Batman (1989)

The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being the clownishly homicidal Joker.

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers:

Bob Kane (Batman characters), Sam Hamm (story)

Stars:

Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger

Won 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 26 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Keaton	...	Batman / Bruce Wayne
Jack Nicholson	...	Joker / Jack Napier
Kim Basinger	...	Vicki Vale
Robert Wuhl	...	Alexander Knox
Pat Hingle	...	Commissioner Gordon
Billy Dee Williams	...	Harvey Dent
Michael Gough	...	Alfred
Jack Palance	...	Grissom
Jerry Hall	...	Alicia
Tracey Walter	...	Bob the Goon
Lee Wallace	...	Mayor
William Hootkins	...	Eckhardt
Richard Strange	...	Goon
Carl Chase	...	Goon
Mac McDonald	...	Goon (as Mac Macdonald)

Storyline

Gotham City. Crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance) effectively runs the town but there's a new crime fighter in town - Batman (Michael Keaton). Grissom's right-hand man is Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson), a brutal man who is not entirely sane... After falling out between the two Grissom has Napier set up with the Police and Napier falls to his apparent death in a vat of chemicals. However, he soon reappears as The Joker and starts a reign of terror in Gotham City. Meanwhile, reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) is in the city to do an article on Batman. She soon starts a relationship with Batman's everyday persona, billionaire Bruce Wayne.

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Plot Keywords:

dc comics | bruce wayne character | batman character | alfred pennyworth character | harvey dent character | 

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Taglines:

Only one will claim the night.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

Batman Official throwing gadgets Official Facebook

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

23 June 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Batman

Filming Locations:

Acton Lane Power Station, Acton Lane, Acton, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$40,489,746, 25 June 1989, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$251,188,924

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$411,348,924

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., The Guber-Peters Company, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints) DTS (DVD version) Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

(at around 1h 2 mins) The painting one of The Joker's henchmen vandalizes by making red hand prints, and then splashing green paint on it, is a self-portrait made in 1669 (same year of his death) by The Netherlands artist Rembrandt van Rijn.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 12 mins) Batman's communicator after telling the Batmobile to stop. He raises a small remote that controls the car to his mouth, gives the command to stop the car and lowers it. In the next shot, his arm is raised to his mouth again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Passenger: Excuse me.
Tourist Dad: I'm sorry, this is my cab.
Passenger: Sorry.
Tourist Dad: Listen, I was here first!
[as the cab drives away]
Tourist Dad: Oh, God! Oh, taxi? Taxi!

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits appear as the camera goes through/around a giant Batman symbol.

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Alternate Versions

The original (non Special-Edition version) Region-1 DVD actually contains two different versions of the film. The fullscreen version is the theatrical version, the widescreen version has one brief shot replaced. It is a small scene near the end at 1:54:06 just before Batman fights the Joker in the Clocktower. In the fullscreen version Vicki Vale gets a disgusted look when she kisses the Jokers jacket and pulls a lint out of her mouth, however in the widescreen version she really seems to like it.

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Connections

Spoofed in Karma - Ich komme wieder (2010)

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Soundtracks

Serenade no. 13 in G, K. 525 ('Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'), second movement
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

User Reviews

Classic Masterpiece

I remember when i was a kid and i got this on video and i watched it so many times. But later, video got deleted :(. Well about 7 years i bought it for DVD and it was so huge masterpiece, what i didn't notice. This classical film should be top 250. Characters are so good. Michael Keaton is the best Batman by far. Jack Nicholson has really great lines and hes really good as The Joker. A reason why this movie is such a great is cause of its music sequences. This is what we need, we need music all the time in the movies. Other reason is its really entertaining with epic humors by The Joker. The story is great. Batman notices that Joker is the guy, who killed his parents." Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight" is classic. The end of the film is a full off excellent action and it ends really good with great music.A movie is not hard to make. It just needs to get great director as Tim Burton and great actors.