. An amazing spectacle.
Superman flies in the face of the gale force – trying to reach the people.
SUPERMAN
Enough! It’s enough!
ON THE VILLAINS — Paying him no mind, they continue.
ON SUPERMAN — Staring up at them as he stands immovable in the path of the great wind. All around him is devastation. A terrible struggle is going on inside him.
ON PEOPLE — gathered in doorways, trying to protect themselves from the wind, they watch fearfully.
And then Superman flies away. It doesn’t even mention Kentucky Fried Chicken once.
What’s happening here is that director Richard Lester is enjoying himself. Here’s what he says in the Making of Superman II TV special:
“Once we got onto the street, I found that it was very much like ordinary action filming. For example, there’s a whole sequence where the villains use their super-breath to create a kind of tornado that sweeps people down the street.
“Once you know how to do that specific effect with one stuntman, it’s very easy to ad-lib, and in fact, in a period of three nights, we ad-libbed that whole sequence. It wasn’t something that had to be written out in advance, and therefore, for me, it was a delight. It was a joy to be able to go and invent gags on the spot.”
That’s why this scene goes on for two minutes, far beyond its useful lifespan. When you spend three days in enjoyable creative collaboration with a film crew and a set of lunatic stuntmen, coming up with as many variations on a theme as you can, you’re inclined to keep some shots just because they were fun to shoot, even if they’re not necessary or effective.
So there’s a mix of different tones in the sequence, which change from one shot to the next. There are some sensible shots, like the firefighters who have been trying to put out the car fires struggling to keep control of their hose.
Then there are shots that are vaguely sensible, but show somebody trying to do something that they should have stopped doing on this block a while ago, like the guy walking his dogs.
There are shots of people who clearly haven’t noticed the noise and destruction happening right outside, like the people walking out of Kentucky Fried Chicken with their dinner, followed by the waitress trying to bring them their change.
There are shots of people who haven’t noticed the noise and destruction while they’re in the middle of it, like the guy making a phone call and saying, “What? What sound?” while trying to hang onto the phone booth.
There’s some 60s comedy shtick, like the wife losing her wig and shouting, “My hair!” while her previously toupeed husband cries, “Your hair, what about mine?”
And then there’s the guy who stays on the phone after getting knocked over and blown down the street, continuing his conversation, and laughing hysterically as the world disintegrates around him.
There are some very effective miniatures shots showing cars getting blown around that are actually scary…
followed by a guy in a shiny red sequined vest on roller skates, trying to keep his balance in the gale…
followed by even scarier car destruction shots.
So here I am, metaphorically trying to keep hold of my umbrella, struggling to stay upright long enough to explain why I don’t think this is entirely successful.
Because obviously I can’t just say that it doesn’t work because it’s comedy. I’m the first person in line to say that a sense of humor is absolutely essential to good filmmaking, and making a joke in the middle of a tense situation increases audience attachment to the characters. Having a mixture of styles is often good for a film, because it makes things less predictable and more interesting.
But I have to go back to Dick Donner’s watchword, verisimilitude — that the events of the film should feel like Superman exists in a real world, populated by real characters with some indication of an inner life.
A funny scene like Lois and Clark’s screwball comedy walk-and-talk through the maze of the Daily Planet office in the first movie still works as verisimilitude, because while the dialogue and timing are obviously heightened, it doesn’t shake you out of the idea that these are supposed to be real people with feelings and common sense.
But the characters in this windstorm scene are acting in ways that are on the spectrum from implausible to impossible for the sake of making a joke, which means that they’re not real people.
Honestly, the thing that breaks it for me is the guy on the phone. He’s not only ignoring the dangerous situation that’s happening around him, he’s cackling maniacally in a way that would be insane under any circumstances.
This is also the second telephone gag in forty seconds, which I think demonstrates why you shouldn’t just ad-lib your entire action sequence. My guess is that they would have cut the first telephone booth bit, but it’s in the middle of the Kentucky Fried Chicken bit, which they liked, and besides, they couldn’t cut it on account of the product placement. But I suppose Lester really liked this one too, probably because it was so much fun to shoot, so they kept both.
The real problem here is that this sequence undercuts the idea that any of these battle scenes actually matter. They’ve established that none of the combatants can ever be seriously hurt, because they’re superstrong and invulnerable, so the drama of the scene depends on the risk to the civilians. When Superman sees Non and Ursa pick up the bus, he cries, “No! Don’t do it! The people!” which explicitly tells us what we’re supposed to care about.
