have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light

The late, great Anton Furst just went to town in this picture. The first thing that impacts anyone when they watch Batman is the production design. At that moment, Michael Keaton became my Batman and to this day he still is. Descending from the shadows and striking fear into the hearts of the punks who preyed on the innocent. Stalking the dark gothic, crime filled streets of Gotham. But that ’89 movie, right away there was something different. Up to this point I had watched the Animated series, reruns of the Adam West show and somehow gotten my hands on those movie serials with the ill fitting costumes. Let’s return to that first viewing though. I even loved the corny Coke commercial at the beginning of the tape where Alfred calls a local grocery store to ask if they have any Coke left and then sends the Batmobile to pick up the last case. I practically wore out my VHS copy when I was a kid. Does it mean the movie that I’ve seen the most? The one I remember best? Or the one that made the biggest impact on my appreciation of film? The answer to all three of these questions is Batman.

Recently, I’ve started to try to quantify my answer to this question. This has always seemed like a ridiculous question to me, I mean my favorite movie changes everyday.

Many people ask me what my favorite movie is, it comes with the territory of working in film. However, I’ve never seen this movie, I own the action figures, I ate the breakfast cereal but I’ve never actually watched the film. Now at this time, I’m already all about the Caped Crusader, I’ve got a giant poster of him on my wall and my bed sheets are emblazoned with images of him and Robin punching evil in it’s stupid face. I see in a TV Guide that the ABC movie of the week is Tim Burton’s Batman. I’m not entirely sure what year this was, so let’s just put it sometime in the magical era of the early 90’s. For as long as I can remember my greatest hero has always been Batman. Yes, I realize I’m getting nostalgic, but that’s what us Millenials do, so shush. I want to take you back to a childhood memory of mine.

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light