10 episodes that find the ’60s Batman at its campy best
There are two ways to look at the ’60s television series incarnation of Batman: as a successful attempt to turn dark material into lighter fare, or as a gaudy and shallow mess that sullies the serious reputation of an iconic character. From a modern perspective—and with the three super-serious Christopher Nolan films fresh in the mind—it is difficult to view the series objectively.
Series producer William Dozier supposedly hated comic books, so his approach was to turn Batman into a campy comedy, with oversized villain performances, outlandish gadgetry, and two playful lead performances from Adam West as Bruce Wayne and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson, his young ward. The bright and breezy attitude of the show is antithetical to the Nolan films, which lash out with great but murky purpose. Those films are spectacular, but they are by no means definitive, and the ’60s television series embodies an entirely different approach to the material, and released it into a vastly different world.
Batman walks the tightrope between delightful camp with lots of laughs and farcical mess with shoddy writing and phoned-in guest performances. Much of the time, it’s an amusing and diverting comedy, able to laugh at its own silly and reliable plot constructions and alliterative dialogue. After all, this is a show that has Batman squaring off with The Joker in a surfing contest, and the Boy Wonder sharing a meal with the Caped Crusader at a drive-in in broad daylight.
The tone is playful, arch, tongue-in-cheek; there’s never the sense that this series has some serious message about entrenched institutions—unless you count all the times Batman delivers PSA-grade warnings to Robin about wearing his seatbelt or keeping up with his homework. The technical jargon is laughably inaccurate, only there to make it seem like Batman and Robin have some idea how to turn into forensic scientists for a case: Their equipment includes Universal Antidote Pills, high-energy radar, Bat-springs, and an automatic tire-repair device. For some, that makes the series unwatchable and hokey, but to others, it’s endearing and light-hearted.
This version of Batman has inspired many campy tributes, some ingenious (Robert Smigel’s The Ambiguously Gay Duo, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in Spongebob Squarepants), and others utterly abysmal (Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin). Another Batman series to embrace a lighter and more comedic tone, Batman: The Brave And The Bold, adapted some of the villains that were created specifically for this version of Batman. Since the series aired episodes on consecutive days with cliffhangers, these selected entries are for two-part stories with the titles for both episodes.
“The Joker Is Wild”/“Batman Is Riled” (season one, episodes five and six): The Joker was one of the two most frequent villains to appear on Batman (he and the Penguin appear in 10 episodes), and Cesar Romero’s performance as the Clown Prince of Crime is the most famous from the show. His springy escape from prison is a perfect example of the theatrical humor that was the series’ signature. As with many incarnations of the character, this first appearance sees the Joker hatching a plot to unmask Batman and Robin. Also of note: The mask Romero wears while playing Pagliacci during the television-studio ruse is nearly identical to the one Heath Ledger wears in the opening bank robbery of The Dark Knight.
“Zelda The Great”/“A Death Worse Than Fate” (season one, episodes nine and 10): By the over-the-top standards of Batman, Zelda the Great might be the series’ most subdued villain. As played by Anne Baxter, Zelda is an escape artist who steals $100,000 each year to pay for a new illusion made by “strange Albanian genius” Eivol Ekdal. She hates robbing banks, and after kidnapping Aunt Harriet (Madge Blake), is eventually swayed by a strange television conference with Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon. This is one of the least outlandish episodes of the series, aided by Baxter’s sweet and light performance. She didn’t just get to play a buttoned-up Batman villain during the show’s run; she returned in season three as Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, to team up with Vincent Price’s Egghead.
“The Purr-fect Crime”/“Better Luck Next Time” (season one, episodes 19 and 20): Aside from the Joker, Catwoman is the villain who traditionally has the strongest bond with Batman. But the homoerotic tension between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson interferes with Batman’s typical reparteé when dealing with Catwoman. (Aunt Harriet was incorporated into the comics just a few years before this show to combat that very notion.) Fortunately, Julie Newmar is superb as the Feline Fatale, sending Commissioner Gordon an adorable kitten, dressing her henchmen in ridiculous striped costumes and cat ears, and keeping a handful of tigers around in her hideout. When Batman finally corners her, she chooses money over salvation in one of the only poignant moments to happen in such a trippy series. Also Batman “fights” a tiger. Yeah, that’s pretty much all that needs to be said.
“The Penguin Goes Straight”/“Not Yet, He Ain’t” (season one, episodes 21 and 22): Of all the frequently recurring villains, Burgess Meredith hams it up the most as the Penguin, with a long cigarette holder in his mouth, waddling movements, and exaggerated vocal tics. This two-part storyline has the Penguin seemingly reformed and winning the affection of the public (which is strikingly similar to aspects of Tim Burton’s Batman Returns). It’s all part of a longer con, but the way that Burgess Meredith’s Penguin turns the tables on Batman and Robin, making them the villains, is deftly clever.