Comments on: Tim Burton's Batman, the opposite of Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Tim Burton's Batman, the opposite of Pee-wee's Big Adventure

filthy light thief — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 19:58:28 -0800

This year marks the 25th anniversary of 1989 Batman movie, which is remembered for everything from the logo "that helped set the course for superhero movies" to the ways the movie was true to the comics, or was really a "noir" update to the 1960s Adam West Batman. While preparing yourself for what may come in the lead-up to the June 23 anniversary date, enjoy Batman: The Making of a Hero documentary, a rare 25 minutes behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, from the folks at 1989 Batman, a fansite dedicated to the movie, and its sequel, Batman Returns.

If you want more batty behind-the-scenes, you can read about how DC announced at the 1980 New York ComiCon that it was "The Year of the Batman" (Google books preview), the 1983 script for The Batman by Tom Mankiewicz (or read the revised first draft script as a PDF), the 1985 outline, drafted by Tim Burton and Julie Hickson, Steve Englehart's 1986 treatments (in brief, part of a longer interview), Sam Hamm's first draft version of the screenplay, or an over-all history of The Batman, with "The Burton/Schumacher Series," Part 1 and Part 2. If you want a little mood music (and video), here's Prince's Batdance, and a soundtrack playlist. More videos, you say? Here's another half-hour documentary - The Making of Batman, Batman's Back on 20/20, Michael Keaton promoting Batman on Letterman, and a clip of Burton and Keaton being interviewed, plus Siskel & Ebert's review of the movie. If you really have nothing better to do by now, here's the TV Tropes page for the film.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:01:08 -0800

Boy we got a live one here

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:06:03 -0800

Man, that FPP title is such a teaser. I see no links to a trailer for a noir update of Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:10:18 -0800

Sorry XMLicious, that's a vague re-quote from the Wikipedia article on the movie.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:27:44 -0800

Was at the movies last weekend and I was remembering that it was the same theater that I'd seen Batman in but I didn't quite realize that it was a twenty five years ago. I do remember people complaining about how dark Burton's movie was compared to the TV series.

By: zachxman

zachxman — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:31:24 -0800

I totally expected to see mention of how Paul Reubens was in Batman Returns.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:35:00 -0800

It's the ciiiircle of ~~life~~ Tim Burton ....

By: Curious Artificer

Curious Artificer — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:36:09 -0800

Damn, I'm old.

By: Redfield

Redfield — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:38:32 -0800

zachxman: I didn't realize that until yesterday when I was watching the ending credits on TV. Apparently, I never paid much attention during my viewings of the movie.

By: graymouser

graymouser — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:47:36 -0800

The Comics Alliance reviews really got me re-thinking the 1989 film. It's so weird, and at the time it was so focused on being the opposite of the old campy Adam West TV series, that even a few years later when I was more than 8 years old I didn't see that it was just a pallet swap - a darker version of the '66 show. Also, the reporter is the protagonist for much of the film, which just makes it kind of awkward when Batman shows him up at the very end.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:57:59 -0800

Man, that logo was EVERYWHERE! I mean, it wasn't just everywhere, it was EVERYWHERE!!!! It was the first movie marketed on such a massive scale before its release, and it was utterly inescapable. Led to a (then mind-blowing) $43million opening weekend, crossing $100million in box office in 10 days (never done before) and a world-wide gross of $411million, blowing through a huge number of records in the process. I remember seeing it opening day, and walking out thinking "what the fuck? why???". And then going back a couple of days later and liking it a bit more, and a couple of days after that and liking even more... In the end, I think the Burton Batman movies are my favorite ones -- deeply dark, quite disturbing, amazing outlandish Gothic setting and design... My only complaint was that in Batman Returns, there was no sequence where either The Penguin or Catwoman was pictured as being the person (or people) who murdered young Bruce's parents. Because that would have been the perfect setup for his particular psychosis -- that EVERY VILLAIN HE FACES BECOMES, IN HIS MIND, THOSE WHO KILLED HIS PARENTS. It would have made it all make sense, somehow, in a nicely comic-book-logic kind of way. Not a fan of the continuations of that series by that other director. The new trilogy is okay. Others say it is brilliant, and I think a lot of the set-pieces are extraordinary in their executions... But I guess maybe I like the comic-book nature of the villains better in the Burton films (not the self-parodies of the Schumacher villains), and the extreme based-in-the-real-but-not-real settings of those movies. I hear The LEGO Movie is the best Batman movie yet. So maybe I will see that someday.

By: Colonel Panic

Colonel Panic — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:16:10 -0800

this was the batman that pissed everybody off because it lacked the OOF! BAM! and POW! s of the tv show.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:26:32 -0800

hippybear, yeah totally, parent-killers-of-the-week crazy batman. It had been done from Cerebus' The Cockroach to Memento's Leonard so it could have totally worked through '89/'90s.

By: dogheart

dogheart — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:32:55 -0800

Oh man, that Remedial Batmanology shit is gold. I enjoyed the defense of the Schumacher movies, though I'm not sure I agree.

By: DoctorFedora

DoctorFedora — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:42:53 -0800

Oh man, I recently found myself watching a video of just Mr. Freeze's lines from Batman & Robin, and it really hit it home for me that my wife nailed it when she pointed out that the scriptwriters were writing for Adam West & co. despite the director's objections.

By: azpenguin

azpenguin — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:49:26 -0800

By: hippybear

hippybear — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:53:15 -0800

Oh, god yes. I think everyone I knew (including myself) bought that video in the first week or two after it came out. Game changing, indeed.

By: bongo_x

bongo_x — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:53:21 -0800

I'm constantly being shocked and surprised at how old movies, records, etc. are. Not this one. The Burton, and even the Schumacher Batman seem old, and a long time ago.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 22:02:23 -0800

You don't watch much Turner Classic Movies, do you?

By: LarryC

LarryC — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 22:29:56 -0800

What I remember is the shock at the news that Michael Keaton, a light comic actor goofball, was going to be playing the Dark Knight. There was so much skepticism...

By: fshgrl

fshgrl — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 22:33:29 -0800

Still the best Batman.

By: trackofalljades

trackofalljades — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 22:33:57 -0800

I remember being insanely jealous of a kid in middle school with very fancy parents who had one of those official Joker goon leather jackets licensed from the Warner Bros catalog they gave out at the big theaters on opening weekend.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 22:52:16 -0800

Meanwhile, word is out that Tim Burton and Michael Keaton are trying to get things together to reunite... not on anything Batman-ic, but on a long-in-coming sequel to Beetlejuice. Then again, if they're really sneaky, it could end with Beetlejuice becoming Batman... because we could always use another alternate origin story, right?

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:00:18 -0800

One of the few VHS tapes I owned. And i must have watched it 300 times. I know every FREAKin line! Because it's the BEST BATMAN !!!!!! So COME ON *smash* Do you wanna get nuts? let's get nuts

By: furtive

furtive — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 23:29:47 -0800

That you sugar bumps? Jack Pallance was perfect in this film, and the score became Danny Elfman's signature sound. Just about everything works in this movie.

By: atoxyl

atoxyl — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 00:13:28 -0800

I've always been perplexed that Returns is so underrated/overlooked.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 02:53:26 -0800

My only complaint was that in Batman Returns, there was no sequence where either The Penguin or Catwoman was pictured as being the person (or people) who murdered young Bruce's parents. That was actually in the first film, when The Joker (Jack Napier) was shown to be the killer. Here's another odd observation: Burton's Barman is older now than the Adam West TV show was in 1989.

By: ELF Radio

ELF Radio — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 02:56:18 -0800

I love Barman! Agree with atoxyl -- when i saw Returns in the theater (at the age of 12,) i thought it was the best damned thing i've ever seen. And today i'd much rather watch it than the first one. ...................................michellepfeiffer.

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 04:05:47 -0800

That was actually in the first film, when The Joker (Jack Napier) was shown to be the killer. I think hippybear is saying it would be interesting if there were a scene like that for every villain.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 05:05:11 -0800

I think the best thing about this film is how much it has to do with the early comics and how little it has to do with the comics other than that.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 05:37:30 -0800

I think hippybear is saying it would be interesting if there were a scene like that for every villain. Yes, that exactly. Because Batman's particular psychosis is that every villain he faces becomes the person who killed his parents. So it is totally personal with him, every single time.

