Supergirl (1984) TriStar/Action-Adventure RT: 138 minutes (Director’s Cut) Rated PG (some profanity, comic book style violence, alcohol use by teens) Director: Jeannot Szwarc Screenplay: David Odell Music: Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography: Alan Hume Release date: November 21, 1984 (US) Cast: Helen Slater, Faye Dunaway, Peter O’Toole, Hart Bochner, Peter Cook, Mia Farrow, Brenda Vaccaro, Simon Ward, Maureen Teefy, Marc McClure. Box Office: $14.3M (US)
Rating: ***
Please allow me to clarify something for you, Supergirl is not, I repeat, NOT a sequel to any of the Superman movies even though it’s set in the same universe. It’s a spin-off, just like Maude was a spin-off of All in the Family. It’s an improvement over the previous entry Superman III (1983).
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc (Jaws 2), Supergirl landed in theaters on Thanksgiving weekend in ’84 where it would ultimately crash and burn after taking in an anemic $14.3M at the box office. The reviews were poor and audiences stayed away in droves. Me, I couldn’t wait to see it. It’s not that I was into comic books or the character. I love goofy movies like Supergirl.
For whatever reasons, I didn’t see Supergirl right away. That turned out to be a fortuitous choice on my part. The following Friday (Nov. 30 to be exact), one of my local cinemas had a special advance preview of the new Blake Edwards comedy Micki & Maude. It was paired with Supergirl. That meant I got to see two new-to-me titles for the price of one. I enjoyed one of them; the other was Micki & Maude.
The movie opens in Argo City, an isolated Kryptonian community located in the pocket of trans-dimensional space (whatever the hell that means). One of the leaders of the community is Zaltar (O’Toole, My Favorite Year), a wizard who has “borrowed” a magical object called “The Omegahedron”. It powers Argo City. He shows it to Kara Zor-El (Slater, Ruthless People) and foolishly allows the teen to play with it. Naturally, she messes up and sends it flying into space. Without it, Argo City has only days to survive. Kara takes it on herself to recover the item.
Like her cousin Kal-El (aka Superman), Kara develops superpowers when she reaches Earth. By way of creating an alter ego, she transforms herself into an ordinary-looking Earth teen and enrolls in an all-girls private school under the name Linda Lee, cousin of Clark Kent. Her roommate is one Lucy Lane (Teefy, Grease 2), the younger sister of…… you guess it, Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. I guess it is a small world after all.
The Omegahedron is found by Selena (Dunaway, Mommie Dearest), a would-be witch who wants to rule the world. When she realizes it gives her true powers, she sets out to achieve her dream of world domination. First, she wants to make handsome groundskeeper Ethan (Bochner, Die Hard) fall in love with her. She tries giving him a love potion, but it backfires and he ends up falling for Linda instead. This, of course, infuriates Selena. She becomes increasingly insane as she continues to use the Omegahedron. It’s up to Supergirl to thwart Selena’s evil plan.
Dunaway is in full Mommie Dearest mode here, eventually turning into a raving lunatic. I kept waiting for her to threaten somebody with a wire hanger. She doesn’t just tear up the scenery; she chews it up and swallows it! That alone makes Supergirl worth watching. Slater (no relation to Christian, btw), in her first theatrical role, does a decent job as Supergirl/Linda Lee. She’s both charming and easy on the eyes. She shows the right amount of pluck and wonder as a teen navigating an alien world that she’s tasked with protecting. It’s always good to see O’Toole. He’s one of the best actors of the 20th century. Him being here shows he’s a good sport.
The rest of the cast isn’t too bad either. They all appear to know the movie’s a goof and act accordingly. Nobody’s taking it seriously. The supporting players include Brenda Vaccaro (Zorro, the Gay Blade) as Selena’s sidekick Bianca and Peter Cook (Bedazzled) as Selena’s ex Nigel, a warlock who happens to teach math at Linda’s new school. Mia Farrow (Rosemary’s Baby) and Simon Ward (Holocaust 2000) play Kara’s parents. Marc McClure shows up on the scene as Jimmy Olsen, the only Superman character who crosses over.
Supergirl is admittedly not a classic of its genre. The plot is silly and inconsequential not to mention messy. How exactly does a monster fit into all of this? The cut I watched has pacing issues. Things kind of slow down when Dunaway isn’t around. It stops dead when Supergirl is briefly banished to the Phantom Zone by Selena. A lot of the movie- okay, all of it- is completely ludicrous. It might make me believe a girl can fly, but I will never be convinced that a mortal being can survive a tractor attack (Selena brings it to life to capture Ethan) without so much as a scratch. Of course, we’re not supposed to be asking these questions. It kind of defeats the purpose of a dopey superhero movie.
Supergirl has pretty good special effects and some laugh-out-loud moments. Whether you’re supposed to be laughing or not, that’s up for debate. Either way, it’s impossible to take any of it or its many product plugs seriously. A&W Root Beer anybody? It’s cool that two award-winning actors (Dunaway and O’Toole) agreed to take part. They look like they’re having a blast. It’s good clean campy fun that’s best watched with your brain on pause. It’s one of those films you’ll be entertained by in the moment only to realize later how dumb it really is. It’s okay to watch a movie like that every now and then. Man doesn’t live on serious fare alone, am I right?
