Supergirl: Is It Awfully Good or Just Awful?
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- Опубліковано 21 чер 2023
- Now that The Flash has hit theaters to reset the DC Universe, Awfully Good Movies is running back in time to watch the debut film for one of The Flash’s breakout characters, Helen Slater in 1984’s SUPERGIRL!
In between the disappointment of Superman III and the catastrophe of Superman IV, original franchise producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided to switch focus from the Man of Steel to his female cousin Kara Zor-El with an in-universe spinoff that’d have a cameo from Christopher Reeve himself to mentor his fellow Kryptonian and star Helen Slater in the young actress’ debut role. But after Reeve turned the film down before filming, and Warner Bros. grew so fed up with the Salkinds that they sold the distribution rights back to them, Supergirl would instead flop so hard at the box office that the Salkinds just gave up on the Superman film rights altogether, and it’s not hard to see why the Woman of Tomorrow failed here for reasons other than superpowered sexism.
From Slater’s flat lead performance that results from her badly written dialogue, to an incomprehensible plot about retrieving a magic power ball back for a visibly drunk Peter O’Toole before a visibly embarrassed Faye Dunaway uses it to magically take over the world, to special effects on Supergirl that look nearly as bad as her effects in The Flash, it’s no less of a disaster than pairing Superman up with Richard Pryor or nuclear powered musclemen. Still, Supergirl does deserve respect for being the first major female superhero in film history, even if the film itself doesn’t earn a single ounce of respect.
And hey, thank God this would be the last time that the names of Superman or Supergirl would ever be associated with a box office disappointment that suffered from the movie having subpar visual effects. Yep… nothing but cinematic quality from then on from DC… not a SINGLE problem!
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Seeing this Supergirl with Christopher Reeves Superman side by side in The Flash is nostalgia done right.
Spoilers!!! Lol. But I 100% agree that was an awesome scene.
Too bad the effects don’t look that great…
Its Reeve not Reeves
Christopher Reeves is my pastor; Christopher Reeve played Superman.
Very true.
I met Helen Slater last year at a convention. She’s a very kind person. She signed my supergirl pop figure too. I honestly believe she was fit for the role of Supergirl
Yes,she seemed to give an earnest,straightforward performance-it’s a shame the Supergirl movie was such a hot mess.
Helen Slater owns this movie and performance
Indeed she did
The one highlight is Jerry Goldsmith’s score
And Helen Slater, of course
The main Supergirl theme is an absolute banger
i love it so good,
You can't go wrong with Drunk Peter O'Toole. It was this and High Spirits that made me a fan of his.
"Squirt?"
It's actually not true that Peter O'Toole was drunk while filming. He was drunk when not filming but mostly professional when working . Peter Cook, on the other hand, was pretty much drunk for the entirety of his 40 years of adult life but was very high functioning even though everyone who knew him couldn't remember ever seeing him sober.
My favorite Peter O'Toole performances are probably "The Ruling Class" and "The Stunt Man". Very much worth watching if you haven't yet.
And of course he's amazing in "Lawrence of Arabia", one of those films that actually does live up to the hype when a person finally gets around to seeing it.
Oliver Reed would of been a great addition.
@@franksavage8031
Ollie would've hurt someone!😅
Helen Slater makes for a lovely Supergirl. Perfect casting.
Laura Vandervoort would be my choice for DCU's Supergirl. Beautful and talented.
She was my first celebrity crush.
Yeah I always forget how pretty Slater was. I know it was framed as a joke, but if O'Toole _had been_ checking her out, it would not have made him a "pervert". She was a lovely young woman- young, but still a woman.
Helen Slater would later play Lara, Superman’s mother in Smallville
She was lovely. The script was terrible.
Sacheen Littlefeather, born Maria Louise Cruz, is Native American. Jacqueline Keeler, who wrote the opinion piece, always attack people calling them not native. She even said Leonard Peltier is white. Lol. Her husband, by her definition, would not be considered native, but she ignores that.
The (138 minutes) extended director's cut is the best version of Supergirl (1984) in my opinion.
Do we find out she was a robot all along?
Faye Dunaway was gorgeous in this and the best part of the movie for me
It does deserve to be considered one of the worst superhero movies, but it's dumb in all of the right ways. So I love it
Over here in thd UK I remember seeing Supergirl in a packed cinema .. we loved it..
My mom took me to see it in theater when it came out. An experience I'll never forget. A statement I'll leave open to interpretation.
