Batman (1989 film)

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Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and appearing in DC Comics. It is the first entry in the original four-part Batman film series, the first directed by Tim Burton and the first to star Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Inspired by the darker Batman comics of the era (including the work of Frank Miller and Alan Moore), the film helped usher in a return to the dark roots of the Batman character and a move away from the campier 1960s era representation of the character.

Contents

1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Trivia

3.1 Casting
3.2 Production design
3.3 Other trivia

4 Reaction
5 DVD
6 Soundtrack
7 External links
8 See also

Synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

As the metropolitan Gotham approaches its 200th Anniversary, the powers-that-be fear that the high level of criminal activity will deter citizens from attending the Celebrations. Gotham's mayor tasks district attorney Harvey Dent with finding a way to make the city safe again, in hopes of revitalizing local business. Dent, in turn, targets mob boss Carl Grissom, who is believed to sponsor most of the criminal activity within Gotham and who is known to be paying off a significant part of the police force.

Meanwhile, Jack Napier, Grissom's second-in-command, is sent by Grissom to clear out incriminating evidence from Axis Chemicals, one of Grissom's many businesses. It proves to be a ruse, as Grissom has set Napier up due to Napier's affair with Grissom's girlfriend. When the police arrive, led by mob-owned officer Ekhardt, Napier and his men make a stand against the police. Batman arrives and accidentaly causes Napier to fall (apparently to his death) into a vat of chemicals.

Napier, however, survives and, finding himself hideously disfigured by his ordeal, takes on a new persona: The Joker. Now completely psychotic and bent on taking control, The Joker formulates a plan to bring Gotham to its knees, and only Batman can stop him from doing so.

Spoilers end here.

Cast

Trivia

Casting

Adam West, star of the Batman TV series, wanted to play Batman, but Michael Keaton was given the role after getting the nod from Bob Kane.
Ricky Addison Reed was cast as Robin when the character was part of an earlier story treatment. Robin was eventually dropped, and Reed lost the role.
Robin Williams was considered for the role of The Joker; he would later be considered for The Riddler in Batman Forever. 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.
It is claimed that Adam West was offered a cameo as Bruce Wayne's father but turned it down, though West denies being offered the part.
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.
Alec Baldwin, Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Selleck were rumored to be considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Willem Dafoe, David Bowie, James Woods and John Lithgow were all considered for the role of The Joker
According to a Playboy interview with Robin Williams, Jack Nicholson was offered the role of Joker first. When Nicholson kept delaying his answer, Williams was offered the role. The producers immediately turned around and informed Nicholson that Williams was considering the offer, and Nicholson accepted. Williams has remained bitter about being "used as bait." See trivia for Batman Forever (1995).
The Special Edition DVD features a vignette of an unused storyboard where The Joker, being chased by Batman, would drive through a circus presentation featuring the Flying Graysons, where he sets fire to the tightrope and kills them. This would set up Robin for the sequels. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their respective vocal roles from for this vignette. However, due to the abscence of Loren Lester, Dick Grayson is voiced by Jason Hillhouse.

Production design

Set designer Anton Furst deliberately mixed clashing architectural styles to make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest metropolis imaginable.
The plastic surgeon's weird surgical tools are believed to be originally from another Warner Brothers production, Little Shop of Horrors (1986). They were the dentist tools owned by Orin Scrivello.
The Batsuit weighed 70 pounds.
The Batman symbol on the costume in this film is slightly different than the version seen in the comic books. It has two extra "points" on the bottom of the black bat emblem that represent bat feet. However, the teaser poster and other such promotional materials for the film depict the logo just as it appears in the comics, for copyright purposes (because that specific look for the logo is what DC Comics had copyrighted). The Batman costume was slightly modified for Batman Returns (1992) and sported the comic version of the symbol.
Heavy security surrounded The Joker's makeup.
The throne that The Joker sits on when he spreads money over the citizens of Gotham may be a replica of the "Silver Throne", the Royal Throne of Sweden which the King of Sweden used until 1974 at the opening of the Swedish Parliament.
The painting that The Joker spares during his vandalism spree is Francis Bacon's Figure with Meat.
The design of Gotham City is based on the work of architects Antonio Gaudi, Otto Wagner and Shin Takamatsu.
Scenes of the Wayne Mansion were filmed at two English stately homes: Knebworth House for exterior scenes, Hatfield House for the interiors.

