Jor-El wears an alien device with an uncanny resemblance to a
Rolex watch on his wrist.
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.
When he is spinning the world backward, the two shots are reversed
relative to Superman's direction of flying.
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.
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.
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.
The train that kills the policeman (#5048) was the same one that
passed by Otis one minute earlier.
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.
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.
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.
Director Richard Donner is reflected in the Daily Planet revolving door when
Clark and Lois are leaving (just after the "swell" exchange).
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.
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.
The cable holding Superman while he is carrying Lex Luthor and his henchman
to the prison is clearly visible as he lands.
When Superman and Lois Lane go out flying, wires are visible on Lois for a
second or two when they take off.
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.
When Superman first grabs the wing of Air Force One, his "S" is backwards,
revealing a flipped shot.
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).
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.
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.
As Superman and Lois Lane fly around "Metropolis", a full moon lies to the north
of the Big Dipper, an astronomical impossibility.
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.
When Kal-El is in the spaceship on his way to earth, he is briefed on the
history of humans. Einstein's relativity theory is explained. Later, when inside
the Fortress of Solitude, Jor-El says he's been dead for thousands of years.
How could they then have recorded the relativity theory?
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" 100 megatons.
Superman arrives on Earth with all his powers, including invulnerability. So
how is it possible for him to have fillings in his teeth?
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.
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.
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.
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.
A character asks a soldier,"Are you OK, buddy?", however, the actor's
mouth is not moving.
The design of the Cheerios box was not only not the design used when
Clark was a teenaager (1955), but it has the General Mills logo,
which was first put on the box in 1961.
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).
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.
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