Westworld

Plot synopsis:
It is sometime in the near future, in a fictional high-tech adult amusement park called Delos. The park is divided into three zones: WesternWorld, MedievalWorld and RomanWorld. The entertainment in all three areas consists primarily of interaction by the guests with androids programmed to act in character (the Old West, medieval Europe, and pre-Christian Rome, respectively). The androids are indistinguishable from human beings, apart from minor flaws in their hands, and guests are encouraged to indulge in any fantasy, including killing the androids. The androids are programmed to respond positively to guest requests, specifically including requests for sex. Delos's guests pay $1,000 a day for the experience.Peter Martin (Benjamin) a first-timer and his friend John Blane (Brolin), who has visited previously, come to the WesternWorld zone, where one of the main attractions is the Gunslinger (Yul Brynner), a robot programmed to start duels. Thanks to its programming, humans can always outdraw the Gunslinger and kill it. The guns issued to the guests also have temperature sensors that prevent them from firing at each other or anything else living but allow them to 'kill' the room-temperature androids.Gradually, the technicians running Delos begin to notice problems with the androids. In what may be the first mention of the concept of a computer virus in a film, the technical staff describe inexplicable problems and breakdowns spreading "like a disease" between the machines, first in one area of the park and then on to the others. First, the robots in MedievalWorld begin suffering an inexplicable number of systemic failures. Then, a robot rattlesnake strikes Blane. Against her programming, a female servant android refuses a guest's request for sex. The failures increase until the robotic Black Knight kills a guest in a sword-fight in MedievalWorld. The resort's supervisors, in increasing desperation, attempt to regain control by shutting down power to the entire park. Unfortunately, this results in trapping them in the control rooms, unable to turn the power back on again while the robots run amok on stored power.Martin and Blane, who have been passed out drunk after a bar fight in the WesternWorld bordello, wake up unaware that there has been a change for the worse. The two men are confronted by the Gunslinger, who challenges them to a showdown. Blane treats the confrontation like a joke, until the robot shoots and kills him. Martin runs for his life as the robot implacably follows him.Martin flees to the other areas of the park, but finds only a panicky fleeing technician, dead guests and damaged robots. He manages to open a manhole leading to the underground control area, where the resort's technicians have suffocated since the ventilation shut down. The Gunslinger stalks Martin through the corridors, arriving at the robot repair facility where Martin lies in wait, pretending to be a disabled robot. Martin ambushes the Gunslinger by throwing a beaker of hydrochloric acid, found among the repair materials, into its face. Thinking he has disabled the Gunslinger, he leaves the service area and enters MedievalWorld.However, Martin is again followed by the Gunslinger, whose face has melted but who is still functioning, though its visible spectrum optics were destroyed by the acid. The robot can still see Martin, but only via infrared backups, and is confused when he moves in front of several flaming torches, something it would not have been programmed to deal with in WesternWorld. The Gunslinger begins to leave the room, but Martin accidentally makes a noise, allowing the Gunslinger to zero in on him again. When it lunges to strike, its ammunition exhausted, Martin seizes the opportunity to set fire to it with a large torch.Thinking this has destroyed the robot, Martin leaves the burning Gunslinger and wanders out of the great hall, finding what he believes to be a female guest chained up in the dungeon. He releases her and gives her a drink of water, whereupon her face bursts into sparks, revealing she is a machine. Backing away in shock, he is confronted by the still moving burned hulk of the Gunslinger, which continues its attempt to attack him. However, it falls off a high set of steps in the process and, finally succumbing to damage, shuts down. Martin, apparently the sole survivor of the humans at Delos, simply sits down on the dungeon steps in a state of near-exhaustion and shock, thinking of the irony of Delos's advertising, "Have we got a vacation for you!"

Tags: cult, suspenseful, murder

Review:
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.
Set during an unspecified future era on Earth, Westworld features Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin) on their way to a new kind of amusement park, Delos, located way out in the middle of a desert.
