Awesome / Batman (1966)

aka: Batman The Movie

Awesome moments in Batman (1966).

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• There tends to be about one fight per episode, and they're almost always exciting, rewatchable, and well-choreographed. "Marsha, Queen of Diamonds" deserves special praise though, as rather than a fistfight, it has a decent sequence where Batman and Robin have a sword fight with the Mooks.
• In "Give 'Em the Axe" when Batman disarms Riddler of his sword in the museum and holds him effortlessly in a hand lock, "Didn't your mother tell you not to play with knives?" Then while Batman is forcing Riddler into one of the torture devices to secure him, twisting his hand painfully all the way, the villain learns how pissed off Bats can get. "Let me give you one last word of advice: give up your evil ways! When you've paid your debt to society, and pay it you will, start life anew as a respectable citizen!"
  • Which has become something of a Canon Immigrant, as Riddler's done just that in the main comics.
• Commissioner Gordon calls Batman about Mr. Freeze's demands... and then Chief O'Hara calls Bruce Wayne about Mr. Freeze's demands and says that he and the Commissioner want him and Batman to talk to each other. Batman/Bruce ends up Holding Both Sides of the Conversation rather smoothly and the police are none the wiser.
• In "Flop Goes the Joker", Alfred proves that he is literally Batman's Batman. The Joker invades Wayne Manor, gun in hand, and casually dubs Alfred an "Anglo-fink". Alfred just as casually disarms him with a fireplace poker and then chases him through the house until the Joker enters the study. Thus begins the Joker's Humiliation Conga.
  Batman: Alfred, what's happened?
  Alfred: Joker accidentally tripped the batpole switch and mistook this for a secret passage.
  Robin: Then he's down in the Batcave!
  Alfred: Joker didn't quite make the Batcave, Master Robin.
  Robin: Then, where is he?
  Alfred: I believe he should be arriving presently.
  Batman: The Emergency Batpole Elevator Lift. Fast thinking, Alfred.
  Alfred: Thank you, sir.

  Joker: (at the top of the poles) Somebody get me off this crazy dumbwaiter! I can't breathe!
  Batman: Alfred, Joker says he can't breathe. Why don't you give him some breathing space?
  Alfred: With pleasure, Sir. (Presses the down button)
  Joker: Oh no! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! (Slides back down)

  Aunt Harriet: By the way, where is Joker?
  Robin: Right now, Joker's having his ups and downs.
  Batman: You might say that.

  Joker: (at top of poles exhausted) Alfred ol' pal, have pity!
  Alfred: We Anglo-finks have a long memory. (Pushes Down Button)
  Joker: Oh no!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! (Slides back down)
  Alfred: One shouldn't take pleasure in another creature's misfortunes. But, occasionally, one may be forgiven for a slight twinge of satisfaction.
• The movie, while for the most part cheesy, has Batman's stunning rebuke, "You. FILTHY. CRIMINALS!" He puts so much hate into that one line it puts Christian Bale to shame.
• "The Joker gets his paintings switched.'' Batman manages to totally undermine the Joker's robbery spree while also delivers a few zingers.

  Joker: You can say that over the phone, Batman, but if I had you here, I'd pound you to a pulp! (hangs up)
  (Batman walks out from behind a curtain, his own phone in hand)
  Batman: Start pounding, Joker!
  Joker: (screams)