Other trivia

Tom Mankiewicz was first contracted to write a Batman script for Warner Bros. in the early 1980s following his work on and Superman II.
Michael Keaton worked out for two months to prepare for the role, and learned kickboxing from his stunt double, David Lea. Though hard to spot, many of the fights are just about evenly split between Keaton and David Lea in costume. Keaton, however, went on to perform all of the fights himself for the sequel Batman Returns.
It made an estimated additional $750 million in merchandising alone.
Executive producers Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan sued Warner Brothers for forcing them into accepting a net profit agreement rather than the gross profit one that was set up for other parties like Jack Nicholson. Warners then claimed that, although "Batman" at the time was the 5th biggest grossing film ever, it was still technically in the red, and offered the two producers a $1 million out-of-court settlement, which they rejected.
Corto Maltese (where Vicki had been taking pictures) is the name of a popular European comic character, starring in the adventure comic books of Italian Hugo Pratt. Corto Maltese is also an island country in Frank Miller's , one of Burton's inspirations for Batman.
Burton has also admitted that his movie draws heavily from the Batman story, .
This was the first film to ever get a "12" rating in Great Britain. The rating was created to prevent young children from seeing the film. It had been in place up until 2002, where it was updated to "12A" for the live-action Spider-Man (2002) movie.
Kim Basinger is only a few inches shorter than Michael Keaton. To make Keaton appear taller, she wears flat heels or is in stocking feet in all the scenes in which they are standing next to each other.
In the Globe office, an artist hands Knox a drawing of a bat dressed like a man, poking fun at his belief in Batman. The drawing is signed "Bob Kane." Kane himself was originally planned to play the artist.
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.
The flag of Gotham City closely resembles the state flag of Indiana. It can be seen briefly in Harvey Dent's office.
When the Tom Mankiewicz script was in development, the directors associated with the project included Joe Dante and Ivan Reitman. Producers wanted an unknown to play Batman and the cast wish-list included William Holden as Commissioner Gordon and David Niven as Alfred, Bruce Wayne's faithful butler.
Vicki Vale is based on the comics character of the same name (who was a reporter and photographer) and also on 1970s Bruce Wayne girlfriend Silver St. Cloud, a name deemed too silly for a movie character.
The character of Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) was a character created for the movie. In the first draft of the script, the character was killed during the parade scene. He may be named after the late actor Alexander Knox.
When Alfred receives Vicki Vale's message, a portrait can be seen in the background, some believe it to be a portrait of Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father.
For its first video release, the film was graded slightly lighter, as cinema audiences had complained that it was filmed so darkly that they could hardly see what was going on.
Anton Furst's designs for Gotham City were partally incorporated into the comics during the early 1990s.
In a newsroom scene, Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox examine a map of Gotham City which has been marked with Batman sightings. The map is actually a map of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The film was the first live-action movie to be played on Toonami.
One scene in the film includes the destruction of a priceless painting when one of joker's goons places his hands on the painting (leaving red hand prints.) But later in the scene we see that the hand prints are mysteriously gone.
Screenwriter Sam Hamm was annoyed at the filmmakers over certain changes made from his original drafts. The most notable would be making The Joker the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents, and Alfred Pennyworth letting Vicki Vale into the Batcave. Hamm himself said that he was able to keep Burton from making these changes until a writer's strike which prevented him from being with the production.
In Sam Hamm's original draft, Alexander Knox was a more serious character who has romantic rivalry between Bruce over Vicki. Knox was also able to figure out Bruce's secret identity, but would later be killed in the climax.
In the book Hit and Run, author Kim Masters writes that Tim Burton's original vision for the film was much, much darker, but producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber vetoed the idea.

Reaction

When the film was approved for production, there was considerable fan concern that it would emulate the farcical parodying tone of the 1960s Batman television series starring Adam West, concerns that seemed even more worrying after the casting of Michael Keaton (who was, at that time, known for his comedic acting) in the title role. To quell the concern, a rushed teaser trailer was released to prove the film would be more faithful to the original comic books.

Despite the early worries, the film became the most successful of 1989 and received praise from many Batman readers, especially those who had read the Frank Miller stories that inspired it. Furthermore, Keaton changed many doubters' minds about his casting to become hailed as one of the best actors to play the title role. Still, some people were put off by the dark nature of the film, which did away with the campy Batman of the 1960s that many adults had grown up with and which some had expected even after the studio's attempts to show otherwise. Critical reaction was largely mixed, with some praising the film for its set design and production value, while others panned it as being too much of an intellectual exercise for Burton and too little of a Batman movie. In turn, much debate surrounded Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Jack Napier/The Joker. Many felt that his performance was too over-the-top and that his version of the character did away with much of the psychological depth he exhibits in the comics; some still argue that The Joker steals the focus of the movie, leaving precious little time for the title character.

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

It was also criticized for not being consistent with Batman canon in regards to Jack Napier/The Joker. It is accepted that the murderer of Thomas and Martha Wayne was a small-time thug named Joe Chill. Moreover, the Jack Napier character was invented just for this film and the surname is likely a tribute to the late British actor Alan Napier, who played loyal butler Alfred in the 1960s Batman television series.

Spoilers end here.

Despite the criticisms, Batman has a large fan following and many feel that it was the best film in the original four part series, with Batman Returns being a close second.

DVD

The film was first released to DVD in 1997, shortly after the format debuted; it was a single disc release featuring the ability to watch the film either in widescreen or in fullscreen but not featuring any bonus materials.

To coincide with the release of Batman Begins on DVD in 2005, Warner Brothers decided to give all four of the original Batman films new DVD treatments and special edition versions of all four films were created. The special edition DVDs feature newly restored audio and video, a re-mastered Dolby Digital audio track, a new DTS audio track and a second disc filled with bonus materials. Each title is available both individually and as part of a pack featuring the special editions of all four films in the franchise.

Soundtrack

There were two albums released in conjunction with Batman.

The first is an album by Prince featuring songs from the film (including "Batdance") and others inspired by it. It is labelled as the official soundtrack album.

The second second album features the original score by composer Danny Elfman.

External links

[Famous Locations For Batman]
[Pictures of the set, Batsuit, Batmobile, and cast of Batman]
[Keith Short - Film Sculptor] Sculpted the Batmobile for this film
[Batman review, Batman DVD review]
[1989's Batman Cereal]
[Tim Burton's Batman Page 1]
[The Good Life of Crime]
[Batman @ BYTB: Batman Yesterday, Today and Beyond]
[Complete list of actors who were considered for roles]

The Batman movies
Batman serials	The Batman \| Batman and Robin
Adam West movie	Batman
1989-1997 series	Batman \| Batman Returns \| Batman Forever Batman & Robin
Bruce Timm series	' \| ' ' \| '
The Batman series	The Batman vs. Dracula
Christopher Nolan series	Batman Begins \| Untitled Sequel (in development)
Other films

Batman (1989 film)

Synopsis

Cast

Trivia

Casting

Production design

Other trivia

Reaction

DVD

Soundtrack

External links

See also