25 Years Ago...

[Earth 2 Chris]

...Batman (1989) premiered.

Well, okay, it was yesterday. But I'm just not up on my dates from day to day, so I missed it.

It's hard for me to put into words how excited...no...obsessed I was with this film. I would have been nuts for it anyway, since I was (and still am) a huge Batman fan. But the media and fan frenzy preceding the film was something I don't think ANYONE had ever seen before.

I went to the big city of Lexington to see the film on opening day, with my friends and their mother. I remember stopping at Hill's before the movie started and finding some of the Toy Biz figures for the first time. Sure, now I see them as cheap knockoffs of Super Powers, but for me then, these were my first figures purchased as a collector. I was 14, so I was past the "playing with" stage.

I saw the movie two more times that summer. I would have seen it even more, but no license, no car.

Sure, the movie is flawed. The sets seem a bit too fake now. The editing is a bit sloppy, and heck the production is from time to time. That big purple-blue blotch on Joker's neck in his big reveal scene takes me out of the film every time.

BUT, it did capture that early Finger/Kane vibe, and gave us a straight Batman. Keaton pulled it off, despite his small frame.

I don't have the gushing nostalgia for it that I do for Superman: The Movie, but I still get a rush every time I see it, especially that epic ending with Elfman's soaring score.

Chris

[megoscott]

I was likewise obsessed. I bought every magazine they made, I feel like there were a couple collector magazines. It was awesome to see that flood of Batman merchandise, much of it Neal Adams type blue Batman. I lived near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco at the time and the tourist shops were filled with t-shirts and little PVC figures and rack toys. It coincided with my first visits to toy shows and the world of adult collecting. Good times.

Saw the movie at the Coronet, the same place Star Wars debuted. I remember there was a mad rush to get in, we were scrambling to get seats, the theater filled up so fast it was like a mosh pit. Don't remember how any times I saw it. A couple at least.

[palitoy]

Went to the midnight showing with my buddy John. The showing was at the mall and I bought the Prince soundtrack and the movie booklet while waiting in line. I also poured through that merchandise catalog they handed out in the theatres, a precursor to the Warner Brothers store.

My friend met a cute girl in line, so I got hang around for about an hour after while they made out. I miss that dude.

Took my girlfriend to it the following Sunday, we broke up that night (We did that weekly), then my key didn't work at my job the next day and all the lights were turned off. I drowned my sorrows in (mostly terrible) Bat merchandise.

Thew one highlight for me was one of the magazines showed the collection of Joe Desris, it had Kresge heroes and boxed Batlabs, I'd been collecting Mego for years but seeing that stuff in a magazine was porn like.


I loved that summer.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yes, that was the official magazine by Topps that had the Desris pics. After that, he ran ads in Toy Shop for a Batman collector magazine he was putting together. It never came to be.

I remember that WB flyer/catalog too. It was indeed a precursor to the much-missed WB store. I distinctly recall Heather Langenkamp (sp?) of the Nightmare on Elm Street films was modelling some rather tight Batman bicycle gear in that catalog. I was 14, so sue me.

I forgot to mention, the one detractor from my first viewing of the film was a pair of rowdy 20-somethings making loud and lewd comments about Kim Basinger every time she showed up on screen.

Chris

[palitoy]

I remember that WB flyer/catalog too. It was indeed a precursor to the much-missed WB store. I distinctly recall Heather Langenkamp (sp?) of the Nightmare on Elm Street films was modelling some rather tight Batman bicycle gear in that catalog. I was 14, so sue me.

I was 18, the judge would throw the case out. I was sadly more obsessed with the toy pics.

I forgot to mention, the one detractor from my first viewing of the film was a pair of rowdy 20-somethings making loud and lewd comments about Kim Basinger every time she showed up on screen.

Kid in front of me kept asking his mom about "Mr Makeup Man" which I find funny now.

That summer the movie Batmobile showed up at the Exhibition and I got a shot of me and the gf with it. Last month there was a comic show at the Ex and it was there, i swear in the same spot it was 25 years ago. My kid didn't want a picture with it.....

[madmarva]

What I remember most was how cool it was to have so many people excited about something I had loved since I could remember but had always been consider childish by most of my family and friends. USA Today had several stories leading up to the premiere. A ton of folks were wereing the black batmAn logo t-shirt. It was all over my college campus that fall.

Heck, my university's marching band did a tribute to heroes during a football game that year, which included the Elfman theme while the band formed the bat emblem. Our Razorback mascot, Big Red, ran around with a bat mask and cape on top of his Hog mask. Surreal.

