Awesome Movie

A Masterpiece!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

So someone is reading this and saying "How could this camp masterpiece be funnier?" Simple: Julie Newmar. Lee Meriwether just doesn't have it as Catwoman. Neither did Earth Kitt. For the TV show there was only one Catwoman, Julie Newmar. So that's why this gets a 6.

It made sense to make a feature movie of "Batman" to cash in on the huge success of the television show. I still have memories of seeing the film back in the early 1980s. What times! This Batman movie needed a lot more money spent on it than just $1,600,000. The film plays more like an extended television episode on account of the plot being a bit thin. The pluses outnumber the minuses though. The gallery of supervillains is brilliant. If you are going to include any villains, it must be the Joker, the Penguin, the Catwoman and the Riddler. Lee Meriwether is a good Catwoman but she isn't in the same league as Julie Newmar. I've no idea why she wasn't in the film. Adam West stated in an interview many years later that he was rather reluctant in making the film. The reason he gave, was that he was becoming exhausted with the gruelling schedule of the television show. I'm glad he did though, otherwise the film wouldn't have been the same. That also applies to Burt Ward. There is plenty in the way of laughs and action. My favourite fight scenes, are the ones where Bruce Wayne fights his way out of captivity and when Batman and Robin take on all the villains onboard the submarine. Great fun!

We've got so used to the idea of the character of Batman being portrayed as a troubled dark character, it can now be easily forgotten that it wasn't always so. The more serious interpretation of the character was first introduced in the 80's when Frank Miller's influential 'The Dark Knight Returns' was released and the rest, as the saying goes, was history. Well, if we go back to the 60's we can see a diametrically opposite version of the character who appeared on our screens, which reflected the more simplistic and child- friendly comics of the time. This movie was an off-shoot of a popular TV series and seems to have been made in the same vein. And that approach is to tackle the material in an unashamed comic manner. The film is full to the brim with funny dialogue, campy humour and hilarious performances. It is, in my humble opinion, one of the funniest films ever made.It is typified by a superb cast who all perfectly understand how to approach the material. Batman and Robin are portrayed by Adam West and Burt Ward, respectively. Both actors put in hilariously straight-faced performances, where they deliver ridiculous lines in a totally deadpan manner. Their adversaries are four super-criminals - the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin) and the Penguin (Burgess Meredith). All of them chew up the scenery at every given opportunity and are highly amusing in these absurd over-the-top roles, with the added additional advantage of Meriwether being very sexy as the feline villainess.There's really no point whatsoever detailing the plot here but suffice to say that the ultra-camp baddies implement various elaborate schemes along with their half-witted underlings and the Dynamic Duo thwart them at every turn. In amongst all this there are numerous entertaining moments, most famously the truly hilarious shark attack and disposing-of-a-bomb scene; while the big finale has the characters fighting on top of a submarine replete with big on screen sound effects like 'Pow!'. But really, there are dozens of laugh-out-loud moments in this one. It's really a kid's movie that remains immensely entertaining for adults, on account of the intentionally funny dialogue and performances, knowingly absurd sequences and its colourful 60's look and feel. On top of all that it even has a great iconic theme tune. From start to finish this is unadulterated entertainment pure and simple. Where the later films tended to be either dark or oh-so-serious, this one categorically is not. Instead it is a comedy classic and for me, quite easily the most entertaining Batman movie ever made.

Batman: The Movie (1966): Dir: Leslie H. Martinson / Cast: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero: Pathetic campy comic book embarrassment with actors looking more like overgrown kids in a pyjama party then superheroes. Batman and his sidekick Robin must foil a world domination scheme by Catwoman, The Penguin, The Joker, and The Riddler. It is a surprise that the kitchen sink wasn't in on this deal. Cardboard art direction with words such as "pow", "whack" and "wham" when violence occurs. I can think of a few more words to describe the action such as "sucks," "stupid" and "idiotic." Director Leslie H. Martinson gives viewers a rubber shark that Batman hilariously beats on with loud hollow thuds, and a whale that just happened to cross a missile thus saving our heroes from certain death. Terrible acting by Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin who look similar to kids on Halloween night. Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith are featured among villains and they look about as stupid as our heroes donning what appears to be bad Halloween costumes. There was obviously anticipation upon this film's release due too comic book fans but the delivery is far below juvenile easily becoming one of the worst films of the year. It is truly hideous and should be hit with a missile as well. I'm sure no whale would spare it. Score: 1 / 10