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Dir. Leslie H. Martinson
Rating: 6.2 | 0 User Reviews | Send to Friend
Perhaps the perfect antidote to the rapidly approaching release of what promises to be a brooding, bleak Christopher Nolan adaptation, The Dark Knight, this film, released at the height of popularity of the silly '60s TV show "Batman," is pure camp of the highest order. What helps separate it from the horrifically smug, leering Bat-films of the early '90s -- helmed by Hollywood hackmaster Joel Schumacher -- is the characters don't seem to be in on the gag. Instead, Batman (the imperial Adam West), Robin (Burt Ward) and the super villains who hate them, the Joker (Cesar Romero), The Penguin (Burgess Meredith), The Riddler (Frank Gorshin) and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether) all get played as outrageously close to the stilted, over-the-top essence of the comic characters they were based upon. Remember, in the '50s, under the watchful eye of the "Comics Code Authority" Batman, Superman and their ilk were all reduced to corn-pone ridiculousness. It wasn't until Marvel begat Spiderman and the Fantastic Four and many, many others, in the early part of the '60s that the idea of a "realistic" superhero began to take hold again. The plot here involves all the aforementioned supervillains banding together in a submarine and "dehydrating" all the world's leaders so they turn the world into absolute chaos and demand a giant ransom. Naturally, the Bat-folks are there to stop them. The film is pretty much exactly like the TV show -- one suspects the only thing they changed from the TV production was to add more pages to the script -- though the extra length does allow for some longer-than-usual set pieces. Look out for a classic scene where Batman, trying to rid himself of a giant, smoking bomb, has to race all over a pier in an attempt to find one area not habituated by dancing teen-agers. It doesn't hurt, either, to check the Blu-ray release of the film, allowing you to see the cheap perfection of the costumes and bat-appliances in all their glory.
This Blu-ray edition also comes with a slew of special features, including commentaries from West and Ward, a couple of mini-docs about the creation of the Batmobile, the original trailer, trivia games and various other featurettes on the creation of the film and the legacy of the Bat-guy.
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