And what was even better was that the movie was good. A broad spectrum of people enjoyed it.

Yes, the film has aged, and there are things about it that I have grown not to care for through the years, but there are scenes in it that have yet to be matched by any other Batman film.

The Batman movie of my dreams has yet and likely never will be made - yeah I prefer leotards to rubber armor - but if Burton's 89 film had been the only Batman movie ever to dance with the devil on the silver screen, it was and remains good enough to me.

[megoscott]

I was so surprised and happy they cast Nicholson as Joker. What a marvelous idea.

[palitoy]

I was so surprised and happy they cast Nicholson as Joker. What a marvelous idea.

My LCS had a sign with a still from Mr Mom that said "Sign the petition to stop Mr Bat Mom!" in 1988.

Everyone loved the idea of Nicholson though.

[Brue]

I too felt obsessed about it. I was in the closet with my Geekiness in college. But my girlfriend at the time found a place that was screening an advanced preview of the extended trailer. Another friend organized a group from the university rec center where we worked to go to opening night.
I was leary of having Mr. Mom, Johnny Dangerously, Beetlejuice play batman. I loved Keaton. I just didn't see him as batman.

I was blown away. It had been 9 years since the last good Superhero movie and even though Superman 2 holds a special place in my heart and was awesome -Batman 89 has stood the test of time better.

I still can't channel flip past it if it comes on. I think I'll stick the DVD in and rematch it in it soon -along with Returns and Forever (Yes, I love Forever). I won't however rewatch & Robin.

...Batman (1989) premiered.

Well, okay, it was yesterday. But I'm just not up on my dates from day to day, so I missed it.

It's hard for me to put into words how excited...no...obsessed I was with this film. I would have been nuts for it anyway, since I was (and still am) a huge Batman fan. But the media and fan frenzy preceding the film was something I don't think ANYONE had ever seen before.

I went to the big city of Lexington to see the film on opening day, with my friends and their mother. I remember stopping at Hill's before the movie started and finding some of the Toy Biz figures for the first time. Sure, now I see them as cheap knockoffs of Super Powers, but for me then, these were my first figures purchased as a collector. I was 14, so I was past the "playing with" stage.

I saw the movie two more times that summer. I would have seen it even more, but no license, no car.

Sure, the movie is flawed. The sets seem a bit too fake now. The editing is a bit sloppy, and heck the production is from time to time. That big purple-blue blotch on Joker's neck in his big reveal scene takes me out of the film every time.

BUT, it did capture that early Finger/Kane vibe, and gave us a straight Batman. Keaton pulled it off, despite his small frame.

I don't have the gushing nostalgia for it that I do for Superman: The Movie, but I still get a rush every time I see it, especially that epic ending with Elfman's soaring score.

Chris

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I like Forever too. I could do without some of the camp, but it does somehow capture the spirit of the early 40s comics.

Returns is good if viewed as a Burton film with Batman walking through it. As a Batman film...meh.

There is no justifying Batman & Robin.

I was so surprised and happy they cast Nicholson as Joker. What a marvelous idea.

I subscribed to Comic Buyer's Guide for years, and when the casting broke on Nicholson and Keaton, it was nearly everyone for Nicholson, everyone AGAINST Keaton, including myself. CBG ran a cartoon of Keaton in a very Bob Kane-ish Batman costume and Nicholson as Joker (although he looked more like David Johansen/Buster Poindexter), with the tagline "IT COULD WORK"...and it did.

I also recall an interview with screenwriter Sam Hamm in Comics Scene, where he suggested relatively unknowns Ray Liotta or Willem DaFoe as the Joker. DaFoe was BORN to play the Joker. Too bad he's too old now.

Chris

[noelani72]

I was a multiple viewer myself.
Dating my now Wife at the time, driving my Cobra mustang.
That was the day when you could buy the cassette-single, and I bought Elfman's Batman score...popped it in the car and drove like I was behind the wheel of the Batmobile lol

Now that I am older, the show has limited repeatability for me. I watch it maaaybe once every two years or so.
Seeing this thread, I might just have to cook a pan of popcorn and go watch it right now.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, when I got my license two years later, the Elfman soundtrack got played to death (literally, the tape died). When Cindy and I started dating, she said I drove kind of crazy when it was on, being very quiet with both hands hard on the steering wheel, and only darting my eyes over at her occasionally, Keaton-like.

Yes, I was, and forever shal be, a geek.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

Some thoughts....

• I missed opening day by 2 feet...I was supposed to go with a buddy and when I went back to get him at work I was told he went to his grandparents' to change. Needless to say they lived in the boonies and by the time I got him and we headed to the mall there was already a tremendous line. We were 2 feet away from the actual door when the usher said it was ALL SOLD OUT. I've been bitter about it ever since.

