Batman 1989 memories

[Mr.Marion]

What's your story on first seeing Batman back in the summer of 89.
This includes merchandise, comics and other Batmania around that time.

Does it still hold up in your opinion?

[Earth 2 Chris]

The movie made me a collector. I had stopped playing with my toys, but had decided to collect comic-based toys in late 87/early 88...but there was practically NOTHING out at that time. I was totally caught up in the merchandising frenzy of this film. I was 14 with lots of disposable lawn-mowing money.

I loved the movie, and at the time was very happy that Batman was going to be treated "seriously". I never turned against the 60s TV series like some, but I did kind of put it in the "crazy uncle camp".

I think the film still holds up pretty well, although some minor aspects do look oddly cheap now (like the Joker's obviously animated death), which is odd, since it had a huge budget. Keaton and Nicholson gave great performances, and despite all the hype against him, I accepted Keaton as Batman then and now. Since the passing of Adam West, to me, in many ways, he's the "classic" Batman.

Chris

[Wee67]

It's the first movie I can remember waiting in line to see. Even though I had not picked up a comic book or action figure for several years, I was stoked about the idea of a big budget Batman movie. I even packed a lunch to convince my girlfriend to meet me in line and showed up at the Neshaminy Mall movie theater over an hour before. I was about 20th in line.

I really liked the movie but I think my expectations were so high that nothing could've met them. The film felt conflicted as it wasn't sure if Batman was going to the dark, vengeance-driven or the cartoon-y lunch box selling version. I still enjoyed Keaton, the Bat toys and even Gotham.

[comicmike]

I still love it. I'll never tire of watching it. I'll always be mesmerized by Batman & Joker's costumes. At the time, I bought any magazine that I could find about the making of the movie. I especially always envisioned a 8" Mego Nicholson Joker on the market. I quickly hopped on to get the foreign released Kid Biz Mego-like Batman when I first learned about it.

[enyawd72]

I'll never forget it. I was always more a Marvel guy and mostly into Spidey and the Hulk.
I liked the character of Batman but the movie made me love him. It also helped a lot that suddenly superheroes were more mainstream and legitimate, and it was OK to be a fan. The first toys I bought as an adult were the Kenner Dark Knight Collection, closely followed by Kenner Swamp Thing. Then the Flash hit TV and I never really looked back.

[MRP]

I was subletting an apartment in Boston the summer between my sophomore and junior year the summer of '89, and working at a movie theatre so had an in to go the the midnight premiere on the Thursday night/Friday morning it opened. I was the only big comic fan in the group I went with, most were movie buffs/co-workers at the theatre, and my roommate at the time.

I had been following the development of the movie through articles inn the Comic's Buyer's Guide (a weekly newspaper about comics that I had subscribed to since my senior year in high school) and had been eagerly awaiting the movie's release. I even found the novelization of the movie for sale at a local bookstore the Wednesday before the movie opened, bought it, but held off reading it until the after I saw the movie. I loved the movie when I saw it (though a couple of scenes came off better in the novelization especially the seen with the Joker's parade and all the money flying around being snatched up by people who then got angry which I attribute to poor editing choices as the original screenplay on which the novelization was based worked better than the final edit did in those cases).

There was a ton of merchandise out there, but I had a limited budget and was picking up mostly comic related stuff not toys or other merch (copies of things like The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told, etc.). That fall I started working part time (a second part time job) under the table at a newly opened comic shop who had vastly over-ordered on Bat merchandise and wound up with a bunch of things like Batman coffee mugs and the like at clearances prices when he decided to blow out the merch to get some of his money back. I was at a point where I wan't buying toys anymore (it wasn't until the Toy Biz Marvel X-Men figures were released that I started buying toys again) but I did by a bunch of Batman related tchotchkes and books.

I still really like the movie, despite seeing some of its flaws when I later watched it with a more critical eye or at least one not caught up in the hype of the moment and expectations and despite disappointments with the rest of the films in the series that the film launched. I will say hr best thing to come out of the movie hype and success though is and will always be Batman: The Animated Series.

-M

[jwyblejr]

Don't know why but when I watched the different Prince videos for this,I thought "Prince would have made a better Joker."

[Hedji]

I'll never forget all the clothing merchandise. Wearing my Batman 'jams' and my Batman bicycle hat with the upturned bill. I remember the Topps cards, and how they were sold in a deluxe box on thicker stock. I loved how it also brought back re-runs of the 66 show to cable again. I still have the Warner Bros. Merchandising brochure showing an uncredited Heather Langencamp riding a 10-speed in Batman bike shorts. Weird!

Who could ever forget that magical trailer? No MUSIC! No Narration! Just... the goods. Can you even imagine a trailer like this today?

As for the film itself... I totally bought in and was swept away. Any deficiencies in the script, pacing or action were completely covered by the amazing production design, costumes, and score. I remember our local newspaper critic said "Elfman's score puts the wind in Batman's cape". I love that.

[Hedji]

And I remember spending the summer watching this a thousand times on MTV:

[Hedji]

I think the first scene with Batman dangling the crooks was great, but I'll never forget Batman gliding through the smoke in the warehouse scene with his cape extended, with the Elfman score... that gave me shivers.

[Makernaut]

It's hard to believe we are coming up on 30 years. I have a pretty good memory about particulars when it comes to movies that made an impact on me and Batman 89 is one of those movies. The theatre I saw it in was only a couple of years old at the time and fairly nice, but it was very out of the way and not a theatre I went to very often. I hadn't been to a movie at that theatre since Batman 89 until I saw "Solo" last year. Couldn't believe that theatre was still open and though it's been updated along the way, the layout is still the same and all I could think of was "Dang! I remember standing in this same spot waiting to see Batman 89!"

I remember really loving that movie, at the time. I liked that it was dark and gritty. The law of diminished returns was at work for all the sequels and that kind of started to change how I viewed Batman 89 as the 90s progressed. Started seeing it as way too stylized and the campiness started standing out more than the grittiness that had stood out before. Without doing a lot of explaining to folks that I'm sure understand (even if you don't agree), it does not hold up for me, BUT I clearly remember how much I loved it at the time and I fully recognize the direct influence it had on "Batman:The Animated Series" which is much closer to what I wanted to see in live action movie. In that way, I have a deep appreciation for how much Batman 89 changed how Superhero Movies and TV were thought of and directly lead to "The Flash" making it to TV and then the whole DC Animated Universe that I love so much. The Elfman Score was big-time and still is! Put him well on the path to his John Williams like status in my book.

[Makernaut]

I still have the Warner Bros. Merchandising brochure showing an uncredited Heather Langencamp riding a 10-speed in Batman bike shorts.

Ah, Heather.....