• The Two-Part Crossover with Batman and The Green Hornet. Robin Vs Kato played by Bruce Lee... 'nuff said.
• In "The Wail of the Siren", Robin was so angry at the Siren for nearly killing Bruce Wayne (she hypnotized him with her voice and ordered him to jump off a building) that when she stumbles and is desperately holding on to the edge of the roof, he threatens to let her fall. Keep in mind that normally this Robin Wouldn't Hit a Girl. He sternly agrees to pull her up in exchange for her removing her spell from Bruce.
• The Joker has his own awesome moment when in his first story, he hijacks a TV news studio, apparently kills the anchorman with his joy buzzer, then plays What's My Crime? on air to give Batman a hint, capped with the taunt after a wrong answer, "As you doubtless know, every wrong answer means that we contribute $1 to the famous Joker's Home for Worn-Out Bats!"
  • For bonus points, he calls The Dynamic Duo "Fatman and Boy Blunder".
• In one episode, between them Commissioner Gorden and Alfred save the day: Batman, Robin, and Batgirl all get delivered to City Hall turned into 2D figures, and it occurs to Gordon to use the Bat Hotline and get help from the Mysterious Voice who always answers the phone. Alfred collects the heroes (at the Post Office, wearing an amusingly Paper-Thin Disguise) and returns them to normal.
• False Face's crony Blaze puts on a better showing than most female villains from the show (even if she does get the same corny High-Heel–Face Turn as so many of the others). She delivers a message to Batman and Gordon while convincingly disguised as a man and pulls off a bold escape out the window when they catch on to her. Later, after being captured, she gets Robin to lower his guard, then uses a hair clip filled with knockout glass to lay him out.
• In Catwoman's first scene, a museum guard hears a meowing sound in the shadows, then a whip lashes out, yanking away his gun. Catwoman then throws a cat into his face before cutting through a glass display case with the claws on her glove and taking the cat statue inside.
• When they're summoned to investigate Catwoman, Batman and Robin are playing chess with four (full) boards stacked on top of each other, with Batman making a wry comment about how you only have to think fourteen moves ahead.
• In "The Pharoah's in a Rut", two of King Tut's Dumb Muscle flunkies prove to be a Spanner in the Works to Batman's plan when they decide to take a tarot reading seriously. As a result of the reading, they whack their seemingly unconscious prisoner over the head with a club as a precaution, knocking him out for real and foiling his plan to capture Tut.
• Aunt Harriet gets her own moment in Season 2. During the course of "The Devil's Fingers/The Dead Ringers", villainous pianist Chandell (played by Liberace) has been wooing Aunt Harriet, in the hopes of marrying her and using Bruce Wayne's fortune to pay off his blackmailing brother, Harry (also played by Liberace). Once Harry learns of this, he visits Aunt Harriet, posing as his brother. However, she sees through the trick with nothing but female intuition, and once alone with Harry, holds him at gunpoint to make a citizen's arrest. While she is ultimately taken prisoner and rescued by Batman, it was nice to see Aunt Harriet stick up for herself and show she's not always as naive as she appears.
• In Mr. Freeze's debut, he hires a dozen thugs to dress up as himself and Batman, then has them attack the Dynamic Duo. The resulting chaotic fight causes Robin to punch the real Batman by mistake.
• In "The Joker Goes to School", Joker shows up to taunt Batman at the local high school and gloats about how he's currently out of jail on parole, and there's no evidence linking him to any crime. A minor student council member proposes arresting him for loitering on school grounds, a crime which carries a fifty-year sentence. The plan fails (because Joker doesn't stick around long enough to loiter), but it's still a decently resourceful suggestion from a minor character in a town that usually needs Batman to solve everything.
• In "When the Rat's Away, the Mice Will Play", Commissioner Gordon sees right through one of Riddler's henchmen impersonating Batman. Granted, he doesn't make any move to arrest the guy, because he doesn't want Bruce Wayne to get caught in the crossfire of a fight, but it's still an impressive deduction from a man who generally can't figure anything out without Batman's help.
• In "The Bookworm Turns", the Genre Savvy heroes figure out that Lydia is a Decoy Damsel meant to lead them into a trap, and use knockout gas and truth serum to find out everything she knows. When Lydia wakes up with no memory of what just happened, Batman leaves, acting like he's about to fall into the Bookworm's trap, while Robin stays behind to watch Lydia. She figures out that the Dynamic Duo know about the Bookworm's trap when Robin calls her by name even though she never revealed her name before being drugged. Lydia tricks Robin into opening a book with a knockout gas dispenser, then calls Bookworm to tell him that Batman knows about the trap, but now they have Robin as a hostage.
• In the Season 1 finale:
  • Penguin's three goons don't come across as any more imposing or competent than the average Mooks, but then, three of them manage to overpower Batman during a fair fight to set up the Death Trap Cliffhanger. This is quite the accomplishment, as the heroes are almost always captured through trickery rather than Good Old Fisticuffs.
  • When Penguin's moll has a High-Heel–Face Turn, she attempts to physically stop him from using one of his trick umbrellas against the Caped Crusaders. She's rendered unconscious with knockout gas before she can make the slightest bit of difference, but she at least tries to do something outside of Neutral Female territory.
• In "Hot off the Griddle", the bumbling Chief O'Hara and his men actually manage to catch one of Catwoman's Mooks (albeit offscreen) as he flees a fight with the duo.
  • In her second two-parter, Catwoman whacks Robin with a bag of money during the middle of the climactic brawl rather than spend the entire battle sitting things out.
• Ma Parker and her kids deliberately get themselves arrested (while avoiding making it look too obvious). Then (aided by guards on their payroll) they take over the prison and make it their new base of operations. Ma gloats that the best part is that the more effective a crimefighter Batman is, the more new recruits they'll have for their mob.
• Chief O'Hara is a Defiant Captive upon realizing King Tut has taken him prisoner in "The Pharoah's in a Rut".
• Mr. Freeze's prisoner Miss Iceland is a particularly impressive Defiant Captive. Mr. Freeze locks her in a cell that's as cold as a freezer for four days while she's only wearing a swimsuit and she never once stops mocking his plans to frame the Caped Crusaders and force her to marry him.
  Ms. Iceland: Not if I live to be a hundred. Below zero.
• In "The Penguin's Nest/The Bird's Last Jest", the Penguin's henchwoman Chickadee averts being a Neutral Female almost to the point of being a Dark Action Girl. She tries to shoot at Batman and Robin in part one and spends the fight scene trying to aim at them for another shot rather than just watching and cowering. When Chief O'Hara arrives, she trips him and takes him hostage.
  • At the end of that two-parter, Aunt Harriet knocks Chickadee (who had been busy holding her at gunpoint during the final fistfight) over the head with a vase when Alfred distracts her.
• In "Come Back, Shame", Okie Annie becomes the only henchwoman to personally defeat the Dynamic Duo by shooting a rope to make a chandelier fall on them. In part two she tries to shoot Batman, and briefly tries to pistol-whip him once her allies start losing the following fistfight.
• In "It's How You Play the Game", Shame and his gang wound Robin in the foot while shooting at the heroes, forcing them to retreat (although Hollywood Healing allows for a near-instantaneous recovery). Seeing the villains avert A-Team Firing for one of the only times in the franchise is quite startling.