But the cluelessness of the people in this sequence indicates that they’re not affected by the battle at all. The Kryptonians had already been fighting for eight minutes before the windstorm even started, and everyone in the area could feel the aftershocks of Superman’s underground punch-up with Non… but the KFC waitress hasn’t noticed that anything is unusual yet.
There are some shots in this battle sequence that are legitimately exciting and scary, but we can’t believe in it, because they keep showing us people who hardly notice that it’s happening.
Obviously, the one exception is the cleaning lady at the Laugier Bureau, who continues vacuuming while the world falls apart, entirely unbothered. She is real to me. We’re about to see a whole taxicab smash through that window in a minute, and I’m not worried about her at all. She is a badass, and the rest of the movie should be about her.
Tomorrow:
2.47: The Snowdown
Footnote:
If you’ve got a spare moment, I’d recommend spending some time with the General Zod Chaos Generator.
Tomorrow:
2.47: The Snowdown
— Danny Horn
Superheroes Every Day 
Even as a kid I thought this scene was ridiculous.
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Yeah, even though I overall love the battle sequence I’m with you on its ridiculousness and lack of anything resembling verisimilitude. I could almost buy people hanging around and gawking. I could buy the PZ Villains using superbreath to clear the street. But to have it last so long and include all of the comedy gags is just too much.
Someone should have told Lester to kill his baby (and not the one in the carriage).
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Yep; to quote a famous comedian’s bit:
Comedian: Ask me the secret of timing.
Talk Show Host: Okay, what’s the se-
Comedian (yelling directly into his face) TIMING!
The timing of these bits is off–they could occur in the initial attack on East Huston, or if there was a first skirmish between Superman and Zod & Co, but this is supposed to be the big finish! You don’t interrupt the big Cossack number with schtick.
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ARRGH MY KINGDOM FOR AN EDIT BUTTON!
Replace the first line there with What’s the secret of COMEDY.
DAMMIT.
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If memory serves, most, if not all, the comedy schtick has been removed from the Donner version, making the fight more dramatically effective. Lester later goes overboard with this crap in Superman 3, to its detriment.
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Actually, I found Superman III’s frequent comedy moments to be fine because the movie is more self-consistent without the dueling directors. You just get that you’re watching a comedy-action film, as with the recent MCU movies. Also, as far as I recall, the comedy never diminishes some clear and present danger to regular civilians.
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“I can’t think of a single thing in the history of cinema that’s even remotely like this.”
There’s the storm scene in Buster Keaton’s “Steamboat Bill, Jr” which is pretty amazing but that was meant to be a comedy.
I really don’t think Lester had any respect for Superman or the story he was employed to film. He undercuts what should be an exciting scene with physical bits of humor more suited to a Mel Brooks movie. He really doesn’t take it seriously–which could have worked if the whole movie was done tongue-in-cheek–but it doesn’t work when juxtaposed with Donner’s material. Plus it’s really not funny.
The KFC waitress reminded me of Dody Goodman but I can’t find anything that says she was in the movie so I guess not.
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This really is my biggest issue with Lester. He was not above using cheap shtick for a laugh, even when the scene should be played straight. I suspect that, deep down, he thinks superheroes are silly, so it doesn’t matter if you throw some sight gags in. The trouble is that this doesn’t match Donner’s approach in the slightest, so much as with the reshoots, you end up with this weird, tonally inconsistent film that is frankly a mess.
It also reminds me a tiny bit of John Landis’ coke-fueled insistence that car chases and crashes are the best thing in the history of movies, so you’re going to get a LOT of them.
I love Buster Keaton. I was rewatching some of his stuff the other day and wow, did he understand that then-new medium of film. Also, a massive cutie.
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Keaton is in Richard Lester’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” in 1966. I wonder if Keaton’s film inspired this scene? Buster did it so much better!
PBS did an American Masters episode about him. I’m not sure if it’s still available but it was my introduction to Keaton. I would recommend any Keaton film, but “The General” is probably one of the best films ever made.
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That’s such a good catch! About possibly copying Buster, I mean. I never thought of it, but I’m almost 100% you’re onto something here.
Buster was such a superstar. This was a while back now, but I remember being very surprised when my youngest told me she wanted to watch his films after discovering him on Tumblr, of all places. Took a look and sure enough, Buster was indeed all over Tumblr and was fancied by practically everyone, as far as I could tell. This is so far off topic, but it really made me smile from ear to ear. The kiddo ended up being a huge fsn, too.