• I was unsure of Keaton's casting until I saw him play a mental patient in the comedy "The Dream Team". That performance sold me. I figured he'd be just right for an obsessed guy that dresses as a giant bat.

• Nicholson sold me as soon as I saw him in some clips ("Wait'll they get a load of me") on Entertainment Tonight. The geek that I was (am) I recorded the segment on a VHS tape and watched it again and again.

• Prince's "Batdance" was released before the movie and I'd listen every time it was on the radio trying to figure out where each line of dialogue came from. ("Stop the press....Who's that? Vicki Vale...Vicki Vale.")

• Long before the movie I had two shirts I'd wear quite a bit...a yellow bat symbol and a Joker holding a deck of cards and a pistol (very Bolland-esque). AFTER the movie I was accused several time of being a front runner when I wore the shirts. Of course, I took that as an insult and had to clarify that I was ALWAYS a Bat-fan.

• I saw it four times that year...twice at the theatre and twice at the drive-in. At one drive-in showing I took two young cousins (Ages 6 and 9)....Worst drive-in experience EVER. They were bouncing all over, rolling windows up and down and talking over it. But to this day, they both remember and thank me for introducing them to the Dark Knight on the
Silver Screen.

• I remember buying issues of Starlog, Comic Collector, Comics Scene, Rolling Stone, Spin and other magazines that had articles about the movie. Wasn't David Bowie also another rumored choice for The Joker?

• I had two postcards, the famous bat-symbol and a close-up of Nicholson's Joker. My oldest daughter used to be kinda afraid of the Joker one and I'd occasionally leave it out in the toy room when I knew she'd be down there. What a horrible parent...

• My "life-size" Joker cardboard stand-up still exists....albeit folded up alongside the 2nd refrigerator on our side porch.

• I'd probably rate this movie as #2 on All-Time Comics Book Movies (behind Superman:The Movie) and #1 on All-Time Batman Movies. Although it doesn't hold up quite as well as it once did, it will always be a favorite for me.

[Earth 2 Chris]

• I was unsure of Keaton's casting until I saw him play a mental patient in the comedy "The Dream Team". That performance sold me. I figured he'd
be just right for an obsessed guy that dresses as a giant bat.

Yes, Dream Team helped ease my fears as well. Keaton was intense in that film. I still like it, and watched it a few months back. I didn't see "Clean and Sober" until years later.

• Nicholson sold me as soon as I saw him in some clips ("Wait'll they get a load of me") on Entertainment Tonight. The geek that I was (am) I recorded the
segment on a VHS tape and watched it again and again.

• Prince's "Batdance" was released before the movie and I'd listen every time it was on the radio trying to figure out where each line of dialogue came from.
("Stop the press....Who's that? Vicki Vale...Vicki Vale.")

I recorded what seemed like hours of stuff off of Entertainment Tonight and MTV. Even 20/20 had a segment on Batman, that was actually quite good. I do recall one scary ET clip that had a large Bat-fan running around in the 1966 Ideal Batman helmet, while the Neal Hefti theme played in the background. He did have some great Bat-swag though.

I still don't understand much of "Batdance", but Prince looked almost dead-on Bolland's Joker in that video.

Chris

[huedell]

Consistent script tone and same goes for the overall stylized Burton-vision of the set environments visual looks and vibes of the performances. Of course, Nicolson & Keaton were good casting---Burton had stellar control of the overall feel of the project.

Also, integrating Prince's pop with the relatively newcomer's take on being a "new John Williams" was a smart move.

These things make up for the pretty pointless story which hinged it's cleverness on "you made me, I made you" rather than a satisfying emotionally-resonating resolution to what could've been a good reason to "Jokerize" Joe Chill.

speaking of the Joker--- I had ALWAYS been a Joker fan (it was amazing seeing all the Joker merch w/Adams etc art from the 70s on it)---and seeing my acting hero (at the time) portray this role was surreal--and, admittedly, a bit jarring, as I had very specific expectations on the Joker character---and Nicholson as an actor. To me Keaton was just as good a choice for Batman as West was (West didn't have Bale's physique, that's for sure), so I didn't understand the '89 pre-release anti-Keaton hub-bub anyways.

I don't know if Batman '89 is art---but I like it. Heavy nostalgia.

It has no redeeming script/story ideas---BUT it's consistency at the hands of Burton's vision makes the Salkinds look like sloppy children, and advanced the genre as a result.

Bob... gun...