Batman: The Movie (1966) is the 315th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 1966 superhero movie Batman: The Movie The video is 6 minutes 43 seconds long. It was published on October 1, 2019 to coincide with the theatrical release of the film Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix. It has been viewed over 1 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Batman: The Movie (1966) on YouTube
"Let Adam West take you back to Batman's roots: a bachelor who lives with a teenage boy, [and] isn't exactly in peak human condition." ~ Honest Trailers - Batman: The Movie (1966)
Script []
Before you experience Joaquin Phoenix's twisted take on the Joker, revisit the shocking origins of live-action Batman... as a swinging cartoon crime-buster! (shows Batman trying to throw a large bomb over a pier, but hesitates at the sight of a family of ducks)
Batman: Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb.
Batman: The Old TV Show: The Movie!
(text reads "Bam!")
You love the dark Batman-defining performances of Keaton, Bale, and Affleck. Now, let Adam West take you back to Batman's roots: a bachelor who lives with a teenage boy, isn't exactly in peak human condition, and follows one ironclad rule -- keep your hands off his girl...
Bruce: Show me Miss Kitka... or I'll wreck this place with my dying breath! / --if you've harmed that girl... I'll kill you all. I'll rend you limb from limb!
-- in an interpretation that can only be described as the love child of Christopher Walken and... Jeff Goldblum?
Batman: --the criminal catalyst in this entire affair! Our old... archenemy... Catwoman.
(text reads "Weird!")
You already knew that Robin sucked, but did you know he always sucked?
Robin: We're helpless in this monstrous, invisible grip!
Watch Batman's original sidepiece-- er, "sidekick" shill for the cops...
Robin: "Support your police!" That's our message.
...condemn drunks to death...
Robin: Gosh, drink is sure a filthy thing, isn't it? I'd rather be dead than unable to trust my own eyes.
...and... suggest eugenics?
Batman: I'll activate the computer link. Feed in the various ethnic and national factors.
Robin: --with the way the world is and all... don't you think maybe we ought to try to improve those factors? Kind of... reshuffle it a little?
Holy master race, Master Dick! In fact, the only thing this Robin does well is cram a "holy" Bat-pun into every sentence.
Robin: Holy sardine! / Holy nightmare! / Holy Merlin the magician! / Holy Long John Silver! / Holy glue pot! / Holy Polaris! / Holy demolition! / Holy Halloween! / Holy heart failure! / Holy costume party. / Holy hallucination! / Holy horseshoe! / Holy marathon! / Holy Captain Nemo! / Holy bikini--
They aren't even all puns! It's like a verbal tic!
Robin: Holy almost!
This is actually sad!
Robin: Holy heartbreak!
Somebody help this boy!
Robin: Holy jumble!
(text reads "Uh Oh!")
Menacing Gotham is a group of criminals so crooked, even the cameras are at an angle, featuring Catwoman, a devious diva whose ratio of cat to woman is about 90 to 10...
Catwoman: What a purr-fectly lovely idea.
(shows Catwoman meowing as the other villains laugh)
...the Penguin, who can only speak in nautical jargon, because most of this movie takes place at sea for some reason (?)...
Penguin: Sharpen your cutlasses! There may be skullduggery ahead!
...the Riddler, the perfect 60's villain, because you'd have to be on acid to follow his logic...
Batman: "What has yellow skin and writes?"
Robin: A ballpoint banana.
Batman: Right.
Gordon: "What weighs six ounces, sits in a tree, and is very dangerous?"
Robin: A sparrow with a machine gun.
Gordon: Yes, of course.
...and the Joker, the first DC star to try and fail to cover up a mustache. (shots comparing Cesar Romero's makeup-covered mustache with Henry Cavill's CGI-covered mustache) Together, they'll attempt to pull off the oldest caper in the book: turn world leaders into dust with a dehydrating gun meant for whiskey production, then ransom each country for a billion dollars to be delivered via carrier pigeon, while they make their getaway in a surplus military sub disguised as a penguin...
Penguin: Who else but a genius could conceive such an audacious plot?
...all of which culminates in a final sequence that really makes you regret not going to the bathroom before the third act. (shows Robin turning on the machine to deliver water to each of the dusted world leaders) Come on, come on! Mm, geez, I shouldn't have had that Big Gulp! Ohh, why is this taking so long? (shows water still being delivered) Why didn't I go during Batman's date with Catwoman? Argh, holy Depends, Batman! It's happening! (shows the world leaders turning back to normal) Ahhh... too late.
(text reads "Whiz!")
So revisit a simpler time when Batman villains knew how to cavort (shows the villains dancing), Bat-fans were happy to watch a good, old-fashioned punch-'em-up (shows Batman and Robin fighting bad guys), no one stressed the consequences of the world's diplomats having their brains and bodies scrambled...
