Only 4 years after `Superman ”, Christopher Reeve did this rotten tomato disaster 0%

ahsan65@gmail.comAugust 29, 2025

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Only 4 years after `Superman ”, Christopher Reeve did this rotten tomato disaster 0%

The inheritance of Christopher Reeve will always be synonymous with his four kinematics Superman payments from 1978 to 1987. Although he was recognized worldwide for his sensitive representation of the steel man, Reeve had trouble finding acceptance for his actor gifts outside the beloved DC comic superhero. The actor has made noble efforts to stretch his range of underestimated dramas, in particular M of packaging,, Somewhere in timeAnd Street Smart. But, of all the notSuperman images published during his mandate with the franchise, Reeve’s most controversial film, 1982 Editorturned out to be the biggest career error.

Based on the 1976 novel by Jack-Alain Léger,, Editor preceded the recent Oscar candidate Conclave In its representation of politics surrounding the Roman Catholic Church. Go against the healthy Superman Image that made him a hero for children, Reeve addressed the role of an ambitious priest, who broke almost all cardinal sins in his ascent at the top of the Vatican. Despite his powerful whole with Fernando Rey (French connection),, Jason Miller (The exorcist), And Geneviève Bujold (Tightrope),, Critics castigated Editor To adopt a cynical position on the Church as a corrupt institution. Stop at a score of 0% of criticisms on Rotten Tomatoes, not even a powerful partition of the legendary John Williams can raise Editor be an instant classic.

“ Monssignor ” is a cynical vision of the church

Directed by Frank Perry (Mommie Dear),, Editor Take place during the Second World War, when a Brooklyn priest named Father Flaherty (Reeve) is enlisted to be an army chaplain. Taken in the line of fire after witnessing the death of a young soldier (Joe Pantoliano), Flaherty breaks the protocol by taking a caliber machine gun to kill Nazi soldiers. Although he is reprimanded for his actions, Flaherty is reassigned to the Vatican to help Cardinal Santoni (Rey) to use his accounting capacities to solve the financial problems of the Church.

Flaherty, however, does not take legitimate measures to collect funds for the Church. With the help of his Brooklyn Gangster Pal Lodo Varese (Joseph Cortese) and the boss of the Mafia Don Appolini (Miller), he tangles the Vatican in a black market operation involving the sale of American cigarettes. While Flaherty gains an increasing influence in the ranks of the Church, he engaged in a relationship contrary to ethics with a spiritually distraught nun (Bujold) who is not aware of his priesthood. Then, his fundraising schemes go south, leading to financial problems that put the priest in disagreement with the church and the crowd.

Editor is a slow combustion drama with many criminal elements, but shiver -free. Its dark point of view of the Vatican is earlier Part III of the godfatherwith Francis Ford Coppola Third episode disappointing The Corleone family reinforces the church short of money, but Editor Takes the melodramatic way by emphasizing the provocative nature of the character of Reeve with several sub -intrigues which follow its elaboration of passive religious rules.

Other controversial films on the theme of the church narrowed their scope to a subject: Conclave was talking about the internal struggle for the Pope’s position. Doubt And Highlight examined sexual abuse in the church. But, To tackle several numbers, including a financial scandal with the church, the tropes gang thriller and a shoe love story, Editor struggle to find a clear message. Is he a man corrupting the system or vice versa? In both cases, it is a cynical vision of the Catholic Church, which suggests that the institution is entirely corrupt.

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Christopher Reeve cannot save “ Monsign ” from a bad script

Image via 20th Century Fox

As hard as he tries in the film, Reeve’s own personality has not calmed down with a morally corrupt protagonist represented as a man of God. At 30 for MosignorThe production, the actor was still young and fresh with great experience on the theatrical scene and, despite Reeve’s talents, he had no depth to make Flaherty convincing in his impious actions. Part of the legendary actor’s struggle in the film is the weak scenario, because the real motivations for the hunger for power and influence of Flaherty are never detailed in the story. Reeve simply performs commercial transactions with the crowd as a broker in securities of Wall Street and never questions the morality of its actions over time.

Adding Reeve’s struggles to the screen is the romance prohibited with Bujold’s nun, a secondary intrigue that feels completely forced Editor break with the dull church and the scenarios of the crowd. The motivation of his attraction for Bujold is never explained, and their painful scenes do nothing to raise the drama of the film. A large part of the sub -intrigue is spent with Flaherty who has trouble telling the nun the truth about her priesthood, neither Reeve nor Bujold seeming to know exactly how they are supposed to deliver each scene. Indeed, each big and provocative moment to ensure that Reeve looks like what it stretches for its range ends up falling flat because Each scene of Editor is imagery at the surface.

The rated representation of the church in Editor was something that led Reeve to distance himself from the film a year after its release. In an interview of 1983 with Bobbie WygantReeves recalled that the film had suffered from “serious allegations on a religious figure”, before not proving such claims. Fortunately, Reeve is humble enough to recognize his mistakes, because watching Editor is an SLOG, being an exploitation drama that never manages to be emotionally striking at all. Reeve should have collided with Superman.