Superman III
Superman III is a 1983 superhero film directed by Richard Lester,[4] based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the third installment in the Superman film series and the last Superman film to be produced by Alexander Salkind and Ilya Salkind. The film features a cast of Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Annette O’Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn,[5][4] Marc McClure, and Gavan O’Herlihy. It was followed by the film Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, released on July 24, 1987.
Although the film recouped its budget of $39 million, it proved less successful than the first two Superman films, both financially and critically. While harsh criticism focused on the film’s comedic and campy tone, as well as on the casting and performance of Pryor, the special effects and Christopher Reeve’s performance as Superman were praised.
PLOT
While Superman is saving lives and protecting the citizens of Metropolis, Gus Gorman, a chronically unemployed ne’er-do-well, discovers he has a talent for computer programming and is hired at the Metropolis-based conglomerate Webscoe. Gus embezzles from his employer through salami slicing, bringing him to the attention of CEO Ross Webster. Webster is intrigued by Gus’s potential to help him rule the world financially. Joined by sister Vera and “psychic nutritionist” Lorelei Ambrosia, Ross blackmails Gus into helping him.
At the Daily Planet, Clark Kent convinces his boss, Perry White, to let him and photographer Jimmy Olsen return to Smallville for his high-school reunion, at the same time that his fellow reporter Lois Lane leaves for a holiday in Bermuda. En route, as Superman, Kent extinguishes a fire in a chemical plant containing unstable Beltric acid, which produces corrosive vapor when superheated. He also saves Jimmy, who breaks his leg trying to get pictures of the inferno. At the reunion, Clark is reunited with childhood friend Lana Lang, a divorcée with a young son named Ricky, and harassed by Brad Wilson, his former bully and her ex-boyfriend.
Infuriated by Colombia’s refusal to do business with him, Ross orders Gus to command Vulcan, an American weather satellite, to create a tornado to destroy Colombia’s coffee crop for the next several years, allowing Webster to corner the market. Gus travels to Smallville to use the offices of WheatKing, a subsidiary of Webscoe, to reprogram the satellite. Clark spends a few days in Smallville and gets closer with Lana and during a picnic, Superman saves Ricky from being killed by a combine harvester. Though Vulcan creates a devastating storm, Ross’s scheme is thwarted when Superman neutralizes it, saving the harvest. Ross orders Gus to use his computer knowledge to create Kryptonite, remembering an interview with Superman. Gus uses Vulcan to locate, scan, and analyze Krypton’s debris. He discovers that one of the elements of Kryptonite is “unknown” and substitutes tar after glancing at his pack of cigarettes.
Lana convinces Superman to appear at Ricky’s birthday party, but Smallville turns it into a town celebration. Gus and Vera, disguised as Army officers, give Superman the flawed Kryptonite, which has no immediate effect. But Superman soon becomes selfish; his desire for Lana causes him to delay rescuing a truck driver from a jackknifed rig hanging from a bridge. Superman becomes depressed and regresses into committing petty acts of vandalism such as straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa and blowing out the Olympic Flame.
Gus, feeling used, gives Ross crude plans for a supercomputer and Ross agrees to build it in return for Gus creating an oil embargo by directing all oil tankers to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean until further notice. When the captain of one tanker insists on maintaining his original course, Lorelei seduces Superman, persuading him to waylay the tanker and breach the hull, causing a massive oil spill. The villains decamp to the computer’s location in the Grand Canyon.
Superman goes on a drinking binge, is overcome by guilt, and suffers a nervous breakdown. In a junkyard, Superman splits into two personas: the immoral, corrupted Superman and the moral, righteous Clark Kent. They engage in a battle, ending when Clark manages to destroy his evil identity. Restored to his normal self, Superman repairs the damage his evil counterpart caused.
After defending himself from rockets and an MX missile, Superman confronts Ross, Vera, and Lorelei. Gus’s supercomputer identifies him as a threat and attempts to determine his weakness, eventually unleashing a beam of pure Kryptonite.
Guilt-ridden and horrified by the prospect of “going down in history as the man who killed Superman”, Gus destroys the Kryptonite ray with a firefighter’s axe, whereupon Superman escapes. The computer becomes self-aware, defending itself against Gus’s attempts to disable it. Ross and Lorelei escape the control room, but Vera is transformed into a cyborg. She attacks her brother and Lorelei with beams of energy that immobilize them. Superman returns with a canister of the Beltric acid, which he places by the supercomputer, which does not resist as it suspects no danger. The intense heat emitted by the supercomputer causes the acid to turn volatile, destroying the supercomputer. Superman flies away with Gus, leaving Ross and his cronies to the authorities. He drops Gus off at a West Virginia coal mine, where Superman recommends him to the company as a computer programmer but Gus refuses the job, deciding to take a bus to Metropolis.
Superman returns to Metropolis. As Clark, he pays a visit to Lana, who has moved to Metropolis after Brad’s numerous romantic advances. Brad shows up, having stalked Lana on her way across the country. He attacks Clark, only to end up falling onto a room service cart. Lana has also found employment at the Daily Planet as Perry White’s new secretary and to the surprise of Lois Lane, who returned from her vacations with an article about corruption in Bermuda and have a newfound respect for Clark after reading his story. Before heading to lunch with Lana, Superman restores the Leaning Tower of Pisa and then flies into the sunrise for further adventures.