Batman (1989 film)

On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Gotham City, the mayor orders District Attorney Harvey Dent and Police Commissioner James Gordon to make the city safer. Meanwhile, reporter Alexander Knox and photojournalist Vicki Vale begin to investigate rumors of an avenger nicknamed “ Batman, ” who has targeted urban crime.

This Batman is none other than the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, a billionaire industrialist who, as a child, witnessed the murder of his parents by an unknown robber psychopath. At an anniversary evening on the Wayne estate, Bruce meets Vicki and falls in love with her. However, the evening ends, Bruce is alarmed by the sudden departure of Commissioner Gordon because of the police and decides to also take up the case in the role of Batman.

Mafia boss Carl Grissom, to whom Dent began to crawl, discovers that his mistress Alicia has contacted his right hand Jack Napier. With the help of corrupt police lieutenant Max Eckhart, Grissom orders Napier to be killed in a raid on a chemical plant. However, Grissom’s plan was foiled by the arrival of Commissioner Gordon, who wants to take Napier alive. During the ensuing skirmish, Jack Napier, who realized that he was framed, kills Eckhart, but Batman suddenly appears and, in the fight against him, Napier falls into a vat with chemicals. Batman leaves, and Napier is considered dead. However, in fact, he survived, but got pale white skin, emerald green hair and a ruby ​​red grin. Having lost his mind completely, Napier calls himself the " Joker ", kills Grissom and himself leads his criminal empire.

The Joker begins to terrorize Gotham with hygiene products with Shothotriks, a toxic substance that leads to the death of the victim from unbridled laughter with the same smile on his face as that of the Joker. Gathering information about Batman, the Joker is also keen on Vale. He lures her into a museum and destroys works of art with her henchmen, but Batman arrives and saves her. They leave for Batmobile , but they are haunted by the Joker people, whom Batman subsequently defeats. Batman leads Vicki to the Bat Cave , where he gives her information from his research on Shothotriks, which will allow residents to protect themselves from toxins. The furious Joker vows to kill Batman.

Bruce comes to Vicki to tell her about his alter ego, but the Joker interrupts their meeting, asking Bruce: “Did you have to dance with the devil in the moonlight?” Before shooting him. Bruce, however, survives and escapes since he used the tray as a bulletproof vest. He recalls that the burglar, who at one time killed his parents, asked the same question, and thus understands that it was Napier who was their killer. Suddenly, Vicki appears in the cave, led by Bruce's butler Alfred Pennyworth . Having told her that he cannot concentrate on relations while the Joker is free, Bruce, already as Batman, sets off to destroy the plant. Meanwhile, the Joker lures residents of Gotham with a promise of easy money, throws cash into the crowd, as promised, but at the same time attacks them with Smehotrix gas coming out of its giant balloons. Batman arrives and takes them away with the help of the Bat wing. A furious Joker shoots a bat wing from a long-barreled revolver, causing it to crash.

The Joker kidnaps Vicki and leads her to the roof of the cathedral. Batman, a survivor of the disaster, defeats the Joker people, despite his injuries, and engages in a fight with the villain. In the fight, the Joker folds Batman and Vicki, but they cling to the ledge. The Joker tries to escape by helicopter, but Batman hooks a heavy granite gargoyle to the Joker’s leg, and as the helicopter rises, it breaks off and falls, dragging the Joker along with it. The villain is dying.

Commissioner Gordon reports that the police arrested the Joker people and is showing a Bat signal . Harvey Dent reads a message from Batman, where he promises to defend Gotham whenever crime raises his head again. Alfred takes Vicki to the Wayne estate, telling her that Bruce will be a little later. She replies that this does not surprise her anymore. Batman looks at the projection of the Bat signal, standing over the city.

