Westworld

Rating:
Summary: Bugs in the System
Review: In many ways this is a better film than Jurassic Park. The end sequence with the Gunslinger pursuing a guest has to be the most memorable. Over the years I have enjoyed this film but more recently it has taken on new meaning. There is something chillingly familiar about computer systems constantly falling foul of bugs...I think if a Delos like park opens in the near future I'll make sure to give it a wide berth.

Yul Brynner is memorable in this film especially since his unstoppable killing machine predates the Terminator. A classic SF movie.

Rating:
Summary: A shocking view of tomorrow's exclusive adult amusement park
Review: Every minute, technology moves us closer to the kind of world where adult fantasies can be acted out in real time. From Bradbury's "The Veldt," to Star Trek TNG's Holodeck, to today's virtual reality gear for personal computers, technology is moving us closer to a kind of Delos - where, for a thousand dollars a day, "Each resort is maintained by reliable, computer technology...and peopled by life-like robot men and women." That is, until something goes wrong. As with the blackout of 1965, when New York City went dark, we can allow technology to hold us hostage. Crichton's Westworld illustrates our dependence on technology and the potential ramifications when we trust technology too much.

Rating:
Summary: Futuristic amusement park turns deadly!
Review: "Delos-the vacation of the future today. Contact your travel agent to go to Medieval-world, Romanworld, and Westernworld" Two businessmen, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin, embark on a vegitating vacation to a recreation of 1880's in the Old West where human-like robots cater to your every whim and give realism to the Western surroundings. To start off, Benjamin gets off bad with tough robot gunslinger, Yul Brynner and they are enemies from the start at an incident in a salloon. Brynner keeps coming back for more and he gets blown away two times. It's a carefree environment for Benjamin and Brolin. Bar-brawls, fast flings with female robots, jail-escapes,and other enticing escapades. All is fun and games until the robots liberate themselves and don't play it the way it's written, particularly Brynner who comes back a third time to do business and rid Benjamin and Brolin from the earth! A central malfunction occurs throughout the park and the mechanical wonders start killing the guests. After Brolin's death to Brynner's gunslinger, Benjamin is chased across the whole resort while the lethal and unstoppable plays the fiery predator out to do his dirty work in what promises to be the most exciting and suspensful chase sequences in the history of 70's sci-fi (the other being the chase in "Soylent Green"). This film wreaks with social comment and even a post-apocolyptic vision of too much dependence on the machine age. Michael Crichton, the author, directs. Resembling "Jurassic Park" in many ways.

Rating:
Summary: Great beginning, horrible end
Review: The beginning of this movie is wonderful. The entire premise of an adult theme park manned by robots is very interesting, and the beginning of the film is effective.

Unfortunately, the end is painful to watch. The movie degenerates from its strong beginning to a 20-minute chase scene between two characters. 20 excruciatingly boring minutes of walking/running through scenes cluttered with already dead people. Yawn.

Rating:
Summary: "Have We Got a Vacation for You...."
Review: Welcome to Delos, an adult amusement park where, for a mere $1000 per day, guests can experience the excitement of life in America's Old West, Medieval Europe, or Ancient Rome. Lifelike costumed androids populate the park and interact with guests, and said machines are programmed to fulfill all human desires, be those yearnings romantic, heroic, violent, or whatever. But the robots have also been programmed with a fail-safe that prevents them from harming the guests in any way. Think of Delos as a high-tech Disneyland for wealthy grown-ups.

Businessmen Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin) are looking for a few days of excitement and relaxation, and the Old West section of Delos, designated WestWorld, seems like just the ticket. But it turns out there's an unexplained glitch in the main computer that controls the park's network of androids, and unfortunately for Martin and Blane, the error just happens to manifest itself while the two are visiting the park. The robots are suddenly able to exercise free will--which includes the ability to override the directive that prevents them from harming guests--and it's not long before Martin and Blane find themselves pursued by a ruthless android gunslinger (Yul Brynner).