Disney World's operational infrastructure is an extensive behind-the-scenes computer network, which Crichton parallels with his white lab coat-wearing scientists working amidst monitors and banks of flashing lights (and this is even better satirized in the sequel to Westworld, 1976's Futureworld).The premise provides an easy launching pad for a number of ethical, philosophical and scientific dilemmas: What are the implications for killing someone when they seem almost identical to humans?
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Classic sci-fi thriller of the 70's, Westworld is a film that never fails to be fun and riveting in its own campy way.Two pals go on vacation to a hi-tech resort where they can live out a wild west adventure among human-like robots.
Unfortunately, the robots are starting to malfunction and our human guests may be in for more excitement than they bargained for.Michael Crichton delivers a clever and engaging story with this film.
Richard Benjamin does a nice turn as the timid visitor who must fight to survive, as does his friend played by James Brolin.Westworld is truly enjoyable sci-fi/thriller excitement and stands as one of the best genre films of the '70s.*** 1/2 out of ****.
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.
They make love to robot saloon women, participate in wild bar room brawls, and frequently get bullied around by a tough humanoid gunslinger dressed all in black (Yul Brynner, spoofing his look from THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN), who is automatically obliged to get riddled up with bullets, repaired by technicians overnight as the guests sleep, and then shot up all over again for the next day.All is pure fun and games until something unidentifiable in the computer system begins to malfunction, and suddenly the world of Disney devolves into a place of horror.
No longer taking orders to play dead, the robots are out to kill the guests, and the ominous gunslinger develops a frightening taste for the kill as he becomes an unstoppable walking menace, 10 years before Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator ever hit the screens.Author Michael Crichton (THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) wrote the screenplay and directed his first film with WESTWORLD, and it's an impressive debut in that he's able to keep the action moving along at a comfortable pace, using a small budget to its full advantage, and fashioning a real good-time movie experience that is at the same time both fun and foreboding.
James Brolin and Richard Benjamin are completely likable in their parts, but it is Yul Brynner's multi-layered conception of the gunslinging robot who changes from willing court jester to deadly assassin that's the main draw.Also a major asset is Fred Karlin's versatile music score.
From the novel by Michael Crichton and also directed by him, James Brolin and Richard Benjamin are the two friends who travel to the resort to indulge in their every whim as 'Cowboys'whilst they are engaging their childhood fantasy Benjamin has an encounter with 'Gunslinger' Yul Brynner who virtually recreates his role from 'The MAgnificent Seven' is brutally menacing as the gunslinger who eventually stalks Benjamin through Westworld 'where nothing can go wrong' does as there is a malfunction which creates havoc for the tourists.
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.
Westworld is a compelling Sci-Fi film that works from an intriguing premise and features an excellent central performance from Yul Brynner.
Very stupid sci-fi film about a future amusement park where you can live out your fantasies in a simulation, either in a Medieval world, a Roman world, or Westworld.
Westworld is written and directed by Michael Crichton and stars Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin.
If it weren't for a couple of major liabilities it would be one of the best science fiction pictures of its time (early 70s, pre-Star Wars).Very simply, Westworld is about one of three 'worlds' created by a group of scientists looking to give the public a "real-life" experience of being in a) medieval times, b) Roman empire, c) the American old-west.
For the first half we're immersed into mostly Westworld (once or twice we get a peek at Medieval world, probably more-so than Romanworld, which is a little disappointing not to get some extra time for the other worlds), and it's glorious to see Crichton, wit with and excellent precision as a storyteller, go through the clichés of the old-West: the Gunslinger (Yul Brynner, himself a spoof on Magnificent Seven), the breakout of prison, the sex with the prostitutes, the bar fight, the harsh whiskey, all of it is apart of the fun- and Twilight Zone style curiosity- of the premise.And yet, while Crichton is able to explore this premise well throughout, with many of the scenes in and of themselves excellent, it's also too short to really make a complete impact; at 88 minutes we get just enough to suffice with the Westworld section, but what about the others?
And yet again, Crichton scores big points for the last 25 minutes, which is, basically, one long chase with the dysfunctional Brynner Gunslinger (one of the coldest and most effective killing machines in movie history alongside Michael Myers and Anton Chigurgh, in this case perfunctory in mission) and Richard Benjamin's bewildered guest who runs all the way from Westworld into the underground lair of the group that manages the park.
