30 years later, thoughts on the 1989 film BATMAN

[daBronzeBomma]

June 23rd, 1989.





I still remember it like it was yesterday.

I had never seen legitimate Bat-Mania before. The original Bat-Mania came and went in the 1960s (surrounding the Adam West TV show) years before I was even born. And Bat-Mania III in 2008 (surrounding the Heath Ledger film) was viewed thru a much more jaded eye.

But the 2nd Bat-Mania was utterly inescapable. I had never seen a marketing campaign like it before.

And the movie itself?

At the time, mind- blowing.

Tim Burton at the peak of his powers as a director.

Michael Keaton, as unlikely a choice as there was at the time, made a believer in his Bruce Wayne and Batman out of me.

Kim Basinger was great with what she had to work with in her Vicki Vale.

And Jack Nicholson? An absolute tour de force as the Joker.

To this point, I was not buying Batman comics. I may have only read one Batman comic prior to this movie. My exposure was strictly the 1970s/80s Super Friends cartoon and reruns of the 1960s Batman show.

The movie itself hasn't aged that well over the years, but at the time completely changed how I viewed the Dark Knight.

But it definitely hit me like a figurative bomb.

And was the coronation of Batman as the new Omega Super Hero.

Batman has ruled the superhero world for exactly 3 decades today. And that movie is the start of his reign.



Your thoughts and memories on this influential film?