For the 1960s I'm going to look at something a little different this time for Batman. This was an especially interesting (and definitely funny) decade for Batman because within this time period is when the show starring Adam West as Batman came out. Now there were still Batman comics coming out every month in the sixties, but they were very similar to the comics of the fifties, but maybe just a little stranger.
Uhhh...yeah -
Anyway, the show was incredibly silly, but it actually reflected the comics of that time pretty accurately. It was very campy and every line of dialogue spoken was done with such over emphasis that it seemed more like a cartoon than a TV show. The plots were ridiculous and Batman had a gadget for every situation whether it was his universal antidote (I don't why he didn't give this medical miracle to the world, but...) or his special long underwear used to combat Mr. Freeze.
Batman and Robin -
The Show - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jgE-lrfZ3k
Now I didn't have time to watch every episode for this entry so I watched the movie that came out in 1966 instead:
This, like the show, was definitely made for kids, but watching it as an adult can be fun for a laugh. Several of Batman's villains team up in this movie to take over the Gotham World Building, which will apparently allow them to rule the world. Every thing Catwoman says has to be with a purr, the Riddler always speaks in questions, and everything the Joker says is supposed to be funny (emphasis on the "supposed to be"). The actor who played the Joker refused to shave his mustache, so they just covered over it with white paint. The Penguin is actually the most normal one (except for a somewhat long nose), which is in striking contrast from Danny Devito's monstrous portrayal of him in Batman Returns. There is one crazy moment after the next in this movie. In one scene Batman tries to get rid of bomb but everywhere he turns there's a nun, or a mother, or even baby ducklings, but he eventually finds a spot devoid of any innocent people or animal lives. In another earlier scene Batman gets attacked by a shark and has to use his special anti-shark spray to get rid of it.
Shark Repellant - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0UJaprpxrk
I'm so glad that
things eventually changed for Batman.
The seventies see Batman start to slowly make his way back to being a
dark detective; the stories get more mature and more in depth. As ridiculous as the sixties show was,
it's still funny to watch and from what it looks like, all the actors had a
whole of fun making each episode and the movie.
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