Cinematic influences and homages in the Batman movies

[Kevin Roegele]

I recently rewatched Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it seems to have influenced Batman Forever, mainly in a visual sense, the use of colour. Notably, the scenes with Nygma in Arkham are very similar to those with Renfield in the asylum. You would imagine Schumacher absolutely loves Copplola's Dracula.

More obvious is the 1990 Dick Tracy movie, a very obvious influence on Forever.

As for Batman Returns, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, as well as the noted Dr Caligari and Nosferatu.

Batman, we have Blade Runner and Metropolis, as well as the 1925 Phantom of the Opera. There's something of the X-Wing Death Star run about the Batwing sequence as well.

Batman & Robin homages Blonde Venus and A Clockwork Orange, but it's obvious influence is the 1966 Batman TV show.


PLEASE can we not have anyone saying, "Everything in the movies was taken directly from comics."

 

[El Payaso]

The Penguin was molded after Caligari, yes. But I see traces of Richard III also, the deformed aristocrat trying to recover power.

I would say the opposite; Dick Tracy was influenced by B89. To some extent. The city for example. There are similar scenes too, like the one with Big Boy, the thugs and James Caan (Joker and Rotelli.)

And then of course, there's the Max Schreck reference.

 

[dude stannis]

Batman '89 and Batman Returns had various influences from the movies of the 40's.

Batman '89 was reminiscent of those 40's film noir movies.

Batman Returns had a hint of the old Bela Lugosi/Boris Karloff hammer horror movies.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I would say the opposite; Dick Tracy was influenced by B89.

Oh yeah, but Dick Tracy then went on to influence Forever, especially in it's use of colour.

 

[dude stannis]

The scene where Batman was trying to scare Joker with the Batplane and joker is egging him on is a homage to the movie Patton.

 

[Mr. Socko]

I can't think of any.....

 

[The Chairman]

You guys are forgetting the most obvious one:

the chase up the belltower at the climax of Batman is right out of Vertigo.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

You guys are forgetting the most obvious one:

the chase up the belltower at the climax of Batman is right out of Vertigo.

It nods to Vertigo but the whole climax is taken from Metropolis.

 

[The Chairman]

It nods to Vertigo but the whole climax is taken from Metropolis.

Even so, the Vertigo influnece is there, and it deserves a mention.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Even so, the Vertigo influnece is there, and it deserves a mention.

Yes it does.

 

[Bathead]

You guys are forgetting the most obvious one:

the chase up the belltower at the climax of Batman is right out of Vertigo.

Nah, not Vertigo.


High Anxiety.

 

[House_of_El]

Did Vertigo have a person fall off of a belltower as well?

 

[blind_fury]

Batman & Robin homages Blonde Venus and A Clockwork Orange, but it's obvious influence is the 1966 Batman TV show.

Clockwork Orange? I thought that movie was a homage to gay porn.

 

[Bathead]

I do believe it did. And so did High Anxiety.
OK, I'll quit it now.

 

[House_of_El]

Clockwork Orange? I thought that movie was a homage to gay porn.

Haha yeah.

 

[El Payaso]

The Hockey Team from Hell's uniforms resemble some costume used in Miller's Dark Knight Returns with those skulls in the shoulders and stuff.

 

[mister Lennon]

In batman returns, when the penguin said "im not a man, im a animal" its a clear homage to the elephant man.

It has said before, but in batman there are references to vertigo and metropolis. Also to the universal and hammer films about dracula and other vampires, specially in the bat cave with the bats.

In batman returns, also there are homages to nosferatu and doctor caligari.

 

[mister Lennon]

Also, in batman returns, the penguin circus group of friends are a clear homage to the classic horror movie freaks, directed by todd browning.

In the character of selina kyle/ catwoman, there are some lines and situations similar to the clasic horror movie cat people, directed by jaques torneaur.

