...campy and cheesy...and highly recommended for fans.
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Batman is my favorite comic book hero with a substantial lead over anybody else. Nobody comes close. Not Spider-Man. Not the Hulk. Not Superman. Not even G.I. Joe. In reality, I´ve never been too big into superheroes, but the Dark Knight has always had a special place in my heart. There is something that has always drawn me to the human crime fighter. The Tim Burton vision of Frank Miller´s graphic novel´s vision of "Batman" is still my favorite adaptation of Bob Kane´s character. However, the Christopher Nolan reboot of the series is quite impressive as well and I´ve since been conflicted as to whether or not Christian Bale made for a better "Batman" than Michael Keaton.
That argument is inconsequential, as the purpose of this review is to look at the 1966 motion picture which featured Adam West as Batman and centered around the characters and sensibilities of the popular television show that brought "Batman" to the masses just a few months earlier in 1966. The television gave a much needed jumpstart to the comic book and was a worldwide phenomenon during the early days of color television. The series popularity held strong during its first couple months, but started to wane a little. The feature film was fast-tracked to capitalize on the early popularity of the show and while it wasn´t a smashing success, "Batman" delivered the campy look and feel of the television series to new audiences.
The first "Batman" motion picture featured Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as the boy wonder, Robin. The actors portrayed their secret identities of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, respectively. With a larger budget and bigger ambitions, Fox pulled together the four biggest villains from the television show. Cesar Romero brought the Joker to the big screen and Burgess Meredith took the familiar role as the cigarette chomping Penguin. Frank Gorshin once again donned the green tights as the Riddler. However, Julie Newmar was unavailable to make the pounce from small screen to widescreen and Miss American winner Lee Meriwether became the sexy and dangerous Catwoman. Alan Napier retained his role as Alfred and Neil Hamilton continued as Commissioner Gordon.
Plotwise, "Batman" finds himself pitted against the four most dangerous super-villains the world has ever known. Unfortunately for the Caped Crusader, the military has sold a man known as P.N. Guin a surplus submarine and the Penguin, Joker, Riddler and Catwoman have put their heads together to devise a plan to rid the world of Batman and Robin and to also take captive of nine key members of the United World Security Council. I won´t spoil the fun and divulge the various plans and devious methods the four resort to during the length of this 105 minute film, but the adventures that unfold through the movie should easily entertain those that enjoyed and like to revisit the campy Sixties incarnation of "Batman."
Talking to those who love the old "Batman" series and enjoy it for its tongue-in-cheek humor and complete lack of intelligence should cherish the feature-length film. It´s silly and its fun, but it contains every element that made the television series such a blast. Sure, the on-screen words that heighten the enjoyment of a fist fight wait nearly the entire length of the film to make an appearance, but they are there. The riddles of the Riddler and the higher-intelligence of Batman is enough to make even a twelve-year-old cringe with their idiotic levels of cleverness, but laughing at how bad the jokes and riddles were was a large part of the fun of ´old´ "Batman." How can one not laugh themselves to tears when Batman and Robin deduce that Catwoman must be involved because they were attacked at ´sea´ and ´C´ is the first letter of ´Catwoman.´ I´m serious. This logic is in the film.
There are a lot of other moments of utter silliness that makes the 1966 film an absolute hoot. Watching Batman run around frantically with a seemingly never-ending fuse on a bomb while trying to dispose of the bomb and risking his life for some ducks is as good as anything from the old "Keystone Cops." Watching the Dynamic Duo figure out the Riddler´s horrendous riddles is as good as camp can get. Here is another riddle and the dialogue from the film:
Commissioner Gordon: What weights six ounces, sits in a tree and is very dangerous?
Robin: A sparrow with a machine gun.
Commissioner Gordon: Yes, of course!
I kid you not; this was the kind of logic that was injected into the film. The Dynamic Duo would then take the answers to the two riddles with very apparent answers and come up with something completely relevant that would easily foil the devious plots of the sinister four super-villains that had a catapult and an exploding octopus as part of one plan detailed in the film.
For those that are easily offended by clever puzzles that only a five year old could buy into may not find the 1966 film watchable. This is a picture that is wholly intended to be campy and fun and never attempts to be serious. The sensibilities of the Sixties was wholly different than those of today. If you cannot just go along with the notion that ´sea´ must be a ´in-your-face´ indicator that Catwoman is afoot, then "Batman: The Movie" is not for you. If you can just laugh and buy into the fuzzy logic that makes the crime fighting of Batman and Robin as effective as it is, then you are probably going to be in the same boat that I am; this film will be wildly entertaining and a laughfest that brings back memories of childhood and a time when movies didn´t have to be super flashy and expensive and the primary element of a film was the fun it delivered.
"Batman" is fun. The acting isn´t great and some may find similarities in the deliveries of Adam West and William Shatner from that legendary actor´s "Star Trek" days. The plot and story are pretty much asinine, but as I´ve said before, the filmmakers were looking to make a fun movie and didn´t care to tell a deep and involved story. Besides, how can you possibly have exploding octopi if you take the script seriously? I just hope that screenwriter Lorenzo Sample wasn´t going for a "Best Screenplay" Oscar with this campfest. In a nutshell, if you loved the original television show for all of its super-colorful costumes, hare-brained diabolical plans and cheesy dialogue, then "Batman: The Movie" should be just what you´ve been looking for to add to your Blu-ray collection. It´s campy. It´s silly. But, it is fun and that is what really counts with this film.
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