Classic Movie Review : Batman (1966)
Batman is a very self-serious superhero. He doesn’t jump over buildings or shoot lasers out of his eyeballs, but goddamnit… he fights crime! He keeps the streets safe and costumed psychopaths in Arkham Asylum. He’s not fun or colorful. That’s why the most rabid Batman fans don’t like to admit Adam West ever existed. Not only he did, but West’s Batman was the first to be granted his own feature length movie. That said, Batman is not a successful movie, but it is honest in a way none of his successors are.
The plot of Batman is completely crazy in a way only the drug-fueled sixties could be: Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) are investigating the kidnapping of Commodore Schmilapp (Reginald Denny), a man who drives a war ship and invents things. Because he apparently has a lot of free time. Although he hasn’t noticed that Penguin (freakin’ Burgess Meredith), Joker (Cesar Romero) and our other usual suspects have kidnapped him, they have seized his latest invention: the human dehydrator. And they’re planning to use it on important people.
I know. There’s about ten things in the paragraph above that make no sense whatsoever. Bear with me. I’m going somewhere with this.
This movie isn’t very deep. The characters don’t represent more than what their costume is supposed to represent in the general sense of the term. It is the story of two grown men wearing masks, capes and tights, fighting an evil clown, a cat burglar, another man wearing a mask and tights and whatever Penguin is supposed to be. They’re fighting over a human dehydrator to make it worse. Why would anyone invent such a thing is beyond me. The intended purpose of the awesomely named Commodore Schimdlapp’s invention is never revealed. It is deemed unimportant.
But Batman wasn’t without its merits. By stripping the story of any deliberate message or symbolism, director Leslie H. Martinson and screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. make Batman more transparent than he’s even been. He’s a LOT more like the criminals he’s chasing than the people he’s trying to protect and that applies to almost any Batman movie or media. He’s a man who wears a costume that dictates his purpose and identity. The major difference between him and let’s say the Joker, is that he has an “excuse” to wear it.
He symbolizes the city fighting back against crime and the Joker and friends are liberating themselves from it. Batman struggles with his difference and fights to protect a vague idea of normalcy while the villains are trying to eradicate it. They embrace their marginality. That’s why every Batman fans that grows up to become an adult ends up liking the villains better than the caped crusader. This is best exemplified in Batman, because everyone on screen except Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton) is an costumed loon. Normal people are either mute or absent.
But what about the goddamn dehydrator, right? My best guess is that it is supposed to represent technological warfare. Batman isn’t that far removed from WWII and the atomic bomb. It also came out right in the heydays of the Cold War and nuclear panic. So, I believe it was just a silly idea that was supposed to feel threatening and not at the same time. It’s supposed to remind you of weapons of mass destruction, but not scare you because it’s a family movie. Still, it is never explain why Commodore Schmidlapp thought the world needed it. Commodore Schmidlapp never really talks.
But is Batman worth watching? I don’t know. It’s not a well-written movie at all. Everything is an excuse to make the caped crusader come to blows with his enemies. There’s literally no stakes at all, except for the dehydration of State officials who never do anything on screen, except mindlessly bicker with one another. But it’s also a lot of fun… in an odd way? I mean, where else will you ever see Adam West punch a rubber shark for an uncomfortable amount of time? Batman is not good, but it’s honest and weirdly spectacular. Part of me enjoyed it.
5.6/10
