Christopher Reeve Dies
So there I am watching the second episode of “Boston Legal”–which I’m still enjoying, BTW–when a breaking news message at the bottom of the screen informs me that Christopher Reeve has died.
To my generation, of course, he’s Superman first and foremost. Comics writer Peter David once pointed out that the real accomplishment of the first film wasn’t making you believe a man could fly. It was making you believe people wouldn’t recognize Superman was Clark Kent, and vice-versa. In a deftly comic performance that I appreciated all the more as I grew older, Reeve made them two distinct and recognizable personalities. The first two Superman films stand as two of the best adaptations of comics into film–and as I’ve noted, were very influential on the first two Spider-Man movies.
But I’m also very fond of his performance in “Deathtrap”, the adaptation of Ira Levin’s play in which he played a former student of playwright Michael Caine. One who may have written a play so good his onetime mentor is willing to kill to plagiarize it.
Those of you who have seen the film will know I’m leaving much unspoiled, those of you who haven’t should look for it at your video store.
And I really enjoyed him in “Switching Channels,” the 17th or so remake of “The Front Page.” It wasn’t a wholly succesful film, but as Kathleen Turner’s vertigo-suffering yuppie fiancee, Reeve puffs and preens and sends himself up. In a way that has always reminded me, for some reason, of Daffy Duck–no little compliment when it comes to comic performances.
Of course, you really can’t ask for more in a “celebrity” than the way he handled himself publically since his accident.
So, godspeed, another big chunk of my childhood. I can still remember the very theaters at which I saw those first two Superman movies.
