Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
At least, that appears to be what the reporter wants me to think. But nothing he says in the Comicbookmovie interview quite adds up to this.
West, who at one point distanced himself from his TV role but now embraces the iconic status it has brought, told Comicbookmovie he felt no ill-will towards The Dark Knight but it had an entirely different approach to the character.
He said: “I’ve only seen bits and pieces of [Nolan’s Batman movies]. There’s an enormous amount of effort and time and money that goes into the making of them, but it’s a different generation. They’re a different kind of thing than ours was. They’re dark, gothic, sinister, full of explosions. We didn’t approach it that way at all.”
Well, yeah. Duh. That’s the wonderful thing about Batman — Adam West and Burt Ward played the Dynamic Duo all cheesy, and it worked; Tim Burton displayed the hero almost as a “headless horseman,” a legend which the good citizens of Gotham weren’t even sure existed or not. And that worked too.
It would take a real rube to offer the sentiment “this is the other end of the spectrum from what I was doing back in my day, therefore it sucks.” That would show a real lack of class. And Adam West is known to me, or at least is thought by me, to be a man of real class.
West was used to a the lighthearted portrayals in the 60s TV series. “It was silly and funny. With the villains, especially, it was almost Shakespearean because of the bizarre costuming and makeup. In those days we didn’t rely on special effects as much so everyone was challenged to use their imaginations.
“I don’t remember any case in which somebody didn’t really enjoy the creation of it. If it wasn’t that kind of open environment, then I felt like I was a failure because I tried to go on the stage every day and create that kind of atmosphere.”
I have never understood this about Adam West. You look at his portrayal now, and the presentation seems pretty bold. It looks like everyone involved in the production is having an absolute blast, and the star is holding it all together, doing a bang-up job, and damn well knows it.
I suppose back in the sixties this wasn’t so bold — everything was colorful and psychedelic, our society was struggling to recover it’s innocence so the pressure was on to make things kid-friendly. But I’ve always been surprised by these insinuations that Adam West thought he wasn’t doing a good job.
I suppose, further, that thanks to Joel Schumacher we can expect all re-imaginings of Batman to stay dark and gothic. That’ll probably continue until my grandchildren are in college (Mr. West should be well into his nineties before I have grandchildren at all). And that’s fine as far as I’m concerned. That’s the wonder of Batman — he’s actually a product of the Great Depression, and back then you could have the dark-n-gothic headless horseman legend mixed in with the funny cheesy stuff. Once the Golden Age was over, you had to take your pick.
But it all works if it’s presented with some energy and some fidelity to the roots, and Adam West should understand that if nobody else does. I think his opinion has been misrepresented here. He may personally favor the laughy-jokey Batman…why would he not? And if so, he certainly has his reasons to lean in that direction, to play on that side of the net, as it were. But I don’t see where he’s laying the smack down on the newer, darker Batman. It seems to be all in the interviewer’s head. It would take a very shallow Batman veteran to trash the opposition like this, and I just don’t believe that about him. The reason I don’t believe it, is all I see him doing here, is pointing out how Batman’s changed through the years for the benefit of those who might be interested, but not already know.
No, this seems to be a case of a classy, distinguished, and able actor, perhaps under-appreciated in his time, graciously taking the time to clue the younger generation in on the history behind the comic book franchise that only lately had caught their fancy. This is exactly when we should be shutting up and listening to our seniors with equal measures of respect and gratitude. It seems that for his consideration, Mr. West has just been trashed. He should pick up a phone and have a few words with some people.
Some days, you just can’t get rid of a bomb.
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