Party like it's 1989

Batman (1989)

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 126 minutes

Box Office (in today’s dollars): 472 million (approximately)

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Batman, Jack Napier, The Joker, Vicki Vale, Alfred Pennyworth, Alexander Knox, Bob the Goon, Carl Grissom, Alicia Hunt, Commissioner James Gordon, Lt. Max Eckhardt, Harvey Dent

Cool Stuff: The Batmobile

Cool Music: Prince!

Cool Quote: “You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

Superman (1978) was the first major big-budget superhero movie, but this movie was in its own universe. I didn’t see it in the theater, but from what I understand it was a huge success. Even though the movie is called Batman, Jack Nicholson (as Jack Napier/the Joker) got top billing ... which is understandable. I mean, he’s Jack Nicholson. He has all the great lines (we’ll get to the greatest one later) like “Wait ‘til they get a load of me”, “This town needs an enema”, “I got a live one here”, and “If you gotta go, go with a smile”. As great as Jack Nicholson was as the Joker, Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman was pretty amazing. Some would argue he is the best Batman ever (right Jake?). He has a great line as well ... ”I’m Batman”. Vicki Vale is a great character and love interest for our superhero, and Alfred is a great butler/father figure.

It’s been a theme throughout my eighties movie blog that the coolest thing from the movie is a car ... so it’s only fitting that the last movie on my list has the Batmobile. The Batwing is pretty cool, but it is not even close ... and it crashes and burns. The cool music is brought to you by Prince. The fun “Party Man”, the naughty “Scandalous”, and the “Bat Dance”. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget to mention the score for the movie. It’s so good and brings the Batman to life. Ok, back to the cool quote. It has to be “You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?” I know I ask that of all my prey.

This movie (along with the sequel Batman Returns) are both really dark and violent. It almost makes the other two sequels (Batman Forever and Batman & Robin) unwatchable. Three other things I liked about this movie: the Bat-Signal (a close runner-up to the Ghostbusters logo as the tattoo I would get to symbolize the eighties in film), the credits are in black and yellow, and the Joker made me realize that you never rub another man’s rhubarb.

So I have finally finished my list of the 32 movies from the eighties that I feel are the most essential (Back to the Future is the most, but I left it off for reasons already discussed). Thanks to Billy Dee Williams, we have gone from Cloud City (The Empire Strikes Back) to Gotham City (Batman). Stay tuned for the Salty Chewbacca Elite Eighties Tournament Challenge!