Batman: The Movie (1966) with Matt Williams

On this episode of Movie Smash!, we discuss 1966's Batman: The Movie directed by Leslie Martinson and starring Adam West, Burt Ward and Lee Meriwether. The film follows Batman and Robin as they stop a four villain team up who threaten the world!

Hosts: Christopher Roberts, Fergel Amayo, Jeremy Parmentier

Guest Host: Matt Williams from Jeek Nation

Edited By: Christopher Roberts

Produced By: Off Panel Creations, LLC

Follow the show! Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Christopher Roberts and Off Panel Creations: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Fergel Amayo and Gotham Night Comics: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Jeremy Parmentier and Retrovania: Website | Instagram | Facebook

To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

(01:23):
Hello and welcome to Movie Smash, the show where you dive head first into comic book movies outside the MCU.
You're new to the show? Thanks for joining us. If you've been here before, you know the drill.
Each episode, we're going to smash a movie whose source material is from a graphic novel or a comic.
Is it worth revisiting? Should it be forgotten? Let's find out.

(01:44):
This is Movie Smash. I'm one of your hosts, Chris Roberts. I'm the founder of All Panel Creations.
With me today, I have Jeremy Parmentier.
Hey, this is Jeremy Parmentier, also with the Retroveniax Podcast,
and I never have a problem getting rid of a bomb.
And our guest host this evening is Matt Williams.
I am Matt Williams, better known as Rockin' Mr. Magic, the founder of
Jeek Nation, J-E-E-K Nation, baby.

(02:07):
And I also never have a problem getting rid of a bomb.
So, our movie tonight is 1966 Batman the Movie, specifically Batman the Movie,
and starring Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Merriwether, and Cesar Romero, directed by Leslie Martison.

(02:49):
The big screen gives us more space on land, sea, and in the air to challenge the most
bataclysmic collection of super criminals that ever plotted to take over the world.
So, before you go to the movie, Matt, you picked this almost 60 year old movie for us.
Why did you pick this one?
I picked it with great fervor. I am a big fan of the 1966 series, the film. I own the film on DVD.

(03:16):
I own the series on DVD. I used to watch it as a child, the show on FX. When FX was still a
brand new version network, I would come home from school at five o'clock. It would be
Batman at 5.30. It would be the Green Hornet.
And then I grew up watching this particular movie. I'm going to date myself for any of

(03:38):
your listeners, but there's this thing called V-Chess. And my mother, my parents, you know,
would record things from the free Disney weekend and such. My mom had recorded the Batman 1966 film.
And subsequently, because there were times where we didn't have cable or my parents would ship me
into the basement, do whatever I wanted to do, I would re-watch movies and shows that were on the

(04:02):
tapes. And I watched this film, as I was saying to Jeremy, off air. I have watched this movie
probably about a hundred times throughout my life. It's probably my second favorite Batman film.
So that's why I was very quick. Awesome. And having talked to Jeremy before this episode,
this is going to be a fun discussion. I am here for it.

(04:22):
And we'll get into those characters particularly in a bit, but before we jump into it,
I assume you guys are all familiar with Batman as a character before seeing this movie.
Yeah. I mean, he's Batman, Superman. There are some characters that you don't need to explain,
right? You just know who they are. Somehow at birth, you know these two characters and
Batman is no exception. They're known as a trainee in the comic book world for a reason.
And I'm a big comic collector. I've been collecting comics.

(04:45):
Well, Matt, you have seen this movie before, but Jeremy, was this your first viewing?
No, I'd seen this movie, I wouldn't say a hundred times, but I definitely saw it a bunch when I was
younger, much like Matt. I remember watching the TV show on it. I don't remember what network it
was. I want to say it was Nick at Night or something where they had it all the time,
but I watched a ton of the 60s Batman show well before the 1989 Batman movie. And so

(05:07):
I was, this was more the Batman I knew than even comics or anything else was this 60s TV Batman.
So I know I had seen this movie several times because of the parts. As soon as it starts,
you're like, I remember this. I remember this. I remember this. But it had been a long time.
I don't think I've seen this start to finish easily 20, 25 years. So this was a good refresher. And a
lot of the things I thought I remembered were actually from the show and not this movie. So

(05:30):
it was kind of good to piece together like, oh, this was the movie, not whatever episode I was
blending into this movie. Yeah. For myself too, this was the Batman I grew up on. So it's very
familiar going back and watching. I don't know how many times I've seen this movie. I don't
remember the last time I saw it. Sitting through it again, I remembered everything from it. There
was no part of it that I was like, oh, I forgot that. It's obviously, it's a core memory of my

(05:52):
growing up at some point where this became one of the better known stories for me. But obviously,
everyone knows Batman. But Jeremy, do you have any insight on the comic book history for this?
I mean, if you listen to this podcast, we did an episode on Batman Returns. And Fergal, who's a
much better comic historian, did a very good breakdown of the history of Batman and the
character. I'm not going to reiterate it now because I'm also going to get it wrong. But

(06:14):
basically, this is more like the newspaper Batman, right? When you were a kid and there was daily
newspapers and there was like the three panel Batman strip. And if you read it for two months,
you get a story out of it. This feels very much like that kind of Batman. It has even like the TV
show more than the movie had like the when they would fight, it would say like pow, bam, and have
these things on the screen. This actually has real fighting, real choreographed fighting. It doesn't

(06:37):
have that extra comic book layer. But that's what I remembered was that kind of stuff. And this does
still have that feel to it. Very much like the serial Batman comics. If I can jump in on that,
Jeremy's wrap up is correct. The campy Batman was the initial imp, purveying Batman, essentially
until the 80s, when the comics started to take a darker turn. So through the 50s, 60s, 70s,

(07:01):
it was a very light hearted campy romp with Batman, even though the movie does tone down
a lot of the campiness that we remember from the show, it does still maintain it because they
wanted to make it a little bit more serious since it was a feature film, but still keep some of
those episodic campy portions to it so we don't get the biffs and bops and vaps until the very end.

(07:25):
Right. Until the final battle. So just a quick spoiler warning. If this is your first time joining
us, just a heads up, we're going to discuss the plot of this almost 60 year old movie. I think
next year is its 60th anniversary. This might be the oldest movie we have reviewed. It is. It is so
far. And with that, we're going to discuss some elements of the story that are considered spoilers,
but I'm sorry, if you have not seen this movie by this point, you never were going to. So consider

(07:48):
yourself warned. So let's talk about the plot of it. Matt, can you walk us through what happens
in this movie? This movie is featured as Batman and Robin, and as they deal with a plot to not
just take over Gotham City, not just the country, but the entire world from the likes of the Riddler,

(08:09):
the Joker, Catwoman, and. Penguin. Penguin. Yes. I said the Penguin in my mind.
You mentioned some of the stars. I'm particularly a big fan of Thesau Romero's
portrayal of Joker. Frank Gorshin's Riddler, Burgess Meredith, a legend portraying the Penguin,
and the ever gorgeously Mary Weather portraying Catwoman. As a kid, and before watching it this

(08:34):
time, I've always kind of thought of the Caesar Romero Joker as like the one of the better Joker
portrayals. I mean, yes, Jack Nicholson did a great job and Heath Ledger, and he's not the only good
Joker, but I love the Caesar Romero Joker. Like it's the very much, you know, if there was going
to be a Joker that had a Jack in the box to punch you in the face, this is the Joker that would have
that right. That's what I remember. However, I never was a big Penguin fan, but I actually like

(08:58):
Burgess Meredith's Penguin in this movie. I like the character a lot more than I remember liking
the Penguin in these. You know, I mean, again, we did talk about Batman Returns and I did go on
about how much I love Danny DeVito's Penguin, but it's a such a different take. This is a more,
I hate to say realistic in terms of Batman, but he is a realistic villain in that you can,
he's not a half bird man. He is, he is instead like just, just kind of that mastermind criminal.

