Superman III (1983)

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For the third installment of the “Superman” movie series, Clark Kent is now Dean Martin and Richard Pryor is Jerry Lewis. Pandering to the comedy crowds, the Salkinds cast Richard Pryor as the villain of the film, Gus Gorman. I don’t know why they couldn’t have cast a bad boy or big action star of the seventies and made him the villain, but what’s done is done. Richard Pryor plays Richard Pryor as Gus Gorman, an out of work computer programmer who becomes the unwitting nemesis to Superman.

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Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006)

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Fans have debated since 2006 whether or not the Richard Donner Cut is the superior or inferior version to its 1980 brother from Richard Lester. Thanks to a online campaign from fans to allow Richard Donner to complete the film he was kicked off of, Donner finally was able to release his own version of the movie on DVD with some alterations, and major story changes. Back in 1980, when Donner was replaced by Richard Lester, many of the cast and crew followed with him. This time Donner is able to not only show what he had in store for much of his own Superman sequel, but also showed that he had a much more mature mind set in regards to the second outing for Superman on the big screen.

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Superman II (1980)

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“Superman II” isn’t entirely better than “Superman,” though it’s often considered by many to be the superior film in the entire series. “Superman II” is, in the end, a perfectly good action film that offers what the first film doesn’t. It gives Superman a match that offers him an incredibly hard time. Especially when he loses his powers. In spite of all of the hooplah behind the scenes involving Richard Donner being pushed out of the film’s production, and most of the cast following him out the door, “Superman II” is still a really good action film that manages to expand on the Superman mythos.

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Barbarella (1968)

Jane Fonda is at her sheer sexiest starring in this psychedelic science fiction flick based on the comic book, as Barbarella an astronaut from Earth who is sent to Sogo to look for the missing scientist Durand Durand. From the opening scenes where Barbarella is floating undressing from her space suit during craftily placed title sequences, you know you’re in for something out of this world. Let the innuendos and softcore porn fly! Watch Jane Fonda flirt, watch Jane Fonda strip, watch Jane Fonda be raped by a music machine as Durand Durand strums it along.

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The Shadow (1994)

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You can almost see where Alec Baldwin would have been a wonderful Bruce Wayne and Batman at some point in his career. Early in his life, Baldwin was heavily considered for the part of Bruce Wayne and Batman in the first cinematic incarnation of the Dark Knight. Back then Baldwin was thing, dark, had a sense of mystery to him, and garnered a raspy gravelly voice that made him sound mystifying. Unlike Batman, The Shadow operates on an entirely different code of ethics and crime fighting, and is never above using his two trademark hand guns to instill justice on the slime of the city.

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Stamp Day for Superman (1954)

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Superman is a government good guy. He’s so much so, that when he catches a criminal he lectures him on the value of saving money, and investing in government stamps. A public domain short Superman adventure, Noel Neill, and George Reeves star in this Superman adventure where we not only learn about Lois’ brilliance, but the foresight in saving money by buying stamps.

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Superman: The Movie (1978)

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One of the many aspects of the Superman lore that director Richard Donner and screenwriter Mario Puzo touched on that really helps “Superman: The Movie” rise in to the pantheon of one of the best Superman representations is the dilemma of massive power. Superman or Kal El, is brought down to Earth and is stranded, left to the mercy of Earth’s denizens. It’s only by a miracle that he manages to come across a humble farm couple that not only discover him but take him in, in spite of his horrifying powers that allow him super strength and a plethora of other amazing abilities. What becomes one of the stumbling blocks in “Superman” is that Kal El, now Clark Kent, is tasked with the dilemma of being a God.

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