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I actually think the moments work great on a comedy level (the laughing guy in a phone booth would make a great “Me in [Current Year]” meme). But yes, they’re totally inappropriate in tone if we’re supposed to believe that the citizens of Metnewyorkopolis are in so much danger that Superman flees in order to ensure their safety.
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Well, blow me down!
Wasn’t it convenient for the supervillains that only the people directly in FRONT of them were riled enough to try and attack? There wasn’t anyone behind or to the sides, or else those Metropolitans just didn’t give a rat’s patootie. And given the conduct of so many of the people caught in the windstorm, neither did a lot of the folks in front. Guess it’s hard to concentrate on anything else when there’s a KFC dinner to be had… 🍗
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You know, I do not remember Kentucky Fried Chicken ever selling milk shakes!
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Dude, it’s EXTRA CRISPY. Nothing gets in the way of that.
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Winner winner chicken dinner!
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“I can’t think of a single thing in the history of cinema that’s even remotely like this.”
Dorothy Gale’s house caught in the tornado, taken from Kansas to Oz!
The same mix of scary, deadly storm, and silly moments within it. But the smoke showed Dorothy had been hit on the head, and so her impressions might not be literal. Unlike the unreal stuff we’re supposed to believe in here.
“Caught between glam rock and a hard place” Ha!!
“Even as a kid I thought this scene was ridiculous.” Me too. And I agree, not ridiculously funny. Just dumb.
“I really don’t think Lester had any respect for Superman or the story he was employed to film.” Right on target.
“we ad-libbed … It was a joy to be able to go and invent gags on the spot.”
In college, they call it B.S.’ing in the dorm. But eventually, Dick, someone puts the joint down and people go home, instead of telling the same joke to each other three days in a row. And then sharing the photo album of it with all their buddies.
Also, another power from nowhere, since we didn’t get introduced to Super-Breath through Donnor’s fruit cart scene.
“but we can’t believe in it” Yes, absolutely the problem. It’s supposed to be a deadly disaster, from extremely evil villians who are a threat to all humanity. But it’s also supposed to be a whimsical experience that doesn’t actually threaten your phone call or even inconvenience your little dogs, too.
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I was hoping that someone would take the challenge to come up with a similar movie sequence, and The Wizard of Oz tornado sequence is actually a pretty compelling example.
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I think you hit the nail right on the head with “the ultimate battle between cheerful and cranky.” It’s like a friend once told Samuel Johnson, “I too once tried to be a philosopher, but cheerfulness kept breaking in.” General Zod tried to reach into the future and pull a Snyderverse movie back to 1980, but Richard Lester’s mighty cheerfulness thwarted his evil plan.
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It’s. SO. BAD.
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In those days the primary audience for an American movie was Americans, and most Americans had no experience with urban destruction on a massive scale so you could play a scene like this for laughs. Post 9/11, things are different. It wouldn’t fly (no pun) today.
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Lester had a quota of minutes to replace in Donner’s movie. They could have edited in something else and edited out most of this, but here we are. We tend to underestimate the power of the editor because, when it’s done right, we don’t notice it.
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I want to second the recommendation of Keanton’s “The General.” There are several different cuts available, but look for the longest you can. It has THE funniest thing I’ve ever seen in a movie. A bridge is clearly breaking down. The general points (not the general of the title, that’s the name of the train) and the train goes forward over the bridge, the bridge collapses, and the expression on the general’s face that what happened was exactly what someone else had said would happen when he said that was impossible. That expression on his face – that’s the funniest thing I’ve seen on film. I will warn you while it’s not as much pro-Lost Cause mythos as “Gone with the Wind” Keaton’s character is a Confederate and you can really tell which side you are supposed to be cheering for. It’s set during the Civil War and they want you cheering for the WRONG side.
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Every time I watch this scene, I think of Zoidberg’s terrible director uncle:
“People, people, please. Just because it’s a dramatic scene, doesn’t mean you can’t do a little comedy in the background. Throw a pie or two, for God’s sake.”
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This blog has testily called a LOT of stuff that I personally was willing to overlook because Comic Book Movie and it’s not supposed to be completely real, but this is where we agree. The windstorm montage has the fuck-you energy of Chewbacca’s Tarzan yell (Return of the Jedi); the filmmaker saying “Glad YOU’RE taking this seriously ’cause it’s just a big dumb joke to me.”
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