Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jul 30, 2022
13 COOL THINGS About the 1966 BATMAN Feature Film
The movie came out 56 years ago… Hey, the Adam West Batman movie opened July 30, 1966 — 56 years ago! Groovy, eh? Well, guess what: Our columnist and pal Jim Beard — editor of the definitive trio of Batman season guides — is back with another of his Batman ’66 13 COOL THINGS pieces. (You can find the links to his individual season columns below. Click here to order the books. You’ll love ’em!) Holy box office — here’s Jim! — By JIM BEARD Let’s all face it: The 1966 Batman feature film is what everybody knows. For the long, dark decades when its TV counterpart couldn’t exist as anything but network or cable offerings, the film was readily available on VHS and then disc. If you look back, most of the general public’s remembrances and quotes come from it, not necessarily the show itself. The movie kept the Adam West Batman alive for years on end. For my part, I’ve come here today to praise it, not bury it. It deserves many, many accolades. I’m a huge, huge fan—in my opinion it still ranks as the most comic-accurate Batman film of them all… accurate to the comics to that point in time, of course. Here are 13 things I love about the Batman movie. Warning: You won’t find any Shark-Repellent Bat-Spray here (or “Bat-Shark Repellent”), nor any “Some days you just can’t rid of a bomb!” Those are low-hanging fruit memes for Bat-chumps. What I have here is the real deal, the stuff that stands out to me as the reasons to watch this kooky, campy, corny Batman romp… — Holy Opening Credits! I’ve been captivated by that credit sequence since I was a kid, and still am. How cool they did something so different for the feature, even going so far as to have a completely new musical theme. In all, the credits are pulpy, noir, comic booky, and oh-so fun. — Holy Batcopter Montage! I really dig that Batcopter flyover with those reactions from cops and picnickers, not to mention famous exercise guru Jack LaLanne and a bevy of bikinied beauties! — Holy Known Super-Criminals Still At Large! Commissioner Gordon’s closed-circuit television tour of Batman’s rogues gallery is, to quote the Hateful Harlequin, delicious, as well as the Dynamic Duo’s amazing logic leaps with Gordon...
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