Did you like the movie?
Me personally, I just finished watching it. I found it enjoyable. Sure, the love story between "linda" and Ethan was very forced in and didn't really go anywhere, and was put to a close rather quickly, but the overall movie was pretty good. And Helen slater was so beautiful.
@@giyuutomioka6974 I was more confused than anything. But it was just another movie. Back then, we didn't go to the movies to be a critic or anything.
@@nothumbbowler1802 fair enough. Although Melissa benoist is a lot better as supergirl.
Though sasha calle has my favorite supergirl suit.
This movie used to come on tv all the time when I was a kid. I used to really like the movie, then I saw it as an adult 🤦🏾♀️
I enjoyed it as a sub 10 year old boy. It was quite the visual experience to such a youngster. I always feel these films make an impression on you if you see them as a kid and it stays until adulthood.
If I watched this as an adult for the first time, I'd probably hate it.
So true, I loved this as a young boy
The chick who played super girl became my dream girl as a boy.
Even up to this day. Wooof! Her 80s look is still attractive to me that now Im reminded to rewatch this movie
My experience exactly
Sub 10 year old boy? Were you substituting for a kid?
I have seen it as a kid and as an adult and I can say I love it.
I'm a great fan of this movie and I loved meeting Helen Slater in real life. Real shame this film didn't lead to bigger things for her.
Ps she's a must watch in The secret of my success with mj fox.
Hard to believe this movie had the same screenwriter as Jim Henson’s ‘The Dark Crystal’……
It did have a great Jerry Goldsmith score, though.
And Masters of the Universe, which may or may not be my next review. Stay tuned!
It's a fun guilty pleasure movie. It's like Jason X. I know it's not amazing, but its entertaining and has charm.
💯
I just watched again just a few min ago and now as 41 year old man. Super Girl(Helen Slater) is still the hottie I remember her to be.
But the best part of this movie is the heel parts of Faye Dunaway and Brenda Vaccaro. Since anytime I see them is pure comedy gold!
Helen Slater would appear as Superman's mother in SMALLVILLE and Supergirl's adoptive mother in the CW series of the same name.
You just repeated what the said in the video. EPIC FAIL
Good to know.
Argo City looks like the lair of the Widow of the Web from Krull, while importing the survivors of Logan Run to reside in it.
😂😂
That’s a very clever way to describe it.
We need sarcasm like this. Excellent review. I remember watching this as a kid, this movie was weird, but yet mesmerizing…….still is. What were they thinking?
Of all the live action actresses that has played Supergirl, you guys forgot Laura Vandervoort, who did Kara in Smallville.
Helen Slater was a great casting...but the writing and budget was seriously lacking. That being said, I loved it as a teen age girl. I knew it was crap, but at the time it was all we had of supergirl, so I embraced it. I still love it, it's a wonderfully horribly done film. You see the potential, and it's never met. 😆 thank you for doing a piece on this. ❤️
The budget was 35 million, which was quite high for the time. The tech just wasn't there, and the effects team weren't great.
Faye Dunaway did an amazing job of portraying an extremely power hungry bitchy witch. Her character wasn't too evil at the beginning of the movie, but when she received all of that power from the Omegahedron, that's when the Selena character became unbelievably self-absorbed and corrupt. The Omegahedron was basically feeding upon Selena's narcissistic ambitions and fantasies. Most humans are probably much better off NOT having access to that kind of power! If I could have one special magical power, it would either be the power of invisibility so that dangerous people wouldn't be able to see me, or the power of truth, so that nobody could lie to me! Now those are two amazing powers that I wish I had. They would come in really handy on most days!!!!
Still that flying sequence to the city on the way to the "mountain" is still my favorite
Saw it at the movie theater the day after Thanksgiving 1985 with my family and two cousins.
Loved this film as a kid. Dunaway and Cook were at their campiest best right here 🤩
I remember when me and my mother went to go see this at the movie theaters when it first came out. And it was just plain awful. We did get to see that poster Superman though.
Same here. Even as a kid, I knew how bad it was. It was one of the few movies I didn't pester my mom about seeing again.
Helen Slater's pretty cute in this movie. I'll give it that.
I was ten when this came out. I was ALL about Helen Slater! I still have the Supergirl storybook I got from the book fair!
Heh... the "Lady Gaga," is Sandra Dickinson. She played Trillian in BBC TV's adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." She's also the ex-wife of the Doctor, as well as the Doctor's daughter's mother, the Doctor's mother-in-law and the Doctor's daughter's grandmother! Wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey.