This minor opus from Michael Crichton marks his first directorial effort and is also the first theatrical flick based on an original Crichton screenplay rather than an adaptation of one of his novels. While the special FX in 1973's WESTWORLD are decidedly cheesy and low-tech by contemporary standards, this sci-fi thriller still stands up today due to the tight, well-paced script and the solid performances from principals Benjamin, Brolin, and especially Brynner (here playing a robotic version of his character from 1960's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN). WESTWORLD is a bit too earnest to have yet become a CULT classic--a status it is likely to achieve as technology continues to grow leaps and bounds beyond that which the film depicts--but it continues to be held in high regard by the majority of SF fans.

Though Crichton was connected (as a writer) with a few films and TV shows prior to WESTWORLD, it is really this film that brought him widespread notice and launched his high-profile Hollywood career. WESTWORLD did well enough at the box office, in fact, that it even spawned a sequel--a lesser film entitled FUTUREWORLD (1976).

Warner's edition of WESTWORLD on DVD is a no-frills disc that offers the film in both anamorphic widescreen and pan-and-scan, with the only bonus being the original theatrical trailer. The digital transfer is pretty good, but there was obviously no effort to clean up the dust and other filmic artifacts that are visible from time to time. Digital artifacts, if any, are minor, though there is some occasional color drift. (To be fair, color drift could be on the source rather than a result of the digitization.) All in all, it's an acceptable DVD of a film that most longtime SF fans will want to have in their collections.

(Rating breakdown: Film gets 5 stars; DVD gets 3. Average rating is therefore 4 stars.)

Rating:
Summary: ...famous last words...
Review: "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", and may choose one of three "worlds" to visit and play make-believe-for-grownups in: Medievalworld, Romanworld, 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 gunslinger robots for fun if they wish (the guns they are supplied with will not work on real people). Romanworld is promoted as something of a sex resort, and Medievalworld seems geared towards the romantics.

The film begins with quite a lot of intentional comedy and satire, and starts out very much like it could have been a 1970's TV "Movie of the Week", but once the robots start to "crash"...the rest of the film is a truly creepy western/sci-fi film. It's a gunfight, a western, 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 favorite of mine, "Wait Until Dark" (1967).

Movies with robots/androids...there have been many I have seen and loved. But examples of what I consider to be frightening robots in film, besides "Westworld", are: "The Stepford Wives" (1974), "Alien" (1979), "Blade Runner" (1982), "The Terminator" (1984), "Aliens" (1986), and "The Companion" (1995).

"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 robot gunslinger gone bad in "Westworld." His performance is what really makes the movie; Brynner was a good actor, and even (maybe especially) playing a machine, his skill is used to great effect. His performance is anything but wooden, unlike the always-stilted 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 and moves has an element to it that is hard to define, and very unnerving. When Peter first meets him at the saloon, it's obvious that the robot gunslinger's movements are very fluid, in a way one doesn't usually see an actor portray a robot, yet the smooth mannerisms somehow serve to further the effect.

What's also great about this film is the evolving of the Peter Martin character. 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 formerly milquetoast Peter quickly learns how to survive and fight back, and Richard Benjamin is very sympathetic, likeable, and effective in his portrayal.

This was Sci-Fi writer/director Michael Crichton's first foray into big-screen filmmaking. Crichton has said he made the film in thirty days, under schedule and within the budget. I would expect that finding pre-made sets was fairly easy; there was bound to be at least one western set sitting around the studio lots. In fact, several locations were utilized for the filming of Westworld: the Mojave Desert, part of the gardens of the Harold Lloyd Estate, and various available studio stages.

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."