Nigerian Prime Minister: La paz del mundo!
West German Prime Minister: Rosh shalom! Shalom!
...not even Batman...
Batman: Our job is finished. / Let's go, but inconspicuously.
...and the filmmakers had the gall, the nerve, the audacity... to not take Batman super-seriously. (montage of wacky moments in the film) "NOOO!! My edge...! It's fading...! Need... angst... to... identify with...!"
(text reads "Transition!")
Starring: The Masked Swinger (Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman); Captain Underpants (Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin); Girl-field (Lee Meriwether as Catwoman); Bird-gess Meredith (Burgess Meredith as The Penguin); Hail Cesar (Cesar Romero as The Joker); The Government Wants to Give YOU Free Money! [The Government May Want to Give YOU Free Money!] (Frank Gorshin as The Riddler); The Help (Alan Napier as Alfred Pennyworth); Ohh-de-har-hey eem-ha-sor-da-hey oh-so-me-gar-da-hey-bound-de-hay-party! [(Irish Sounds) (Irish Sounds Intensify)] (Stafford Repp as Chief Miles O'Hara); and Branding!
Robin: Batdrift angle... / Bat-ladder away.
Batman: --automatic Bathold. / --shark-repellent Bat-spray!
Joker: It's the Batboat!
Batman: --micro-TV Batscanner.
Robin: Batmobile position...
Gordon: --flash the Bat-Signal.
Batman: Get the Batcharge launcher!
Penguin: --secret Batcave...
Batman: Snap on the Batcuffs. / --super-blinding Batpellets.
Penguin: --Batgas.
Batman: --whiff of Batwake. / --full-thrust Batspeed... / Here, take my Batradio. / Out, Batarang and Batrope. / --Batcamera's polarized Batfilter!
Robin: Batscanner tracking the stolen Batmobile perfectly!
Batman: Quickly! Via Batcycle to the Batcopter!
Batman: The Groovy
_Open_Invideo_5-56_screenshot.png){kind=link}
The honest title for Batman: The Movie (1966) was 'Batman: The Groovy.'
Catwoman: One billion dollars cash, from each country.
Penguin: To be delivered to our secret island, by the horde of trained carrier pigeons which I shall presently provide.
So, in $100 bills, $1 billion U.S. would weigh twenty-thousand pounds; given that an average carrier pigeon can lift 2.5 ounces, it would take 128,000 trained birds for the U.S. alone! That is a lot of...
(text reads "Crap!")
Trivia[]
Honest Trailers Commentary - Batman- The Movie (1966)
- The Alan raptor easter egg can be seen at 2:03 in the window as Robin runs by.
- Some commenters disagreed with this Honest Trailer's assertion that all versions of Robin are terrible because Nightwing is awesome. The writers argued that Nightwing is not the same as Robin, so their assertion remains valid.
- Some commenters disagreed with Screen Junkies calculations about the number of carrier pigeons required to transport $1B in cash, pointing out that in 1966 there were several larger denominations of bills including $1000 bills. The writers joked that the number of carrier pigeons required was still absurdly large.
- Honest Trailers have been produced for every other Batman movie, including Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Batman (1989), Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Batman: The Animated Series, The Killing Joke, Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman and Justice League. See list of Honest Trailers for more.
Watch the full Honest Trailers Commentary on YouTube
Reception[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - Batman: The Movie (1966).
Honest Trailers - Batman: The Movie (1966) as a 97.0% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Joey Paur of Geek Tyrant called the Honest Trailer "fun." Paur wrote, "This Honest Trailer hilariously jokes around about the over-the-top cheesiness of the film and one of the best things that it points out is that this version of Batman is like the love child of Christopher Walken and Jeff Goldblum because it totally is! It’s pretty insane how the personalities of those two actors are Adam West’s Batman."
Miss Cellania wrote "Batman: The Movie was non-stop silliness, but Screen Junkies managed to highlight the very silliest parts for this Honest Trailer." Sandy Schaeffer of Screen Rant noted "As the trailer points out, the 1966 movie painted a very different portrait of the Caped Crusader and his world than most of the Batman films and TV shows that've released in the 53 years since then."
External links[]
- An Honest Trailer for Batman: The Movie (1966) - Neatorama article
- Before Joker, Catch Honest Trailer for 1966's Batman: The Movie - EpicStream article
- Batman (1966) Honest Trailer Dares to Not Take Batman Seriously - Screen Rant article
- ‘Batman: The Movie’ Honest Trailer: When Batman Was the Love Child of Christopher Walken and Jeff Goldblum - SlashFilm article
- OMG, why not let Adam West take you back to the Joker’s true origin story before seeing the new JOKER film! - OMG Blog article
- Fun Honest Trailer For BATMAN: THE MOVIE When Batman Was a Mix of Christopher Walken and Jeff Goldblum - Geek Tyrant article