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Television - Batman - Episodes - #115-116 - The Great Escape/The Great Train Robbery
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Batgirl Promo | Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt

The Great Escape/The Great Train Robbery

ORIGINAL AIR DATES: 2/01/1968 - 2/08/1968

EPISODE NUMBERS: 115-116, Production Code 1723

PLOT SUMMARIES:

The Great Escape
That conniving cowboy of crime, Shame, breaks jail with the trusty aide of his fiancee, Calamity Jan, and her mom, Frontier Fanny, in a Sherman tank. At Police Headquarters, The Batman and Robin gets a message from Shame announcing his plans to steal a rock and roll from The Gotham City Stage. While The Caped Crusader and The Boy Wonder race back to The Batcave to consult The Batcomputer, Shame hides out at Gotham City Central Park Stables, where he is introduced to the members of his new posse: Standing Pat, a giant indian who converses in signals issued by his cigar; and Fernado Ricardo Enrique Dominquez (Fred for short), a Mexican with a British accent. Menwhile, The Dynamic Duo solves the meaning of the rock and the roll: the rock refers to a diamond, and the roll is really a bankroll, but they are stumped as to what is meant by The Gotham City Stage! Batgirl divines the meaning, however, and she notifies Batman via the red Batphone in Gordon's office, and arranges to rendezvous with The Dynamic Duo at a downtown street.

Shame and his posse arrive at The Gotham City Opera House (the "stage"!), where they snatch a diamond pendant (the "rock"!) and a $20,000 bankroll (the "roll"!) from singers Leonora Sotto Voce and Fortissimo Fra Diavlo. The Dynamic Trio arrive in time to catch them in the act and give Shame and his crooked cowboys a good fist-beating (frontier style!) until Fanny and Jan spritz them with a whiff of Fear Gas. The three cower in fear, giving Shame enough room to kidnap Batgirl and scram. At The Batcave, Alfred neutralizes The Fear Gas's aftereffects with Batantidote Powder. While The Caped Crusader traces The Crokked Cowboy to his hideout, Fred and Standing Pat return with an acetylene torch and a diamond drill. While Shame and his gang leave the stable with Batgirl, a horseshoe drops from the doorframe onto Frontier Fanny's head, knocking her out and leaving her as fair game for the arriving Dynamic Duo. Reviving, Fanny warns that Batgirl's a goner if anything should happen to her!

The Great Train Robbery
Shame and his criminal posse invade an ammunition shop where, after holding up its proprietor, Peter, and arming themselves to the teeth, they plan their next move. Meanwhile, Calamity Jan pleasd with Shame to swap Batgirl for her mom, and he grudgingly agrees. The next morning he sends Chief Standing Pat to Police HQ and deliver his offer. The Dynamic Duo accepts, and they transfer Frontier Fanny to The Central American Pavillion at the closed Gotham City World Fair, as requested, where Shame, Jan, Pat and Fred await in ambush. Batman spots the prenicious posse, and tosses a chemical capsule which makes their weapons 20X heavier than usual! Batgirl manages to fee herself, and The Dynamic Trio brutallt bash the barehanded bandits. Shame snatches up a gun and blasts out a pinata, knocking out The Trio long enough for the posse to head for them hills! Batman, Batgirl and Robin regain consciousness and reconvene in Gordon's office, where Batgirl relates Shame's plan to commit a Great Train Robbery. The Caped Crusader quickly recalls a shipment of old money which is being transported by train to The Treasury Department to be burned to ashes--and believes this is exactly what Shame is after! The Dynamic Trio rush to save the train!

In the meantime, Shame severs the tracks with the acetylene torch and breaks into the money car with the diamond drill, spraying its occupants with Fear Gas and snatches the cash. The Dynamic Duo speeds back to The Batcave where The Caped Crusader launches a Batdrone plane to issue a skywritten challenge to Shame. Shame accepts, and agrees to meet Batman alone in the condemned tenement district (the exact equivalency of a ghost town!). Naturally, Shame reneges on his agreement with Batman and secretly has his posse wait in a nearby alley, with orders to blow Batman away when he and The Caped Crusader are within 20 feet apart. The final showdown commences, and while The Criminal Cowboy and The Caped Crusader slowly advance toward each other, Batgirl and Robin manages to disarm Shame's posse. Shame realizes something's wrong and resorts to plan B: a derringer hidden in his hat! Batman knocks it from his hand with a well-aimed and -thrown Batarang. Shame manages to fool Batman by cowardly begging for mercy at Batman's feet and pretending to surrender. He knocks him aside, and the two battle it out in the middle of the street. The Caped Crusader emerges victorious, and Shame, Jan, Fanny, Fred, and Pat are all hoosegow-bound!

Meanwhile, King Tut undergoes treatment at The Mount Ararat Hospital...

WRITTEN BY: Stanley Ralph Ross

DIRECTED BY: Oscar Rudolph

CAST:
Cliff Robertson (Shame)
Hermione Baddeley (Frontier Fanny)
Dina Merrill (Calamity Jan)
Barry Dennen (Fred)
Brian Sullivan (Fortissimo Fra Diavlo)
Dorothy Kirsten (Leonora Sotto Voce)
Jerry Mathers (Pops The Doorman [cameo])
Arnold Stang (Peter [gun shop owner])
Victor Lundin (Chief Standing Pat)
Robert Casper (Train Clerk)
James Jeter (Train Guard)

INTERESTING NOTES:
- This was the last episode of Batman to air on ABC as a 2-parter, once a tried-and-true institution of the series.

- Batman was preempted on ABC February 15, 1968.

- Cliff Robertson's final performance of Shame.

- A few months after this episode aired, Cliff Robertson starred in the film that earned him his Academy Award, "Charly".

- Victor Lundin played Friday in the 1964 science fiction film "Robinson Crusoe on Mars", which also featured Adam West.

- Dina Merrill (Calamity Jan) was in real life Cliff Robertson's bride at the time these episodes were shot.

SCREEN GRABS FROM GREAT ESCAPE

SCREEN GRABS FROM THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

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