Westworld

Westworld was the blueprint for what was later Jurassic Park. Here, Michael Crichton first envisoned Disneyland, if the Hall of presidents ran amuck. It provided many of the inspirations for later sci-fi films, like Terminator. It was a great blend of action, horror, and comedy.

Richard Benjamin and James Brolin are the heroes of the film, but Yul Brynner is the star. He portrays a robot, based on his character from "The Magnificent Seven." Brynner is the relentless killing machine who fights until the end. With almost no dialogue, he conveys fear with little more than expression and body language.

The film explores old themes, the dark side of technology, but it was ahead of its time in depicting the dangers of computers and automated systems. The effects are dated, but the story holds up well. The sequel, Futureworld, tried to add political intrigue, with less success. Definitely one for the sci-fi fan or collector, or cult movie lover.

"Boy, have we got a vacation for you...where nothing can go wrong!"

Well, as the old saying goes..."famous last words."

"Westworld" is supposed to be set in the future (as visualized back in 1973 when the film was made, apparently the computers of the future are really, really big, and the monitors are really, really small, lol), where pampered rich folk can go to a vacation resort named "Delos", where they choose one of three "worlds" to visit and interact in: Medieval World, Roman World, and Westworld. Our protagonists John Blaine and Peter Martin (played by James Brolin and Richard Benjamin, respectively) choose Westworld. John is a Westworld veteran, having visited many times. Peter is his friend and first-timer at the resort; uttering childlike statements such as "Do we get a real gun? Wow!" In the various "worlds", the guests interact with each other and with anatomically-correct, extremely realistic robots. They are able to *ahem* interact very closely with the female robots, and also shoot the mean robots for fun (the guns they are supplied with will not work on real people) as they wish. A real "cowboys and indians" scenario for the child in us all. Roman World is promoted as a big sex resort, and Medieval World is geared towards the romantic, it seems.

The film starts out with quite a lot of intentional comedy and satire, and frankly starts out very much like it could have been a 1970's TV "Movie of the Week", but once the robots start to go bad...what we have for the rest of the film is a truly creepy western/sci-fi film. It's a gunfight! Albeit a Sci-Fi one. The last half-hour of the film is essentially a silent movie, as Crichton said he wanted, save for the great soundtrack, which sounds something like a bow being drawn against piano strings, or a cello; anyway it has the same unsettling effect as the out-of-tune piano in another classic, "Wait Until Dark" (1967).

Movies with robots/androids...there have been many I have seen and loved. But for this review I will cite examples of what I consider to be scary robots in film, besides "Westworld": "The Stepford Wives" (1974), "Alien" (1979), "Blade Runner" (1982), "The Terminator" (1984), "Aliens", "The Companion" (1995).

But "Westworld" was the first scary robot film I ever saw. And even after the others that followed, nothing quite equals Yul Brynner in his role as the gunslinger robot gone bad in "Westworld." His performance is what really makes the movie. Brynner was a good actor, and even (aybe especially) playing a machine, his skill is used to great effect. His performance was anything but wooden (unlike the always wooden Ah-nold in "The Terminator", for instance).

When Brynner's robot gunslinger commands "Draw", with the slightest twist at the corner of his mouth, he is completely creepy and scary. Even the way he walks when hunting down Richard Benjamin's character has an element to it that I have never seen again.

What's also great about this film is the development of Benjamin's character of Peter Martin. He starts out as the inexperienced nerdy sidekick to Brolin's John Blaine, and ends up showing his true mettle as the going gets rough. The nerdy naive Martin quickly learns how to survive.

This was Sci-Fi writer/director Michael Crichton's first foray into big-screen film-making. Crichton has said he made the film in thirty days. I would expect that finding pre-made sets were easy at least; there was bound to be at least a western set sitting around the studio lots. And of course, back then there were fewer and less complicated special effects.

If you find a DVD of this to rent, and you've never seen the film before, I recommend that you do not watch the trailer first! It's a real spoiler.

Note: Look for Majel Barrett (of "Star Trek-Generations", and she is also Gene Roddenberrys' widow) as the whorehouse madam.

Brynner's part was a play on his role in the classic western film "The Magnificent Seven."

I loved this as a kid and today I watched it for the first time since I was a kid, with my kids and of course, they loved it just as I did. Watching again as an adult I'm a little less impressed and the technology is wonderful for some laughs. Looking at the big boxy things with flashing lights and spinning tape reels, my daughter asked if those are computers so I give the obligatory explanation. Westworld is one of the few movies written and directed by Michael Crichton, of whom I've been a big fan even before I knew who he was. Westworld being one of his more popcorny movies, lacking the sophistication of The Andromeda Strain but containing the seeds of Jurassic Park.

James Brolin is magnificent as expected. It always strikes me how much Christian Bale resembles him, right down to the smile and mannerisms. If Bale isn't the illegitimate son of Brolin then their family trees must share branches somewhere. I've always thought the same about Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.

Classic sci-fi thriller, written and directed by Michael Crichton, about a futuristic amusement park called Delos where people can role play in fantasy "worlds" based on the Old West, the Roman Empire, and Medieval Europe. Each of these worlds is inhabited by androids who look, talk, and act like real people. You want to have a sword fight with a knight, you can. You want to shoot it out with a gunslinger, you can. You want to bang an attractive prostitute or wench, have right at it. But this fantasy world turns into a nightmare when the robots malfunction and start killing the tourists!

Richard Benjamin does a great job as the unlikely hero, a newly-divorced and somewhat nerdy man brought to the park by his macho friend James Brolin. Dick Van Patten and Alan Oppenehimer are good in supporting roles. But it's Yul Brynner, as the black-clad gunfighter out to kill Benjamin, that steals the show with his commanding screen presence. The movie takes its time setting things up and building the suspense, showing one small malfunction at a time. It's an hour in before the killing starts. From that point on the pace never slows down and it becomes an exciting cat-and-mouse chase with Brynner hunting Benjamin. The sets and special effects are terrific, particularly when you consider this was made for $1.25 million (with half of that going to pay the cast and crew). I can't say enough good things about Fred Karlin's effective score. This was Crichton's first theatrical directorial effort (he directed a TV movie prior to this). I think it's his best work as a director, although I hold a special place in my heart for Runaway. His script is smart with nice bits of humor throughout. It's a great film that should appeal to a wide variety of people, so long as they are able to enjoy movies made before CGI. Sadly, there are many who can't.

I remember when Westworld first came our. We stayed in our seats to watch it a second time. It was exciting, interesting, and sexy in its own way. Forty years later it is still a good watch. It is fun to see what they thought technology would be in the days before micro-computing.

So watching it now, it is a little tired. What was once novel is now a trope. But the story is great, the show moves along at a good pace, and I would recommend watching it. After all, it is a classic.