A Harness Helped A Teenage Clark Kent Literally Outrun A Locomotive

Computers might take us to new heights of realism, and allow filmmakers to give superheroes inhuman capabilities, but nothing generates excitement like good ‘ole fashioned stunt work and practical effects. One of the most charming scenes in any superhero origin story, is the sight of a teenage Superman running past a locomotive in Richard Donner’s classic film, ‘Superman’ (1978). It’s also one of those moments, where you wonder how on Earth did they do that.

You can tell that it’s a real locomotive barreling down that railroad at speed. You can tell it’s actor Jeff East, and not some maquette made to move like a human in front of a miniature locomotive. And there is no evidence of blue screen, or rear or front projection work going on in the scene. The only give away is East’s dubious running style.

As always, what looks good on the page, doesn’t always translate well on film. And as the special effects documentary ‘The Magic Behind The Cape’ shows, the special effects team had quite a job coming up with a practical solution.

Many different techniques were tested. First, they tried filming a man running, and then frame cutting to alter his speed. They also tried animated speed trails, motion blurring, and other types of special effects, but they didn’t create the desired result.

The speed test next to a car before filming the sequence. Note the harness which is mounted on a mobile crane off-camera.

“We eventually came to a system where we actually put in two small wires, and tracked along with him on an overhead crane,” said Optical Effects Supervisor, Roy Field. “This allowed his feet to not actually touch the ground. We had his shadow, which I was so keen to have … Also, we could control his speed.”

The sight of Superman running still captures our imagination, even in our modern world of near-photo realistic CGI.