Du Quoin Moviegoers Out All 'Knight' for Batman Premere

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ When they talk about the new Batman movie 'The Dark Knight' reviewers quote from the Russian proverb that 'God makes the priests. Jesters come from the devil.'

And, showgoers across Southern Illinois--including Du Quoin--came out enmasse at midnight Thursday to see the late Heath Ledger be just that.

More than 200--many of them part of an overflow crowd from packed theaters in Carbondale and Marion--stood in line on East Main Street for tickets to the premier. 'We had a lot of people from Carterville, ' said Mrs. Richard Baker, Sr. Remember, that was a midnight and the theater didn't empty until well after 2 a.m.

Show times today are 2 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Show times Saturday are 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Show times Sunday are 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.

According to one reviewer: 'The movie is Christopher Nolan's hotly anticipated and often brilliantly executed follow-up to "Batman Begins." And Ledger is spell-binding. His face is caked in cracked white grease paint, his smile a grotesque red lipstick scar, kohl rimming his eyes, the Joker is a cruel kind of clown, the kind that is only interested in the last laugh.

Ledger dominates this movie as dangerous and unpredictable.

"You complete me," the Joker lisps to Batman, mimicking (mocking?) "Jerry Maguire." He is so strong in the movie, it could land Ledger a post-humous Oscar.