(09:21):
You know, he, he leads a bunch of, of, he has a bunch of henchmen that do his things and he comes
up with good plans and ideas. He buys a submarine, whether or not that's a good plan or not. He does
the things you'd expect a super villain to do, but he doesn't come across as, I don't know, like as,
as weird as I remember him being. I kind of remember him kind of just being like goofy,
but he wasn't in this. I thought he was actually, I like his, his Penguin, especially after reading

(09:42):
more Batman books. I like this version of the Penguin. I have a tough time picking a favorite
because of how much of a cornerstone comic book movie this is for me, especially because
up until, you know, Superman, the movie and then Batman 89, we really didn't have many

(10:02):
superhero movies to choose from. So I, there's something special about each portrayal. If you'll
just give me the leeway to piggyback off of Jeremy first, the Cesar Romero depiction of Joker is so
fantastic because in my personal opinion, he encapsulates the live action of what they wanted

(10:23):
to show on the show, but also really embody what was in those campy versions of the comics. He was
really a comic strip in action and his laugh is the basis of all Joker laughs. Cesar Romero had a
fantastic witty yet very creepy and scary laugh and tying into Frank Gorshens Riddler, which I

(10:45):
always thought was fantastic. There is a scene where Riddler and Joker laugh at each other and
each of their unique psychotic laughs. And it is hilarious, but it's also scary. Like if you'd like,
these are two lunatics who were just reveling in their lunacy with each other. Yeah. I think
you're talking particularly about the scene where the Riddler and the Joker laugh at each other,

(11:08):
because the Riddler says the reason he makes all these jokes is because the only thing that brings
him joy in life is messing with Batman. And it's kind of like a, I feel sorry for you laugh a little
bit as the two of them just sort of laughed back and forth. They realized they were just
lunacy at that statement. Yes, they were arguing over the Polaris Skyriders and then,
and you know, he's in, you know, Riddler's like, Hey, I got to make my jokes. And he,

(11:29):
and Penguin was like, no, make those messages clear. And Joker's like, ha ha, he said,
make those messages clear. And Gorgias is like, hee hee hee hee. And Joker's just like, ha ha ha.
It's just really, it's just really entertaining. Tying into that back in Tying into Penguin,
Burgess Meredith, and if you are listening to this and you don't know who Burgess Meredith is

(11:51):
as an actor, please educate yourself. Burgess Meredith was a fantastic actor. And I really think
he made this the Penguin a good character for Batman. Penguin's portrayal on the Batman show
was one of the weaker points and Burgess Meredith really knocks it out of the park.
From just the waddle to the quack quack quack quack. Like he just, he really, he holds with

(12:16):
both hands onto this character to bring it to life. And then there's a person with the toughest job
in the Merryweather because she had to replace Julie Newmar as Catwoman, who was so beloved
as that character. And Lee really had to show that she was worthy of portraying Catwoman
in this role, prove that she had the sex appeal to really pull in Batman with what the plot

(12:43):
pertains to. Because not only do you have Julie Newmar, who by a lot of people, fans of this,
consider her favorite, but you also had Eartha Kitt's portrayal of Catwoman from the show
to compete with. So Lee really had the hardest job. And in my personal opinion, part of this,
you know, was, you know, a young pre-bupressant kid who had a massive crush on the Merryweather.

(13:06):
But in the scene where she is like air grinding while she's looking through the periscope,
was just like, okay, I'm digging that. But she was a gorgeous woman and a very talented actress,
who just had the toughest job of everybody in the film. She really had to prove that she was worthy

(13:28):
to be portraying this iconic super character. And I have to say we can't leave out, and I forget
their names for all the top of my head, but the actors that portrayed Commissioner Gordon and Chief
O'Hara, who consistently rocks throughout the series and the film. A couple of things I want
to bring up though is the Lee Merryweather for Catwoman. She was not actually cast for Catwoman

(13:48):
until they had already started filming the project, which is why there's a couple scenes where
Catwoman's not in there when all the villains are talking to each other because she wasn't part of
it yet. So they actually started filming and said, well, we'll add Catwoman later. And I think she
did a great job. She got really sort of, she took the role for herself without a doubt. I do want to
go back to Penguin real fast. And just a fact, those who have not listened to our Batman Returns

(14:08):
episode, we brought up in that episode how he originally was going to play the father of the
Penguin in Batman Returns, however he had passed away shortly beforehand. And I had to go with
Pee Wee Herman instead. Which is hilarious because do you know the woman that played Paul Rubin's wife
is the woman from, was with him in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The waitress, Marie or whatever,

(14:33):
that wanted to go to Paris. So that was just a very, Tim Burton, Pee Wee's Big Adventure,
Tim Burton's first movie. That was just a really fun wink and nod to the fans.
Question for you guys on Joker. I felt like that he was really underutilized in the movie
because you had like the Penguin bought everything. It was all his stuff.
Catwoman is out seducing people and getting them past security. The Riddler is the one creating

(14:57):
these very loose riddles, if you would. The Joker really just took commands. And as I do like the
Joker as a character, as a villain, I don't support what he's doing, but as a character, I would feel
like he should want to do more. And he felt like he was just underutilized this time watching. When
I was a kid, I didn't notice that. But now this time viewing as an adult, I definitely noticed that

(15:19):
he was underutilized. Massively underutilized. I can't pretend to know why. My assumption would
be twofold. One, he was so the primary antagonist in the show that it was kind of you have to get
away from something that we've seen previously. And also the plot is so water driven, you know,

(15:44):
the submarine and everything. And there's even a line where they're arguing and Penguin goes,
on land you may command, at sea it is me. So they kind of were like, hey, there's a reason why
Penguin is the big boss in this story that we're portraying here. Yeah, I was going to say, I think
the Penguin and the Catwoman really both have bigger roles in this. I think the Joker and the

(16:06):
Riddler on the show were much bigger roles. Like the Joker specifically has always been kind of
like Batman's main villain. He's not like leading all the villains. But when you think Batman,
you think Joker. Like they're two sides of the same coin. And the Riddler, I think, has such
a unique spin on what he does that any Riddler episode is going to be a good one. So the movie,

