Sam Hamm's Returns Script

[Seantastic]

Yea, just found this, haven't looked through yet, but loosley looked at the end, I see Dick, Vicki Vale and Catwomen trying yo commit suicide, so, my question is, could this have worked?

Here's the script btw;
http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman-returns_unproduced.html

[Kamdan]

The Penguin and Catwoman hunting for treasure? Also, Hamm didn't use The Penguin's real name from the comics. He's instead named Mr. Boniface. WHY?!
However, I loved the opening of the script and the angle with the vigilantes inspired by Batman, obviously referencing New York's Guardian Angels. This idea would later be used in The Dark Knight.

[The Dark Knight]

I see Dick, Vicki Vale and Catwomen trying yo commit suicide, so, my question is, could this have worked?

I think so, on a variety of levels.

In any case, I'm satisfied with Selina "suiciding" with Max.

[Gotham Knight]

BATMAN II is one of those things that I can never really rectify. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate it, but when faced with proponents, I find myself wondering how it would have turned out. I'm a die hard Returns fan, though so I never give that too much thought. Also, lets not forget, Sam, on his own (89), went down some roads in the final act that I think were not only questionable, but down right bad. The Skaaren revision, though highly criticized, was better. The only thing left out of Hamm's 89 that I missed was the 'Knox discovering Bruce's secret' angle. In the finished product, he starts out like a major perception in the film, but as we intro Vale and Bruce, he becomes third stringer.

There was no way either film would have worked ridding only on Sam Hamm. It's just that in the case of 'BATMAN II,' it required much less of him than on BATMAN.

[gordonblu]

  Hamm didn't use The Penguin's real name from the comics. He's instead named Mr. Boniface. WHY?!

In the very first Penguin story, the alias he uses is Mr. Boniface. Oswald Cobblepot didn't come about until the mid-forties in a
Sunday comic strip. I think Hamm used it as a nod to the first story. Personally I prefer Cobblepot, but having him use it as an alias at least once would be fine.

[Pigeon]

In the very first Penguin story, the alias he uses is Mr. Boniface. Oswald Cobblepot didn't come about until the mid-forties in a
Sunday comic strip. I think Hamm used it as a nod to the first story. Personally I prefer Cobblepot, but having him use it as an alias at least once would be fine.

Wow, I had not known that!  All that time I'd thought Sam Hamm hadn't done his homework!  I read that script long, long ago and came away thinking "WTF?"  That's very interesting.

[gordonblu]

Nice to hear from you again, Pigeon! Haven't had you on the site lately. You must actually have a life unlike me!

[Max Eckhardt]

I can't even get through this script.
Over the years I keep coming back to it but i just find is so disappointing. I can't believe Sam Hamm wrote it. It's like a totally different writer.

I'm someone who appreciates the BR returns for everything other than it's plot.
But this script was even worse.
Sam's first draft of Batman was incredible. I would have thought that his Batman 2 script would have been a slam dunk.
I guess Burton also felt that it was so bad that it wasn't even worth rewrites.

[The Laughing Fish]

Yeah, I was never a fan of Sam Hamm's script either. Some people might've wished this got filmed instead of BR because Commissioner Gordon had more to do and the introduction of Dick Grayson, Vicki Vale's return and Batman having more dialogue. But my biggest criticisms for it is Penguin and Catwoman lacked any real depth that the BR script has and judging by the amount of Batman material, it seems he would've had even less screentime than in the BR script. Besides, I think Vicki fulfilled her purpose in B89 and I prefer the idea of Batman's crusade deprives him the chance of ever having healthy lasting relationship.

The only thing I liked was the plotline involving the media questioning whether or not Batman's lethal actions are good for society, similar to Akiva Goldsman's early draft for BF. It was a good foundation to vilify Batman once he gets framed for murder. But at this rate, the only live action movie that questions the character's methods is BvS.

The only ideas that were carried over in BR were:

• The Batman merchandise shop. There was a set for the movie that had B89 movie merchandise ready for sale, but it was scrapped from filming. I guess the filmmakers figured it would've been too meta.


• Batman coming to the rescue in the Batmobile. In Hamm's script, Batman stops a group of thieves trying to make their escape from robbing a store; in the film, he stops the Red Triangle Gang's attacks in Gotham Plaza.


