There is no shortage of escapism in modern movies. But forty years ago, flights of fancy were few and far between. The seventies were known for gritty, realistic cinema. Partially, the lack of fantasy films was a result of technological limitations. The tagline for Superman: The Movie was “You’ll believe a man can fly” because prior to the movie’s release, it was inconceivable that the effect could be pulled off. Likewise, the only way Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings could be adapted to the big screen at the time was through animation. As rare as these types of movies were at the time, the idea that both a Superman and Lord of the Rings movie were being released in the same year must have had nerds in 1978 shaking with excitement. Let’s find out which fantasy film readers prefer.

But first, we need to check out the results of yesterday’s Vietnam drama bracket.

Readers preferred the more visceral take on the Vietnam conflict as The Deer Hunter beat out Coming Home with just over 70% of the votes. That means Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken will take on George Romero’s zombies in round two.

Before Ralph Bakshi became involved in the project, director John Boorman was developing an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Boorman’s version took great liberties with Tolkien’s texts and condensed the epic story into a single movie. When offered the chance to read Boorman’s 700-page script, Bakshi declined. Instead, the script was purchased for three million dollars and tossed in the trash. Bakshi promised the author’s heirs that he would remain as faithful to the source material as possible.

The marketing for the movie heralded the animation as “the first moving painting.” Bakshi wanted to create the look of moving illustrations. In order to create this effect, he employed the technique of rotoscoping in which live performers act out the scenes and animators trace over the footage.

Originally, the plan was to release the movie as The Lord of the Rings Part One to signal to readers that there would be sequels. But United Artists nixed the idea because they were concerned audiences wouldn’t pay to see half of a movie. Bakshi fought to keep his original title, but the studio overruled him.

I told them they can’t drop the Part One, because people are going to come in thinking they’ll see the whole film, and it’s not there. We had a huge fight, and they released it as Lord of the Rings. So when it came to the end, people were stunned in the theater, even worse than I ever realized they would be, because they were expecting to see the whole film. People keep telling me I never finished the film. And I keep saying, ‘That’s right!’

Despite being reasonably successful, Bakshi’s sequels never materialized. Eventually Rankin-Bass produced an adaptation of the final book in the trilogy, The Return of the King.

Superman: The Movie served as the template for the superhero movie genre that dominates the box office today. Mario Puzzo’s original script for the movie borrowed the campy tone of the Batman TV show. But when Richard Donner came onboard, he saw Superman as a fairy tale like Peter Pan. Donner believed that in order for audiences to get invested, the material had to be presented faithfully, so he ditched the camp of Puzzo’s script.

Another key to getting Superman right was casting. The studio wanted to cast a big star as the Man of Steel. But Donner knew that no one would believe Burt Reynolds or Clint Eastwood as Superman. So he cast an unknown Christopher Reeve as his leading man. After testing several actresses for Lois Lane, Margot Kidder was determined to have the best chemistry with Reeve.

The success of Superman proved that Donner’s vision for the movie was the right one. Superman: The Movie was the second highest-grossing movie of the year behind Grease. A sequel was already underway, but unfortunately Donner wouldn’t see it to completion.

0 0 vote Article Rating

Advertisements