By: DigDoug

DigDoug — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 05:42:48 -0800

Boy we got a live one here I cannot tell you how much I loved the video for Batdance. I cannot say it in public in an archived and indexed forum.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 06:52:24 -0800

Yes, that exactly. Because Batman's particular psychosis is that every villain he faces becomes the person who killed his parents. So it is totally personal with him, every single time. I enjoy (?) the Batman: Brave and the Bold interpretation where the Waynes were gunned down in an alley (On Christmas!) because Bruce was a lil shit and threw a tantrum that instead of the action figure he wanted, he got a family heirloom nutcracker, so to placate him his folks took him to the movies. So it was his fault his parents died. Because he wasn't grateful. On Christmas. HO HO HO KIDS NOW THAT I CAN SMELL YOUR TEARS WANT TO HEAR SOME GERMAN FAIRY TALES ITS CALLED DER STRUWWELPETER

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 07:55:11 -0800

I hear The LEGO Movie is the best Batman movie yet. So maybe I will see that someday. Not only is LEGO Batman the best Batman, he has the best theme song.

By: bouvin

bouvin — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:01:27 -0800

Joined this discussion just to promote the LEGO Batman, and happy to see I'm not the only one. Forget the movies and the TV series, forget Batman Returns or Arkham Asylum. This is the One True Batman. And he always hits his targets on the first try.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:41:13 -0800

Large Marge would have scared the hell out of that Batman.

By: msalt

msalt — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:22:47 -0800

The 1960s original Batman is the best movie ever made. If you ever have to watch a film with 5-8 year old, consider no other movie. "You sold a nuclear submarine to someone named P. N. Guin?!?!?"

By: bongo_x

bongo_x — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:57:05 -0800

You don't watch much Turner Classic Movies, do you? Me? That's pretty funny. Actually, that's what we watch most of the time. We joke that we should occasionally watch a movie made after 1969. But we don't.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:09:47 -0800

The Lego Movie Batman is the best Batman in the same way that Galaxy Quest is the best Star Trek movie. By which I mean the one is a very solid and funny parody of the other, but people who say "[The Lego Movie Batman|Galaxy Quest] is the best [Batman|Star Trek movie]" are not half as clever as they think they are.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:40:23 -0800

Galaxy Quest is totally the best Star Trek movie.

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:38:49 -0800

I hope you think you have an IQ of at least 200.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:43:43 -0800

I saw an online poll (so, of course, totally scientific) not too long ago, after Star Trek Into Darkness had been released, asking people to rank all the Star Trek movies...and included Galaxy Quest among the movies. GQ ended up solidly in the middle of the pack.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 12:49:31 -0800

What if I only think GQ is the *second* best Trek movie? Am I three quarters as clever as I think I am?

By: Ray Walston, Luck Dragon

Ray Walston, Luck Dragon — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 17:04:29 -0800

Batman '89 was the only Batman film to get Gotham right. I feel like I say that every time I talk about the Keaton/Burton movie but it has to be said. It is the best Batman movie.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 22:51:16 -0800

I saw an online poll (so, of course, totally scientific) not too long ago, after Star Trek Into Darkness had been released, asking people to rank all the Star Trek movies I still remain sort of pissed off that Into Darkness boiled down, in the end, to people having a fistfight on top of a moving truck.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 23:00:05 -0800

I think hippybear is saying it would be interesting if there were a scene like that for every villain. Yep,I totally missed that. Misread "no" as "a" and lost the whole point. Thanks for clarifying.

By: theartandsound

theartandsound — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 20:08:30 -0800

Another thing that Batman did was flip the home video industry on its head. They released the movie on VHS just a few months after it came out for $20. Before that movies were usually a lot more expensive and you had to wait a long time to buy them Things were tilted heavily towards the video rental store model. The VHS release of Batman changed all of that. Here is a local news report about the release of the home video. Really interesting to watch from a 2014 perspective, and how the standard business model was being shaken up earlier than most people recall...

By: ActingTheGoat

ActingTheGoat — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 21:50:42 -0800

DevilsAdvocate: By which I mean the one is a very solid and funny parody of the other, but people who say "[The Lego Movie Batman|Galaxy Quest] is the best [Batman|Star Trek movie]" are not half as clever as they think they are. grouse: I hope you think you have an IQ of at least 200. ROU_Xenophobe: What if I only think GQ is the *second* best Trek movie? Am I three quarters as clever as I think I am? I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. - B. Baggins

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 15:51:18 -0800

Signal