BATMAN (1989)
MORGAN'S RATING
Tim Burton brings the Dark Knight of Gotham City back to life with this brooding tale that immediately became one of the most successful movies of all time. Inspired by Frank Miller's graphic novel "The Dark Knight Returns,", the film is a gothic, Wagnerian treatment of the Batman mythos that explains the origins of Batman and his evil, twisted nemesis, the maniacal Joker. Caught in between the waring duo is sexy reporter Vicki Vale, who has come to town to study the mysterious, yet seductive Bat-Man. What transpires is a wild ride that seldom lets up.
Jack Nicholson (The Joker/Jack Napier), Michael Keaton (Batman/Bruce Wayne), Kim Basinger (Vicki Vale), Robert Wuhl (Alexander Knox), Pat Hingle (Police Commissioner Gordon), Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Dent, Gotham District Attorney), Michael Gough (Alfred Pennyworth), Jack Palance (Boss Carl Grissom), Jerry Hall (Alicia), Tracey Walter (Bob the Goon), Lee Wallace (Mayor Borg), William Hootkins (Lt. Eckhardt).
FACTS PRODUCTION INFORMATION
RELEASE DATE: June 23rd, 1989 (USA)
BOX OFFICE OPENING: $42.7 million (USA)
BOX OFFICE RESULT: $251.1 million (USA)
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: $413.2 million
BUDGET: $42 million (USA)
SHOOTING DATES: September 1988 -- December 1988
- Adam West (star of the TV series) wanted to play Batman, but Michael Keaton was given the role after getting the nod from Bob Kane, the creator of the original Batman comic strip.
- In the theatrical release, when Batman and Vicki Vale run through the streets of Gotham City, Batman notices a homeless little girl who asks him, "is it Halloween?" This scene is missing from all other releases.
- Heavy security surrounded The Joker's makeup during filming.
- 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 rewritten out of the script. 
- Most of the shots of Batman in costume are a stunt double.
- Set designer Anton Furst deliberately mixed clashing architectural styles to make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest metropolis imaginable.
- Bob Kane was scheduled to cameo, but couldn't make the shoot. The drawing that the newspaper reporter holds up of the "Bat-Man" was drawn by Kane.
- The plastic surgeon's weird surgical tools are originally from fellow Warner Bros. production Little Shop of Horrors (1986). They were the dentist tools owned by Orin Scrivello.
- The Batman costume weighed 70 lbs.
- Winner of one Academy Award for Best Art Direction- Set Decoration.
- Followed by three sequels: Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). 		DIRECTOR: Tim Burton (Batman Returns).
WRITERS: Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, and based on the characters created by Bob Kane.
PRODUCERS: Peter Guber and Jon Peters.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Barbara Kalish.
CO-PRODUCER: Chris Kenny.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan.
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Danny Elfman (score) and Prince (songs).
DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros.
QUOTES
The Joker: Haven't you heard of the healing power of laughter?
The Joker: I've been dead once already; it's very liberating. You might think of it as...therapy.
The Joker: I have given a name to my pain, and it is Batman.
The Joker: Hello, Benny. It's your uncle Bingo. Time to pay the check!
Vicki Vale: What do you want?
Oh, little song, little dance, Batman's head on a lance...
Alfred: I have little desire to spend my few remaining years grieving for the loss of old friends. Or their sons.
Knox: You know what they say? They say he drinks blood. They say he can't be killed.
Eckhardt: And I say you're full of shit, Knox. Oh, and you can quote me on that.
Jack Napier: Decent people shouldn't live here; they'd be happier someplace else.
Vicki Vale: You're insane!
The Joker: I thought I was a Pisces!
The Joker: Where does he get those wonderful toys?
[Batman dangles a mugger over the side of a building.]
Mugger: Don't kill me, man-- don't kill me!
Batman: I'm not going to kill you. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell all your friends about me.
Mugger: What are you?
Batman: I'm Batman.
CRITICAL COMMENTS
"There's razzle-dazzle to spare in this dark, intense variation...but there's also something askew when the villain (a particularly psychotic villain, played overboard by Nicholson) is so much potent than the hero!" -- Leonard Maltin
Jack Napier: Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
The Joker: Never rub another man's rhubarb.
[Jack Napier is confronted with Batman for the first time]
Jack Napier: Nice outfit!
"Batman is a triumph of design over story, style over substance-- a great looking movie with a plot you can't care much about. All of the big moments in the movie are pounded home with ear-shattering sound effects and a jackhammer cutting style, but that just serves to underline the movie's problem, which is a curious lack of suspense and intrinsic interest." -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
Vicki Vale: I just gotta know, are we going to try to love each other?
Bruce Wayne: I'd like to. But he's out there right now, and I've gotta go to work.
[The Joker sees a picture of Vicki Vale.]
Jack Napier: Stop the press, who is that?
"Dark, haunting and poetic, Tim Burton's Batman is a magnificent living comic book." -- Hal Hinson, Washington Post
The Joker: Now comes the part where I relieve you, the little people, of the burden of your failed and useless lives. But remember, as my plastic surgeon always said: if you gotta go, go with a smile.