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Batman: The Movie (1966)
Greatest Comic Book Movie Ever Made
Once upon a time comic books were known as the 'funny books', throwaway cartoon strips filled with colourful action-adventure stories that fuelled the imaginations of children around the world. All that changed in the 1980s with the advent of a new style of dark, gritty material designed to attract older readers and it changed the face of the medium. The whys and wherefores of all this are too much to go into here, but a significant part of it was a reaction to the enormously successful shortlived Batman television series of the 1960s, which became a touchstone of popular culture right up to the present day. All this is important to remember as the legacy of the Adam West Batman has been unfairly maligned, especially since the advent of the movies featuring his dark successors Michael Keaton, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck.
The Batman of 1966 is not brooding in a dank cave, on dark rooftops or alleyways festering with brutal crime; this is a colourful adventure for the whole family, and is still very, very funny. The plot sees Batman and Robin called out to sea to rescue Commodore Schmidlapp (Reginald Denny) who is bringing a remarkable dehydration device to Gotham City. Unfortunately the Commodore has been kidnapped by the Caped Crusaders' four most deadly villains: Joker (Cesar Romero), Penguin (Burgess Meredith), Riddler (Frank Gorshin) and The Catwoman (Lee Meriwether). Their dastardly plan is to dehydrate the United World Organisation Security Council, and subsequently hold the entire world to ransom.
Originally conceived as a vehicle to launch the series, this movie was eventually held back and shot during the hiatus between the television show's first and second seasons. It benefits a great deal from this as Adam West, Burt Ward and the rogues gallery are totally comfortable in their roles by this point; likewise the crew behind the camera translate from the TV show, and it's all a well-oiled machine. Lee Meriwether fills in for the unavailable Julie Newmar as Catwoman, and brings her own style to the role (even getting an interesting alter-ego of her own - Miss Kitka) and remains one of the most iconic versions of the character on film.
To this day comic book films have taken a leaf from this one, cramming as many villains as possible into proceedings, but here it's never too much - incredibly everyone has a reason for being there, and even more importantly everyone has something to do. Lorenzo Semple Jr.'s excellent script speeds along from death-trap to death-trap, and even finds time for Bruce Wayne to enjoy a romantic subplot to give Adam West some time away from the cape and cowl.
There has always been a tendency for lazy critics to claim this version of Batman is at best silly and worthless, at worst simply stupid; far from it: the humour is a lot more sophisticated than most people give it credit for - it had to be, in order to appeal to all ages. The dialogue is filled with double entendres and puns, and it's a showcase for sight gags and a comedic style that could well have inspired the Airplane! and Naked Gun creators who began their own genre of comedy a decade later. Highlights include the crash of the Batcopter into a wholesale foam rubber convention ('I thought I spotted it in the corner of my eye'), Batman and Robin trapped on a magnetic buoy while Penguin sends in torpedos, and the now-classic sequence involving Batman trying to dispose of a bomb without injuring anyone in the vicinity.
If more recent incarnations of the character have been 'Dark Knights' then West himself was right in describing his version as the 'Bright Knight', and we need those too. Joel Schumacher's attempt to pay homage to this era of the character failed miserably, indicating that there was a lot more depth here than it's given credit for. Not a single moment is wasted and it succeeds in doing everything it sets out to do. As a faithful representation of the comic books of the late 1950s and 60s this really deserves to be acknowledged as one of the greatest comic book films ever made. Holy classic!
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970)
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970)
Politics never become dated, unlike fashion, hairstyles or certain brands of humour. There is an episode of the 1960's Batman television series wherein The Penguin runs for mayor because "in politics (he) can use every dirty trick in the book", and the resulting election campaign is as relevant today as it was more than 50 years ago. Pierce Brosnan's James Bond remarked in GoldenEye that "Governments change, the lies stay the same." All this is true of The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, a surprisingly prescient comedy originally scripted by Monty Python's John Cleese and Graham Chapman, and spruced up by Peter Cook; the original story idea was from the imagination of none other than David Frost (whom the writing team based Rimmer on).
The story centres on Rimmer (as played by Peter Cook), a junior opinion pollster who is appointed Managing Director of the firm after he conducts a successful clandestine time-and-motion study on his colleagues. He proceeds to discredit their major rivals by sabotaging a poll about religion in the town of Nuneaton before moving into the murkier realm of politics, rising steadily through the cabinet to the very top.
Cook once again plays a character not too dissimilar to George Spiggott in Bedazzled. As with Spiggott the part was perfectly tailored for him, yet his performance is still rather stiff, coldly detached and uncomfortable. He seemed strangely ill-at-ease before the cameras for someone so used to television and the stage, made even more bizarre when one considers his later character work on live chat shows; perhaps it's a result of the slow, mechanical nature of filmmaking that never suited his improvisational qualities, hemming him in. He is surrounded with a superb cast of late 60's/early 70's talent including Denholm Elliott, Ronnie Corbett, Frank Thornton, Harold Pinter, John Cleese and Arthur Lowe, who delivers a standout performance as the unfortunate Ferret.
It's a good, interesting film, but falls somewhat short of being a great one. Rimmer and his cohorts are not people you can root for, and Ferret is the only character even remotely sympathetic. My one big takeaway was how little the political scene has changed in the last fifty years; the monetarism, the classism, the racism, the reliance on polls and the media and, ultimately, the corruption and hypocrisy of the system.
