Batman (1966)

I was just watching the 1966 version of Batman and it occurred to me what an underated gem of a movie this is. The campy costumes, goofy dialogue and completely ridiculous scenarios during which all the while the actors play everything completely straight. There’s no winking at the camera, everything is treated with the utmost seriousness by all involved which makes it so much better.

My parents used to tell me about how popular the TV show was in the sixties. Color TV was in it’s infancy and the novelty of having a TV shows in full color had not yet worn off. The vibrant Batman was a perfect showcase for this relatively new technology. My family was one of the first in our area to have a color set. I’m not sure how they swung this because we certainly weren’t rich. The set was a rental and you had to insert a quarter to view a certain amount of time’s worth of programming (I can’t recall the exact rate). My older sister tells me that neighbours would gather at our house to watch whatever show happened to be on (it really didn’t matter what… just the fact it was in color would draw them in). When the allotted paid time would run out and the set would shut off everyone would just sit in silence staring at the black screen, awkwardly waiting for someone to volunteer a quarter so they could continue watching . This always makes me chuckle because even though he passed away when I was fairly young, I do recall my Dad being a stereotypically cheap Scotsman. I guess that on the nights Batman was on our small living room was standing room only.

Anyways… back on point. I’m surprised how well this movie (based on the series) stands up. I guess because it’s so campy, the fact that it’s now dated only adds to the… “campiness”. The villains are fantastically colorful, both in costume and performance. Frank Gorshin (the Riddler), Caesar Romero (the Penguin), Burgess Meredith (the Penguin) and the loverly Lee Meriwether (Catwoman) are all perfectly cast in their roles and they all give stellar, over the top performances. Best of all is Adam West as the caped crusader. His dead pan performance amidst all of the camp is hysterical.

I’m not sure a movie like this could be made any more, it's such a period piece for so many reasons, yet it’s unique nature makes it timeless. Years from now when most of the current crop of superhero movies have blended into each other in my memories, I’m sure that this little bit of sixties silliness will always be an easy and vivid recollection.

 

That's the one.

Robin: Holy sardine!
Batman: Hand down the shark repellent Batspray!

:ha: