Westworld

"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."

Michael Crichton wrote and directed this precursor to "Jurassic Park" that, while showing some of it's age, is still effective and was undeniably influential. The story concerns a unique and expensive vacation resort called Delos in which customers can choose from one of three "worlds"--Roman World, Medieval World or Western World (as it is referred to in the film.) Here, customers can indulge their fantasies of conquest (violent or sexual) among a host of ultra-realistic robots who are programmed to promote the experience while not allowing the participants to become hurt. Benjamin stars as a newcomer to the place with his buddy Brolin along for his second visit. Brolin shows Benjamin the ropes at Western World (how to shoot villains, seduce dance hall girls, etc...) One of the bad guys they encounter is icy Brynner who they dispose of more than once. Eventually, things start to come unglued as the men note that things aren't working as properly as expected and promised. The controllers of the park are unable to prevent the robots from hurting or even killing the guests! The film begins with that once-cutting-edge, but now amusing, sense of high-tech awe as the guys enter the park. Benjamin is an acquired taste and borders on annoying for much of the film. More at ease is Brolin who doesn't have a great deal to do. The most striking performance is that of Brynner. He has almost nothing to say, but he doesn't need to talk. His steely stare and mechanical gait wind up being quite relentless and terrifying. The highlight of the film is his non-stop pursuit of Benjamin. ("The Terminator" owes a lot to this section of the film.) There are several other supporting roles, but, aside from Van Patten, the actors create little interest in their exploits. "Star Trek" fans will note the presence of Barrett as a robot madame. There were rumors of a remake with Arnold Schwarzegger, but Arnie's already done the indestructible robot thing and no one's going to outglare Brynner. His bid as Governor seems to have quashed these plans anyway.

A well-remembered film from my youth and no I haven't seen the TV reboot, watching this again was like going back to a bunch of my favourite original Star Trek episodes mashed up together.

Sure, the premise could have perhaps more justifiably been played out in a darker, more overtly horror way, but instead it's mostly fun just the way it is, shot in broad daylight, occasionally played for laughs and with an out and out nerd in the lead role. With ideas that you can see played out later in films like "Terminator 2" and of course "Jurassic Park", not to mention the whole "Star Trek TNG" holodeck schtick, the film works because it's so easy to imagine ourselves playing out our adventure fantasies, especially in these days of virtual reality.

Sure the film is dated by its mildly sexist treatment of women who are seen throughout mostly as playthings of wealthy middle-aged men on tour, but if you can see past that, it definitely moves up a gear once things start to go wrong in paradise and the machines really begin to play up.

The action sequences seem to parody Peckinpah with lots of slow-motion shootin' and a-killin' with blood spattering everywhere which contrasts with the buddy-buddy vibe which exists between Richard Benjamin and James Brolin, who convincingly seem what they probably are, two rich businessman out on the ran.

The genius casting however was in getting Yul Brynner to parody his iconic role from "The Magnificent Seven" as the mean and moody gunslinger who just keeps on coming in pursuit of Benjamin.

An early film outing for author, screenwriter and occasional director Michael Crichton who I can only think once had a bad day at Disneyworld, "Westworld" is a very enjoyable light sci-fi romp best not taken too seriously.

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.

You can see the roots both in the plot and the special effects in Michael Crichton's Westworld that can later be found in the incredibly popular Jurassic Park series.

Like Jurassic Park the protagonists of Westworld are a pair of wealthy American yuppies who are going to a futuristic vacation resort. The place is called Delos and like Disneyland with its separate theme parks of Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and the World of Tomorrow, Delos has three different resort type places to visit, Romanworld, Medievalworld and Westworld.

Our two intrepids have chosen the Westworld experience. They get to mix and mingle in an old west frontier town, or at least a Hollywood type version of same and get the feel of western life. Included are gunfights and bar brawls such as you see in any good Hollywood western. This is what Richard Benjamin and James Brolin have chosen for themselves.

For reasons unexplained in the story, the whole thing breaks down in all three theme worlds and in the case of Westworld, a very nasty gunslinger robot has shaken loose from his programming and is on the hunt for human targets. Will man with all of his weaknesses defeat an apparently indestructible machine?

You can also see some of the themes in the later Terminator films that Arnold Schwarzneggar popularized. Here the relentless hunter is played by Yul Brynner in the familiar black western garb that he made popular in The Magnificent Seven.

The VHS copy of Westworld advertises itself as the very first use of computer graphics. If that's the case this is one unique experience for that reason alone and should not be missed.