Batman: The Movie (1966) DVD Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing okay. I'm back with another movie review. I watched the 1966 Batman movie on DVD last night, so I'm going to talk about the movie and the DVD release that I have of it. So let's get into it.

Batman: The Movie is my favourite Batman movie of all time. It's not the best Batman movie of all time, in fact, there are several that could claim that title depending on your personal tastes. But for me, this is funny, campy, stupid, and all around fun. Yes, I love the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher movies, and The Dark Knight Trilogy is amazing, but this is the movie that knew what it wanted to be and wasn't embarrassed to be silly and occasionally stupid, while still being entertaining.

If you grew up in Canada in the '90s then chances are you might've watched YTV at some point during that time, and if you watched YTV then you tuned into The Zone with PJ Phil and Snit, with the occasional co-host joining them at some point. Which means that you may have encountered the show this movie is based on in reruns at 5 pm. 

I was introduced to Batman in general in 1992 when reruns of the 1966 TV series, starring Adam West as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Burt Ward as Robin/Dick Grayson began airing on YTV, at 5 pm at the end of The Zone. I don't remember what was on after it from 1992 to 1993, but from 1993 to 1994, new episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired right after it, and then when MMPR was removed from YTV after the first season had finished airing, Rugrats aired after Batman from 1994 until reruns of the show stopped airing in 1996. Then in 1997, when CTV Sci-Fi Channel, originally known as Space Channel, debuted, the Batman reruns began airing at 5:30 pm with its sister show, The Green Hornet, starring Van Williams as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet, and Bruce Lee as his partner, Kato, airing reruns at 5. These reruns aired until 1998, basically the first year of Space Channel's existence, and then Batman returned in reruns on TV Land in the mid to late 2000s.

Batman and Robin are asked to investigate the disappearance of a yacht, carrying Commodore Schmidlapp, and his latest invention, a portable dehydrator, to Gotham City. During their investigation, they discover that the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman have banded together to use Schmidlapp's dehydrator to kidnap the United World Organization's security council and hold them for ransom. Can the Dynamic Duo stop the United Underworld in time? Or is this the end for our heroes? Find out tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel! Of course they do, but, y'know, there aren't any cliffhanger endings in this movie, so I had to put that line in somewhere.

I first saw Batman: The Movie on VHS when my dad taped it off PBS for me in 1993 or early 1994. I got it on DVD later on in 2001, along with Spaceballs, as the first two DVDs that I owned personally. Because we had the movie taped off TV we didn't own a retail VHS release of it, though I did get to watch part of the 1989 VHS release at the house of a friend of my dad's that we went to visit one time, probably around 1995 or 1996, and I have that same VHS release in my collection now.

The cast of this movie is amazing. Adam West plays a wonderful Batman. His version of the character is straight out of the comic books being published in the mid to late '60s, which were campy and silly stories. Then you had Burt Ward as Robin, and he's also straight out of the comics, including his "Holy heart failure Batman!" lines, though those were definitely dialed up for the TV show and this movie. Caesar Romero plays the Joker, and I love this version of the character. He's the Clown Prince of Crime and I always love the episodes where he and Batman face off against each other. Frank Gorshin plays the Riddler, and honestly, he's a bit too much like the Joker in this movie and on the show, but I still like him. Burgess Meredith plays the Penguin and this version is actually my second favourite version of the character. My favourite version is a cross between the version from Batman: The Animated Series and the '90s and 2000s comic book version, who owns the Iceberg Lounge and carries himself as a more sophisticated criminal. Catwoman is played by Lee Meriwether in this movie, as Julie Newmar was busy working on another project at the time and wasn't available to reprise her role from the TV show. Meriwether does a good job as Catwoman, though she doesn't have the same romantic chemistry with Batman the way Newmar does. Which makes sense since she only has to pretend to be in love with Bruce Wayne, and isn't throwing herself at Batman the way she does in the show. 

Neil Hamilton, Stafford Repp, Madge Blake, and Alan Napier don't have very much to do as Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara, Aunt Harriet, and Alfred, but Alfred does go out on patrol with Robin while Bruce is on his date with Miss Kitka, who is actually Catwoman in disguise, and Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara do pop in about as much as Pat Hingle does as the Commissioner in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher movies. In fact, we wouldn't have a decent screen version of Commissioner Gordon until Gary Oldman took the role in The Dark Knight Trilogy from 2005 to 2012, though Lyle Talbot does a decent enough job in the 1949 movie serial.

My favourite scene in this movie is when Batman is trying to dispose of a bomb that the bad guys left in their hideout, but is unsuccessful, so just before he tosses it into the water, he turns to the camera and says, "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!". Such a classic line.

Now this movie isn't supposed to be taken seriously. It's campy, silly and complete nonsense, however, there's one thing that does bug me about it in regards to its continuity. This movie takes place after the first season of the show, and before the second season. In the first season Catwoman has appeared in front of both Batman and Robin without her mask in pretty much every episode she was in. So, why didn't Batman recognize Catwoman immediately when she was disguised as Kitka? I mean, yes, the first time they met, she was in a coat and hat, with her hair hidden, but when she arrived with the riddles at Stately Wayne Manor, surely Bruce and Alfred would've recognized her immediately. But, nope, they did not. Oh well, I guess it makes sense for the story they're telling in the movie.

So I have the 2008 DVD, which was released on July 1st, 2008, alongside the Blu-ray release. A bunch of Batman stuff was released or re-released on DVD that year because of the theatrical release of The Dark Knight, so this got a re-release on DVD and a release on Blu-ray. Aside from the new packaging, which is a black background with the bat symbol from the 1966 Batmobile, and the new disc art, which has the same symbol and black background, this release is exactly the same as the 2001 DVD release was. Right down to the same Fox DVD preview before the main menu comes up. The same audio commentary by Adam West and Burt Ward is on it, as well as the same featurettes that focus on the movie itself, with interviews with both West and Ward, and on George Barris and the Batmobile that he created for the show in 1965 (the series premiered on January 12th, 1966). So content wise there's no difference between the 2001 and 2008 DVD releases. According to the World's Finest fan site, the Blu-ray has more bonus features that weren't included on the DVD, which is actually unusual given how early in the Blu-ray format's lifespan the movie came out in. The only reason I upgraded to the 2008 DVD release is because it was my dad's, so it was already in the house, and my copy of the 2001 release started skipping during the scene where Batman is carrying the bomb down the stairs from the criminals's hideout to the bar. 

Overall, this isn't the best Batman movie ever made, but it's still my favourite Batman movie, even after 30 years. If you haven't seen this movie before I recommend watching it, even if you prefer a darker take on the Dark Knight. Just as a part of Batman's history on the silver screen if nothing else. The bonus features are worth checking out too.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today, but I'll be back on Wednesday for a comic book review. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.