(16:27):
if you have them in it, their being there makes them more threatening. It adds to the threat of
the Penguin and the Catwoman. If it was just Penguin or Catwoman or just even the two of them,
it might not have the same impact. It's also saying, oh, they also have the Joker and the Riddler.
Like you have the big four. You need them for this movie. It makes sense. But that was kind of maybe
why I like the Penguin more. He comes across as like, oh, yeah, he's not just some weird guy that

(16:52):
makes that laugh and has umbrellas. He's a criminal mastermind. He's leading the Joker and the Riddler
and Catwoman. They all have these plans. And he's kind of like the main thought process behind this
plan. So I do think that probably it is because the Joker and the Riddler had such a larger impact
on the show. Yeah, this movie was originally the script, rather. It was actually the original pilot

(17:13):
to the Batman series. And they got greenlit for the series before ever having to do a pilot. So
they put this on the shelf. And also because they felt they couldn't have the budget to do this
until later on. So once the first season had passed, they'd come back to this movie.
So it kind of illustrates maybe the reason the Joker wasn't so big in it was because they hadn't
figured out how good of a character he was going to be for the television series at that point.

(17:33):
But those are all speculations. There's no behind the scenes documentary or commentary track when
it comes to this movie. It's all based upon what he said or she said in some interview 30 years
after the fact. And so many of them, unfortunately, are no longer with us that you're never going to
get the true story there. One thing I got to say about the Joker, and this is just any time Cesar
Romero is playing the Joker, is he never cuts off his mustache. He never shaves it off. And they

(17:56):
just put the white on it. And when I was a kid, I never noticed it because the screen quality was
so bad. But this time I watched the HD version of this movie and my kids pointed it out. And they're
like, why is his lip dirty? I kind of think it adds to the campiness of this thing. These guys knew
what they were making. This was not them going in there saying, this is going to be a riveting movie.

(18:19):
Even though, we'll get the intro in a second, but even though they knew this was cheesy,
they knew this was silly, it's fun. So I think it just went into it.
But again, at the time, they knew nothing different. Unlike us who've grown up with
different phases of Batman, it's what they knew. So they were going into this and like, hey,
and it's the 60s. So they're like, look, we're going to have a good time. We're going to sip on

(18:39):
this alcohol. We're going to take a couple puffs of this. We may take a line of this or that.
And we're going to go have some fun. And that's exactly what they did. They just went out and had
a blast. I can imagine how much fun they had on set making the film.
Now we have skipped two main, two important characters that we have just skipped. One is

(19:00):
the titular Batman. How do you guys feel about Adam West's portrayal as Batman?
I mean, he's the Batman, again, that we would have grown up with. He was that Batman up until 1989.
And even, I mean, honestly, fairly recently, I think I've talked about on the Batman returns
episode, like, oh yeah, Adam West was always like another good Batman, right? And when we ranked
Batman or whatever. So I've always thought of him as like the, again, he's the campier side of Batman.

(19:25):
You're not going to be like, oh yeah, he's the toughest Batman. He doesn't need to be the toughest
Batman. He fits this role for this kind of Batman. And it's kind of like when we talk
about the 1977 Superman and Christopher Reeves, it's hard to say that there's a better Superman.
He was Superman. Like this was Batman. Same idea. Yeah, I'd have to piggyback off of that.

(19:46):
Not only was Adam West the Batman portrayal that we had, that we had a lack. It's something we
didn't have other options. There were a couple of other live action Batman portrayals that just
were not as good. Adam West Batman also was a detective and regularly was doing detective work.
Obviously was on a light campy side, but even in this film, I mean, they're on the buoy and he's

(20:09):
like salt and corrosion and the old enemies of the crime fighter. No prints here. Like he's doing
detective stuff. You know, everything is clearly labeled in the laboratory. Like he leaned more on
we have to use our minds and our fists. He always was going for as far as let's figure this out.
Let's come up with a plan, which we went away from, you know, and the later years for quite

(20:34):
a long time. It was all okay. Batman is going to throw the suit on. He knows 800 martial arts,
and he's going to beat everybody down. But this was a very campy, but more of a mental battle,
more than a physical battle between. You're right. This, this Batman is definitely more of the
scientist detective Batman rather than the Kung Fu fighting Batman. Now he can fight. He's got,

(20:55):
he throws in Dukes. He can actually fight people in this. He's street fighting though. He's not.
He's street fighting. Yeah. He's just street fighting Batman. He's going to be, he puts up,
you know, the fisticuffs. Yes. As he would say, as he said, when they were discussing the plan
to try to catch the riddler from getting mis-kicked, and as he come in, I'll bash him brutally.

(21:16):
Like he's ready to throw hands, but yeah, he's not this, this is before the Ra's al Ghul,
retconning and training and all that. This is just Batman throwing hands.
Now, Adam West initially turned down this rule, not the rule of Batman for the TV show,
the role of Batman in the movie. And until they threaten to say, we're just going to recast you

(21:39):
then for the movie and the TV show, if you don't do this. That's the only, he said, you took it on
there. I took it under one condition. They had more Bruce Wayne scene, which is why you had that
entire scene of him and Catwoman in the bar, one of the other seducing the other person. But that's
why you had those scenes added in there because Adam West said, I will do it. Only we have those

(22:00):
scenes in there. So this movie would have been a little bit shorter even than where we saw it.
It was a genius move by Adam West because, and if I was in his shoes, I would have felt the same
because in the show he spent so much time behind the mask and any actor knows, I mean, yeah,
you're acting, but you're selling your face or selling your looks behind your talent. He was like,

(22:20):
why am I going to be behind this mask for so much of the film that the film needs to showcase me?
It starts with him and out without the mask and then continues through multiple scenes
outside the mask from the date to the French restaurant and, you know, the chariot ride.
Escaping from the villains. There are several scenes where he is just chilling, very focused on

(22:47):
Adam West, not in the mask, but everybody else is kind of normal in how they're portrayed from the
show with the exception of the showcasing of Adam West. And that's what he said in an interview as
well was the weight of the mask, which is too much. Yeah, that cow was stiff. It hurt him as an actor.
As an actor. That's a heavy, I mean, like anybody that portrays Batman, that is a physically and

(23:10):
metaphorically a tough thing to carry. You know, you are essentially carrying a beloved franchise
and as toxic as the fandoms can be, it is a tough thing to really weigh on you.
What is one of the scenes that stuck out to you the most?
I know I started the show with it, but when he's running around with a bomb while the band is

(23:33):
playing constantly, like that's the thing that you can't forget it. Like is it great? Probably not,
but it's memorable, which is probably better than being like, oh, that was really awesome.
Instead, it's like, yeah, you'll never forget that. You see it once, you'll never forget it.
That little, the band clip that plays over and over again while he's running around.

