Who saw this in cinemas back in '89?
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packtherac — 9 years ago(June 02, 2016 05:35 PM)
Oh yes, opening night. June 23, 1989. Place was PACKED. Even the balcony to the old theatre I saw it at was re-opened for the 1st time in years. I was 14 and went with 3 older friends and the place was packed with good looking girls. Ah, I miss 1989. LOL!
But yeah, loved everything. And MTV was rocking the entire BATMAN craze that spring/summer. Batman comics, t-shirts, posters, hats, it was batman mania. -
ajmal-m — 9 years ago(June 18, 2016 05:48 PM)
saw it opening night in London @ Warners West End. It was madness in Leicester Square and i think tickets were changing hands from 50 upwards. A lot in those days. I kind of enjoyed it at the time but over the years its got worse every time i watch it.
best so far this year:
The Revenant (2015)
A Gorgeous Girl Like Me (1972) -
Blue_Eyes_James — 9 years ago(June 20, 2016 01:46 PM)
Interesting to see the people who posted their age at the time, as young as 4 or 9! I was a Batman comic fan, had slowed down on actually buying them but I was 25 when this came out in 1989. One memory I had most awesome was the opening sequence, with the title music going through the labyrinth that turned out to be the bat-symbol! I knew I was in for a ride then!
I also saw Pee-Wee in the theater, Large Marge made me and my friend jump in our seats!
Threads like this are what make me realize that we really can't ever see things from the other person's point of view, in both age and time. -
Utpe — 9 years ago(June 26, 2016 05:03 PM)
Yes!
Actually, I remember the anticipation for this movie back in 1989. Everybody that I knew ranging from relatives to friends to classmates were super hyped that we were actually receiving a new
Batman
film, apart from
Batman: The Movie (1966)
. It was like a dream come true.
We all rushed to the theaters on opening day, dressed in costumes made-up by our parents. That's how stoked we were about it.
Everybody also purchased the toys. You were the coolest kid on your block if you actually owned the Batcave. And they weren't cheap back then.
Good times. I remember
Ghostbusters II (1989)
came out the previous week as well. The summer of 1989 was one heck of a ride. -
cguerra-79686 — 9 years ago(June 28, 2016 10:56 AM)
I saw this on opening weekend. I recall standing in line for over an hour, with a ton of people ahead of me and then a long line of people behind me. It was showing on multiple screens at the theater, which was not as common back then. I grew up with the Adam West Batman, and was concerned about using Keaton as Batman thinking it just wouldn't work. Whoa, was I wrong. Keaton nailed it. Nicholson was a fantastic Joker. Still enjoy this movie today.
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HellboundHero — 9 years ago(July 03, 2016 10:55 PM)
I saw it in 89, when I was 4. For obvious reasons, I wasn't really aware of the hype or what "hype" even was, but I do remember seeing the shirts and owned one which I used for my Halloween costume. All I know is it started a pretty big obsession in me for the character(though more for the movie and animated incarnations than the comics, to be honest). I only got one comic in the early 90s, and it just had to be during the Knightfall storyline where Azrael was standing in as Batman with the drastically different suit. I didn't know what was going on and didn't recognize the character as Batman(even considering the departures the movies took from canon).
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lashlarue1981 — 9 years ago(July 16, 2016 09:21 PM)
I saw it as well. I was 8 years old and my dad took me. I have very vivid memories of it to this day. I didn't get to go the movies a lot back then so it was special and memorable. I was very excited about seeing it.
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Picnic10 — 9 years ago(July 17, 2016 02:37 PM)
I saw it in the cinema in 1989 when I was 11. It was the film that a new certificate '12' was created for in the UK. Prior to that, the jump had been from 'PG' (parent/guardian be advised that some elements are not suitable for the very young) to '15'. This was when you'd always queue.
There were a lot of in depth articles in the press beforehand about the Joker's gadgets. The film was treat as the serious 'pop art' statement that it is by some publications. Although it's also a satire on the greedy green of money. When I started watching the film, I was, and remain, blown away by Elfman's score and Nicholson's terrifying clown demeanor . The scene with the spring loaded flowers made me jump. Some of my other memories about the film might derive more from when I bought the VHS of it, the first VHS I ever bought. I love Prince's songs on it, eg Partyman, Trust and the regrettably little talked about Scandalous. It says something about how fundamentally unsexy or lacking in depth many people are that they'd rather concentrate on something like Little Red Corvette in Prince's work.