Design

Following the financial success of the 1985 film Big Pi Adventure , Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton as the director of the Batman movie. Burton and his girlfriend Julie Hickson wrote a new 30-page interpretation of the film immediately, citing Tom Mankevich’s script as being old-fashioned. The success of the comic books " The Dark Knight Returns " and " Batman: The Killing Joke " was demonstrated by Warner Bros. "Interest in the film adaptation." Burton was never a fan of comics, but he was impressed by the dark and serious tone of the narrative that was chosen in these works ^[2] . Warner bros enlisted the support of Steve Englehart, who wrote a new script in March 1986 ^[3] . He initially included the Joker and Rupert Thorne as the main villains, with the cameo Penguin , Silver Cloud and Dick Grayson . A detailed plot was described by Englehart in Strange Apparitions ( ISBN 1-56389-500-5 ). Warner bros were delighted with this, but Englehart felt that for one film it was too much. Therefore, he removed the Penguin and Dick Grayson in his second version of the script, which was completed in May 1986 ^[3] .

Burton hired Sam Hamm, who was a comic book fan, to rewrite the script ^[4] . Hamm decided not to use the story of the character’s origin in the script, as he considered that the memories are better suited for this purpose, and the “disclosure of secrets” will become part of the plot ^[5] . He substantiated this: “We will completely lose your trust if we show the literal process in which Bruce Wayne becomes Batman” ^[6] . Hamm replaced Silver Cloud with Vicki Vale and Rupert Thorne with his invented character, Carl Grissom. He completed his screenplay in October 1986, in which Dick Grayson was mentioned as a cameo and not as a permanent character. ^[7] In the Hamm script, there was a scene with the young James Gordon on duty on the night of the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents. But when Hamm's script was rewritten, the scene was deleted ^[8] .

Warner bros not really eager to start filming the movie, even though the Hamm script was positively accepted by one of Batman’s authors, Bob Kane ^[2] . A pirated copy of Hamm's script could be found at any comic book store in America ^[5] . Finally, Batman received the “green light” and preparations for the filming began in April 1988 after the success of Tim Burton's film “ Beetlejuice ” ^[2] . When the fans found out that Burton wanted to give Michael Keaton the main role, a debate about the direction of the film genre began, to which Hamm replied: “They hear the name Tim Burton and think about the “ Big Pi-Vi adventure , ” they hear the name Mike Keaton and think That this is another comedy with him. They begin to think about the 1960 comedy series about Batman, but this series is the exact opposite of our film. We wanted to show Batman in his usual serious and dark colors, but the fans did not believe us ” ^[5] . To combat the negative outlook on making the film, Batman's co-author, Bob Kane , was hired as a creative consultant. ^[9]

Casting

The roles of Batman were considered Mel Gibson , Kevin Costner , Charlie Sheen , Pierce Brosnan , Tom Selleck and Bill Murray ^{[4] [10]} . In the beginning, Tim Burton wanted to choose the next militant actor for this role. But later producer John Peters suggested Keaton, claiming that he had "the right qualities" ^[2] . “Having tested” him in the movie “ Beetlejuice ”, Burton agreed that Keaton play the role of Batman ^[10] .

Keaton’s choice for the lead role provoked negative emotions among comic book fans, with around 50,000 letters of protest sent to Warner Bros.’s office . ^[7] Bob Kane , Sam Hamm and Michael Uslan also negatively accepted Burton's choice. ^[5] They believed that Adam West was more suitable for this role ^[11] . Tim Burton later admitted: “Obviously, comic book lovers negatively accepted Keaton as Batman. I think they decided that we want to make another semblance of a 1960 series. It was difficult to disagree with this, because everyone knew Keaton from the films “ Mr. Mom ” and “ Night Shift ” and all in the same spirit ” ^[11] . For inspiration, Keaton read the comic book The Return of the Dark Knight ^[12] .

