Stubs - Batman: The Movie

Batman aka Batman: The Movie (1966) Starring Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin Directed by Leslie H. Martinson. Screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. Based on characters created by Bob Kane (and Bill Finger). Produced by William Dozier. Run time: 104 minutes Color USA Superhero, Comedy

Feature films based on TV series were something new back in 1966 when Batman  was released in theaters. The TV series, from 20th Century Fox, debuted on ABC on January 12, 1966. The series followed a single storyline spread out over two nights each week. The show would end on a cliffhanger on Wednesday nights with its conclusion on Thursday nights. Building off the 1943 serial produced by Columbia Pictures, for which critic Susan Sontag extolled “the vulgar and laughable (shining) in exact proportion to its unconvincingness,” the TV series presented a very different version of Batman than we’ve come to expect from more recent film portrayals, camp.

Producer William Dozier quickly came to realize its commercial possibilities, and infused the series with the “pop art technique of the exaggerated cliché,” hoping to broaden its appeal to both adults and children. The show proved to be very popular and $50 million (equivalent to $466,661,950 in 2023) in Batman merchandising had saturated the market. Deciding to capitalize while public interest was at its peak, it was announced that a feature film would start filming on April 18, 1966 with Burgess Meredith as “The Penguin,” Cesar Romero as “The Joker,” Frank Gorshin as “The Riddler,” and Julie Newmar as “Catwoman,” each reprising their roles from the series. However, a back injury forced Newmar to withdraw and she was replaced by Lee Meriwether, Miss America 1955.

Filming was postponed until April 28, 1966 and was completed in twenty-six days, with an additional six days for second-unit photography. Filming locations included Stearn's Wharf, Santa Barbara, California; Cliffs, Marineland of the Pacific - 6610 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes; Kirkeby Center - 10889 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles; Van Nuys Airport - 16461 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, Los Angeles; and Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles. The film opened on July 30, 1966, roughly a little more than two months after the last episode of season one aired on May 5, 1966.

The film opens like an episode of the show would with narration by William Dozier, describing the scene.

Narrator: This yacht is bringing a revolutionary scientific invention to Gotham City. On a peaceful afternoon motor ride, millionaire Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward Dick Grayson have been summoned back to Wayne Manor by an urgent but anonymous call for help; the invention *and* its custodian are reported in grave danger aboard the yacht! Never ones to shirk responsibility, Bruce and Dick, with characteristic speed and resolve, descend promptly into The Batcave, and then, as they have done many times before, as *Batman and Robin*, courageous warriors against crime, they are off once again to the rescue!

The yacht belongs to Commodore Schmidlapp (Reginald Denny), owner of the Big Ben Distillery. Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) launch their rescue mission using the Batcopter. When they get over the yacht, Batman turns the flying over to Robin and descends on the bat-ladder to land on the yacht. But suddenly the yacht vanishes beneath him and he falls into the ocean. When Robin pulls him back up, Batman has a shark attacking his leg. Using bat-shark repellent brought down the ladder by Robin, Batman dislodges it and the shark explodes.

Afterward, Batman and Robin head back to Commissioner Gordon's (Neil Hamilton) office, where they conduct a very uninformative press conference. But one reporter, Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff  or Kitka (Lee Meriwether), for short, representing the Moscow Bugle, goes so far as to ask Batman to take off his mask for a better photo, which he politely refuses.

Robin (Burt Ward), Police Chief O'Hara (Stafford Repp), Batman
(Adam West) and Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton).

After the news conference, with the help of Police Chief O'Hara (Stafford Repp), Batman and Robin deduce that the tip was a set-up by four of the most powerful villains in Gotham City: The Joker (Cesar Romero), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), who have aligned together to form the United Underworld, their goal to take control of the United World Organization's Security Council, and therefore, the world.

The big four villains: the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin),
Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), and The Joker (Cesar Romero).

The four criminals manage to convince Schmidlapp that the yacht is just caught in a bank of heavy fog and have to deliver him tea upon request. The secret aboard the ship turns out to be a dehydrator that can turn humans into dust.

Robin and Batman in the Batcave, where they do their best figuring.

Meanwhile, Batman and Robin deduce that the yacht was really a holographic projection and return via Batboat to an illegal buoy to scour for clues.

At the same time, using a war-surplus pre-atomic submarine made to resemble a penguin, and with three pirate-themed henchmen Bluebeard (Gil Perkins), Morgan (Dick Crockett) and Quetch (George Sawaya), the four villains return as well.

Detecting that Batman and Robin are on the buoy, Penguin traps them by turning on the buoy’s magnet, which attracts the items in their utility belts. They then proceed to target Batman and Robin with torpedoes. Batman, in turn, uses a radio-detonator to destroy two of the missiles, and a porpoise apparently sacrifices itself to intercept the last one, allowing Batman and Robin to escape.

Batman calls the Pentagon and asks Vice Admiral Fangschliester about Penguin’s submarine, interrupting his important game of tidily winks with his comely assistant. While the Vice Admiral knows the name of the person they sold the submarine to, he doesn’t have an address, only a postbox number.

Vice Admiral Fangschliester: [on the phone] Avast and belay, Batman. Your tone sounds rather grim. We haven't done anything foolish, have we?

Batman: [reproachfully] Disposing of pre-atomic submarines to persons who don't even leave their full addresses... Good day, Admiral!

Vice Admiral Fangschliester: [they hang up] Gosh!

The villains plan one of their more exotic ways of getting rid of Batman, setting up one of Joker’s springboards, which is to launch the caped crusader through a window and out to sea, where one of Penguin’s exploding octopi will catch and destroy him. The best way they can think of setting the trap is to kidnap Bruce Wayne to lure in Batman.

