Episodes 59 & 60
Come Back, Shame/It’s How You Play The Game
Plot:Shame is stealing car parts to make a truck faster than the Batmobile in a cattle scheme
Guest Stars:Cliff Robertson as Shame
Trivia:This episode, as well as many others, were written by Stanley Ralph Ross. Ross was one of the better writers on the show because he knew how to conceive a story and carry it through the whole episode. Unlike other writers who seem to cobble two or three plots into a mashed script. His episodes weren’t always gems, but at least the story was always solid. He was an amazing talent who did voice overs and wrote a million things and doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Seriously, look him up!
Niitpick:It’s been thirty five years at least and I can still hear that annoying kid screaming “Come back Shame!!” in my head from time to time! Stop!!!!! Ma Parker had been based on Ma Barker, a real gangster. Likewise Shame is based on Shane, a character Alan Ladd played in the movie of the same name. The character came about because Robertson wanted to play a stupid cowboy, lending credence to my theory the writers were getting the actors before fleshing out the character. Any wonder most of these fall flat? By the way I love how they don’t even hide the fact they are using the backlot, its supposed to be an abandoned movie studio!
Bat Silliness:Batman becomes a matador to redirect the stampede. Sure. Did I mention there was an annoying kid?
Window Cameo:Werner Klempere as Colonel Klink from Hogan’s Heroes. This makes no sense on several levels.
Bat Gadget:The Bat Cycle can be remote controlled!
Bat Trap:Batman and Robn tied to the ground as a stampede of bulls comes charging at them (That’s a good one I must say)
Final Thoughts:A looong time ago I did a quick list of TV shows with western related episodes of series which were not westerns for a friend I haven’t seen here in awhile. One episode I overlooked is this one which is definitely a western, with all kinds of homages to those movies including an old fashioned saloon brawl. I remember hating this one (not a fan of westerns) and was hoping it would be better watching it now. And it is. A few days ago we had native American stereotypes, here we get all the cowboy cliche’s we can handle. Including an Annie Oakley homage, The “K O Corral” (subtle), “Messy” James, and a classic shoot out. Oh and a kid-for reasons (?). The episode is slow, with literally nothing happening the first half of part 1. Then lots of shots of the kid screaming for Shame, did I mention the annoying kid?, while Batman keeps getting diverted before finally getting to the end. The plot become about Shame wanting price cattle at some point, maybe the creators a race between is truck and the batmobile wasn’t gonna happen so they needed a new motive. Because why did Shame need a fast truck?
Grade:B+, The story is solid, but you better like westerns! It was better than I thought when I was young but not perfect. I think it would have been better as a single episode. Padded but not stupid or boring. I think the only cliche they didn’t do was a train robbery. Well, there’s always season 3!
We’re about half way done my friends! Find out what he penguin has up his sleeve tomorrow Same Bat Time Same Bat Channel
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