Batman

As a story of a super hero goes, this Batman did not cut it, and it is not as good as Tim Burton's Batman movies. However, as comedy and something off the wall, this one has the stuff to make it.

Spoiler - Wait till you see how Batman and Robin escape the torpedo that got through Batman's utility belt defenses.

Burgess Meredith, Caesar Romero turned in great performances as the villains Penquin and Joker, and Frank Gorshin's terrific crazy laugh as the Riddler was everpresent.

Lee Merriweather tookover for Julie Neumaur as the Catwoman and played catwoman well using her charms on Bruce Wayne.

For those of us that were young at the time, it worked out to be a good ending and a good experience.

This movie is one of my favorite movies. And I'm only 12. The villains are so colorful and each has a great personality, especially the Joker and the Riddler. Adam West is also great as Batman and so is Burt Ward as Robin. I just wish the series still came on.

For folks my age, despite the more serious Batman films that began in the 90s, this frankly is how I like my Batman. Funny, tongue in cheek, and populated by some really great players who look like they were having a ball doing this film.

The Batman series in the Sixties ran for three fun filled seasons with Adam West and Burt Ward playing the dynamic duo. They got their shot at big screen laughs and took it and ran. The three most popular Batman villains all got into the film and Frank Gorshin, Burgess Meredith and Cesar Romero all did one glorious job in overacting their characters to the max.

The plot if you can call it that involves these dastardly people having invented the ultimate dehydrating machine and they capture the nine members of the UN Security Council and hold them for ransom. Also involved is Lee Meriweather taking over for Julie Newmar as Catwoman.

And part of the plot is for Catwoman to put on some sexy street clothes and pretend to be a Russian journalist Miss Kitka for whom Bruce Wayne is ready to share stately Wayne Manor with. Not to mention getting Dick Grayson a mother figure. Of course that would compromise their alternate identities, but is there no end to the dastardly plots that this crew can think up?

Batman also marked the farewell performance of Reginald Denny as a silly English millionaire who the villains take over a submarine he owns and use it for their own evil plans. Denny looked like he was just well into the spirit of all the fun involved.

This is how Batman should be.

If you can't appreciate the sublime glory that is the 1966 version of "Batman," I pity you, brother. There's nothing quite like Adam West dashing around a pier, holding a bomb with a ridiculously long fuse, declaring, "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!" There's nothing quite like Cesar Romero's refusal to shave his moustache before putting on his Joker makeup. There's nothing like Romero and Frank Gorshin getting in a cackling contest as the Joker and the Riddler. For that matter, there's nothing like the Joker and the Penguin deciding that they need to don masks in order to commit crimes...

Comic book dorks whine and complain about the 60's-era Batman - I say that such people don't recognize how great the 60's Batman really was - the best fictional characters are the ones who can stand up through the decades to dozens of different interpretations. There's room in the world for Tim Burton's Batman, Adam West's Batman...heck, maybe even Joel Shumacher's Batman. Like "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," "Rocky IV" or "Flash Gordon," this version of Batman is one of the great goofy pleasures of movie-watching.

A wise man once said "The 60s Batman movie is the greatest ever." I should know, because I was that wise man.

OK, it might not be the greatest movie, but it is one of the awesomest movies ever. Only in 'Batman' could intelligent writers come up with some of the most illogical situations and cheesiest dialog committed to screen.

A Yacht disappears in Gotham Harbour ("How can a yacht simply disappear... unless, it was never really there!"). On board was a 'superdehydrator', a machine that can extract the moisture from any living being, and in of the most logical displays of logic ever, Batman and friends logically come to the (correct) conclusion that the culprits are the combined forces of Penguin, Joker, the Riddler and Catwoman, apparently intent on world domination.

'Batman is scene-after-scene of pure brilliance - great situations, and the greatest dialog ever. 'Batman' is very funny, but only if you appreciate and enjoy the style, otherwise you will hate it. But only those who lack a sense of awesomeness would not like it, and who is really so un-awesome, that they can't even find the captioned fights just that little bit amusing?

8/10 - Awesome, simply awesome