Kitka happens to be having a date with Bruce Wayne, and after dinner, dancing and carriage ride he is taken prisoner. However, Bruce is only pretending to be kidnapped. Bruce insists on seeing Kitka and they pretend again that Catwoman is the Russian journalist. Bruce then manages to fight his way free.

Later, the villains use the dehydration ray on five men labeled as guinea pigs 1 through 5: Guinea Pig #1 (Eddie Hice), Guinea Pig #2 (Guy Way), Guinea Pig #3 (uncredited), Guinea Pig #4 (uncredited), and Guinea Pig #5 (Charlie Picerni). The men become five separate piles of blue crystals, which Catwoman sweeps up and places in five separate vials.

The Dynamic Duo return to the United Underworld's HQ to save Kitka, only to find a smoking bomb that is about to explode. Batman is met with frustration rushing all over the docks in hopes of locating a safe place to dispose of the bomb, but there is a Salvation Army band, nuns, babies in carriages, young lovers and even ducks that prevent him from getting rid of the bomb. Prompting Batman to say:

Batman: Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb!

Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb!

But he does manage to get rid of it in the nick of time.

The Penguin, disguising himself as the Commodore, presents himself to Batman and Robin. Even though they see through his disguise, they still fall for his plan and take him to the Batcave for analysis. There, he rehydrates the five Guinea Pigs.

While the rehydrated henchmen fight Batman and Robin, they unexpectedly disappear into antimatter once struck: the Penguin mistakenly rehydrated them with toxic heavy water used to recharge the Batcave's atomic pile, leaving them highly unstable.

Batman takes the Commodore out of the Batcave and pretends to have car trouble, allowing the Penguin to steal the Batmobile. However, Batman and Robin use the Batcycle to get them to the Batcopter to follow him.

The villains with the dehydrated United World Organization's Security Council.

Batman and Robin are unable to prevent the villains from kidnapping the dehydrated United World Organization's Security Council, consisting of ambassadors from Japan (Teru Shimada), the U.S (William Tannen), the U.S.S.R. (Gregory Gaye), Israel (Wolfe Barzell), France (Albert Carrier), Spain (George J. Lewis), West Germany (Ivan Triesault), the United Kingdom, and Nigeria (Robert Goodwin). Each is housed in his own vial.

Batman and Robin in the Batboat.

Giving chase in the Batboat to retrieve them, and Miss Kitka, who the duo presume is still captive. Robin uses a sonic charge weapon to disable The Penguin's submarine and force it to surface, where a fist fight ensues.

Batman and Robin come out on top, but Batman is heartbroken to discover that his "true love" Miss Kitka is actually Catwoman when her mask falls off.

The real Commodore Schmidlapp, now free, accidentally breaks the powdered Council members' vials and sneezes on them, scattering the dust. Batman sets to work constructing an elaborate Super Molecular Dust Separator to filter the mingled dust.

Batman and Robin try to put the dehyrated Security Counsel back together.

Robin asks him whether it might be in the world's best interests for them to alter the dust samples so that humans can no longer harm one another. But Batman dismisses that, saying they cannot do so, reminding Robin of the fate of the Penguin's henchmen and their tainted rehydration, and can only hope for people, in general, to learn to live together peacefully on their own.

With the world watching, the Security Council is rehydrated. All members are restored alive and well, but continue to squabble amongst themselves, totally oblivious of their surroundings. But things aren’t 100 percent back to normal, as each of them now speaks the language and displays the stereotypical mannerisms of a nation other than their own.

Batman secretly expresses his sincere hope to Robin that this "strange mixing of minds" does more good than harm. The duo quietly leaves United World Headquarters by climbing out of the window and descending on their bat-ropes.

The film premiered in Austin, Texas on July 30, 1966. If Austin seems like an odd place to premiere a Batman movie, the city was chosen because the Batboat featured in the film was created by Austin-based company Glastron. Part of their payment was to have the film premiere in their hometown.

Batman: The Movie was made on a budget of $1.378 million, or what Dozier estimated was about twenty times the cost of a single episode. Despite the merchandise hoopla, the film only had modest box-office. According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $3.2 million in rentals to break even and made $3.9 million (equivalent to $36.4 million in 2023).

While I watched the original series growing up, I did not see Batman: The Movie when it came out. I probably would have enjoyed it more back then than I do now. This not the modern version of these characters that we’ve come to know, especially Batman, who has been played by a number of actors as his story has been rebooted multiple times. While Adam West is far from the best Batman, he is probably not the worst, as he at least seems to buy into the camp full throttle.

No one would never accuse either Adam West nor Burt Ward of being great actors. Some of that has to do with the material they had to work with. While the idea was to make a movie parents and children could both like, this is definitely aimed at a young audience; the type that will take everything at face value.

The villains, especially Cesar Romero’s Joker, Burgess Meredith’s Penguin and Frank Gorshin’s The Ridder, seem to accept the roles with over-the-top gusto. Collectively, their talents are sort of wasted here, though they do seem to be really enjoying themselves. But they do call it over-the-top for a reason and there is only so much scenery to chew. Lee Meriwether is not my favorite Catwoman from the series, but she does as well as anyone with her role in the film.

This is not a well-written piece of work and does not really do justice to the Batman that’s supposed to be a great detective. He really isn’t one here. While he sees through the Penguin’s disguise as Commodore Schmidlapp, he doesn’t seem to pierce Catwoman’s as Kitka, which also seems about as obvious to anyone that is paying attention. But that’s not the story they were trying to tell.

Batman: The Movie is a silly take on the character and frankly the campy qualities grow stale with time. If you’re six in 1966 you should go to the movie. You’ll probably have a great time. But if you’re not, this is proof that nostalgia does not always mean it’s good, it just means sometimes you remember it fondly.