Unfortunately, the system breaks down, and the androids turn murderous, especially the gunslinger(Yul Brynner, well cast) who becomes determined to kill both Benjamin & Brolin...Despite the plot not being airtight, this is still an interesting and effective thriller that poses real questions about how much control humans should blithely hand over to machines.
Michael Crichton wrote and directed this dandy science fiction soufflé that contains some classic Crichton themes--whizbang technology (although it all looks dated now with the computer techs monitoring computer screens with glorified screensavers on them), flesh and blood and warts and all humans, and something unexpected going totally wrong (or "worng" as the tag line states) wherein the humans are up to their arses in prehistoric alligators or killer viruses or being stuck in medieval France.The movie is good, mildly hokey fun.
Soon, the technology goes haywire when the robots are infected by an early computer virus and are killing off some of the guests as only John and Peter must try to survive this even with that Gunslinger they fought many times that is after them.Highly entertaining, edge of your seat and quite original 1973 science fiction thriller western action film written and directed by Michael Crichton the legendary book author and creator of Jurassic Park and this movie predates Jurassic Park years later.
Michael Crichton wrote and directed this classic 1970s tale of a theme park gone awry about 20 years before he went back to that same well for "Jurassic Park." In this film an enormous theme park has been created the recreates an old west setting populated entirely by robots where visitors can realistically and safely play out their cowboy fantasies (there's also a Roman themed world and and a medieval themed world).
Richard Benjamin and James Brolin play two visitors to Westworld who are looking forward to strapping on sixguns, taking on robot gunslingers, and other old west clichés.
Benjamin is well cast as the dopey visitor playing cowboy like a 10-year old, who instead finds himself unexpectedly fighting for his life, but casting Yul Brynner as the central robotic gunslinger villain is brilliant.
Brynner donning a black hat nicely recalls his iconic role as Chris in "The Magnificent Seven." A main weaknesses of the film is the cutaway scenes to the Roman and medieval worlds, which are not all that interesting and seem only to exist to widen the theme park world, which wasn't really necessary, and to hint that something is going awry, which could easily have been done within the old west setting.
Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin) enjoy a $1000-a-day vacation at the high-tech Delos amusement park, where it is possible to live out one's fantasies in an environment populated by lifelike robots.
Their fun ends, however, when the robots develop a serious faultIt's easier to shoot holes in the plot for Michael Crichton's Westworld than it is to put a few rounds into Yul Brynner's robot gunslinger.
The second half is gripping sci-fi horror, as the theme-park's mechanical marvels go on the fritz, the gunslinger becoming a relentless killing machine intent on evening the score with Peter (inspiration for James Cameron's The Terminator?).In addition to providing thrills and spills, Crichton's film also throws up all sorts of interesting philosophical and ethical dilemmas to chew over, most notably the moral implications of catering for guests' primal instincts (sex and violence).8/10.
There are also some fantastic shot sequences in the second half of the movie, particularly as rogue robot (Yul Brunner) hunts down one of the guests (Richard Benjamin) at Westworld.
Rexes and raptors run amok in a little movie called "Jurassic Park," he wrote and directed this film about choose your own adventure theme parks peopled by robots that malfunction and start slaughtering the guests."Westworld" is a pretty entertaining sci-fi flick with modest ambitions, well acted by Richard Benjamin, who plays a nerdy dude who chooses to go to the wild west world and be a cowboy for a few days, and finds that he likes it, at least until Yul Bryner, as one of said robots, goes haywire and starts stalking him like the terminator.
Plus remembering that he also wrote for this film probably added to the amount of work Crichton had to deal with so it's plausible he was under a lot of pressure.James Brolin and Richard Benjamin as the main two leads help give viewers a better understanding of what there is to expect from Delos.
