Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003)

Director: Paul A. Kaufman

Writer: Duane Poole

Composer: Douglas J. Cuomo

Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward, Jack Brewer, Jason Marsden, Lyle Waggoner, Lee Meriwether, Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, Betty White, Amy Acker, Brett Rickaby, Curtis Armstrong, Jim Jansen

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Holy reunion, Batman!

Plot: When the Batmobile is stolen, Adam West and Burt Ward search for it while remembering their days as the stars of the Batman live action series.



My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Sure.

I'm a HUGE fan of the 60s Batman TV show (which is FINALLY coming out on DVD later this year).  There's a big nostalgia factor there.  I've been to a couple of comic cons where West and Ward attended and even geeked out enough to get their autographs.  I saw this the night it originally aired and it tickled me silly.  It still does.  Duane Pool wrote a clever, funny script that captures the spirit of the almost fifty year old show and it's able to incorporate a reunion show at that.  West and Ward are fun and they're given lots of great gags that are silly as shit.  Like anything, not all of the jokes land but there are enough knee-slappers to keep me going.  Then there's the biography segments mixed in that show us the beginnings of the show and some of the fun behind the scenes trivia bits that most die hard fans will already know but are presented in an entertaining way.  Jason Marsden (as the 1960s Burt Ward) fucking nailed it.  I'm impressed. It appears that most of what he's done in the past twenty years is voice work. He's damn good in this and it'd be nice to see him on screen more.  It's really neat seeing Meriwether, Gorshin and Newmar having a great time and it's just too cool that they worked in a part for Lyle Waggoner who was one of the actors up for the role of Batman in '66.  They even show his screen test in the film.  It's fun.  This picture is likely only going to appeal to fans of the old show.  Younger Batman fans will find it dumb and silly.  But I think there's one thing we can all agree on, the '66 Batmobile is the best one ever.  Am I right, guys? Huh?  Yeah?  Are ya with me?



1 comment:

  1. I can hardly wait for the DVD release of the Batman TV series. For the last few years I've been making do with one of those recorded-from-TV box sets, which is better than nothing but far from perfect quality. They had to release it now. The copyright for TV shows expires 50 years after the first broadcast, so they need to make money from it while they still can.

    I've never met Adam or Burt. I'm jealous! But 10 years ago I wrote an email to Adam's web site praising him on his performance in the Black Scorpion TV series, and he answered personally. That was a nice touch.

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