Batman: The Movie

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

Between season one and season two of the campy Batman TV show(1965-1968), there was a Batman movie that played in movie theaters. There was an X Files movie released in movie theaters in 1997. The Joker, Catwoman, The Penguin, and The Riddler are planning something big and Batman and Robin are our only hope! Adam West and Burt Ward do their usual hammy acting job as Batman and Robin. Wests deadpan humor makes me smile! This Batman movie is just as campy as the TV show. Batman almost throws a giant bomb into a marching band and some children! Batman yells, On some days, you just cant get rid of a bomb! Fox Home Video did a great job releasing this film on DVD. It was one of the first DVDs that I bought and it delivers in quality and quantity. I only paid $5 for it. Theres interviews with Adam West and Burt Ward as extras and movie trailers. Jerry Warren tried to emulate this film and the Batman TV show in The Wild World of Batwoman(1966). The film was so derivative that DC Comics sued him! Some prints of the movie are known as She Was a Hippy Vampire(1966). Batman The Movie(1966) is retro, campy fun.

Yes, its silly but youre probably not going to watch it unless you are a fan of the TV series as well. I bought this on DVD several years ago as a fix until the series became available. Its still too expensive for me to buy the whole show on either blu ray or DVD but the movie has all the same characters and bat-gadgets crammed into one goofy package. The quality of the streaming was really good and we dont have the best quality wifi signal in our house. Recommended as a diversion to chores or on a rainy day.

I grew up on Adam wests Batman and still love him best❣️This movie is amazing and cheesier than a bowl of Mac n cheese! I personally love the camp factor of the 60s Batman and feel privileged to have met Adam west at a book signing. If you dont have time for the series, this movie will give you a hefty helping of it.

I was impressed by this Blu-Ray. It has everything the DVD release had and then some. The new special features were awesome — including a very detailed look at the parts of the batmobile, a music only track, a feature that shows you the filming locations in real time as they appear in the movie, and (I believe) other new features. All very well put together. A lot of work went into it that I wasn’t expecting. Required for any superhero fans Blu Ray collection

Detective Comics from the late 30s and 40s 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 1964s 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 ONeil 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. ONeil 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.ONeil and Adams first collaborated on the story The Secret of the Waiting Graves (Detective Comics #395, Jan. 1970). Few stories were true collaborations between ONeil, 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 thats why these stories did so well . . . Even today were still using Neals 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, thats 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. Its 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. Its little wonder Marvel Comics has remained at the top of its field and even better that DC Comics in the late 60s returned to faithfully representing the true classic Batman ethos.

Great job on a trully classic movie. Dont dismiss it because its camp. The movie really looks great in Blueray, letting you see more details in the movie. Its even better when you watch it with a stereo system hooked up. the extras are really awesome as well. I cant wait to see the execellent job they do when they release the Batman tv series onto dvd. This movie comes loaded with extras, they do a nice character profiles into all four villians, plus batman and robin, and all their supporting players. If youre a fan of batman, youll love this blue ray.

Love this movie, all the campiness, laughs, just pure fun to watch, brings back great childhood memories.

you cant even tell its from the 1960s, it looks amazing. very fun movie! get it!

DVD is good quality but packaging could be better