Goofs for
Superman (1978) More at IMDb Pro »

• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Jor-El wears an alien device with an uncanny resemblance to a Rolex watch on his wrist.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: After jumping across in front of the moving train, a reflection of the cameraman can be seen in the train windows as Clark runs home.
  
  
• Continuity: When he is spinning the world backward, the two shots are reversed relative to Superman's direction of flying.
  
  

• Continuity: When Clark and Lois are leaving the Daily Planet on Clark's first day, he tries to follow Lois into the revolving door, getting his briefcase stuck. So, he then goes into the partition behind Lois. But when they come out into the street on the other side, they exit from the same partition. They enter the door separately but exit together.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Lois and Clark are leaving the Daily Planet and Clark gets struck in the door, the director of the film can be seen in the reflection of the glass.
  
  
• Continuity: When Lois and Clark are mugged in the alley, Clark grabs the bullet before it hits Lois. He then pretends to faint and falls against the wall. As he does this his glasses fall down on his face and his hat falls off onto the ground. They then show a shot of Lois up against the wall and Clark passed out, sitting on the ground behind her. If you look just to the right of Lois' skirt, you can see Clark's arm with his hat which he appears to be removing from his head.
  
  
• Continuity: The train that kills the policeman (#5048) was the same one that passed by Otis one minute earlier.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: During the sequence of Superman's first rescue, police and fire engines are shown responding to crash scene. Shooting briefly from inside the fire truck, the camera drives past a row of four or five location crew campers.
  
  
• Continuity: After the earthquake, the gap in the railroad tracks is wider than the length of Superman's body. When he is in place, the gap is much smaller.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Superman lands on a street corner to drill himself down towards Luthor's hideaway, you can clearly see that the street is not concrete, but a pad that moves when he lands on it.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Director Richard Donner is reflected in the Daily Planet revolving door when Clark and Lois are leaving (just after the "swell" exchange).
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Superman is catching the cat burglar falling down the side of the skyscraper, his cape (also note the burglar's flashlight) is flat against his body revealing the tilt camera special effect.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: During the Superman and Lois Lane flying scene, right after a bird (white dove?) flies by them, you can see the background stars through their bodies.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: The cable holding Superman while he is carrying Lex Luthor and his henchman to the prison is clearly visible as he lands.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Superman and Lois Lane go out flying, wires are visible on Lois for a second or two when they take off.
  
  
• Continuity: In some shots the Daily Planet building is the tallest one in its neighborhood. At other times - such as the scene with the helicopter - there are several taller buildings nearby.
  
  
• Continuity: When Superman first grabs the wing of Air Force One, his "S" is backwards, revealing a flipped shot.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Lex Luthor and Otis are brought to prison at the end of the film, the flaps of Luthor's bald cap are clearly visible on the back of his neck (especially when he tells Otis to shut up).
  
  
• Continuity: We see every second of Lois' interview of Superman, from his arrival to his departure. Yet the next day, when Luthor sees the article in the Daily Planet, he "reads" several bits of information that were never mentioned during the interview.
  
  
• Continuity: The Cheerios box that Mrs. Kent pulls from the cupboard on the morning Clark leaves Smallville changes position on the table when she looks out the window.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: As Superman and Lois Lane fly around "Metropolis", a full moon lies to the north of the Big Dipper, an astronomical impossibility.
  
  
• Continuity: Superman pulls Lois out of her car and lays her on the ground with her arms pointing down and her clothes are all dirty. Yet when he screams in rage and takes off, her right arm is up by her head and her clothes are clean.
  
  
• Factual errors: The two missiles were supposed to be 500 megatons, but the largest nuclear weapon the United States has ever produced had a yield of 25 megatons, and it was never put on a missile. Even the USSR's Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear bomb ever built, had a theoretical yield of "only" 57 megatons.
  
  
• Plot holes: Superman arrives on Earth with all his powers, including invulnerability. So how is it possible for him to have fillings in his teeth?
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: The little girl who is audibly slapped by her mother after getting her cat returned by Superman, clearly isn't, judging by her shadow on the wall of her house.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When the planet Krypton explodes, you can clearly see folds in the cloth that make up the black "space" surrounding the planet, as well as the floor of the studio used to film this scene.
  
  
• Continuity: On the DVD, there is a scene not in previous releases where Superman is talking to Jor-El at the fortress. His hair is much longer in that scene than in the rest of the movie. It is the same length as in the screen tests.
  
  
• Continuity: When a staff member lights Perry White's cigar, the lighter immediately vanishes and the guy has his hands in his pockets in a split second.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: A character asks a soldier,"Are you OK, buddy?", however, the actor's mouth is not moving.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the Girl Scouts are fleeing the falling "Hollywood" sign, as the camera pans to a side-angle shot, we see that all the letters in the sign are on the same line (as they fall forward). In real life, several of the letters are staggered at fairly large intervals (easily seen in overhead shots).
  
  
• Factual errors: When Clark Kent first sees Jor-El in the fortress of solitude, Jor-El mentions that he's been dead for thousands of earth years. Yet when Lex Luthor reads the article by Lois Lane, he states that (according to Superman) the planet Krypton exploded in 1948, and that it took 3 years for his ship to reach Earth, making the initial landing in 1951. Thus, making Jor-El dead for almost the exact age of Clark Kent / Superman, which ranged from his 18th birthday to his 30th, in 1979.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: During the credits, when the "Cast" names scroll up, there is a cast credit for "Secret Agent" at the "Golf Course". This was a scene cut out of the original film (but reappeared when ABC first broadcast their 'extended' version), in which the President of the United States (who is never shown) is trying to dig himself out of a sand trap. The Secret Agent is informing him of the events occurring, the earthquake and such.
  
  
• Continuity: During the Krypton sequence,when Jor-El looks at one of the other Elders, and says "My friend, I have never been otherwise... .this madness is yours". he places his hands on the shoulders (upper arms) of the Elder (shot over Jor-El's shoulder, looking at the Elder). When the camera switches to a shot over the Elder's shoulder looking at Jor-El, Jor-El's hands are up on the Elder's shoulders, near his neck. When the P.O.V. switches back to look at the Elder over Jor'El's shoulder again, his hands are back on the Elder's shoulders (upper arms).
  
  
• Factual errors: The pilot of Air Force One describes their position as "Ten miles - that's Ten-er miles" from the airport. The scriptwriters have incorrectly extended the aviation custom of pronouncing the number "nine" as "niner" to avoid possible confusion with the German word "nein", which means "no". The -r ending isn't added to any numbers not ending in 9. In addition, for distances of more than one digit, the digits are pronounced individually: "One-Zero Miles", not "Ten Miles". Also, the position report would be quite unnecessary. Wouldn't Air Traffic Control be tracking the President's plane on radar every moment of the trip - and wouldn't the pilot know that?
  
  
• Factual errors: Air Force One is piloted by Air Force pilots; the pilots here are plainly civilian pilots.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: As Supes in reaching out to grab the missile to hurl it into space, you can see the scaffolding used for Chris Reeve to lie on sticking out inside his suit (moulded to fit Chris Reeve's chest and tummy).
  
  

• Revealing mistakes: SPOILER: Safety cable attached to helicopter when it's balancing on the wedge on during the crash scene on the roof.
  
  
• Plot holes: SPOILER: Very little reference is made to the detonation of a 500 megaton nuclear weapon in California, and when Superman turns back the clock, he appears to do so only to the point prior to Lois' car being swallowed up by the earth. Why wouldn't he turn the clock back to before the nuclear explosion?
  
  

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