 

[mclay18]

I think BB had a homage to the 1989 Batman at the end, where Commissioner Gordon hands Batman the Joker card and says, "Leaves a calling card". (In interviews, Nolan and Goyer said that was a homage to Jack Nicholson's Batman from the 1989 film.)

And of course, BB's influences stem mostly from the Frank Miller graphic novels Batman: Year One and The Killing Joke and minor influences from Blade Runner.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

In the character of selina kyle/ catwoman, there are some lines and situations similar to the clasic horror movie cat people, directed by jaques torneaur.

Good call!

 

[TMC1982]

A list of the Batman movie references according to IMDb.com:
Batman (1989)

Metropolis (1927)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Dracula (1931)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
Les quatre cents coups (1959)
- First scene, when they get out of the theater.
A Summer Place (1959)
- Joker's boombox plays the theme from "A Summer Place" when he meets Vicki Vale at the art gallery.
Les yeux sans visage (1960)
Patton (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
- Intentional disfigurement of villain's girlfriend
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
- When we see Jack in Grissom's office there is a shot of him sitting in a seat and shuffling a deck of cards. This is similar to the shot we see of McMurphy(Jack) shuffling cards when he is attending the ward meeting in One flew over the cuckoo's nest.
Star Wars (1977)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

Batman Returns

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. (1920)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Frankenstein (1931)
- The scene in which Catwoman and the Penguin confront each other through the bars of the spinning birdcage parodies the scene in "Frankenstein" in which Henry Frankenstein and the Monster confront each other through the spinning windmill gears.
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Third Man (1949)
- Opening titles in sewers as penguin floats in babybasket
Vertigo (1958)
Psycho (1960)
"Batman" (1966)
"Do Not Adjust Your Set" (1967)
- The penguin uses the line when he hijacks the batmobile
A View to a Kill (1985)
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Bad Taste (1987)
Batman (1989)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- Penguin tells Catwoman "You're Beauty and the Beast".

Batman Forever

"Let's Make a Deal" (1963)
- Dialogue about "curtain #1" and "curtain #2".
"The New Price Is Right" (1972)
- Dialogue "Come on down! You're the next contestant!"
Yong zhe wu ju (1981)
- The scene where Chris O'Donnell picks up various pieces of wet clothing, and wringing them out in rather creative fashions, then placing them on a nearby washline to dry is a direct rip off of the scene in Dreadnaught where Yuen Biao does the same thing to demonstrate strength, technique, agility, and dexterity.
"Jeopardy!" (1984)
- Dialogue reference to answering in the form of a question.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
- When the children come trick or treating, allowing Riddler and Two-Face to get into the Wayne Manor gates, they are dressed as characters in "Nightmare.."

Batman & Robin
​

Blonde Venus (1932)
"Star Trek" (1966)
- Batman said someone was "beamed up" into a bank vault
Barbarella (1968)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- When Batgirl sneaks to the motorcycle contest, one of the gangs there are dressed like the main characters in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971).
The Iceman Cometh (1973)
- After Mr. Freeze breaks down a door he shouts "The Iceman Cometh".
Jaws (1975)
- "We're going to need a bigger cave"
Swamp Thing (1982)
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
- "revenge is a dish best served cold"
Blade Runner (1982)
- Referenced in dialogue
TRON (1982)
"The Max Headroom Show" (1985)
"Max Headroom" (1987)
Batman Forever (1995)
- Batman's Batcard says 'Batman Forever' labeled on it
"Freakazoid!: And Fan Boy Is His Name/Lawn Gnomes Chapter IV: Fun in the Sun/Freak's French Lesson (#1.4)" (1995)
- Freakazoid bribes Fanboy with a manuscript of "Batman 4" in exchange of leaving him alone. But Fanboy already read it off the internet.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
- Open reference by a character

 

[ImWithTeamConan]

TDK's look seems really influenced by Michael Mann's Heat.

The Batman/Joker interrogation = Deniro/Pacino in the diner.