It was an intense, exhilarating, film for me however it perhaps rests too much on the full Joker. I'd have liked there to be a 2 and a half hour version with more of Carl Grissom. I wouldn't be surprised if Burton was partially inspired by 1987's The Untouchables. I wish this could have been given slightly more room to be the gangster film it partially is instead of treating us to the bizarre sight of Wayne going full method and sleeping upside down on a perch in his batsuit. The film didn't actually need more Keaton. It needed more gangster context and why Napier felt himself to be an artist, even before the dunk in the acid. -
Hendry_William_French — 9 years ago(July 17, 2016 04:20 PM)
I saw it in Denver when it first came out in 89. I was around 4 and honestly don't have any memory of it, but I do remember the legendary poster in the lobby of the theatre and thinking it looked really cool. Batman stayed really popular after it, cause I remember all the toys from this movie very well - the batwing, batmobile etc. I had them all.
Imdb message boards - kick someone's ass on the first day, or become someone's bitch. -
Picnic10 — 9 years ago(July 18, 2016 05:22 AM)
4? What kind of irresponsible cinema would have let you in? It features people being shot, stabbed, chemical scarring, someone burning to death, being thrown from a great height, being gassed. When the Joker targets just 1 individual, those are some intense scenes, even more so I think because of a slight nod to the 60s Batman (e.g. occasional strange camera angles). What was the certificate in the USA?
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Hendry_William_French — 9 years ago(July 18, 2016 06:13 AM)
In America, you can get into a PG-13 movie at any age as long as you're with a parent. My Dad took me and my older siblings to see it (as well as Ghostbusters II, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade and Turner & Hooch that summer). I actually credit my love of movies to being exposed to many different movies from my earliest memories.
Fwiw, Batman is a comic book action movie. It's fun. Maybe it has heavier themes than your average kids movie, but it's also got heart, charm and a cool edge to it - even as a little kid I'd tell you to give me that over some saccharine Disney assfest. When I was old enough to truly take this film in, I never found it disturbing at all. It was cool.
You wanna know a movie that traumatized me at a young age? Go check out The Witches (1990). And that's a lower rating than this movie.
Imdb message boards - kick someone's ass on the first day, or become someone's bitch. -
Picnic10 — 9 years ago(July 18, 2016 07:39 AM)
Really good point Lonestarr- The main witch scene was 18 certificate worthy in the makeup department. The whole film had a creepy adult tone that I personally think went over the top for a children's movie, even for one by Dahl, but there's no doubt it was memorable. But burning someone to death with the handbuzzer- that's not something for a 4 year old to willingly be exposed to unless you were perhaps very precociously raised as always destined to be in the arts or something.
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Hendry_William_French — 9 years ago(July 18, 2016 07:57 AM)
The main witch scene was 18 certificate worthy in the makeup department
It's mainly the part where the kid gets kidnapped and shows up frozen in a painting - that's scarier than any horror film I've seen.
But burning someone to death with the handbuzzer- that's not something for a 4 year old to willingly be exposed to unless you were perhaps very precociously raised as always destined to be in the arts or something.
The tone and context is important. For example, is there such thing as a handbuzzer than can fry you alive? No. It's cartoonish, like looney tunes. The joker even uses a one liner afterwards like a sketch or something. The guy gets fried instantly (nothing prolonged - no screaming, begging etc) and he's a bad guy anyway. It's funny in a dark humor type way. All these things add up to offset it. That's my take on it.
Violence and disturbing themes should measured in their context. Some things seem worse on paper, but when you see them on film it's not as bad. The policeman being tortured in Reservoir Dogs - that's disturbing. Batman? Nah, that is comfortably a movie kids can watch and not get harmed.
Imdb message boards - kick someone's ass on the first day, or become someone's bitch. -
oscar1122 — 9 years ago(September 17, 2016 11:51 AM)
I was 7 in 1989, I got to see Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters 2 in the theaters that summer, but with how big Batman was in the summer of 1989, I was dying to see it. My parents wouldn't let me at first because they followed the reviews in the papers and were afraid it was too violent. By the end of the summer I kept asking and finally got to see it at one of the local $1 theaters, I was thankful I did and made me a Batman fan for life. It was great to see it again when Cinemark showed it as part of their classic series. I appreciate everything about it as a film when comic book movies oversaturate the market now. I wish we could see a noir type of Batman again.
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spider1970 — 9 years ago(February 01, 2017 05:28 AM)
Boy do I remember this coming out back in 89. I grew up watching the TV series and had just gotten into the comics a couple of years earlier. I was 17 and was stoked that we were getting a big screen Batman of our own.
I wasn't sure how Burton was going to pull it off but it seemed to be exactly the style that was needed. The Keaton casting was perplexing and did not like his performance. But Nicholson blew us away with the laugh and the one liners ("Stop the press who's that?", "If you gotta go, go with a smile", "crap crap crap wait"). Prince's involvement was key as well. He was huge back then and I had a boom system in my car. I remember piling my friends in going to see the movie and driving out front of the theater passing the line and booming the song. Good times.