Vicki Vail, the forgotten Batman love interest! This movie gets me right in the childhood (but not Batman Returns because I wasn’t allowed to watch it - my mom thought the Penguin was too violent and scary). It’s a little upsetting that I haven’t watched this in probably twenty years, but I can still quote parts of it. Why hasn’t my brain reused these memory cells for something useful like math. But seriously, HAVE you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
In case you don’t know, Batman is about the rise of . . . Batman (Michael Keaton), the vigilante who is attempting to protect Gotham City from a general crime wave and specifically from the newest villain The Joker (Jack Nicholson). Meanwhile, Batman’s true identity, billionaire Bruce Wayne, struggles with childhood trauma and finding a work-life balance.
But this is a blog about writers, not heroes. That brings us to Alexander Knox and Vicki Vale, a journalist and photographer attempting to prove that this “Batman” terrified criminals keep ranting about is real. Knox is played by Robert Wuhl (look him up and you’ll say, “Oh! That guy” because you’ve probably seen him in something) and Kim Basinger plays Vale. Vicki and Knox are being mocked by the rest of their co-workers and the police, so they decide to start some undercover work. They get into a party at Wayne manor where Knox tries to interview the top politicians including Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams) who never get to see as Two-Face. Wayne is amused by the pair who make jokes about his wealth without knowing he’s listening. He even tells Alfred (Michael Gough) to give Knox a grant.
One of the key plots of this movie is the power of the press. Joker is annoyed that about Knox and Vicki focusing on Batman in the papers. He decided that Knox “has no style”, so he threatens Vicki multiple times insisting on his face being splashed across the paper. Both journalist characters are very stereotypical. They do research. They wisecrack. They put their feet up on the office furniture. Knox is the wise cracker who seems to annoy everyone he interviews and Vale is a serious photographer who is more upset that Batman steals her film of him than she is about a near death experience.
