Great podcast episode. Obviously, I’m a big, big fan of Batman: The Movie, I don’t think there’s much I need to add to what you guys said, except perhaps one bit about what you guys noticed on the “ranking” of the villains, so to speak. I think the reason the Joker got sidelined in the movie — he got his share on the series, definitely — is that while Cesar Romero was good, he wasn’t quite on the same level as Meredith or Gorshin. The writers actually had spare Penguin scripts ready just in case Meredith was in town, he was so good in his role. And of course, Gorshin is responsible for virtually everything about the Riddler’s modern portrayal and fame. He was a four-comic character before the show, and was meant to just be an occasional fill-in like the Mad Hatter or Clock King; it was Gorshin’s performance that turned him into one of the “big four villains”. Catwoman, of course, gets the limelight because there’s the romantic angle there.

The main thing though is that you both found the film to be a blast. I’m always just a little worried when someone sees it for the first time, because I’m not sure if they’ll really get it, considering how Batman has been portrayed for the last 25 years. Clearly John got it.

The Seventh Seal is a film I respect more than I like. It does a lot very well and of course its themes are very relatable. I just felt as though for a film about defying death, there wasn’t a lot of life to it. Even the witch-burning scene, it seemed like Block (Van Sydow’s character) was just going “Huh. This isn’t good. Well, I guess I’ll do something.” On the other hand, the only characters who did express a clear joy of life are the ones who wound up living, so this may have been at least somewhat intentional.