The roles of the Joker were considered by Timothy Curry , Willem Dafoe , David Bowie and James Woods ^{[6] [13]} . Robin Williams showed his interest in this role ^[7] . Producer Michael Uslan and writer Bob Kane chose Jack Nicholson back in 1980. John Peters began negotiations with the actor in 1986, during the filming of the film " Eastwick Witches " ^[14] . Nicholson did not have the so-called overtime work. His contract indicated the number of hours that he had to spend on the set, and be on set at the set time ^[4] . But he demanded that all scenes with his participation be shot within 3 weeks, although nevertheless his schedule for participation in the film was extended to 106 days ^[14] . For his work, he received $ 6 million, plus a large percentage of box office, as a result, the amount amounted to more than $ 50 million ^{[6] [10]} .

Initially, Sean Young was supposed to play the role of Vicki Weil, but was injured when she participated in horse riding, even before the shooting began ^[15] . Burton proposed replacing Young Michelle Pfeiffer , but Keaton, who had a relationship with her, expressed the opinion that he would be uncomfortable with Pfeiffer. She later starred as Catwoman in the movie Batman Returns .

Because of these overlaps, an urgent search for an actress who could immediately participate in the filming of the film began. Peters suggested Kim Basinger , who immediately began to participate in the filming ^{[10] [15]} .

Burton was a fan of Michael Gough , who starred in various films at Hammer Film Productions , so he offered him the role of Alfred Pennyworth , butler Bruce Wayne ^[16] .

Robert Wool was selected as an actor for the role of Alexander Knox. His character was supposed to die from the poisonous gas of the Joker, but the creators of the film liked this hero, so they “allowed” him to live on ^[8] .

Burton chose Billy Dee Williams for the role of Harvey Dent , because he wanted to include the character Two-faced in the film ^[17] , but in the movie " Batman Forever " Tommy Lee Jones was chosen for this role. This slightly disappointed Williams ^[8] . Nicholson requested that the filmmakers choose Tracy Walter as the Joker minion, Bob; in real life they are close friends ^[18] .

Other actors were later accepted as Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon , Jack Palance as Carl Grissom, Jerry Hall as Alicia Hunt, Lee Wallace as Mayor of the Borg and William Hutkins as Lieutenant Max Eckhardt.

Filming

Filming was supposed to begin on the natural territory of Burbank , but the huge media interest in the film forced the creators to change the location. The choice was made at Pinewood Studios in England . Filming took place from October 1988 to January 1989 ^[19] . 18 pavilions were used for filming, the total area of ​​which was about 0.38 km² ^[9] . Including Nebworth House and Hatfield House acting as Wayne Manor , Bruce Wayne's mansion, plus Acton Lane Power Station and Burford Small Power Station ^{[20] [21]} . Therefore, the initial budget of $ 30 million was exceeded by $ 18 million and amounted to $ 48 million ^[10] . Filming was very hidden. Reporters were offered £ 10,000 for the first photographs of Jack Nicholson as the Joker. The police further stated that two reels with footage were stolen, the timing of which was about 20 minutes ^[14] . There were also problems during the filming, Burton called it “torture, the worst time of my life!” ^[10]

Due to the strike of the US Scriptwriters Guild in 1988, Hamm was banned from further correspondence of the script ^[4] . Jonathan Gem, Warren Skaner and Charles McCown rewrote the script during the filming ^[22] . Hamm is negative about this and blames Warner Brothers ^[5] . Burton explained this: “I do not understand why this has become such a problem. We started shooting according to the scenario of Hamm, everyone liked it, although we recognized that it needed to be finalized ” ^[2] . Dick Grayson was in the working script, but was removed later on, as he had nothing to do with the plot ^[4] . Bob Kane supported this decision ^[16] .

In the original version, the Joker was supposed to kill Vicki Vale, thereby leading Batman into a vengeful rage. Without saying a word to Tim Burton, John Peters reworked this moment. He hired set designer Anthon Furst to create a 12-meter-high model of the cathedral ^[23] . It cost him $ 100,000 when the film already decently went beyond budget. Burton liked the idea, but he did not know what the scene would be at the end: “When Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger climbed to the top of the cathedral, halfway around Jack turned and said:“ Why am I going there? Will we talk about this when we get to the top? "I had to answer him that I do not know" ^[23] .