(23:57):
I will never forget that for the rest of my life.
I hope we don't get a copyright strike for that one.
I'm pretty sure it's so old it's in public domain.
And no one's gonna, it's fine. If we can play clips from trailers, I think we're probably okay.
Yeah, I mean, that's notable. Honestly, for me, it was all the scenes of just like other than that,
but the villains scenes where they're all together, because it doesn't happen that often

(24:19):
in the show where you'd have all these villains in the same spot. So that's what I remember most
about this was all the scenes that were inside the submarine or when they're dealing with even
the fight time towards the end where they're all together. You don't get that level of villains in
the show. That was what made this stand out for me. I honestly didn't remember the plot
of this movie aside from all these villains to get together. I forgot what their plan was.
It didn't matter because I was just seeing all of them together. That made this notable for me.

(24:41):
I would say, there's so many moments that are just funny, but I would have to say the scene that
stands out a lot is the final battle because it is the most like the show where we have the
zaps and biffs and blobs and splooshes. We have just hilarious fight choreography and somehow these

(25:05):
two guys beat up 15 men only to be foiled by the woman who they're not allowed to punch on camera
and she gets foiled because she trips. She breaks the heel in the submarine and that somehow makes
her mask fly off. It's such a fun fight scene. Somehow their swords come in and Batman's fencing

(25:31):
with Penguin and Penguin's using his umbrella and Batman's got a sword. Then they're all in the
water and they're trying to climb out of the water. It's just that whole climax even from
shooting the bat chargers to make them surface. It's all just entertaining because it starts with

(25:53):
and I would say that's tied with just the very beginning which is actually now canon and that
is the bat repellent shark spray because that is now canon in the comics as they have crossed
universes and main Batman obtained the can of the shark repellent spray. Just watching the scene
where you see this plastic shark on Adam West's leg and you hear the plastic as he's punching it

(26:20):
is just pure hilarity but he's selling it like it is really going on. He is in dire straits.
Those are like Jeremy said, it's fun. It's memorable. It's not good. It's not high cinema.
Martin Scorsese is never going to praise it. It's not going to win an Oscar but if you watched it

(26:41):
you're not going to forget it. It's funny you say Oscar though. Cesar Romero is the only joker to
never have received an Oscar. It's not surprising. Again, it's campy. It's fun but especially if you
didn't watch the show, if you've only read Batman comics from the 80s forward, I just finished
reading Hush because it's been kind of collected. It's great. It's wonderful. Very dark. Then you

(27:04):
watch something like this, you're like, what am I? This is jarring how not dark this is. I read Hush
and I read The Owls, The Court of the Owls. Both of those are extremely dark. They're great but it's
like, then you go into this and it's like, oh, what? Shark repellent. Everything says Bat Dash,
whatever on it in the Batcave. Even little things in it like when they first go

(27:24):
from down into the Batcave from when they get that call at the very beginning,
there's notes on there like, oh, this is Batman's pole. This is Robin's pole. This goes to the Batcave.
It's so jarring if you haven't watched the show recently, which I hadn't. I basically read a bunch
of current comics and then went into this and it was totally jarring. I got to say, it seems like
Batman or Bruce Wayne had a label maker and just went to town. Another little thing for you too is

(27:49):
you mentioned that shark scene. I was going to bring it up but I'm glad you did. It makes that
sound when he's punching it. Adam West was sitting with the editors and they wanted to remove that
sound from it. He actually convinced them to keep it in. He said, people know it's not real. You see
this plastic. It's obvious. It just adds to that. Yeah. You see where the head is jammed in there

(28:12):
to keep it from falling out. You're not fooling anybody. It's funny. I'm glad I did not know that.
That's a really cool fact. The one thing I did also want to bring up was it's more talks about
the planning they do for their hijinks and how ridiculous they are and how really it does feel

(28:32):
like that Silver Age of comics. One of the things I'm talking about is when the Riddler devises the
ultimate plan on how to defeat Batman and he does it by saying, okay, so Catwoman, you're going to
seduce Bruce Wayne and bring him here. He'll be our bait. Penguin, you get an octopus that explodes.
We'll put it outside. I think, what was it? The Joker had a spring-loaded floor that would shoot

(28:56):
him through the window or something? Yeah, into the octopus.
They, yes, as we're going to kidnap some rich person and then Batman will come save him.
He's like, oh, well, she'll be disguised as Kitka and as Kitka, she will lure some rich millionaire
here and Batman will come rush into him. He'll step on the Joker's jack in the box, which will

(29:20):
throw him up out into the window into the awaiting arms of penguins exploding octopus.
And of course, apparently that was very funny for him. But it is an insane plan.
And Riddler, of course, his portion of it was writing the veiled threat in the riddles that,

(29:43):
you know, Kitka provided to Bruce. And they did a good job of, because the whole thing was
their powers combined means they're trying to take over the world. They did a good job in
in whatever plan they were doing. It involved all four of them and what they bring to the table as
villains to make the terrible plan work to a certain extent. To a certain extent. I do like

(30:07):
the fact that when Batman discovers that the penguin has a submarine, he calls up the head of
the D.S.D. Who's playing Tidley Winks? With his secretary. With his secretary. And he asked the
question, have you recently sold a submarine? And without a fail, not just submarine, pre atomic

(30:29):
submarine. He looks it up on his computer and goes, why? Yes, we have. Oh, no, no, no. That's
a Rolodex, which is hilarious. That's a Rolodex. He said he looked. Let me. Yes, we recently sold
one to P. N. Gwynn. Did this P. N. Gwynn leave an address? No, just a post office box. Would you

(30:51):
like that? No, Admiral. Disposing of pre atomic submarines to persons who don't even leave their
full name and addresses. Good day, Admiral. Yeah. Before he says that line, the Admiral says, oh,
have I done something wrong? Have I done something wrong? What's always got me too is like, did he
mail it to the P.O. box? Like, how did Penguin pick up the submarine? And I have a P.O. box.

(31:14):
They're not that big. No, no. I mean, I know you can rent big ones, but I haven't seen the
subatomic submarine size yet. But I mean, not but Penguin's got a lot of money because he's got
Penguin umbrella shaped jetpacks. So he was very. With side cars. With side cars. So he was very

(31:35):
well funded for this caper. The overarching plan of these four criminals, from what I can tell is
they have this submarine and other than to try to kill Batman so that they can succeed at any other
plan they have, they're going to hold the like UN Security Council. It's not called the UN,
but whatever the Global Security Council, hostage somehow by dehydrating them. Like,
what a weird set of plans for this for the overarching plan for this.

(31:58):
That's right. That's for convenience purposes, because how are you going to store them?
Yeah, that's just that's that's just to kidnap them and nobody notices that they're kidnapped.
That's all the hydrate the dehydration part. Well, they're rants them back for one million
dollars a or one billion dollars a piece. One billion dollars per country that was
supposed to be delivered to some private island that Penguin somehow paid for as well.

