Batman: The Movie (1966)

Tagline- MEN DIE! WOMEN SIGH! Beneath that Batcape- he's all man! (There were lots of taglines for this specific film but this one was the most amusing to me haha.)

Hello friends!  Today i'm reviewing the 1966 action superhero movie called Batman: The Movie.  This movie is... crazy. In a good way of course.  It's not lacking in action that's for sure. It stars Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. There's also an extensive rogues gallery of Batman's most famous villains and i'll list those and who plays them later. It also accompanied a series that ran from 1966 to 1968 with 3 seasons and released a very respectable number of 120 episodes before its cancellation in 1968. There were 34 episodes in season 1, a whopping 60 episodes in season 2, and 26 episodes in season 3. 

There are many more interesting things i could say about the production, behind the scenes, controversies, (there were quite a few), and so forth but that'd probably take up the rest of my article. You can go explore it yourselves and report to me later haha. 

 Like i said earlier this movie is crazy fun with all sorts of gadgets, terrible (-ly funny, at least in my opinion) bat puns, and "sidekick" Robin briefly musing on the benefits of eugenics, which is basically selective breeding to obtain "desirable characteristics" and weed out the "bad" traits  in humans. The goal is to "improve" the population, it's a really odd and terrible theory i know. (The last one makes slightly more sense and is somewhat less jarring in context... barely.  I'm not going to give you any context because i want you to enjoy this movie and its ludicrousness for yourself.)   

Also there's shark repellent bat spray to fend off exploding sharks, you know, as you do on a day to day basis. There's probably quite a market for that. (Sidenote: there was shark repellant spray developed in World War 2 which apparently worked pretty well).  Anyway let's get into the plot.

The plot follows Bruce Wayne/Batman (West) and his trusty sidekick and friend Robin (Ward) and their crusade in fighting crime. A ill-tempered exploding shark leads to the Dynamic Duo uncovering a sinister plot to hold the world hostage.  A villainous group of Batman's greatest (or at least most recognizable,) foes form an alliance with each other and try and take down the Bat. 

This group comprises of The Joker, played by Cesar Romero, The Penguin, played by Burgess Meredith, and The Riddler, played by Frank Gorshin. There is also mysterious Russian reporter Miss Kitka, played by Lee Meriwether who speaks in a purring voice, owns a black cat,  and makes (glaringly obvious and constant) feline related puns. (Hint to this secretive woman's identity if you haven't gotten it by now: she's Catwoman).  Clearly. 

The scoundrels have a unique plan to hold the members of the United Nations Security Counsel (which up till now i thought was a complicated fictional way to say UN (United Nations,) but it turns out that the UNSC does exist and is a branch of the UN and is in charge of peacekeeping operations, international sanctions, and authorizing military action. The more you learn am i right?) hostage by turning them to dust (!!) by dehydrating their bodies and rehydrating them to return them to a physical state once the villain's demands have been met. Can Batman and Robin stop the master criminals before the world is thrown into chaos???  Go watch it to find out haha.

Batman: The Movie was directed by Leslie H. Martinson who also directed nine episodes of the original Mission: Impossible series (1966-1973) which is fun!  William Dozier produced the film.  Lorenzo Semple Jr. wrote the screenplay for the TV series and also did one for the 1980 sci-fi action adventure film Flash Gordon which is also a fun movie.

In conclusion,  Batman: The Movie is an very enjoyable film on several levels. Kids will enjoy it for the action and adults will be amused by the sheer campiness of the film. Camp is a little hard to describe but a pretty good definition is: an aesthetic style characterized by exaggerated or absurd events or actions for comic effect. 

Camp usually involves lots of irony and the characters either being self aware of their roles and/or the absurdity of the plot and make jokes, or the actors just go with it and have fun playing their roles without feeling the need to make a joke every 20 seconds. Personally i usually dislike the former because it makes serious situations comical. It feels forced to me.  In my viewing experience lots of horror movies, particularly slasher flicks, go this route. Fortunately, this film is definitely the latter, with both Adam West and Burt Ward playing their roles with the utmost seriousness no matter the situation and hilarity ensues. 

So that's it for this review!

If you've seen it, what do you think of this movie? Did you like it?

I like this movie a lot and hope you will/do too!!!

Till next time,

Conrad Smith