BATWOMAN (1968)

After watching some of the Santos movies, I was intrigued when a female version popped up on the El Rey channel. Like in the Santos movies, Batwoman is a female wrestler that goes after the bad guy wearing her bat costume. The costume is directly linked to the popularity of the Batman T.V. show in its colors and form, but of course they have to modify it to make it sexy. To be truthful I found it interesting that a Mexican movie would give a woman such a strong role. My previous experience with Mexican movies of this time period had the women as the damsel in distress or the sex object. Then one also has to take into account the position of women in traditional Mexican culture and the influence of Catholicism on Mexican culture. This woman instead was a strong fighter and intelligent (even if she was still afraid of mice). The ‘fish’ monster was at least interesting in its form. I actually thought it looked more like a crustacean or a bug. The fight scenes were a little cheesy and you could tell that the man were awkward because they didn’t want to touch certain parts of her anatomy. The movie itself was ok, but the ending was lackluster and too abrupt. 3 stars out of 5 or a C. 

BTW: This also made me curious about women wrestlers. There has been women wrestlers in the US at least since 1937 (if not older) and a large gain in popularity in the 1950s. There are even Japanese female wrestlers that date back to at least the 60s. I didn’t realize how far back women wrestling went. I had always thought of it as being like a 80s/90s thing at the earliest due to how women have been viewed.

Women Wrestlers Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Women%27s_Championship_(1956%E2%80%932010)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_professional_wrestling

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2018/06/13/meet-the-women-pro-wrestlers-of-mexico/

https://www.france24.com/en/20180227-mexican-women-wrestlers-wage-war-sexes-lucha-libre-ring

https://www.amazon.com/Sisterhood-Squared-Circle-History-Wrestling/dp/1770413073

                This could be an interesting read.

Picture From: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235608/mediaviewer/rm221767424?ref_=ttmi_mi_all_pos_12