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Batman: The Movie

Catalog Number
1470
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Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
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VHS | SP | Slipcase
104 mins (NTSC)
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Batman: The Movie (1966)

Additional Information

Additional Information
He's Here Big As Life In A Real Bat-Epic
from the famous character "BATMAN"

FOR THE FIRST TIME ON THE MOTION PICTURE SCREEN IN COLOR! Adam West As Batman And Burt Ward As Robin Together With All Their Fantastic Derring-Do And Their Dastardly Villains, Too!

MEN DIE! WOMEN SIGH! Beneath that Batcape - he's all man!


Tongue-in-cheek humor prevails in Batman, a witty homage to the Dynamic Duo's exaggerated exploits. The Caped Crusaders (Adam West and Burt Ward) are called in as a last resort when the criminal masterminds of the millennium team up to conquer Gotham City by turning the U.N. Security Council into dehydrated dust; among the villains are the Joker (Cesar Romero), Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and the Penguin (Burgess Meredith). The entire cast is excellent, particularly West and Ward, who distinguish themselves among a standout list with hilariously straight-faced performances. The film includes some truly memorable scenes, highlighted by a particularly tenacious shark with a vertical leap that would put Spud Webb to shame and a bomb on the waterfront with no place to explode (nuns, infants and lovebirds beware!).

Batman, often promoted as Batman: The Movie, is a 1966 film based on the Batman television series, and the first full-length theatrical adaptation of the DC Comics character Batman. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film starred Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. The film includes most members of the original TV cast, with the notable exception of Julie Newmar as Catwoman.

The 105-minute Batman opened at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas on Saturday, July 30, 1966 (between the first and second seasons of the TV series); it was moderately successful at the box office. The Batboat featured in the film was created by Austin-based company Glastron, whose payment was in having the film premiere in their hometown. In conjunction with the premiere, Jean Boone of Austin CBS affiliate station KTBC interviewed the film's cast, including Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, and Adam West.[11]

The film was released on VHS in 1985 by Playhouse Video, in 1989 by CBS/Fox Video, and in 1994 by Fox Video. On August 21, 2001 this film was released on DVD[citation needed]; it was re-released July 1, 2008 on DVD and on Blu-ray

Batman, the caped crusader, and Robin, the boy wonder, learn that Commodore Schmidlapp, a millionaire distiller, is in danger aboard his yacht and rush to his aid by batcopter, but the yacht disappears beneath Batman as he is descending the batladder. The dynamic duo learns that The Catwoman, The Joker, The Penguin, and The Riddler have joined forces to eliminate Batman and Robin and eventually control the world. (The vanishing yacht was a decoy to lure Batman and Robin from the place where the villains were hijacking the yacht of Commander Redhead and holding him prisoner because they want his invention, a dehydrater that turns humans into dust that can be returned to human form with the addition of water.) After many encounters the villains are still loose, and The Penguin goes to Security Council headquarters. There he turns nine diplomats into dust, which he places in nine test tubes. Batman and Robin, however, outwit and capture the quartet of criminals and rescue Commander Redhead. As they are about to reconstitute the nine diplomats, the commander sneezes on the test tubes, scattering the dust. Batman does his best to sort the dust into nine homogeneous piles, but when the dust is restored to human form, the Russian speaks Greek, the Greek speaks English, and so on. But Batman is satisfied that the world is safe from the four fiends for the time being.

Batman: The Movie has received more positive than negative reviews over the years, with an average rating from all critics of 6.2/10 and 79% on Rotten Tomatoes.[13] Bill Gibron of Filmcritic.com gave the film 3 out of 5 stars: "Unlike other attempts at bringing these characters to life...the TV cast really captures the inherent insanity of the roles."[14] Variety magazine stated on their review that "the intense innocent enthusiasm of Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gorshin as the three criminals is balanced against the innocent calm of Adam West and Burt Ward, Batman and Robin respectively.


Tongue-in-cheek humor prevails in Batman, a witty homage to the Dynamic Duo's exaggerated exploits. The Caped Crusaders (Adam West and Burt Ward) are called in as a last resort when the criminal masterminds of the millennium team up to conquer Gotham City by turning the U.N. Security Council into dehydrated dust; among the villains are the Joker (Cesar Romero), Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and the Penguin (Burgess Meredith). The entire cast is excellent, particularly West and Ward, who distinguish themselves among a standout list with hilariously straight-faced performances. The film includes some truly memorable scenes, highlighted by a particularly tenacious shark with a vertical leap that would put Spud Webb to shame and a bomb on the waterfront with no place to explode (nuns, infants and lovebirds beware!).


Release Date: July 1966

Distrib: 20th Century Fox

Related Releases2

Batman: The Movie (1966)
Release Year
Catalog Number
1470
Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
Catalog Number
1470
Format
Packaging
104 mins (NTSC)
Country

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