The short answer is yes but the long answer is not really, as Westworld is film with far better ideas than execution and acts as the perfect example of films that deserve to be remade and revisited as if done right, this not too far off HBO production should offer an abundant amount of goodness for Sci-Fi fans, action fans and all connoisseurs of brilliantly unique and bizarre ideas.Crichton who is arguably most famous for his writings of Jurassic Park and The Lost World, fills Westworld with an endless mine of material to delve into, from the at the time high end thoughts regarding robots, computer viruses, modern day theme parks and our fascination with looking back at old worlds like Rome, The Middle Ages and the Wild West and there's an unarguable joy in watching our protagonists Peter Martin played by Richard Benjamin and John Blane played by James Brolin who in this picture looks like a dead ringer for his son Josh, traverse the wild surrounds of a western settlement all the while being hunted by the increasingly determined robot gunslinger played by Yul Brynner.
Things go awry when the robots malfunction and become deadly.The film features James Brolin and Richard Benjamin as guests and Yul Brynner as the determined black-clad cowboy robot/assassin.ANALYSIS: I didn't see this classic sci-fi flick until fairly recently so I was able to view it without nostalgia-tinged glasses.
I am giving WestWorld a 9 out of 10 not because it was near perfect film but more because the idea itself was so futuristic and still today the idea of a park of this nature is not too far off in the distant future.The pace of technology means we could eventually be having shoot-outs with robots (sorry!
Made before Star Wars changed what sci-fi meant, it is more than just an adventure in the future plot: it is a great idea - What if you could go on holiday and be part of another world / time?Wouldn't we all want that?THe clever part is that Westworld puts us in a cowboy setting and then introduces robots too - making the unfamiliar very familiar.The Western kind of plays out just as you would want it to - imagine you were given such a holiday, you'd want gunfights and barfights and loose women, and with the robots around the moral consequences are avoided - until the robots go haywire.Yes the computers look hokey, but in 72 they did look futuristic with their 3D figure modelling, but above all what makes the flimimg stand out is great lighting, costumes (All new enough to look as they a company had made them for the experience), and good, clean directing and grading of film mean that this is far more ageless that you'd expect.Very good entertainment with a brilliant turn by Yul Brynner as the robot cowboy - his eyes may be glazed but his body language is pure dynamite.One of the better films of its genre, and a great film in its own right.Recommended..
The two main characters (Dick Benjamin and James Brolin) seem to having a great time in the Old West park, complete without shootouts, barroom brawls, and ladies of the evening until, one day, it all goes horribly wrong.
The final chase sequence through Delos' underground corridors, in which Benjamin can't run fast enough to outlast Brynner until the very end, was paid an unintentional homage of sorts much later on in HALLOWEEN II.If perhaps not quite a masterpiece, WESTWORLD still manages to get its point across: that making robots and technology work for us for entertainment purposes can be a dangerous thing.
It was Michael Crichton's directorial debut (long before his similar but inferior JURASSIC PARK), and I once read in a "Making Of" paperback that he said "I like to think people have fun with this film.
Unlike the Hollywood version most gunslingers met their end after getting shot in the back , they never stood in the middle of the street telling their opponent to draw , this is a myth that only happened in Hollywood movies , and WESTWORLD is an enjoyable celebration of this myth where ( Rich ) holidaymakers can spend ( For $1000 a day ) their holiday drawing their guns on gunslingers , taking part in bar room brawls and visiting ladies of ill repute and it`s really fun to watch people play up to all the wild west cliches in a film that`s entertaining , funny and a little bit scary too .
The cast for the movie was fantastic especially i think on role of Gunslinger played by legendary Yul Brynner, he is just fantastic, his cold scary face, like a real robot ready to shoot and kill you.
While this idea was first done (as far as I know) in a Star Trek episode, the premise is good, and the execution is highly enjoyable.Westworld is a robotic theme park, where your fantasies become a reality, but something is awry.Fine performance by Yul Brynner, excellent direction, and some great Western stylized dialog make this highly enjoyable.
Y'know if this film would focus more on them, this whole thing would be a fable telling us to be faithful to our wives(You'll have to see this to know what I mean.), but it didn't(Phew!) Meanwhile, when they're in Westworld, We not only get to see what this park has to offer(like the gunslinging' Yul Brynner.), but we get to know Benjamin and Brolins characters: Ones been there before, the other's an everyman on his first trip.