The Bar

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Starring: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Jack Palance

Director: Tim Burton

Writer(s): Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren, Bob Kane

Studio: Warner Bros.

Official Bar Score:

Probably to this day the most memorable batman film of all time, will have to be the Tim Burton one, it shattered records back in 89′, with about $750 million in merchandise alone. By today standards it’s not much but back then it opened to what was considered a whopping $40,489,746– but it’s lifetime gross in thearters was :$251,188,924, making this film the 6th highest domestic grossing movie of all time, beating out it’s sequels, including Batman Begins which landed second in the franchise, and third was batman forever, so it goes without saying this film has tops over them all– we’ll see if it keeps it’s top spot once The Dark Knight debuts this friday.

The film was written in 1980, and has lingered for till 86′ with the success of Big Top Pee Wee, WB asked Burton to take on the job of writing it, he and his girlfriend wrote a 30 page treatment on the film, but wasn’t attached as director. It wasn’t until Tim hit it big with Beetlejuice that they gave him the greenlight on Batman. The movie stars Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Kim Basinger. Tim Burton’s BATMAN, inspired by Alan Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke and Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, is a Gothic, Wagnerian treatment of the Batman mythos that explains the origins of Batman (Michael Keaton) and his nemesis, the maniacal Joker (a ripe Jack Nicholson). Gotham City is a sunless, ominous haven for criminals, held in the corrupt grip of crime boss Carl Grissom (the ever-magnetic Jack Palance), and terrorized by a sadistic vandal and murderer known as The Joker. But it isn’t long before a dark, mysterious caped crusader, who goes by the name of BATMAN, is on their trail and trying to thwart their evil doings. In this darkly entertaining retelling of the DC comic classic, ace photojournalist Vicki Vale (warmly and sympathetically played by Kim Basinger) is also on the trail–she wants to find out who Bruce Wayne and Batman really is. Based on the popular comic book character created by Bob Kane for DC Comics; the story and tone have nothing in common with the popular TV series of the 1960s. Imaginative special effects and imposing, Gothic architectural sets dominate this visually graphic, stylish film. Keaton gives a brooding performance as the Caped Crusader and his interestingly understated alter-ego Bruce Wane. But is it Nicholson’s Joker that steals the show, with his unnerving, brilliantly maniacal portrayal, especially in the context of his twisted relationship with Grissom’s gal Alicia (a lanky, disquieting Jerry Hall)*

This is still one of my favorite films, only cause it’s fun to watch, but as of course compared to today’s Nolan-esque BATMAN, the film needs alot of work– But all that is forgiven, Keaton delivered a great performance alongside Jack. I to this day hate the Knox character, and it sucks that not much attention was payed to Billy Dee’s Harvey Dent- the only other gripe is how horrible the role of commissioner Gordon was, originally written like the Gordon in BB, in which it was a young Jim Gordon who found and took care of Bruce Wayne the night his parents were killed. There is also no mention of WHY Bruce Wayne is rich, what does he do, at least not until the sequels– It was kind of odd to leave that out of the first movie, but the film still flowed properly enough that you sort of forgot about that. The film boasts tons of memorable scenes, from batman holding the crook off on the ledge giving the famed line “I’M BATMAN!”- To the Joker trashing the art museum/restaurant? with Prince playing in the background..(funny enough, look carefully and you’ll see Tim Burton himself as one of the art defaming Joker goons.)

Danny Elfman makes a huge name for himself in this film, with his epic score– so well done he couldn’t believe it when one of the producers had asked if he wants to release it as a separate soundtrack to the film. The film also contains an entire soundtrack played by none other than Prince, who like Jack Nicholson cut a huge deal with the filmmakers and made out well from the huge blockbuster– his soundtrack soundtrack however can be described as maybe cool in his time, but today, only a few words come to mind : campy, corny, and with exception to maybe the two times (museum scene, and joker throwing money away scene) it’s used in the film.. POINTLESS. The special edition of the dvd sports the actual videos prince made for the film.. i haven’t passed 30 seconds before i shut it off. All in all for it being near 20 years old, for what it did for it’s time i give it a classic status– and as for how it holds up to movies today.. i give it 4 and a half beers.

Gripes i have with the film :

Why did Burton create new characters to further the story.. the comic sports more characters than you can do with– i never like Burton’s shortcuts.
Why does Batman/Bruce Wayne constantly feel the need to tell his love interests who he really is? KEEP IT A SECRET damn it.
THE JOKER never killed Wayne’s parents in the comic- Another Tim Burton shortcut.
All the extras in this film were horribly acted.. and sometimes awfully distracting– most notably? when Joker interrupted a press conference and challenged Batman.
Does he really make Alfred clean up all the bat shit from all the bat equipment in the cave, including the batmobile and the batwing?
does this make sense? when the Joker kills the parents, they were trying to steal her broken pearl necklace, for what? fun? cause from their appearance, they looked like they had money- (this was of course fixed in BB, with the crook being a hungry poor petty crook.)

Now for some BAT Trivia:

# Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale, but broke her collarbone while filming a horse-riding scene with Michael Keaton. The scene was subsequently written out of the script.

# Willem Dafoe, David Bowie, ‘John Lithgow’ and James Woods were considered for the Joker.

# Robin Williams was considered for the role of The Joker; he would later be considered for The Riddler as well. Jack Nicholson got the role of The Joker but demanded top-billing and a lucrative deal that gave him royalties on all merchandise.

# Billy Dee Williams appears as Harvey Dent, who in the comics became Two-Face. Williams took the role with the expectation that he would be brought back to play Two-Face and reportedly had a contract clause added reserving the role for him. During casting for Batman Forever (1995) Warner Bros. decided they would prefer Tommy Lee Jones and bought out Williams’ contract.

# Michael Jackson was asked to write and perform the songs for the movie, but he had to turn it down due to his concert commitments.

# Jack Nicholson received a percentage of the gross on the film, and due to its massive box-office took home around $60 million. As of 2003 it is still the single-movie record for actor’s salary.

# At one point, Warner Bros. considered doing the film as a big-budget comedy in the vein of the popular television series, with Bill Murray considered to play Batman, and Eddie Murphy considered to play Robin.

# Alfred’s story of how Bruce sprained his ankle while horseback-riding is a reference to Sean Young’s accident when she was preparing for the film. It also refers to a deleted scene from the script which had Bruce on horseback chasing the Joker.

# Alec Baldwin, ‘Charlie Sheen’ , Bill Murray, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Selleck were considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

# Mel Gibson was the original choice for Bruce Wayne/Batman but was forced to turn down the role due to his commitment with Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).

*plot synopsis partly from rottentomatoes.com

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