(32:20):
I think Penguin's probably spent more than a few billion dollars on this plan already.
Yes. And I think they call themselves United Underworld. Yes. Which they were not very united
and they even made the point of that, that they were they were not acting very united. And I think
Riddler even says, these are the lines where Riddler says like they have to set aside their
super criminal ego or something like that. Because it was obviously getting in the way of their role.

(32:45):
But they just want to kidnap some people and ransom them. It's a very simple basic.
But somehow takes over the world. It's kind of a shocking plan, because if you watched a current
Batman movie, his plan would their plan would involve like burning down the building with
everyone inside. Right. It wouldn't be like, oh, we're just going to hold these people captive.
It would be much more destructive in a current Batman. So it's kind of refreshing to have an

(33:06):
evil plan that's not that evil. Well, the plan was a little more than that, too. So we kind of
alluded to this whole dehydration thing. So it starts off with they make a boat disappear
by creating a hologram of another boat somewhere else for Batman to go investigate.
And they do this because on that boat is what was his name? The Commodore Schmid lab,
Commodore Schmid, who is who owns a whiskey factory from the Big Ben distilleries,

(33:31):
who has learned to use creative technology that dehydrates whiskey so we can ship it
and rehydrate it on the other side of the ocean. So it's made for lower shipping costs. And they
decided to take this dehydrator and use it on people. And first, people they do it with are
actually their henchmen, the five guinea pigs, the five guinea pigs. You know, until you said
that I had no idea why the GP was on their shirts. Five. Then he tried to rehydrate them. The penguin

(33:57):
does inside a bat cave, but he uses heavy water instead of regular water. So they're atomically
unstable. Yes. So you learn science in this movie, too. It's just educational. Which, you know,
because at the lightest impact, render them into anti matter. Which means canonically,
Batman does kill people in this movie. There is no Batman movie where Batman has not killed them.

(34:20):
But that they did kill them, even though it was inadvertent. It was not purposeful. But they did
kill. And Robin even says that he's like, did we just kill it? He goes, I think they're not coming
back. They're gone to another place. It's like, it's like your dog has gone to upstate New York.
Right. Yeah. Your dog went to the farm. He's not coming back. He's on the farm. He's happy now.

(34:42):
He's like, so they won't be coming back. And not in this lifetime, Robin, as they solemnly hopped
down from the poor little Robin. He's not. He's your first kill, Robin. Yeah. First kill, Robin.
How's it feel, buddy? Yeah. And then, well, and then two of them kill themselves because they
run into each other. And then Penguin kills the last one by hitting him in the back with the umbrella.

(35:06):
And then, yes, that's why they then go after the UN council to take all, to turn them into dust.
And then we end up solving the world's issues by mixing all the dust together and rehydrate him.
Thanks to Commodore Schmidt Lab. Somehow, again, that infernal platform for the periscope
makes me cablum a trip. Schmidt Lab trips over, like everybody's tripping over this

(35:27):
infernal platform. They really need to sign. That's what they need.
Bad Man should bring his label maker down there and put warning. That was a problem on Penguin
Ship. There was not enough labeling, even though it had a good amount of labeling on it itself.
It was not sufficiently labeled, though. And actually, that set for the submarine was
used in a different movie around the same time. I was reading about it. I completely forgot which

(35:49):
movie that was. But so a lot of these sets were reused from other movies, which was a thing they
did back in the day. So this movie takes about 107 minutes. Pacing wise, did you want more of this
or was it too much? I think this is a little long. I think it is, again, this would have been fine
as like two TV episodes tied together where there's commercial breaks and whatever else in it. I think

(36:10):
there's just a lot of, and maybe it's because of those Bruce Wayne scenes they had to add in to
make Adam West come back and play this again, but it's a little long. And maybe it's also just the
time frame the movie came out. Maybe this wouldn't have felt long in 1966, but it does feel a little
long today. I can't say it feels long to me, but that's probably a lot of my nostalgia talking.

(36:31):
If I didn't have such a connection to the show and this movie, it probably would feel long.
I'm going to say it is a bit long only because there is a, I would guess it's a sequel that was
animated about 10 years ago called Return the, Batman Return the K Crusaders with Adam West,

(36:53):
Burt Ward, and I believe Julie Newmar reprising their roles. And it's animated, but it's still
Sam Campi added a bit more adult humor to it. And watching that, it felt a little long. So I would
say that felt long. And if I didn't have the nostalgic attachment to this, it would probably

(37:17):
feel a bit long because in reality, it's just a very long episode of the show.
Right. Yeah. It definitely needed some editing. I try to think what parts needed editing, but I
think really shortening a couple scenes down maybe of what made it work better. But it was the same
pace the whole movie too. I don't really think of any slow parts, except maybe the dating parts of

(37:37):
Bruce Wayne or actually not a thing about the scenes of the Batcopter and the Batboat, both very
cool, but they were really long for what they were trying to do. You're just watching that boat go
for forever. Oh yeah. And you're watching them in the copter and Robin's waving to, somehow there's
just random women on top of a building in bikinis for Robin to wave at and then multiple trips to

(38:03):
the Batboat. Yeah. It's multiple trips to the Batcopter. Even the classic walking up the wall
scene when they're conversating, it's a nod to the show. They didn't say anything interesting. It was
like, man, I don't want to be a drunk. Drinking's a dirty habit, Robin. It's a big PSA.

(38:25):
Essentially what it was. It was a PSA while they paid homage to the show.
I do like how the less of the PSA was, they're all human. Was that a problem? Were you not
expecting there to be people? Well, later on when they did, and I thought that was great because
if you're going to be a PSA about that, but Robin's always so like, oh man, that's such a dirty habit.

(38:46):
This and that, they're terrible. And Batman having to be wise, I was like, they're still human.
Oh, because he's like, oh, that was after he was with the, he's like, you did all that to save the
lives of those riffraff and the bar. He's like, it may be drunks, but they're human, Robin. I can't
just blow them up. And unfortunately, there's a lot of people that would probably have Robin's
reaction, sadly enough. This movie, the budget for is about $1.3 million. It was all obviously

(39:12):
all practical effects. There are no CGI. It was not a thing at this point. No. How do you feel
about the practical effects or the effects in general of this movie? It's hard to gauge that,
like, cause again, I'd seen this before. It reminded me of the TV show. It's something
that's already baked in. So much like my comments on Superman 77, it's hard to say like, yeah,

(39:33):
this doesn't hold up because it's exactly what I think it should be from my memories. So it's hard
to argue it. It is that campy Batman and it fits right in with, you know, that the show from the
same timeframe. So it sure, if you never saw it before, and I would be very interested if someone
had never seen this and had never seen the TV show and watched it, that's not, you know, 11,
uh, would, would think about this, but I think it's fine for what it is. I would feel weird if

(39:57):
it had way more increased effects than the TV show did. I would say it holds up very well for
its age. And this speaking as a, as a big fan of television from and sci-fi from that period,
I'm a big Trekkie. You know, I can compare it to the effects that we've seen during that,
that same decade in the same years of production, where when you watch some older Star Trek,

