Batman - The Movie
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Actor: Adam West, Burgess Meredith, Burt Ward, Cesar Romero, Lee MeriwetherDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-08-21
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Batman - The Movie
DVD Review: Campy Batman A Silly Phase That Hasn't Stood The Test Of Time
Summary: 2 Stars
Detective Comics from the late 30s and 40's portrayed Batman as a crime fighting detective / vigilante. The nonsensical and totally absurd TV series / movie was based on what the books had become by the 50s and early 60s. A low point in sales for DC at the time.
Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The character was originally written in the style of the pulps and this influence was evident with Batman showing little remorse over killing or maiming criminals and was not above using firearms. Batman proved a hit character, and he received his own solo title in 1940.
By 1942, the writers and artists behind the Batman comics had established most of the basic elements of the Batman mythos. In the years following World War II, DC Comics adopted a postwar editorial direction that increasingly de-emphasized social commentary in favor of lighthearted juvenile fantasy. The impact of this editorial approach was evident in Batman comics of the postwar period; removed from the "bleak and menacing world" of the strips of the early 1940s, Batman was instead portrayed as a respectable citizen and paternal figure that inhabited a "bright and colorful" environment.
It has also been suggested by scholars that the characters of Batwoman (in 1956) and Bat-Girl (in 1961) were introduced in part to refute the allegation that Batman and Robin were gay, and the stories took on a campier, lighter feel. In the late 1950s Batman stories gradually become more science fiction-oriented, an attempt at mimicking the success of other DC characters.
By 1964, sales on Batman titles had fallen drastically; Bob Kane noted that as a result "DC was planning to kill Batman off altogether." Editor Julius Schwartz was soon assigned to the Batman titles and presided over drastic changes. Beginning with 1964's Detective Comics #327 (May 1964) - cover-billed as the "New Look" - Schwartz introduced changes designed to make Batman more contemporary and return him to more detective-oriented stories.
And then came the TV series and movie. Although both the comics and TV show were successful for a time, the camp approach eventually wore thin and the show was canceled in 1968. In the aftermath the Batman comics themselves lost popularity once again. As DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz noted, "When the television show was a success, I was asked to be campy, and of course when the show faded, so did the comic books."
Starting in 1969, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams made a deliberate effort to distance Batman from the campy portrayal of the 1960s TV series and to return the character to his roots as a "grim avenger of the night." O'Neil said his idea was "simply to take it back to where it started. I went to the DC Comics library and read some of the early stories. I tried to get a sense of what Bob Kane and Bill Finger were after."O'Neil and Adams first collaborated on the story "The Secret of the Waiting Graves" (Detective Comics #395, Jan. 1970). Few stories were true collaborations between O'Neil, Adams, Julius Schwartz, and inker Dick Giordano, and in actuality these men were mixed and matched with various other creators during the 1970s; nevertheless the influence of their work was "tremendous." Giordano said, "We went back to a grimmer, darker Batman, and I think that's why these stories did so well . . . Even today we're still using Neal's Batman with the long flowing cape and the pointy ears.
In essence, DC Comics hated the way the Batman TV series / movie butchered their crime-fighting detective. The proper and most accurate point of reference that one should subscribe to are the original comic books - Tim Burton it seems did to a degree and Christopher Nolan has most definitely given us the best portrayal of the "classic" Batman.
At the end of the day, if you like the campy style, that's fine. I just like keeping up with all the historical facts of a fictional character spanning almost 70 years.
For reference, parts of this commentary was accessed from Wikipedia and yes I do have a comic book collection into the thousands with several hundred Batman books dating back to the early 60s.
It's interesting that a lot of people seem to think that comic books are for kids only and that they should just provide slapstick entertainment, devoid of intelligent dramatic dialogue and social commentary.
In fact comic books have been a great study resource because of their anthropological reflections.
Look at what Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many other great storytellers and artists did in the early 60s at Marvel Comics. Super hero comic books that were wonderfully entertaining, incredibly scripted, dialogue that was realistic, dramatic, fun, quirky, serious and occasionally touching on social commentary.
What a great balance. It's little wonder Marvel Comics has remained at the top of it's field and even better that DC Comics in the late 60s returned to faithfully representing the true classic Batman ethos.
Description of Batman - The Movie
Holy camp site, Batman! After a fabulously successful season on TV, the campy comic book adventure hit the big screen, complete with painful puns, outrageous supervillains, and fights punctuated with word balloons sporting such onomatopoeic syllables as "Pow!," "Thud!," and "Blammo!" Adam West's wooden Batman is the cowled vigilante alter ego of straight-arrow millionaire Bruce Wayne and Bruce Ward's Robin (a.k.a. Dick Grayson, Bruce's young collegiate protégé) his overeager sidekick in hot pants. Together they battle an unholy alliance of Gotham City's greatest criminals: the Joker (Cesar Romero, whooping up a storm), the Riddler (giggling Frank Gorshin), the Penguin (cackling Burgess Meredith), and the purr-fectly sexy Catwoman (Lee Meriwether slinking in a skin-tight black bodysuit). The criminals are, naturally, out to conquer the world, but with a little help from their unending supply of utility belt devices (bat shark repellent, anyone?), our dynamic duo thwarts their nefarious plans at every turn. Since the TV show ran under 30 minutes an episode (with commercials), the 105-minute film runs a little thin--a little camp goes a long way--but fans of the small-screen show will enjoy the spoofing tone throughout. Leslie H. Martinson directs Lorenzo Semple's screenplay like a big-budget TV episode minus the cliffhanger endings. --Sean AxmakerBestsellers in DVD
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