BATMAN & ADAM WEST - WHAT IF...?

Back around 1988, when the BATMAN movie

was going into production, ADAM WEST was trying

to drum up support for him getting the opportunity of re-

prising his role as the Caped Crusader.  Interviewed on

TVAM, he said he'd only be interested in doing it if it was

a film noir, gothic, serious type of movie, but was cer-

tainly up for playing Batman on the big screen.

TIM BURTON wasn't interested in availing himself

of West's services, beyond a cameo role as Dr. THOMAS

WAYNE, young BRUCE W's father.  Perhaps because he

felt that Wayne Sr. being killed at the beginning of the movie

was somehow meant to symbolise the demise of his owner-

ship of the role, West declined the cameo.  If he didn't

get to play Batman, he didn't want to play at all.

At the time of the movie being made, West was

only around 54/55, so it wasn't altogether impossible

for him to have carried it off, especially if the producers

had followed FRANK MILLER's concept of an older, re-

tired Batman returning to the fray.  As Batman in action

was mainly a stuntman in the suit, I feel there was no

real impediment to West's participation.

Except one perhaps.  That being, with West's in-

volvement, audiences would've anticipated the movie

being like the '60s TV show.  In the end, it didn't matter,

because that's exactly what they expected anyway.  On my

first visit to see the movie, I overheard departing viewers

at the film's finish saying "I thought it was going to be

just like the TV show!"  They sounded disappointed

that it wasn't, much to my surprise.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been.  Because of a

strike on British TV at the time, the '60s Batman TV

show had been drafted in to fill airtime and, surprisingly,

become quite a hit with early morning viewers, sparking

a minor resurgence in Batmania that almost rivalled its

'60s heyday.  It was relatively short-lived, but the camp

version of Batman was freshly established in the

minds of British viewers at least.

It would've been interesting to see West getting a

crack at playing the DARK KNIGHT persona of Bat-

man.  I think he could've pulled it off, but alas it was not

to be.  Perhaps, on reflection, it was for the best.  Maybe

Adam West's Batman belongs in the '60s, as much as

The BEATLES and SEAN CONNERY's version

of BOND - at least to people around my age.

And yet... I still think it could've worked, and it

would've been great to see West finally getting what

he so richly deserved - a mayor, motion picture block-

buster movie, reprising the role with which he'd been so

long associated, but playing it straight and without the

laughs.  C'mon, admit it - you'd have loved to see

  that movie too.  Wouldn't you?  Do tell.  

Posted in: Cartoons