• Batman getting framed for murder. Different circumstances, but same idea. Including a swarm of bats attacking Christmas goers and onlookers to further implicate Batman as a public menace.


• Batman fighting Catwoman on a rooftop, with him dangling over the edge.

There's probably a bit more, but that's off the top of my head. I suppose those plot details were enough for Hamm to still share story credit with Daniel Waters for BR.

[The Laughing Fish]

However, I loved the opening of the script and the angle with the vigilantes inspired by Batman, obviously referencing New York's Guardian Angels. This idea would later be used in The Dark Knight.

The inspired vigilantes idea might've been explored by Sam Hamm, but according to the Batman Anthology Wikia site, the stuff with the Batman copycats was originally conceived in one of Daniel Waters' earlier drafts for BR. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, who also drew the comic book adaptation for the movie, did a couple of rough sketches of Batman confronting the copycats, who were a threat to criminals and innocent people.




Source: https://batmananthology.fandom.com/wiki/BatCreeps

I'm taking a quick look at Waters' draft. The copycats appear in one of the Red Triangle Gang's crime sprees.

Wicked laughter and violence can be heard on the boombox
     as a CIRCUS CREEP in a moth-eaten old-style baseball
     pitcher uniform tosses a series of old-fashioned round
     black fuse-lit smoke bombs to the Tattooed Strongman who
     bats them exploding into various walls and windows,
     including the window of a suave venetianed blinded diner.

     PATRONS of the Diner thunder out of the door.  A COUPLE
     rushes directly to the viewer, then stops and smiles.

                             THE HUSBAND
               Oh, Batman, thank God!

     EXT. OTHER SIDE OF THE RESTAURANT--NIGHT

     Another set of patrons hightail it out of the Diner in
     a different direction.  They also stop to look at the
     camera.

                             WOMAN IN BIB
               Oh Batman, finally...

     EXT. THE BACK OF THE RESTAURANT--NIGHT

     A TEAM OF ITALIAN COOKS burst out of the back of the
     restaurant.  They happily sigh before the viewer.

                             COOKS
               Pensavo che stavo muerto,
               gracie dio.....BATMAN!

     EXT. A WIDER VIEW FROM ABOVE--NIGHT

     reveals THE SIX GLOWERING, FRANKENSTEIN-SIZED SLEAZES
     DRESSED IN TAWDRY BUT MILDLY REALISTIC BATMAN OUTFITS.
     Their spiky tufts of white hair stick out the edges of
     their masks.  They chillingly stride forward, cracking
     their knuckles.

     The Patrons in all directions drop their smiles of relief
     and begin to back up.  The Batmans swarm forward.

     The Italian Cooks are revealed to be looking at a HAIRY
     WHITE BABOON in a Batman outfit.  They bail.

Batman would arrive to defeat the entire gang with his homing Batarang, which is very similar to how he knocked out some members of the Red Triangle Gang in the final cut.

   EXT. THE DINER ON THE PROMENADE--NIGHT

     Just as the victims did before, one of the thrashing
     Batmans looks directly to the viewer.  He stops beating
     to lustily spout.

                             BATCREEP #1
               What are you waiting for, join in!

     His P.O.V.  reveals that he is looking at the real Batman,
     who allows the BatCreep a second of white faced realiza-
     tion before ripping off his mask and savagely pounding
     him to the ground.

     The other Batcreeps reach into their bat belts and pull
     out surreally shaped knives.  Batman reaches into his
     bat-belt and pulls out his suave black Gameboy.  As if
     bored on a plane, Batman casually punches in a set of
     white dots and one red one.

     With a simultaneous howl, the Batcreeps charge at Batman
     from every direction.  Batman presses a button on his
     Gameboy that causes batarang flanks to rocket-sprout out
     of the oblong object.  Batman heaves the super-batarang.

     The super-batarang whizzes with wild concentration, pin-
     balling from Batcreep skull to Batcreep skull, slamming
     them all to the ground.  The batarang boomerang-wobbles
     back to Batman's hand.  The white dots on the screen
     blink off.  The victorious red dot beeps.

Source: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman-returns_early.html

Besides the goof by Waters for mixing some Spanish with the Italian cooks' dialogue, I do wonder how this entire sequence could've played out on film.