(40:21):
fantastic practical effects for the time, but here and there, you can see things that,
that really don't hold up or really don't age very well. Where here, because the special effects are
used much, much more sparingly in this than they are in a show like Star Trek, they hold up better
because we're talking about bits and pieces like the, um, the, you know, the, the images of, of the

(40:44):
bat chargers being shot, unless you really know what to look for to see the mistakes, you're not
noticing them. And, you know, a lot of the little effects that they use that are supposed to be
good, um, still look pretty good, especially even in the HD versions and the ones that are supposed
to look cheesy, like the aforementioned, you know, shark attached to the leg and stuff, you know,
they look the way they're supposed to. Uh, well, I think honestly, like, I think the best practical,

(41:08):
my favorite practical effect of the movie is the bomb, you know, just him running around with this
big, you know, circle bomb with the blue flame going, um, that could not have been an easy effect
to, to do, um, and have that, you know, that light, that flame effect go as Adam West is clearly

(41:28):
sprinting all over this, this set. So I think there was some really cool and very well done
practical effects that hold up very well for being almost 60 years old.
You mentioned the scene where they're climbing upside of the building, which is a cold,
back to the television show. I remember as a kid, when I first learned how they did that,
they're just walking where they're not actually climbing up anything. There was, yep. There's

(41:49):
walking crouched down and the way they make their case pull back. Cause they got little strings,
holding them back. Keep that thing. You can see that in the movie. You can see those little
strings in the movie. And I was reading an interview about Adam West. He was even saying
how the special effects guys saw the strings. We're trying to figure out how to remove them.
And they just decided we have the shark. We can leave the strings. It's okay.

(42:10):
And no one watches movie is really looking to point out those faults. They're not watching it for that.
I think they add to the campiness of it. If it was cleaner, if this was a clean,
clean movie, I don't think the campiness would work. You know what I mean? If it kept the tone
the same, but it was beautiful effects, it would fall into that weird, surreal category of movies

(42:33):
where it just wouldn't work. It would feel too much like a sin city and it just feels off.
So speaking of that, this movie is very cheesy, very campy. What type of Batman do you prefer?
Do you prefer a campy Batman or a dark Batman? I mean, I think now I prefer a dark Batman,
but I think the campy Batman has a place and I appreciate it.
I prefer just the character of Batman. I prefer my Batman to be a bit darker. But when I say,

(43:00):
I prefer my Batman to have some camp to it, I'm referring to just the entire property.
I personally feel that Batman the Animated Series is the best rendition of Batman. It's got a dark
and serious Batman with a little lightheartedness, but there is full of, it's chock full of camp
from Robin's portrayal to Mark Hamill as Joker, to Two-Face, Riddler, Penguin,

(43:26):
Mr. Freeze. It's full of campiness while still maintaining a serious edge, a dark edge,
a lot of detective work, a lot of real psychological analysts. There's a lot of,
so many moving parts to that. So I like a healthy mixture of all those parts that make up Batman.

(43:47):
So too much camp I can do without, but just the right mixed in, right amount of dark,
right amount of campiness is, I'm looking for, I'm like Thanos, I'm looking for that balance.
I like a world where both Batmans exist in them. I prefer personally as an adult watching the darker
greater your Batmans to a certain point. I mean, you can go so dark, it stops being Batman.

(44:08):
There is that point, but I do like the fact that I can have a cheesier campier Batman I can watch
with my kids. That is nice, which is where the cartoons really came in. Like I love the Animated
Series, but there are other animated versions as well. And I can watch most of those, not a lot of
these direct to TV, the direct to DVD versions. Yeah, not the DCEU movies, no, not the animated

(44:29):
version movies, but the other ones, yeah. The Brave and the Bold, you know, stuff like that. Yes.
Yeah, the mainstream, and I can help introduce them to that world that way. One thing I do want
to touch upon are the riddles in this movie. And I want to bring them up because I forgot how bad
they were. Oh, yeah, they're, they're, they're class. I mean, we, we would, we would have those,

(44:49):
that's like a YouTube, you know, dad joke show. Like that's like, you know, what's weighs six
ounces is in, and lives in a tree, you know, a sparrow with a machine gun. Like, like,
who comes up with that? You know? The full riddle was what is it, what does a turkey do when it's
upside down? And the second part was what's six ounces and deadly in a tree or something like

(45:11):
that. And the answer, the first one is a turkey laying upside down, it would be gobbled down.
And then a canary with machine gun is dangerous. So it's what, so that's how they knew Catwoman was
the fourth villain. Because it gobbles gobbles up and then gobbles up a bird. Yeah, it's,
it's ridiculous. The riddles are very, you know, they're very campy. I'll just try to think of

(45:32):
another one. I mean, let's, let's be honest, they launch out of rockets that explode and become
skywriting of these riddles. So they're already ridiculous, even if the riddles were incredible.
And some of the clearest skywriting that's ever seen. Drones could even pull that off. Yeah,
I mean, we're talking like four senses worth of a riddle in the sky from one rocket. Yeah,

(45:53):
they look like the text from like an intro to a Star Wars movie. There was like very clean,
tilted slightly. The only thing it wasn't doing was just the Star Wars crawl. Everything else was
just, hey, everybody can read this. Exactly. So obviously, I think we've all got some fond
memories of this movie from our childhood. But looking back with fresh eyes, what are some of

(46:13):
the key things you actually really enjoy about it? But what things do you think they wish you had
changed or done differently? So what I enjoyed was that they did have all four villains and that they
did have some infighting, right? I had forgotten that they had the parts where they're arguing
with each other about, you know, why they are a better villain, essentially like, oh, this,
this idea is ridiculous. Or in here, you know, here's why I would have done it differently.
Whatever. I like that they're not a cohesive unit, right? That that's part of their downfall is that

(46:38):
they aren't a cohesive unit. So I did enjoy that. I did like the, again, it'd been a long time since
I've watched this. So it was nice to see the, the Caesar Romero Joker. And again, I did appreciate
the Penguin more than I think I had previously the Burgess of Merida Penguin. So I liked that.
I liked going back and seeing these characters. Cause I think, I mean, and we, I think Matt said
this earlier that this Joker is the blueprint for every other Joker that followed this, right? Every

(47:03):
Joker has to have a laugh that kind of sounds like this, right? It's their version of this laugh and
this character. So I did appreciate that. What I, what I would have done differently is maybe give,
give the other characters who aren't the Penguin and maybe the Catwoman some better,
better input into this plan. Like maybe there should have been like a larger part of that
the Joker would have been involved in. I mean, the Riddler has these riddles, I guess, but again,

(47:26):
they're not very good. And like the whole, I don't know, he didn't do as much in this as you'd expect.
I think both the Joker and the Riddler should have had their own facets to this a little stronger,
but I understand for time that that's probably not incredibly likely. So, but that's really,
I mean, again, I think some of the Bruce Wayne parts are long, but now that you have the
backstory of why they're in there, it makes sense, I guess, but I would have probably cut those in