Production

Burton was impressed by the production of Anthon Furst in the film " In the company of wolves ", but earlier he had not been able to hire Furst as a production designer in the movie " Beetlejuice " ^[19] . Then, Forst already participated in the film " Higher Spirits ", which he later regretted ^[4] . Furst enjoyed working with Burton. “I didn’t think I would feel so natural in agreement with the director,” Forst said. “Concept, spirit, visual and artistic style. There were no contradictions between us, because we did not fight for anything. Burton is a master of his craft. ” ^[9]

Furst and the art department deliberately blended different architectural styles to “Make Gotham the ugliest and darkest city you can imagine.” ^[24] The 1985 Brazilian film by Terry Gilliam influenced the production of the film: Burton and Forst studied it as an example ^[9] . Derek Meddings was the director of visual effects, and Kate Short helped finish the Batmobile ^[25] by adding two Browning M1919 machine guns to it ^[26] . Furst explained the choice of car design: “We looked at the details of the aircraft, looked at the military vehicles, but we looked at everything that we could” ^[14] . The Batmobile was built on the basis of the Chevrolet Impala , as previous work with the Jaguar and Ford Mustang failed. ^[14]

Costume designer Bob Ringwood declined an invitation to participate in the movie " License to Kill " in favor of Batman. Ringwood had difficulty creating the Batcostume, because “The image of Batman in the comics is a huge, six by four feet, man with a dimple in his chin. And Michael Keaton is a guy of average stature and physique, ”he said. “The problem was to make a suit in which a person of average height and physique would appear in him more than he actually is” ^[27] .

Music

Burton hired his co-star in the films Big Pi Adventure and Beetlejuice , Danny Elfman , to write the music for the film. For inspiration, Elfman was given the comic book The Return of the Dark Knight. Elfman was worried, since he had never participated in the production of such a large-scale and large-budget film ^[28] . In addition, producer John Peters was skeptical about hiring Elfman, but changed his mind after listening to the first musical composition from him ^[29] . Peters and Peter Huber wanted Prince and Michael Jackson to write the music for the film. And Elfman would then combine the style of the songs of Prince and Jackson as the main soundtrack of the film ^[2] .

Burton was against this, citing: "My films are not commercial, like" The Best Shooter "" ^[2] . Elfman turned to Oingo Boingo , Steve Bartek and Shirley Walker for help to join the main orchestra ^[30] . Elfman was later unhappy with mixing the sound of his film. “Batman was recorded in England, and there they did not care about technology” ^[31] . Batman was one of the first films to use two audio tracks. In one of them sounded compositions of Prince, and in the other of Elfman. Both of them were successful ^[32] , and the songs from the Elfman collection sounded in the opening intro of the Batman animated series , in which Shirley Walker also participated ^[13] .

When discussing the main theme of the film, Tim Burton said: “The whole film is a duel between two freaks. Two troublemakers. ” He continued: “The Joker is a strong character because he is free. Any person who does not work for society is considered a freak and an outcast, but he is free and does whatever he wants ... ” ^[2]

The film was released on various video media, including VHS , Laserdisc , one DVD, and as an anthology that included several Batman films. “The Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology” was released in 2005 and included two special DVD editions of the Batman movie from Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher . This anthology kit was reissued on Blu-ray on March 10, 2009.

On May 19, 2009, on the 20th anniversary of the film, a new edition of the film was released. This version of Batman contains the same thing as the anthology edition (both on DVD and Blu-ray). But there are two differences: this version included a 50-page movie booklet, as well as a slight change in the packaging of the Blu-ray publication (Warner Bros. * Digibook *). Both editions include a digital version of the film.

In 1990, the film received an Academy Award for best work by a production designer. He was also nominated for BAFTA awards (best supporting role - Jack Nicholson , best costumes - Bob Ringwood , best design - Anthon Furst , best sound and best special effects) and Golden Globe (Jack Nicholson for the role of the Joker ).

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