Batman: The Movie

The grandkids watch this again and again at my house. At first, they say “This, again?” And then, they color and play and watch their favorite parts and can even report to me what’s going to happen next sometimes. Good clean fun.

No one can beat Adam West or Burt Ward for their ability to hold their tongues firmly in cheek. These guys are fabulous! This kind of sarcasm is really a lost art, and the scene where some days its just impossible to get rid of a bomb! is just about the funniest thing I have ever seen! Watch Adam West as he is frantically running around holding a cartoon bomb over his head-his physical comedy is amazing. I am sorry he never received the recognition he deserved, or another series in which he could shine.

4 stars for the fun! If you are a Batman fan and you grew watching the show starred by Adam West and Burt Ward, this special edition is definitely a keeper. The series were a hit on its days and have become a cult classic for fans. In the old days in which Batman wore tights and was accompanied by Robin everywhere, the humor was not voluntarily at all. The movie opens with a hilarious sequence in which Batman fights a suicidal shark filled with bombs, how does he escape the trap? With his anti-shark bat spray of course! What makes this movie a fun thing to watch is all the camp humor in it, the detective labor of Batman and Robin is reduced to nothing but funny, wait until you see how they resolve the riddle on who was behind the attack at the beginning of the film. The united underworld puts together our favorite villains form the series: the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin and Catwoman. There are memorable sequences in this film such as the described opening sequence or Batman trying to get rid of a bomb. This movie may not be a great film compared to recent Batman flicks, but it is definitely fun to watch and to see how naive was the humor in the decade they made it and the concept of Batman that this series created; no wonder why Joel Schumacher tried to pay a tribute with his two attempts on Batman (`Batman Forever and `Batman & Robin) Adam West also made a career thanks to this show and the film, he had presentations everywhere as the caped crusader; unfortunately people never stopped seeing him as the Batman. Besides of a very decent digital transfer of both image and sound (Sound is presented in both Stereo and Mono), the bat features are a good complement to this special edition, there is a comprehensive audio commentary by Adam West and Burt Ward that opposite to what you may expect, gives you a lot of details, production notes and facts about the making of the movie. There is also a Batman featurette, 2 still galleries, the trailer and a documentary on the creation of the famous Batmobile from the show. The menus are colorful and very well designed according to the movie. The only flaw this special edition has are the subtitles, they do not match at all what is being said on screen, sentences were shortened by an unknown reason, and some of the jokes and funny dialogues will pass unnoticed if you are reading the subtitles. If you were a fan of the show as a kid, youll love this special edition; if you have never seen this film or the show, be prepared for the best camp humor ever seen. Not a great movie maybe but lots of fun and good memories.

I cant say anything bad about this 60s version of Batman! It was good for what it was meant to be and thats a light-hearted take on this character. While I have not seen the DVD version, I have seen this film on TV many times! Adam West is great as his version has influenced other versions of Batman including the darker versions with his stiff seriousness (though todays Batman isnt as funny). Burt Ward is the trusty sidekick and suitable for that era as Robin. That version, however, wouldnt work today as the relationship between Batman and Robin (which is often conflicted as it is cooperative) is actually more believable. As for the villians, they are the best of the best. With three actors that are no longer with us in the form of Ceasar Romero (The Joker), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler/who couldve easily played Jack Nicholsons Joker if he had been young in 1989) and Burgess Meridith (more popularly known as Mickey in the Rocky boxing films)! Lee Meridewith was okay as Catwoman but Julie Newmar and, later, Eartha Kitt were DEFINITELY better! One thing thats a personal note that Id like to get off my chest and thats the misconception that Adam West was the original Batman! WRONG! And even West himself will tell you that the character had been around since the late 30s and was NOTHING like the West version. In fact, the early Batman was more like the one we see now than the campier version. The one that West portrays came about due to the comics code that was implemented in the 50s to keep the U.S. Government from censoring them! Still, back to the movie, it is a fun trip down the 60s and I am sure the bonus track will be very enlightening to hear from Adam West and Burt Ward. On a final note, I will give this version of Batman credit for one thing. If not for the popularity of this version, the Batman that we know now may have never had the chance to be seen! In fact, even the creators the excellent Batman: The Animated Series admitted to being big fans of this version of Bats and even had Adam West as a guest star in the episode entitled Beware Of The Grey Ghost. I should also note that eppy is available on Vol. 1 of Batman: The Animated Series. They also patterned a lot of the humor in that series from this version of Batman (only not as campy). So, to Mr. West and to Mr. Ward, I say this to you. THANK YOU FOR THIS VERSION AND WHILE MANY DARK KNIGHT FANS FROWN AT THIS VERSION, THIS IS ONE DARK KNIGHT FAN THAT APPLAUDS AND APPRECIATES IT! ;)

Just as great now as it was when I was a kid!

