Batman (1989 film)

Batman is a 1989 film about the caped crusader's fight against his arch-nemesis, the Joker.
 * Directed by: Tim Burton. Written by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, based upon characters created by Bob Kane.

The Joker/Jack Napier

 * [meeting Batman, right before his transformative accident] Nice outfit!


 * [reads newspaper] "Winged freak terrorizes". Wait till they get a load of ME!


 * [smashes his television with an extending boxing glove from a gag gun] Batman! Batman! Can somebody tell me what kind of a world we live in where a man dressed up as a bat gets all of my press?! This town needs an enema! [blows on a party noisemaker]


 * [in TV ad] New and improved Joker products! With the new secret ingredient--Smylex! Now, let's go over to our blind taste test. Uh-oh. He don't look happy. He's been using Brand X! [extends X sound as a hiss] But with new and improved Joker brand...I get a grin, again and again! That luscious tan! Those ruby lips! And hair color so natural, only your undertaker knows for sure! [laughs] I know what you're saying: 'Where can I get these fine new items?' Well, that's the gag. Chances are, you've bought 'em already! [laughs again] So remember, put on a happy face!


 * [addressing Gothamites] And now, folks, it's time for "Who do you trust!" Hubba, hubba, hubba! Money, money, money! Who do you trust? Me? I'm giving away free money. And where is the Batman? HE'S AT HOME, WASHIN' HIS TIGHTS! [he and the crowds laugh; looks up into the sky and sees the Batwing] Winged bat flies through the night and finds me ready. [to Bob the Goon] Bob, mask. [to crowd in the street as the other goons prepare their own gas masks and he brings out a radio transmitter] And now comes the part where I relieve you, the little people, of the burden of your failed and useless lives. But, as my plastic surgeon always said, If you've gotta go, go with a smile!


 * [after Batman tows away his Smylex-inflated balloons with the Batwing and releases them safely into the sky] My balloons... Those are my balloons... HE STOLE MY BALLOONS! Why didn't somebody tell me that he had one of those... things?! Bob, gun. [Bob hands him his gun, and he promptly shoots Bob dead] I'm going to need a minute or two alone, boys.


 * [dancing with Vicki Vale] As though we were made for each other. Beauty and the Beast. Of course, if anyone else calls you "beast", I'll rip their lungs out.


 * [his last words] Well, it's time to retire! Feel free to drop in! [laughs and grabs the ladder from his escape helicopter] Sometimes I just kill myself!

Dialogue

 * Nick: Don't kill me! Don't kill me, man! Don't kill me! Don't kill me, man!
 * Batman: I'm not gonna kill you. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell all your friends about me.
 * Nick: What ARE you?!
 * Batman: I'm Batman. [tosses him onto a rooftop and flies off]


 * Carl Grissom: That you, sugar bumps? [turns around] Who the hell are you?
 * The Joker: It's me..."sugar bumps".
 * Carl Grissom: [alarmed] Jack? Oh...thank God you're alive! I heard you'd been-
 * The Joker Fried? Is that what you heard? You set me up - over a woman. A WOMAN! You must be insane. [sniggers; Grissom turns around, reaches for a gun] Don't bother.
 * Carl Grissom: Your life won't be worth SPIT!
 * The Joker: I've been dead once already. It's very liberating. You should think of it as...therapy. [sniggers again]
 * Carl Grissom: [last words] Jack, listen... Maybe we can cut a deal.
 * The Joker: Jack? Jack is dead, my friend. [emerging into the light] You can call me...Joker. And as you can see, I'm a lot happier! [commences to laugh maniacally as he repeatedly shoots Grissom dead] Ohh, what a day!


 * The Joker: So, gentlemen, that's how it is. Until Grissom, uh, resurfaces, [chuckles] I'm the acting President, and I say starting with this anniversary festival, we run this city into the ground.
 * Vinnie: Why don't we hear this from Grissom?
 * Tony: Yeah... and what's with that stupid grin?
 * The Joker: Life's been good to me. [chuckles again]
 * Tony: What if we say "No"?
 * The Joker: Well, Tony, nobody wants a war! And if we can't do business, why, we'll just shake hands and that'll be it.
 * Tony: Yeah?
 * The Joker: Yeah. [Rotelli shakes hands with The Joker and starts to get electrocuted] Whoo! Whoo! Oh, I got a live one here! [the Joker starts to laugh hysterically, as Rotelli catches fire] Oh, there'll be a hot time in the old town tonight! [Rotelli's charred, smoking corpse collapes in his chair; Joker gives his deadly buzzer a blow, then turns to address entering goons] Antoine got a little "hot" under the collar. [laughs]
 * Vinnie: You're crazy.
 * The Joker: Haven't you ever heard of the healing power of laughter? [laughs again] NOW GET OUTTA HERE!
 * Goon: You hear him let's go! Move it! Move it! Move it!
 * The Joker And think it over! [laughs again] Bob, I want you to go down to the globe. Follow that reporter Knox, take your camera. See what he knows about this Batman. And Bob... remember... you... are my number one... guy!
 * Bob the Goon: Yes, sir. [dons his shades and leaves]
 * The Joker: [chuckles to himself, then turns back to Rotelli's corpse, pretending to talk to it] Your pals, uh... they're not bad people. Maybe we, uh, oughta give them a couple of days to think it over? No? Grease 'em now? Well, okay! You are a vicious bastard, Rotelli, and [tweaks Rotelli's tie] I'm glad you're dead! [laughs raucously as he leaves] I'm glad you're dead! Oh, that's a great one, "glad you're dead!"
 * The Joker: [chuckles to himself, then turns back to Rotelli's corpse, pretending to talk to it] Your pals, uh... they're not bad people. Maybe we, uh, oughta give them a couple of days to think it over? No? Grease 'em now? Well, okay! You are a vicious bastard, Rotelli, and [tweaks Rotelli's tie] I'm glad you're dead! [laughs raucously as he leaves] I'm glad you're dead! Oh, that's a great one, "glad you're dead!"