Yeah, she's David Tennant's mother-in-law...
Lol you’re defending the flash movie?
"Where is heeeee?"
"Iiiiii don't knooooow!"
This made me laugh out loud more times than I care to admit.
I saw Supergirl when it came in theaters. Not the best film in the world but still enjoyable and my little girl absolutely loves.
It be cool if Helen Slater reprises a much older mature Supergirl, mentoring other worldly Supergirls. If Michael Keaton came back at 71, Harrison Ford back as Indy at 80, why not her? Heck i'll be cool if she voices an older Supergirl in an animated series/movie.
I really enjoyed it as a kid , but can honestly can't say now as I've not seen it in 30+ years as it kinda disappeared in the UK in the early 90s along with everything else distributed on the CIC video label
Without this movie, child-me would never would have been introduced to the great Peter Cook. Thanks to Supergirl, I discovered the original Bedazzled, the Derek & Clive tapes, so much wonderful, crude and masterful comedy. So I will always love Supergirl for that. Plus a pissed-up O'Toole? Absolute masterpiece, and why whenever I pick up a stick, it becomes the Burundi Wand.
Or Elvis's favorite a whole loaf of bread cut down the middle with a pound of bacon stuffed in it🥓🥓🥓🍞🍞🍞
This is a movie that had all the right ingredients to be good. Great casting, a decent director, special effects that were passable for its time. Everything but a decent screenplay. They needed to do a page one rewrite.
I completely forgot about this film's existence.
A double dose of Super Jesse Shade makes me happy. Supergirl was a guilty pleasure of mine. The effects were corny, but Helen Slater was great. I'm glad she came back as Supergirl's mother on the CW show.
3:32...the best montage ever in a JoBlo video!!!!
I enjoyed this movie for what it was. Not the greatest thing I saw but certainly not the worst. A solid theme song plus the beautiful Helen Slater giving her best was a treat.
The late Jetty Goldsmith's music for this film is top notch!!!!
😳 Well, that Helen Mirren crack just conjured up a mental picture. Thanks for that.
I loved this movie as a kid
This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine.... And although the story might not be all that good, Helen Slater looked pretty damn hot as Supergirl!
Ethan being whisked away by a TikTok transition had me howling so hard I woke the neighbours 😅 😂
I like Supergirl. Despite it's flaws, I think it's a great movie and I don't think it's all that bad. Bad than most of the crap DCEU movies. I was born the same year Supergirl was released in cinemas. Helen Slater really suited playing Supergirl and she was born to play the character. It was a shame it was her first and only time playing Supergirl. Elisha Cuthbert would have made a good DCEU Supergirl and looks as if she could be Henry Cavill's cousin. By the way, the blonde actress at 10:08 is Sandra Dickinson. She is the ex wife of former Doctor Who Peter Davison and mother-of-law of David Tennant (Yes! Doctor Who) and grandmother of actor Ty Tennant from House of the Dragon. She played Trillian in the 1981 BBC mini-series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and was the voice of Grandma Tracey in the reboot series Thunderbirds are Go!.
The film had a perfect cast, and they clearly spent a lot of money on it (it looks better than Superman 3 or 4). But it has a mess of a script which _badly_ needed a re-write. It had all the right ingredients, but that incoherent mess of a script lets the whole thing down. I'll always love it though.
On another note: the town they shoot in is actually the Pinewood studios backlot - it's very impressive. If you didn't know you could easily believe it was shot in a town in the US.
This would've been far more suitable as a "WTF" episode, rather than having all of the jarring "humour" in it.
5:16 A witch & warlock? A warlock is a male witch...
9:04 I don't think the writers realised that Superman's powers come from Earth's environment. The further he goes from Earth the more he loses his powers.
10:04 That's Sandra Dickinson.
As for the so-called Director's cut of the movie, I don't think anything can save this disaster of a movie, especially a longer running time.
I always enjoy the Awfully Good videos.
Supergirl was one of my favorite movies as a kid.
Mate, this is my childhood crush, shit or not I spent alot of tissue boxes on Helen.
Greatly enjoyed it as a kid! Very grateful for this movie and memories of it! Rewatching it occasionally, soaked in nostalgia :)
I loved the movie Supergirl. I mean it was 1987 and I was only 5 when I first saw it on HBO. Even had the picture 📖 this review was hilarious thank you!😂
Selena used to make my pants feel tight as a kid
Oh yes Cannon can we all say 80's cheese🧀
the Flash is definitely a fitting farewell to Miller.