(47:47):
half. Yeah. I would say cause to do anything different would make the movie longer because
I kind of agree with what Jeremy said. It would be nice to have a little bit more of a fleshed out
purpose for Joker and Riddler, especially because of it's not even, the characters are great, but
also it's just the talent that is just not being like Frank Gorshin and Say the Romero are just

(48:13):
fantastic. So just having that talent to be underutilized, it's kind of crappy. If you're
fresh, especially if you're fresh to the movie and you don't have the memories of the show to lean on,
but also because he really doesn't get a whole lot of praise and we haven't really talked about it
much. Burt Ward doesn't have much to do in this film. So I think if anything, if you were going

(48:36):
to give Burt Ward a little bit more to do that could have tied into giving Cesar Romero and Frank
Gorshin a little bit more to do as Joker and Riddler. And that, you know, you could have
probably added five to seven more minutes to this movie and made it a bit better without it really
extending it. True. I think for me, something, the one thing I, going back and watching again,

(48:59):
I do appreciate is that, and we talked to us for other movies, this is an ensemble cast.
There are four heavyweights in this room, right? Even though the cabin was brought on later,
she's a heavyweight, right? There could have been some infighting. There could have been some,
I mean, on the actor level, not the characters, but like the actors wanting the limelight more.
So ensemble casts are very difficult to do typically. And they did a great job of keeping

(49:23):
that balance. You've got five leading actors in the film. And they all get that they all
shed limelight. They're not, no one's greedy about it. That's really hard to do. And I do
appreciate that about it. Some things they could have done better for me. There's nothing sort of
significant for me that they could have done differently. And the reason why is because I
think you guys touched on it. It just makes the movie longer. I just add more to it or

(49:48):
shortens it up and we lose the campiness that's there, which is the whole point of the movie.
I mean, at this point, maybe at that time, maybe it was meant to be more serious or more of a for
that moment. But for me now, looking back on it, you go into it looking for camp. Like you can't
go to this. I want a serious Batman movie. I want to know where Batman comes from. No, you're going
there because Batman runs around with a giant bomb and a tuba keeps showing up. I mean, one thing

(50:10):
that could have done better, they should have King Tutton there. Now let's bring some of the really
terrible villains from the TV show and throw it in there. Yeah, why not? I mean, you could have had
all of the Catwoman show up and then figure out what's going on. Or even just where they bring
up the closed circuit television and at the commissioners, there's only four villains currently
at large. Why don't we have like show eight villains that are at large? That way Batman

(50:31):
actually has to deduce it's these particular four, not that the answer is E, all the above.
But that's just a little thing just because there were some really campy villains from that TV show.
I was going to say, what were the other ones you'd pull in there? Yeah.
The only thing. Yeah, I honestly, the only problem is if they would have done more from the time

(50:55):
and the studio, the only thing they probably would have done would have been like a crossover
and they probably would have tried to cross green hornet into it somehow like they did on the show.
And that would have just like it could be in and Van even makes an uncredited appearance as the
president. So like I'm my thing is like they probably would have tried to do too much in that

(51:16):
aspect. And that would have really just drug the movie down. I thought they did a really good job
balancing what they could, you know, because you couldn't do much without a Piers Alfred.
You gave him a couple of lines. I don't even think that on here you even had a line like she was just
there. Yeah, she's just there in the beginning. She has no lines. You know, Alan, the peers,

(51:38):
great, you know, great facial expressions, you know, for the little bit that he got to do and
you know, that silly scene in the car following them, you know, or Robbins just doesn't want to
watch Bruce make out. Like you just didn't have a ton that you could really be that flexible
because they probably could have done a little bit more with either Chief O'Hara or Commissioner

(51:59):
Gordon that led into the Joker into the story, the story. Maybe, you know, they get kidnapped or
whatever you rescue them. So I'm like, Commissioner Gordon and the Chief Police, they're always like
Batman's hype man. Yeah. And one thing that's really interesting, I forgot to mention earlier,
is with this Batman and the campiness is that this Batman is not a vigilante. Yes, he is a,

(52:21):
they are deputized members of- And he holds press conferences. And he holds press conferences.
Where he lies to the public. Yes. And then right after they leave, he's like, I couldn't tell the
truth instead of panic. He's literally lying to the public. Like what are they trying to, like,
who is the moral high ground in this movie? All your heroes don't get to know them. They get ruined.

(52:46):
Yes, absolutely. It's just unfortunate. They just did not have, because if this was four or five
episodes, you know, you could have really fleshed it out more and had a more coherent story, but
you had to really shove it into that truncated timetable. And I think they did as best as anybody
could, especially from the producer and director side. They did a really good job of compiling

(53:13):
all this together. Well, why don't we look towards the future a little bit? Do you want to see,
especially with the DCU being rebooted, sort of, they're saying they're coming out with like,
they slew of different kinds of movies, different themes, it's all not going to be all dark.
You know, like Superman's gonna be very different than Creature Command is tonally. Do you want to
see a campy superhero movie? I don't care if it's Batman or not, but do you want to see some

(53:36):
superhero movie come out that's campy again? Well, with James Gunn running DC, it's gonna happen,
because that's what he's good at. I'm not the biggest James Gunn fan, but I gave him all the
props the world for turning Guardians of the Galaxy from being like D-list characters in the
Marvel universe that no one really cared about, and he turned them into household names. That's a

(53:59):
fantastic feat that I never thought anybody would be able to do, or even undertake for that matter.
So because of his success in that aspect, I am very sure that we're going to see some campiness
in the DCU from some of these lower level, you know, level less popular characters. I mean,
I didn't see the full trailer because I try to watch, I started to stay away from trailers now

(54:21):
because they show too much, but just a clip of Nathan Sillien as Guy Gardner, that is walking
camp. Like it doesn't get campier than that costume design of Nathan Sillien as Guy Gardner.
Or Crypto the Dog.
And I love Crypto. I mean, I grew up on that Superman cartoon with Crypto,
and the Superboy cartoon with Crypto. I'm here for more Crypto, and the way they use Crypto in

(54:46):
uh, in Teen Titans was pretty wack, so not just Teen Titans, but just Titans. It was, it was pretty,
I didn't, I was very unfulfilled with that. So no, there's going to be camp. Gunn makes his
living off of camp. My concern is not for, for DCU, is not going to be camp, is the serious parts,
can he get those right? Because James Gunn can do camp. I think he's going to do just fine on that

(55:10):
aspect. But yeah, I think we need balance. And for rumors of Lobo coming to the DCU, he's a very
campy character. So we're going to get more than our fill probably. I mean, I think, I think you're
right. There does have to be a balance. Not everything can be the Dark Knight and shouldn't
be. I don't need a lot of grim dark superheroes. I didn't really care for Batman versus Superman

