Batman (1966)

Batman
Director:	Leslie H. Martinson
Producer:	William Dozier
Writer(s):	Lorenzo Semple Jr
Release Date:	July 20, 1966
Running Time:	105 mins
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Merchandise	Characters

Batman is a 1966 film that was made in response to the popularity of the Batman tv series. In the film, Batman and Robin face off against The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler, and Catwoman.

Plot

When Batman and Robin get a tip that Commodore Schmidlapp is in danger aboard his yacht, they launch a rescue mission using the Batcopter. After a tangle with an exploding shark which seizes Batman's leg but is repelled by shark repellent after the Yacht disappears, Batman and Robin head back to Commissioner Gordon's office where, through deduction and wisdom, they figure out that the tip was a set-up by The United Underworld, a gathering of four of the most powerful villains in Gotham City (Joker, Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman), who plan to defeat The Dynamic Duo once and for all.

Armed with a dehydrator that can turn humans into dust, a World War II "Pre-Atomic" Submarine made to resemble a penguin, and their three pirate henchmen (Bluebeard, Morgan and Quetch), The United Underworld intends to take over the world, and Batman and Robin must stop them. It is revealed the ship was really a projection. When the Dynamic Duo go back to the buoy with the projector on it, they are trapped on it by a magnet and torpedos are launched at them, but they escape using a radio-detonator to destroy two of the missiles, and a porpoise is hit by the last one. Catwoman, disguised as the Soviet journalist "Miss KITKA" (short for Kitanya Irenia Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff), lures Bruce Wayne into a trap as part of a plot to destroy Batman, little suspecting that Wayne is Batman's alter-ego. And Penguin even schemes his way into the Batcave along with five dehydrated henchmen; this plan fails - the henchmen are unexpectedly killed when he mistakenly uses heavy water to re-hydrate them.

Ultimately the Duo are unable to prevent the kidnapping of the dehydrated United World Organization's Security Council. After giving chase in the Batboat, the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder use a sonic charge weapon called "Bat-Charges" to disable Penguin's submarine and bring it to the surface, where a grand fist fight ensues. Although Commodore Schmidlapp sneezes on and scatters the powdered members of the dehydrated Council, mixing them together – which would normally spell their doom – Batman constructs an elaborate filter to separate the mingled dust.

Robin poses the question whether it might not be in the world's best interests for them to alter the dust samples so that humans can no longer harm one another. In response, Batman says that they cannot do so and can only hope for people, in general, to learn to live together peacefully on their own.

However, in the final scene, Robin's wishes are ironically fulfilled when the Security Council is improperly re-hydrated. All of the members are alive and well, continuing to squabble among themselves and totally oblivious of their surroundings. But each of them now speaks the language - and displays the stereotypical mannerisms - of a nation other than their own. As the world looks on in disbelief at this development, Batman and Robin quietly climb out of the United World Headquarters to an uncertain future. Batman's final words express his sincere hope that this "mixing of minds" does more good than it does harm.

Cast

• Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman
• Burt Ward as Richard "Dick" Grayson/Robin
• Cesar Romero as The Joker
• Burgess Meredith as The Penguin
• Lee Meriwether as Catwoman/Miss Kitka
• Frank Gorshin as The Riddler
• Alan Napier as Alfred Pennyworth
• Neil Hamilton as James Gordon
• Stafford Repp as Clancy O'Hara

Taglines

• 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!

Production

The film was shot in parts of California.