 * Vicki: Some people say that you're as dangerous as the Joker.
 * Batman: He's psychotic.
 * Vicki: There are some people who say the same thing about you.
 * Batman: What people?
 * Vicki: Well let's face it, you're not exactly..."normal", are you?
 * Batman: It's not exactly a "normal" world, is it?


 * Bruce: What's on your mind, Alfred?
 * Alfred: I have no wish to spend my few remaining years grieving for the loss of old friends. Or their sons.


 * Vicki: Hi. Tell me if I'm crazy. But that wasn't just another night for either of us, was it? I mean, we both got to each other, didn't we? Why won't you let me in? Why?
 * Bruce: You got in.
 * Vicki: I've loved you since I met you. But I don't know what to think of all this. I really don't.
 * Bruce: Look, sometimes I don't know what to think about this. It's just something I have to do.
 * Vicki: Why?
 * Bruce: Because nobody else can. Look, I tried to avoid all this, but I can't. This is how it is. It's not a perfect world.
 * Vicki: It doesn't have to be a perfect world. I just gotta know, are we going to try to love each other?
 * Bruce: [short pause] I'd like to. But he's out there right now. And I've got to go to work.


 * Batman: Excuse me. You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? [punches Joker and knocks him against a bell, before grabbing him] I'm going to kill you!
 * The Joker: You idiot!  You made me, remember? You dropped me into that vat of chemicals. That wasn't easy to get over, and don't think that I didn't try!
 * Batman: [smirks] I know you did. [punches Joker in the stomach and knocks him through a wall] You killed my parents.
 * The Joker: Wha-What? What are you talking about?
 * Batman: I made you; you made me first.
 * The Joker: Hey, bat-brain, I was a kid when I killed your parents! I mean, I say I made you, you've gotta say you made me...how childish can you get? [puts on a pair of glasses] You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you? Huh?! [Batman knocks him over the side]


 * Commissioner Gordon: Our police have rounded up all of the Joker's men. The reign of crime is over! Public safety in Gotham City's no longer a laughing matter...
 * [Vicki walks away, Knox follows after her]
 * Alexander Knox: Hey, Vale, aren't you covering this press conference?
 * Vicki Vale: Nope.
 * Alexander Knox: Well, what about our Pulitzer Prize? What about us? What about your picture of Batman?
 * Vicki Vale: [Vicki turns back to him with a smile, and gives Knox a kiss on the cheek] Take care, Ally.
 * [Vicki leaves, leaving a stunned Knox behind. He's quickly brought back by Dent's speaking and returns to the press conference]
 * Harvey Dent: We've received a letter from Batman this morning. "Please inform the citizens of Gotham that Gotham City has earned a rest from crime. But if the forces of evil should rise again to cast a shadow on the heart of the city, call me."
 * Alexander Knox: Question: How do we call him?
 * Commissioner Gordon: He gave us this signal! [activates searchlight]


 * [Last lines]
 * Alfred: I thought champagne would be in order, ma'am.
 * Vicki: Hi, Alfred. [goes into the waiting car, Alfred goes into the driver's seat to start the car]
 * Alfred: Mr. Wayne told me to tell you that he might be a little late.
 * Vicki: [gives a knowing smile] I'm not a bit surprised...

Taglines

 * Only one will claim the night.
 * Justice is always darkest before the dawn.

About Batman

 * There was no guarantee that any of this was going to play correctly when it was all said and done. There had never been a movie like it before. There was a lot of risk, too, with Jack looking the way he did and me stepping out in this new way. The pressure was on everybody. You could feel it.
 * We’re standing there at one point, I’m in my bat suit, Jack is in Joker get-up and I just looked at him and said, ‘We’re grown men, right?’
 * Michael Keaton, Michael Keaton’s dark memories of ‘Batman’ and shining love for ‘Beetlejuice’, HeroComplex.latimes, 12 May 2011


 * I'll always stand by the first Batman. Even for its imperfections, people will never know how hard that movie was to do. A lot of that still holds up.
 * Michael Keaton, Endorses Chris Nolan's Batman Flick, Looks Forward To 'Dark Knight', MTV, 1 January 2008


 * I really wanted desperately to obviously do Two-Face…I wanted to see what I could do with it. It would have been different from Tommy Lee’s. I’ve got my own kind of madness.
 * Billy Dee Williams, Why Tim Burton's Batman 3 Never Happened, Den of Geek, 16 June 2016

Cast

 * Michael Keaton - Batman/Bruce Wayne
 * Jack Nicholson - The Joker/Jack Napier
 * Kim Basinger - Vicki Vale
 * Robert Wuhl - Alexander Knox
 * Pat Hingle - Commissioner James Gordon
 * Billy Dee Williams - Harvey Dent
 * Michael Gough - Alfred Pennyworth
 * Jack Palance - Carl Grissom
 * Jerry Hall - Alicia Hunt
 * Tracey Walter - Bob the Goon
 * Lee Wallace - The Mayor
 * William Hootkins - Lt. Max Eckhardt
 * Edwin Craig - Antoine Rotelli