“You’ll believe a man can fly.” Join your favourite TransAtlantic podcasting duo – Ian & Liam (Megs couldn’t make it—she’s busy spinning the Earth backwards to reclaim her weekend while KevDog’s off searching for crystals in the Arctic... or just stuck in a phone booth with no signal - as we don the cape, slick back the hair, and fly faster than a speeding bullet into our 286th episode, reviewing Richard Donner’s iconic superhero origin story Superman (1978). We’re trading classical guitars and military trenches for red trunks and crystal fortresses as we discuss:
- We look at how Superman redefined the superhero genre before it was a genre—and why it still matters nearly 50 years later.
- Why Christopher Reeve may be the most perfectly cast superhero of all time, and how his dual performance still holds up.
- Ian dives into the film’s structure and why the three-act split (Krypton, Kansas, Metropolis) feels so bold and ambitious.
- We condemn and then forgive Teen Clark (Jeff East) and do likewise for Brando but without the forgiveness at the end
- We discuss whether Lex Luthor is a credible villain—or just a walking punchline with a killer property portfolio.
- Liam marvels at the charm, the score, and the genuine sense of wonder—while struggling not to get emotional about Pa Kent.
- We ask: does the “reverse time” ending still fly? Or is that where the cape starts to fray?
- And of course: whether Superman (1978) is the Best Film Ever.
Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at https://www.patreon.com/BFE.
We are extremely thankful to our following Patrons for their most generous support:
- Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM
- Hermes Auslander
- James DeGuzman
- Synthia
- Shai Bergerfroind
- Ariannah Who Loves BFE The Most
- Andy Dickson
- Chris Pedersen
- Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)
- Randal Silva
- Nate The Great
- Rev Bruce
- Cheezy (with a fish on a bike)
- Richard
- Ryan Kuketz
- Dirk Diggler
- Stew from the Stew World Order podcast
- NorfolkDomus
- John Humphrey's Right Foot
- Timmy Tim Tim
- Aashrey
Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.
Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor.
Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/.