(55:30):
because I thought it was too dark and there wasn't enough fun in it. So, um, it'll be nice to kind of
have a slightly lighter Batman. This movie was originally going to have a sequel,
app between seasons two and season three, the way this was between season one and season two.
And it was where they're going to introduce Batgirl as a character. Instead they decide not to,
because popularity of the TV show is waning by that point and they didn't want to spend a million

(55:52):
in change for the new movie. If that movie existed today, would you want to watch it?
I'd watch it. But again, like, like this, I think this fits right in with the TV show. You could
have told me this was two to three episodes that they tied together as one movie, like the
Transformers movie. And I would be fine with that. It's funny, Jeremy, he was saying about the stitch
together episode. I really thought that's what this was. And not until this podcast, reviewing it

(56:15):
again, like as a kid growing up, I really thought it was just a really long episode. But when we
said that, I started doing research on it, realizing it was an actual movie they put together,
you know, to do this. That I understand where you're coming from without that of being feeling like
two or three episodes, because that's all I thought it was for the past, you know, 40 odd years.
Now there were two spiritual sequels that came after this movie. And you,

(56:36):
that you mentioned one of them, Kate Crusaders, it came out 2017, 2016. And in 2017, Batman versus
Two Face came out. Both are animated. Both are Adam West. And it's the same feel to it. I was
right here to review those movies. If you have not seen them, would you see those movies?
Well, I have seen the one I haven't seen the two face one, but I plan to since in my memory,

(56:59):
certainly correctly, William Shatner, voices to face, which is probably going to sound absolutely
hilarious. Yeah, I was unaware of those things existed till today. I would gladly check both of
those out. Yeah, William Shatner is two face. But basically, it's Jeremy, I own both of those. So
if you're by the house, I'm giving to you. But the reality is, they're on HBO Max, too. But

(57:19):
that'll be easier. It literally is this TV. This is the Batman TV show just brought into animation.
It's the same feel. They don't miss a beat. There are little it's a little more adult oriented. But
I wouldn't say like, you know, hard already like that. It's more like a PG 13. Ask. Yeah, it's not

(57:39):
it's not Harley Quinn. They're making any window and they kind of like winking at you. So Jeremy,
should you go find that? Should people go find this movie? This is a hard one to find. It's not
for free anywhere. You've got to pay to watch it. And I think if you weren't the age generally that
we all were where we grew up with this, I don't know how this would hold up. I'd be very curious

(58:00):
to see if someone who had never seen the TV show Batman appreciated this or not. So I think it's
it's worth finding. But it's hard for me to to determine whether or not that's only because of
nostalgia. Yeah, it's if someone claims claiming to be Batman fans, if they really want to know all

(58:21):
aspects of Batman, I would definitely recommend that they watch the movie. But give them the caveat
that it's not the Batman that they're accustomed to, especially if they're younger because to them,
old Batman is Batman 89. If you've never seen the original TV show, you got to go and you got to be
warned, right? You got to know what you're about to walk into. And I was watching my daughter and

(58:44):
she was saying it feels like a spoof of Batman. Like it feels like someone's making fun of Batman.
And honestly, that's not what's happening here, obviously. But I think if you go into it, not
knowing that TV show existed or had watched that TV show, you might feel that way going into it
because it is so silly. It is so campy. So I think should people go find it? It's an experience.

(59:05):
As Jeremy said, it was really hard to find this movie. It's easy to find. It's on the Internet
Archives. Full movie, free. Watch it. Did you pay to watch it? Oh, man. No, I mean, I've already
I already owned it. But yeah, it's on the Internet Archives. It's free to watch. There you go for
our listeners. Go out to Internet Archives and don't listen to me. Before we rate this movie,

(59:27):
we'd really appreciate if you, our listeners, can go to Apple or Spotify. Leave us a five star
review. Let us know how we're doing. Give some support to the show. It helps other listeners
find us with the algorithms of podcasts. So don't keep it secret. So in closing, guys,
how would you rate this movie? So it's hard to rate this. I have to kind of echo my comments
from SuperMiran77, which is that it's hard to rate something that was always just there for me. It

(59:50):
was always something I watched over and over again. That said, I think it's easier than just
rated a bat thumb, one bat thumb up as opposed to an actual rating. It's of the time. It's worth
seeing, but I can't rate it. I find it very easy to rate. I would rate it 66 Catwoman grinds

(01:00:11):
while purring looking through the periscope. I can tell that was a defining moment in your
youth. It really was. Absolutely. Jeremy, I'm with you on this. It is hard to rate this thing
because it is a good movie. No, it's not a good movie. Is it well-made? No, it is not well-made.
Was it fun? Yes. Did I laugh like dumb dad joke laugh? Yes, several times during this movie.

(01:00:34):
How ridiculous that bomb scene is. It is dumb ridiculous, but at the same time,
you know what you're getting. It's kind of like going to McDonald's ordering a hamburger and
being upset that you got a hamburger. You know what you're going when you go for this thing,
which is why it's hard to rate because I wouldn't give McDonald's be a good hamburger either.
Is it a good meal? It's okay. It'll get you through it, but go enjoy yourself. I don't know
where that analogy is going, by the way. At the end of the day, I'd say it's worth the watch.

(01:00:59):
I can't imagine you've never seen it, but if you've never seen it, go watch it, but understand
it is not your kid's Batman. It's not even a teenager's Batman. It's not a 20-year-old's
Batman. It's grandpa's Batman. It's grandpa's Batman when superhero comics were basically
very kid things. So we have no mail bag to go over today, Jeremy, because Fertil's not with us today.

(01:01:21):
So, but for our listeners, if you want to send us a note, go to movie-smash.com. We'll go all the
way down to the bottom of the page. There's a form you can fill out. Put your information,
send it to us, and we'll read your note on the air. But in closing, guys, where can people find
you? You can find me, wow, you can find me in most places, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. You can find

(01:01:42):
my brand, which is Jeek Nation, J-E-E-K-N-A-T-I-O-N, Jeek Nation. We have multiple podcasts,
the original Jeek Podcast, Breaking Ring Rust, which is a pro wrestling show. And we at Jeek Nation,
we pretty much have, we have the best conversations combining the jock world and the geek world.

(01:02:03):
So, former college athletes who love anime, love comic books, love the NBA, love the NFL,
and we combine our, those two very different worlds into one smooth concoction.
And Jeremy?
You can always find me here every two weeks, but also at Retrovania.net, where it holds our
podcasts, our social media sites, our streaming channels, everything retro gaming.

(01:02:26):
And for me, you can always find me at All Fatal Creations. We're always there building some
piece of nerdy furniture. I want to thank you, our listeners, for spending some time with us today.
If you have any thoughts, just send us a note at movie-smash.com and we'll see you in a couple weeks.

(01:03:02):
Visit us at movie-smash.com and send us a note. It too can be read on a future episode.
If you haven't already, please subscribe to Movie Smash wherever you listen to your podcasts.