Batman, the movie is essentially a longer (just over an hour and a half) version of one of the very campy 1960s TV series episodes. It was actually filmed between seasons one and two of the show. It is basically a team-up between the series villains, Joker (Cesar Romero), Penguin (Burgess Meridith), Catwoman (Lee Merriweather, who took over for an unavailable Julie Newmar), and Riddler (Frank Gorshin). Of course, they try to lure Batman into a trap, part of which includes kidnapping Bruce Wayne. Like the TV show, the movie is very campy and tongue-in-cheek. The two most memorable scenes are probably Batman running around trying to dispose of a huge bomb without endangering anything from puppies to nuns (my Torts professor in law school could have easily made an exam question out of that), and the shark repellant scene. Of course, the 60s series is totally different from any recent versions of Batman which make the character very dark and violent. But, given the time in which the show aired, that is what they could get away with and they were not going to change the tone of the movie to be inconsistent with the show. For those who get the special edition Blu-Ray, the extras include two commentary tracks on the movie. One by the screenwriter, and a great one with Adam West and Burt Ward, who are pretty hilarious. Then there are a series of featurettes, the main one titled Batman: A Dynamic Legacy, which is a 30-minute retrospective on the impact of the series. Then there are separate features on the heroes and the villains of the show, and a feature on the Batmobile. It also includes the featurette from the original 2001 DVD release that contained interviews with the surviving cast members. So, if you like watching the extras, there is a lot there for you. Overall, you have to go into this knowing what it is and what it is not. If you are not a fan of the 60s TV show, then watching this is going to be a waste of time. It has the same cheesy, campy tone, and the plot makes as much sense (or does not) of any of the plots in the TV episodes. It is funny in parts, eye-roll inducing in other parts, and you have to know you are not getting anything close to The Dark Knight version of the character. While the movie does look and sound pretty good in HD, I would not say it got an over-the-top restoration like some older movies have, so really the main reason to get the Blu-Ray over streaming it is for the extras, because you have the tv series on disc, and/or just a preference for physical media. If you are in one of those categories, it is a good pickup.

Hilarious movie- especially if you prefer Frank Millers harsher version of the character- but its the commentary tracks that really make it enjoyable even if youve already seen the movie. Recommended if you grew up on it- or want to mock it to no end. Either way this movie is gold.

Just couldnt bring myself to give it a 5 star. Not to give away much, but Bruce Waynes in depth attraction to Miss Kitka made me cringe too much. Couldnt take it much longer. Other than that, great movie! A must see for all Bat-fans. My kid loved it too.

All I can say is that I hadnt watch any of the campy, classic 1960s Batman for decades and this was my reintroduction to it. It was sooo much better than I thought it would be. All the stuff I noticed as an adult that got past me as a kid! Lee Meriwether is a perfect Catwoman, and its just a great story too.

I never realized how very funny the writing was for the 1966 movie. I remember it being very camp (a stigma that movies about comic book heroes had to endure for some time), but having watched it again last night for the first time in many a year, I found myself laughing at a lot of its outrageous gags (one of my favorites was when they report they are just passing the Benedict Arnold Monument, like someone in America would build a monument to Arnold, LOL). The picture quality for the Blu-ray high def release is excellent, with vibrant colors and the audio is good. There are a number of extras that fill out the disc. There are two commentaries, one by screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr., and the other with Adam West and Burt Ward. There is a short featurette with George Barris, creator of the Batmobile. An interactive map of locations can be played while watching the movie, and while the map spotlights can jump from Santa Barbara (for the wharf where Batman runs with the bomb) to the studio in Culver City where interiors were shot there is an option to pull up factoids, photos, and map directions to the locations. There are featurettes on the heroes and the villains, and more. All in all, a fun Blu-ray disc to purchase.