Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today announced the 2017 selections to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, and the 1978 film “Superman: The Movie” is amongst the list.
Selected for their cultural, historic and/or aesthetic importance, 25 motion pictures were selected, including the musical biopic “La Bamba”, the holiday action thriller “Die Hard” and another Richard Donner film, “The Goonies”.
“The selection of a film to the National Film Registry recognizes its importance to American cinema and the nation’s cultural and historical heritage,” Hayden said. “Our love affair with motion pictures is a testament to their enduring power to enlighten, inspire and inform us as individuals and a nation as a whole. Being tasked with selecting only 25 each year is daunting because there are so many great films deserving of this honor.”
Spanning the period 1905 to 2000, the films named to this year’s registry include Hollywood blockbusters, documentaries, silent movies, animation, shorts and independent and home movies. The 2017 selections bring the number of films in the registry to 725, which is a small fraction of the Library’s vast moving-image collection of 1.3 million items.
“I thank the National Film Registry for choosing ‘Superman: The Movie’ and ‘The Goonies’ as films to be treasured,” Donner said upon hearing the news. “They are both special films in my life, as was the cast and crew for both. It’s wonderful to see them listed among so many great films.”
The public can tune into Turner Classic Movies (TCM) at 8.00pm ET tonight to view a selection of films named to the registry this year. The Librarian joins movie critic Leonard Maltin to discuss the films. Follow the conversation about the 2017 registry on Twitter at @librarycongress and #NatFilmRegistry.
Well it’s about time. Congratulations. It was long overdue.
And just in time for the 40th anniversary of its release. By the way…well deserved and way overdue.
I concur.
Me too
Yes, congratulations to all who were involved in making such a wonderful movie about the world’s greatest Superhero,Superman.
Well done.
About Super fantastic time! Great way to celebrate 39 years of a great Super hero film. 🙂 Christopher Reeve was the perfect actor to play Superman.
I couldn’t have said it better myself Reaganfan. This is fantastic news for my favorite superman actor and favorite movie.
No matter how many years pass by…this movie and its significance on our childhood and upbringing will always remain well preserved in our own film library. No home should be complete without it.
Superman the movie really is a treasured movie.