Batman (1989) on Netflix
A masked figure hunts Gotham's criminals, and photojournalist Vicki Vale and reporter Alexander Knox want to know who he is. Mob boss Carl Grissom sends enforcer Jack Napier to Axis Chemicals.
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- IMDb7.5/10436,163 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes77%
Trailer
Plot summary
Corruption runs through Gotham City's police, and a masked figure has begun going after the city's criminals. Photojournalist Vicki Vale and reporter Alexander Knox chase the sightings, and both attend a fundraiser at the home of billionaire Bruce Wayne, who saw a mugger kill his parents when he was a child and now fights crime in disguise, and who is drawn to Vale. In the underworld, boss Carl Grissom orders his second-in-command Jack Napier into Axis Chemicals to collect incriminating evidence. Corrupt Lieutenant Max Eckhardt launches an unauthorized raid there, Commissioner James Gordon takes charge and orders Napier taken alive, and Batman arrives. Napier plunges from a catwalk into a vat of chemicals.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Batman (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jack Nicholson took the Joker role on an "off-the-clock" deal that gave him time off for Los Angeles Lakers home games, and cut his standard $10 million fee to $6 million for a share of the film's earnings; that share paid him over $50 million, and biographer Marc Eliot says it may have reached $90 million.
- Michael Keaton's casting as Batman caused a furor among comic book fans, with 50,000 protest letters sent to Warner Bros. offices.
- Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale but was injured in a horse-riding accident before filming began, forcing an urgent search for an actress who could commit at short notice; Kim Basinger was able to join the production immediately and got the part.
- Producer Jon Peters reworked the climax without telling Burton and had production designer Anton Furst build a 38 ft cathedral model for $100,000 when the film was already over budget; Burton disliked it and admitted he had no clue how the scene would end.
- Batman was responsible for the British Board of Film Classification introducing its "12" age rating, because the film's content fell between what the board expected for a "PG" and a "15" certificate.
- Tim Curry, David Bowie, John Lithgow, Brad Dourif, Ray Liotta and James Woods were all considered for the Joker; Lithgow tried to talk Burton out of casting him during his audition and later publicly regretted it, while Liotta skipped a meeting because he thought the film would be "stupid".
- Filming was so secretive that the unit publicist refused £10,000 for the first pictures of Nicholson as the Joker, and the police were called in after two reels of footage, about 20 minutes' worth, were stolen.
- Ringwood studied over 200 comic book issues for the Batsuit, which required 28 sculpted latex designs, 25 different cape looks and 6 different heads, at a total cost of $250,000.