Rating:
Summary: One Of My Top 5 Favorites
Review: I love this film. Strangely enough, Andromeda Strain is also in my top 5. I cant watch these movies over and over. Brolin and Benjamin are teriffic in this film. Its amusing to see Benjamin in a role like this after you have seen him in Catch 22. Also a top 5 film. LOL It must have been so much fun making this film. LEt me say that Yul Brynner completely steals the film. He is such a presence. True, he does not have many lines, but it is all in his expressions. His subtle reactions are brilliant. The glint he gets in his eyes is also priceless. He was a truly gifted actor, and he is sorely missed. I find myself rooting for him in this, but he always gets the acid in the face and set on fire at the end. LOL So much for alternative endings. I hear rumors that they want to remake this. This disgusts me. They completely destroyed Stepford Wives, and turned it into a mockery. The original was frightening. This was a pile of jokey politically correct crap. Hollywood sucked out its soul, and they will do the same to Westworld. This is very difficult to find nowadays, and I actually found a DVD copy at a Sam Goody. Renting it can also be frustrating. My Blockbuster and Hollywood video didnt have it, and the clerks didnt even know what it was. I should have smacked them. Grab this. Treasure it.

Rating:
Summary: Disneyland meets Hades
Review: A group of friends decides to visit Delos, a futuristic amusement park divided into different sections. They choose "Westworld" wherein visitors are incorporated into an ongoing interactive play with other visitors and complex cybertronic/animatronic figures, who follow their roles, and not a specific script. It's like a giant role-playing game. The only problem with the vacation is that the cyborgs stop following the rules, and all built-in safety precautions are discarded (e.g., the guns can now kill you). This film reminds me of the episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, wherein the safety limits on the holodeck fail.


The special effects here are not that great. The acting is only okay, with the exception of the coldly evil lead cyborg, played superbly by Yul Brunner. The setting was done pretty well. The ingredients should not have added up to a memorable, creepy, four-star movie, but they somehow did. I think it was the combination of Yul Brunner's performance and an intriguing premise, that did it.

Rating:
Summary: Stupid story, silly acting, BORING!
Review: Westworld is one of the most boring films I've ever seen. Can anyone explain how someone without any directorial experience got chosen to shoot this low-budget film? The story is totally stupid and completely lacks novelty even for the 1970s era, and the acting is so laughable -- probably everyone on the set was high on drugs or something. This is one of the most boring films ever made, and Yul's performance really does not do his name justice: just stare, shoot, and walk. Westworld sux big time! The sequel Futureworld actually has a better story but is equally poorly produced.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Science Fantasy Trek Into Horror
Review:
I picked this film up about a week ago. I hadn't seen it since it premiered back in the 1970's. It made no impression on me whatsoever on that first viewing. Boy has time and its simplicity improved it, the second time around! This is a very timely film and I think people of all ages should take a look at it.

This film moves from humour to fantasy to horror almost seamlessly. And the funny thing is- the fact that Crichton didn't get caught up in atmosphere or look; he concentrated on two characters simply going to a future resort, however fantastic the idea seems, to release and experience what in fact become examples of some of the darkest pleasures or most violent impulses inside of all of us. It really presses the right buttons and asks questions about what we find fun or entertaining.

I don't want any review I write to spoil the films for the people yet to see the work so, let's just say- when the tables turn and 'we're on the receiving end ', there's a real numbing truth to what this film drives home. More so today then when it was released. Think of some of the 'reality based darkness' that now litters our airwaves and the unfortunate numbers who seem to be tuning in to watch it.

James Brolin really nails the 'who cares' feel his character needs. Richard Benjamin has to be the one who feels silly at first, then joins in with a sort of reckless abandon. And Yul Brynner is an example to everybody today (in acting, directing, effects and make-up ), of how you can scare the hell out of someone with a look, a smile and two small silver contact lens. (You'll know what I mean when you get to the scene). Benjamin really balances him from that point, having to portray the fear the new reality hits him with.

I won't do the Jurassic comparisons. I thought it when Jurassic came out but Jurassic was a rollercoaster ride. Westworld is the tale with the real bite.

I highly recommend this movie. It's an entertainment that quickly turns to a truth I think we all need to keep thinking about. What do we really find entertaining? Or more to the point... why?