  • In the climax of the episode, Shame is handily beating Robin until Batman intervenes.

• Gordon actually manages to plant an undercover cop in Catwoman's gang during "The Sandman Cometh", and might have brought down two super villains without any help from Batman if Catwoman hadn't overheard the cop making a phone call at the beginning of the episode.
• One of Joker's plans causes Bruce Wayne to seemingly fall under Joker's influence, give him control over the city's biggest bank and get engaged to Joker's Moll (it's really a literal Batman Gambit). When Batman refuses to intervene, Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara decide that Bruce must be insane and get a doctor to certify him. Gordon shows up at the bank, tells Joker that the man who hired him wasn't in his right mind, and orders him to vacate the premises. It's undermined by a corresponding Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moment when Chief O'Hara has Bruce Wayne hauled off in a straitjacket for treatment, but it's more provocative and crafty than normal for those two.
  • At the end of the episode, Batman and Robin engage in some Framing the Guilty Party by reprogramming Joker's robots to engage in incriminating behavior.
• In "A Riddling Controversy", the arriving police catch a Moll during her attempted Villain: Exit, Stage Left, and they do something similar with recurring villain Mr. Freeze in "The Duo Defy", Egghead and Olga in both of their team-ups and Minerva in the series finale.
• Girly Girl and Damsel in Distress Pinky Pinkston leave a hidden message for Batman in the villain's own discarded bowl of alphabet soup. Later, she gets her pet dog to chew through the ropes binding her and escapes from captivity.
• In "Penguin's Disastrous End", Batman thinks he has the villains trapped inside a vault full of gold and that they'll surrender soon to avoid running out of air. However, he's playing right into their hands. They set up an air recycling device and spend days in the vault, melting down the gold to build a tank, which they end up driving through the wall.
• In "The Duo's Anniversary", the heroes get into an underwater fistfight with the villains while wearing scuba gear.
• Barbara Gordon's first episode sets her up as just another Damsel in Distress who's taken prisoner in her own home. Then she sneaks from one room to another on a window ledge, opens a secret passage, and dons a Bargirl costume (complete with a wig to disguise her appearance) to fight Penguin.
• In his second two-part episode, Egghead has been Taught by Experience (a rarity among the show's villains) and wants to avoid Bond Villain Stupidity, avoid any convoluted death traps and kill the Dynamic Duo outright. It doesn't stick, though.
• King Tut's penultimate Moll, the ditzy Shirley, avoids being a Neutral Female by sneaking up behind Batgirl and whacking her over the head with a vase.
• In "The Joke's On Catwoman", a judge lambasts a jury for neglecting their duties by ignoring clear evidence and acquitting the villains without even deliberating. Then, when it turns out the jury is made up of disguised henchmen, a pair of bailiffs hold them at gunpoint before they can join in the climactic brawl and overwhelm the heroes through sheer numbers. Gordon and Chief O'Hara grab Catwoman as she wrestles with Batgirl and physically restrain her for the rest of the fight. To cap it off, the judge whacks Joker on the head with his gavel. It's doubtful that the Caped Crusaders have ever received as much help from the authorities in a fight before or since in that series.
• In Shame's Season 3 appearance, his girlfriend and her mother drive a tank through the prison wall.
  • In "The Great Escape", Shame knocks Batman down by whacking him with a stool several times until Robin intervenes. This may be the only occasion where a main villain singlehandedly dominates Batman in a fair fight.
    • Once the heroes turn the tide, their victory is quickly rendered meaningless when Calamity Jan and her mother arrive and spray the heroes with fear gas. Then, during the two-parter's second brawl, Jan and Frontier Fanny throw things at the heroes as they fight the male villains. Later, they try to shoot Batman from an ambush before being lassoed. Between those two and Okie Annie, Shame seems to have a talent for attracting non-Neutral Females.
• People don't give this show enough credit for how much of a faithful adaptation it was. It hit all the major beats from the comics: the Batcave, car, and signal, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, the villains, all of it! They could've easily changed the character into something completely different, but they didn't. Even the campiness was accurate to the comics, for better or worse (the show actually tones it down: Zebra Batman, anyone?). It also brought some new elements to the franchise, such as Dick Grayson being a teenager rather than an 8-year-old, the Riddler being one of Batman's main foes (plus his now standard green-bowler-and-tie outfit, which Frank Gorshin came up with), and the entire character of Batgirl as we know her. These new ideas proved so popular that they've lasted to this day.
  • In Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a love-letter to the Golden Age of Television, the Bat-theme is what plays over the end credits. Since he never does anything unintentional, it says that he recognizes the show deserves a place in TV history that it never got in it's own time.

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