Batman At 80 - Batman: The Movie (1966)

The billionaire playboy who dresses up in a lycra bodysuit and spends his evening punching baddies because he misses his mum and dad turned 80 years old last month and is looking pretty sprightly for an octogenarian. As with any fictional character that has spanned the decades, he’s been open to many and varied interpretations through the years so let’s take a whistle stop tour of some of the versions that have settled in to my general pop cultural mulch.

I always thought that an interest in Batman the character was something that developed in my early teenage years as that was when the Tim Burton films came out* and I began collecting the comics in earnest. In reality, Batman had been a core component of my pop cultural life long before that. The reason? A taped-off-the-telly VHS tape of the stone-cold classic Adam West-starring Batman: The Movie that was worn ragged by a six year old Baldy Fella (obviously not bald at that point).

What’s Good About This One?
The writing, style and direction all play their part in giving this version of Bruce Wayne such an enduring appeal but the reason this version is so iconic and still for a lot of people what they think of when you mention Batman is down to one person:- Adam West. His portrayal of the Caped Crusader is an absolute masterclass in playing it straight for laughs. He clearly knows this is a comedy but he treats it with a level of seriousness that enhances the comedy. It’s a similar technique to the ones that would be used by Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers for Police Squad! and Airplane! in the early 80s.

Like a lot of the best comedy, it works on multiple levels. As a six year old, I took the whole thing at face value and it was an exciting adventure about Batman going up against his greatest villains. As I grew older, I suddenly saw it with different eyes and could appreciate the sublime lunacy of Shark Repellent Bat-Spray and an inability to throw away a bomb due to inconveniently placed ducks and nuns. This is the secret of its enduring appeal  - it offers something for everyone, old and young. The only minor drawback? The main titles (stylish though they are and still composed by Neal Hefti) don’t feature the iconic Batman theme… and let’s face it, if we’re asked to think of a Batman theme, we all still think "dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-dinner-Batman!"

So, whether I was conscious of it or not,  that started me down the path. What was the next stop on the Bat-path to Bat-fandom? Tune in next time, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel...



* It’s more than fair to say that the combination of teenage years plus Michelle Pfeiffer in a skintight catsuit certainly had an impact upon me...