Continuity mistake: During the volcano eruption scene, an old man with a black hat on the right appears and disappears depending if the shot is a close-up or a wide shot. This even happens when the shot changes follow one another immediately.
Continuity mistake: While Superman is taking the Statue of liberty back to its place the sky keeps changing between violet and blue, sunny and cloudy.
Continuity mistake: When Superman leaves Luthor in the quarry, he lands several feet to the right of the cop. In the close-up they are almost close to each other.
Continuity mistake: Shortage of extras in this film: Inside the UN hall, the arab man that greets Superman is the one that a second before was in the entrance, together with the woman with a pink handkerchief over her head.
Continuity mistake: When Superman lands Lex on the quarry, the standing position of the prisoner behind differs between shots.
Continuity mistake: After the two police cars are sent backwards, a third one that was parked behind, suddenly appears aligned with the other two.
Continuity mistake: When Lois is in the subway carriage crying for help, she places her right hand on the rail above. A frame later the hand is by her waist.
Continuity mistake: Before lava covers the Italian village, furniture under the two arches on the right, as well as a vase, cart wheel and table on the left disappear between shots.
Continuity mistake: Nuclear Man arrives at Luthor's apt. and steps into a dark corner, where he loses his powers. From the opposite angle the place is filled with light, so Nuclear Man shouldn't have lost his strength.
Continuity mistake: While Superman walks with the kid to the UN, the sky changes from sunny to cloudy in a nano-second.
Continuity mistake: In the gym, the amount of sport bags on the back differs between shots.
Continuity mistake: While the lava flows on the Italian village, a wooden cart with hay on the left suddenly becomes a red car.
Continuity mistake: The debris on the bottom of the Statue of Liberty's base appears and disappears between shots.
Continuity mistake: Superman land on the middle-top of the missile, but a second later he is further down and on the side of it.
Continuity mistake: When Nuclear Man fires at the fire truck a short piece of hose comes out. A second later, in the following shot, the hose is 10 meters long and all over the place.
Continuity mistake: When Superman is giving his speech outside the Daily Planet, the background is a clear blue sky. In every other shot of Superman, the sky has gone all cloudy. (01:23:45)
Continuity mistake: When the satellite knocks the Russian cosmonaut, they are both dragged into space, but the immediate wide angle shows him alone in the void, no sign of the huge satellite.
Continuity mistake: While Superman walks to UN, the way Jimmy holds his camera changes in a split second.
Continuity mistake: When nuclear Man bursts the cab's hood, the radiator explodes and vanishes. A second later it's back on.
Continuity mistake: When Lois gets in the subway train it is packed with people, in the close shot they are gone.
Answer: It was made on a very low budget. Golen - Golbus productions bought the rights to Superman. They were mostly known for B-Movies with not so big name stars. It was there attempt to play with the big studios. Plus at least 45 minutes of scenes were cut out, with major subplots.
In addition to budget cuts, they kept shortening the runtime, meaning scenes needed to be cut. The comic book adaptation has the uncut scenes and makes much more sense.