The year was 1989. Comics Scene Magazine had been teasing Batman for quite some time. A couple of college kids made their weekly trip to The Dragon’s Den in Yonkers. It was me and my roommate. He knew Batman inside out, and he could not hide his excitement. Batman was making his way to the big screen that summer. There were reservations about the guy playing the masked crusader. Michael Keaton? He’s a comedian, right? There had been so much Batman in the comics that gave him human depth. He was dark and brooding. We loved Adam West as kids (and we can’t kid ourselves, we loved him as adults, too), but that Batman would never do the character justice after the popularity of The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, and A Death in the Family. Batman had been defined, and we were putting our hopes on that guy from Night Shift (1982) who played Beetlejuice (1988). We were taking shots at him from the moment his casting was announced. He got in there and tripped us up with his grappling hook. He killed it. He killed us, man. He did us a favor. He held us over the precipice of doubt, and told us who he was. We immediately told all our friends about him. He’s Batman.
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Tim Burton got this one right. He excels when the source material is his own, but he’s had some problems with franchises that don’t belong to him. He was born to rebrand the cinematic Batman. That costume, though! We hadn’t seen anything like it before. The sets, the stage, the costumes. The aesthetic has been imitated ever since. The Batman wore armor and a theatrical cape that gave this classic a feel they would attempt to recapture through several sequels.
The look of Gotham City was clearly modeled after a timeless New York City. It always had been. The first scene has our hero fighting crime by taking out a couple of thugs who’d just mugged a family. A background of steam and vapor, wet brick buildings, and rusty railings paint the picture. Sirens and car horns in the background tell us just how densely alive the city is. And the first character we meet after the rats and the bat is an Ed Koch (NYC Mayor, 1978-1989) lookalike who introduces the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent for the first time. I can’t prove it, and I’m probably wrong, but not paying off Two-Face in the first movie kind of makes that the first Easter Egg in superhero cinema.
Like dealing cards, the first few scenes are laid out on the table in quick succession. Hit me! The transition is perfect. Billy Dee Williams’ Harvey Dent continues his introduction to Gotham through the television of a suave-looking art collecting man in a business suit. Jack Nicholson’s Jack Napier is obviously a well-to-do someone in the organized crime scene. How I wish we didn’t know already that he would become the Joker. That was a surprise that just couldn’t be held back. It was his origin that was more prominent in this movie. His notorious grin was perfect for the role. Cesar Romero couldn’t have been topped by anyone else. Pop culture already knew who Batman was. His origin could be built into the story. It became part of the mystery of The Bat. Seeing Jack Nicholson’s face before seeing him in the makeup allowed us to focus on the villain while Keaton’s Batman remained mysterious. Not even Kim Bassinger’s Vicki Vale knew who the reclusive billionaire was when she first met him.
The overall feel of the film was perfect. It walked the tightrope between camp and comic book angles to noir and old Hollywood dialogue. Tim Burton made a Detective Comics movie. The only thing that stood out was having Prince do the soundtrack. The score and incidental music gave the scenes cool atmosphere, but Prince’s songs felt, at the time, like an opportunist decision. Prince was hot, but not right for the tone. Looking back, suddenly his music feels ageless. It was eighties music, but it stands out like the immortal legend of Batman himself.
The unsung show stealer who never gets enough credit for his role is Jack Palance. Carl Grissom is an old school crime boss who’s become obsolete in the eyes of Napier. Joker kills the old Gotham along with Grissom, and he replaces elegance with flamboyance. The swank remains, and it’s easy to recognize that despite the change in regime Napier was heavily influenced by his boss. Joker demonstrates it while foreshadowing his own demise by mocking his dead boss. Palance’s line, “You are my number one guy,” is parodied by Joker, though it feels very much like it’s Jack Nicolson who’s making fun.
Batman is a must rewatch, and it will remain so even through the next iteration that’s bound to show up within the next few years… and Beyond. That’s all, gentleman. Thank you. Thank you, gentleman, that’s all.
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