User Reviews

"The Great Train Robbery" finds Batgirl held captive by Shame (Cliff Robertson), hoping to exchange her for Frontier Fanny (Hermione Baddeley), mother of his sweetheart Calamity Jan (Dina Merrill), who implores her paramour to get their Fanny back, while he wonders what her father looked like ("he was prettier than my ma" "nobody could be uglier!"). Barry Dennen as the Mexican Fred ("tallyho!") and Victor Lundin as Chief Standing Pat ("ug!") accompany Shame on 'The Great Train Robbery,' when the government ships out all the old tattered and torn money from Gotham City to be destroyed. The final showdown between Batman and Shame finds them going one on one, Robin and Batgirl holding his henchmen at bay, Shame tossing off insults with impunity before realizing that he's got to do it all by himself ("your mother wears army shoes" "yes she did, as I recall she found them quite comfortable!"). A classic exchange when the desperate desperado displays his cowardice by clinging to Batman's leg: "you're not worthy of the name Shame, you're a sham, Shame! Don't ever cry on my tights or pull my leg again!" (Chief O'Hara evokes "High Noon" with his comparison to "Low Midnight").

In my opinion, this episode of "Batman" is the very best of season three. As entertaining as Cliff Robertson is, playing the villainous cowboy 'Shame', it is his henchman 'Fred' who steals the show! Looking every bit like Pancho Villa, with the sombrero and long, thick moustache, when Fred speaks, his voice sounds just like an upper class British gentleman. 'Fred' is played with glee by the late, Chicago-born great Barry Dennen. This episode was aired in early 1968, only a couple of years before he found lasting fame as 'Pontius Pilate' in the original Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar", a role he would go on to play in the feature film of the production in 1973. Sadly, Barry Dennen passed away in September of 2017. My wife and I had the honour of spending a wonderful afternoon with him in 2009 when we visited the United States. I got to know him through his webpage, exchanging emails with him until we were able to visit him in person. Barry Dennen's performance in this episode is hilarious, and it makes for a wonderful experience. Rest In Peace my friend!

Batman has Frontier Fanny prisoner and proposes to Shame to exchange her for Batgirl who is the villain's prisoner. After the change, Shame manages to perpetrate his maximum blow, the robbery of a train that transports bills. Batman decides to challenge the cowboy to a duel as a last attempt to catch him. The entire scene and dialogue between Shame and Batman in the duel is great, the episode continues with the quality of the first part, the performances of the entire cast are outstanding, highlighting the work of Cliff Robertson, Dina Merril and Hermione Baddeley. An episode that I never get tired of watching over and over again.