Adam West: An Appreciation

Such a head of hair on the young Lawler.

Hahaha wtf!

Enjoying life.

funny that this thread just got revived -- since i finally saw the batman movie that adam west made some forty years ago and i have concluded that it was the best batman movie of them all (at least until the christian bale batman movies were made).

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!"

Meanwhile, on the subset of history, Burt Ward sings...and Frank Zappa produces.

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/308178/adam-west-kicked-out-orgy-gilbert-gottfried-podcast/

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-adam-west-snap-story.html

West’s Batman/Bruce Wayne is, and will always remain, the single most important screen incarnation of the character, for better or worse: for better because it was the most surprising, at times confounding, interpretation of the Caped Crusader, feather-light and hilarious precisely because of the character’s seeming lack of self-awareness; for worse, in the eyes of some fans, because it encouraged millions of people who had never picked up a Batman comic, or any comic, to be amused by the sight of adults dressing up in wild outfits and pretending to punch each other in the face. Every subsequent, high-profile reinvention of Batman, whether in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, Tim Burton’s alternately perverse and sincere Batman and Batman Returns, Christopher Nolan’s operatic trilogy, and Zack Snyder’s funereal Batman vs. Superman, is, first and foremost, a reaction against the Adam West-driven Batman series.

That’s how important the show was: it was cancelled 50 years ago and hasn’t been a force in syndication since the ‘80s, yet the whole superhero-industrial complex is still defining itself in opposition to it, subconsciously or with intent.

http://www.vulture.com/2017/06/adam-west-batman-legacy.html

still think his Batman movie was beyond classic

best Batman imo

its funny the more serious and gritty the newer Batman films, the more dumb and idiotic Batman get. especially in BvS, he is hunting Superman for a year yet does no detective work and lets himself get manipulated by fake news.

meanwhile Adam West Batman got attacked by an exploding shark at sea and was able to use that single clue to deduce that Catwoman, the Riddler, the Joker, and the Penguin were planning to take over the entire world. he may have been hammy but he was a smart cookie.

Batman: One: "What has yellow skin and writes?"
Robin: A ballpoint banana!
Batman: Right! Two: "What people are always in a hurry?"
Robin: Rushing people? Russians!
Batman: Right again! Now, what would you say they mean?
Robin: Banana... Russian... I've got it! Someone Russian is gonna slip on a banana peel and break their neck!
Batman: Precisely, Robin! The only possible meaning!

i love the first episode of the Batman TV show they track the criminals to a discotheque and he has Robin stay in the car cos he is underage. "heroes" just don't have any kind of moral code anymore.

my first memory of laughing at a simpsons episode is when adam west shows up, proudly shows off a picture of himself with robin, and bart goes "who the hell's robin?"

Robin: When you think, Batman, with people in weird outfits, like the four super crooks hangin' around here, it's amazing somebody hasn't already reported this place to the police!
Batman: It's a low neighborhood, full of rumpots. They're used to curious sights, which they attribute to alcoholic delusions.
Robin: Gosh, drink is sure a filthy thing, isn't it? I'd rather be dead than unable to trust my own eyes.

xp

i have such great memories watching Batman as a kid; Mum & Dad both loved it, and my little brother became a fan too

it's kinda marvellous how it has spanned generations

and West irl seemed to have the same gentlemanly kindness towards fans and endless interviews that Roger Moore also had.