Royal Flash (1975)
Missed Opportunity
As a big fan of the books, this one is quite difficult to review fairly and impartially. From a screenplay by George MacDonald Fraser based on his own novel, Royal Flash finds young Harry Flashman enjoying his newfound celebrity as a hero from the 1842 conflict in Afghanistan. A mishap with some strumpets in an illegal gaming hall results in a series of events that lead to his being kidnapped by the dastardly Otto Von Bismarck, and forced to impersonate Prince Carl of Denmark in a Prisoner of Zenda-style plot designed to unify Germany.
The novel Royal Flash is certainly a romp, and Richard Lester's direction bears all his usual hallmarks: action, humour and deft comedic touches. Fraser's screenplay is full of his own hallmarks, too; bawdy humour, swashbuckling action and a real flair for dialogue. It's more faithful to the book than not, though some small changes have been made (and the film was some thirty minutes longer before being edited down before release). The supporting cast is fantastic, including Oliver Reed as Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi, Britt Ekland as Princess Irma, and Alastair Sim, Christopher Cazenove, Joss Akland, Bob Hoskins, David Jason and Michael Hordern in small roles. Henry Cooper is an inspired bit of casting as John Gully in one important scene. But, the elephant in the room is Old Flashy himself, and it's a misstep that reverberates through the rest of the movie: Malcolm McDowell does what he can, but he just isn't Harry Flashman. This is compounded in his numerous scenes with Alan Bates and Oliver Reed, both of whom embody the qualities that could have easily translated Harry to the screen with more success, for Flashman isn't just a cowardly weasel or a cad, he's also an arrogant bully mistaken for a swashbuckling hero - notes that McDowell can't quite hit. Seeing Bates as Starnberg, one wonders how all involved couldn't see Flashy come to life before their very eyes; if the roles were reversed it would have been a very different film.
But, all this is not to say it's a bad film, or a complete failure; it's still a very well made romp, well played and very funny. It could never match the brilliance of the novels, even with a script by Fraser himself, and it is certainly the closest we'll ever get to an honest Flashman adaptation - by today's standards the books are unfilmable. Ultimately I came away lamenting the missed opportunities... Royal Flash could have been so much more.
Goin' South (1978)
Wonderful comedy Western
There are two kinds of actors: Character Actors, and Stars. It's exceedingly rare to find an example who straddles the two successfully, but Jack Nicholson is one such type. He might well bring with him the baggage of being 'Joker Jack', with all his manic tics and mannerisms, but unlike so many others his vanity never prevented him from hiding his face behind makeup, or - in this movie - a beard. A look at Jack's credits reveal a surprising variety of characters, the only commonality perhaps being men with a streak of the devil in them. Here he plays Henry Moon, an offbeat comic outlaw that instantly starts inverting the conventions of the Western genre; he celebrates after he 'escapes' across the Rio Grande to Mexico, only to have the posse cross the river after him, the border be damned. Saved from hanging by a city ordinance that allows Mary Steenburgen's Julia to marry him, he is forced to help her work the gold mine on her property before the railroad company evict them.
The script is wonderful, rolling along at a brisk pace and full of surprises and great, quotable lines. Since the bulk of the story is concerned with the relationship between Moon and Julia, they are really the only characters with any great depth, but this is countered with great casting in the supporting roles: Nicholson reteams with his One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest costars Christopher Lloyd and Danny DeVito, there's an early appearance from John Belushi, and the cast is rounded out by Veronica Cartwright and Ed Begley, Jr. Even the bit parts are filled with quality character actors; film lovers will recognise Anne Ramsey (later to costar with DeVito in Throw Momma from the Train), Dennis Fimple and Britt Leach, among others.
Nicholson does as well behind the camera as he does in front of it; it would be easy for the audience to take a mean dislike to Moon, but the part needed an actor with Jack's charisma to make it work (I suspect he understood this, and it may well have been the reason he chose to direct here, too). He is equally comfortable with the action, comedy and romantic scenes, and overall Goin' South really is a forgotten, underrated gem.
Bedazzled (1967)
'Have you got sixpence? I've only got a million pound note.'
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were riding high and both looking to crack the silver screen after the wild successes of Beyond the Fringe (stage) and Not Only... But Also (television). This collaboration, although hijacked by Cook for a sole screenwriter's credit, successfully translates their personas to a funny, emotional and entertaining feature film. It would also mark the beginning of the end for their comedy partnership.
Dud plays Stanley Moon, a lowly cook in a Wimpy's greasy-spoon, who trades his soul for seven wishes in a Faustian bargain with the Devil (Cook), known here as George Spiggott after his famous one-legged creation from Beyond the Fringe. Eleanor Bron is Margaret, a waitress in the restaurant and the subject of Moon's desires. He bumbles his way through a series of episodes hoping to win her heart, from wealthy businessman to successful pop star to a literal fly on the wall, while each time finding his efforts sabotaged and frustrated by the cruelty of Spiggott. It proves to be the perfect format for the fledgling movie stars; the episodic format works like the sketch format of their work up to that point, and gives everyone a variety of entertaining situations to play around with.
The script is full of Cook's trademark wit and excellent one-liners, and is well directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain, Charade) without whose interest in working with Pete and Dud the film might never have been made. He described this as the only movie he ever had fun filming, and the results are there for all to see on the screen. Ironically the weakest link is Cook himself, who seems rather stiff and ill-at-ease at times, odd considering he's working from his own material in a part that is tailor-made for him. Contrast with Dud who is a natural in front of the camera, and would go on to much greater successes. The supporting cast includes Raquel Welch as Lust and Barry Humphries as Envy, but this is most certainly Pete and Dud's film; any fans of theirs will love it, as should any lovers of good comedy. Highly recommended.