10:57 High school? Helen Slater was 20 years old when filming this movie!
BUWAHAHAHA 🤣 Thanks for sharing this hilarious edited video review.
I have actually always been and will be a fan of this original film. Part of my childhood 🤩😍
I love Keaton in the movie and Miller's performance is pretty good I hope they're able to live a good life and sort everything out that they got going on
As I recall, superman is vulnerable to kryptonite AND magic..
Jesse Shade needs an award for the editing on this JoBlo presentation 22:27
This was actually a fun popcorn movie! Good cast including the easy-on-the-eyes Hart Bochner.
4:26 Ah, so THAT explains why Kara was confused when Lucy Lane wanted to pierce her ears later in the movie. 😂
This is a good film to play in the background while doing housework. It’s a guilty pleasure, yes, but there are FAR worse films out there.
Also how did Zaltar know that Supergirl was in the Phantom Zone?? Was he put walking randomly or did he know she was there??
Do they know how long I've been waiting for a new Supergirl movie?!, and they just throw her willy nilly in The Flash movie!; I think the 1984 movie is awfully good, it's campy, nostalgia goodness, I'm glad I found the longer versions when I matured; that nothing monster is called the 'invisible monster', the tornado in hurricane is called "The Maelstrom", Supergirl sent Selena, Bianca and the Shadow Monster to the Phantom Zone at the conclusion.
Even as a kid watching this I wondered how did Supergirl know that Superman's earth name is Clark Kent? & I never understood the Reeve Superman universe's magical transformation from Clark Kent to Superman. I guess the same can be said about the S shield from Superman 2
Helen slater looked the part perfectly but also captured the guilelessness charm of the character. The movies serious problem was the incoherent and idiotic plotting
Helen Slater as Supergirl, one of my first crushes as a kid 😍
Why doesn’t anyone on UA-cam know the difference between a cameo and a supporting role?
Hottest Supergirl ever.👍
7:03 she just crushed a rock with her bare hands. Her slapping his wrist like that should have at least fractured his hands and wrist 🪨
Hopefully her next solo outing in James Gunn's DC Universe: "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" will do a whole lot better, and that Warner Bros Discovery finally realize to recast Erza Miller in the role of "Barry Allen/The Flash" after that scene with the baby and the microwave now
Isn't Barbarella the first female in a comic book movie
Great, I didn't know what happened in the flash. And now I know what happens in the flash.
No one likes unannounced spoilers.
02:51
what game is that ?
Peter O'Toole didn't play Dumbledore. That was Richard Harris....
09:12
someone may want to check
but
the universe might not be
SEVERAL HUNDRED TRILLION
LIGHT YEARS ACROSS
I saw this movie on tv as a kid in the 90s. I tried to forget. Thanks!
It's awful,
It just makes no sense.
I like the actual supergirl through!
Whoo! Another great review!
'Legend of Billie Jean' was a great movie to follow this up with.
I'm only halfway through this video and feel incredibly embarrassed for all the actors in this movie. WTF??? It's like the writers made things up as they went along. This is painfully stupid. I wish Slater had a good Supergirl movie to star in.
12:40
JESSE
I knew you'd do that
😂
I think they are lying about it being last appearance of batfleck. And i hope so too.
Whisked away by a TikTok transition. Bro I almost had a fucking heart attack on that one. I swear Jesse, my whole day lights up when I see one of these land my subscriptions. Never stop never stopping!
ooof at the pronunciation of Calle. Made me cackle out loud at work.
If that ball just turned into brainiac it would of been 10 times better. Oh well.
“It’s a bird with a vagina” - Jo 2023
One of my favorite campy superhero films❤
always love that superman poster in the room ...
Childhood crush
The next Kara Zo-el/Supergirl in cinemas should be Laura Diane Vandervoort. She is the only actress who give the Supergirl fans many peace !
Interesting. I had thought that Selena had sounded more like Endora from Bewitched
Helen Slater was perfect as Supergirl.. the story could have been better and a shame Christopher Reeve didn't at least make a cameo......Melissa Benoist TV's Supergirl I enjoyed to bad she didn't play Supergirl in the Flash movie.
Absolutely hilarious 😂 😃!! I LOVE THE MOMMIE DEAREST CROSSOVERS!! GREAT WORK 👍
Maybe Krypton or at least Argo City had no trees.
Cheesy but fun