Fine sf action film overcomes low budget

Westworld was Michael Crichton's first shot (pardon the pun) at directing a feature film (he had directed a t.v. movie of the week based on an obscure novel he wrote under a nom de plume before this) and he pulls it off with lightning speed. Taking the Disney anamatronics one step further, Crichton imagined a world where you could interact with the robots at Delos' theme parks. You could be the hero, the villian, the lover and live out just about any fantasy.

Yul Brynner was a inspired bit of casting as the gunslinger. His performance recalls his role of Chris from The Magnificient Seven right down to the black clothing and black hat. In many respects, Westworld is a blueprint for some more successful Crichton projects (Jurassic Park) and a few bombs as well (Looker). Richard Benjamin and James Brolin fresh from movie and television stints appear as the heroes. One would expect Brolin to be the main character given the tough guy demeanor but it's the more laid back and quiet Benjamin that becomes the everyman for the audience to identify with in the film.

When Westworld went into production it almost became the victim of a change in management. As it was, the original budget was scaled down and Crichton, his actors and crew had to work with a minimal budget. Luckily, Crichton's film could be made on some of the existing MGM backlot sets. This helped to reduce the film's overhead and allow him to produce a quality film. An example of the slim budget is the sequence with the hovercraft. There wasn't enough money to build the entire passenger area, so Crichton flip flopped the image and matted them together. It's pretty convincing looking. The optical effects were cutting edge at the time even with the low budget. The sequences shot from The Gunslinger's point of view were quite innovative and done at a time when computer graphics in film were virtually nonexistant.They're still quite impressive given the year they were done.

A bit of trivia about the film;
1) A writer's guild strike prevented Crichton from writing the opening commerical. It was penned by someone else (and directed by an assistant director due to the strike). It sets the tone perfectly for the film
2) Brynner injured his eye during the film. Why is this important? It isn't but it makes the scenes where he wears the full contact lenses even more impressive. One of the blanks from his gun spewed out something that scratched his cornea. By the end of each take his eyes would be so irritated that his eye would weep.
3) His make up during the scene where he's hit by acid using Alka Seltzer. His make up is laced with the material. When the H20 hits him in the face, it appears that his face is smoking (courtesy of special effects) and dissolving due to acid.
4) The film features a number of film/t.v. personalities that went on to bigger things (or came from bigger things). Majel Barrett-Roddenberry from Star Trek plays the owner of the whore house. Dick Van Patten plays a mild mannered guy who becomes the town sheriff. Jared Martin (who later went on to fame on t.v. with a couple of science fiction based television including War of the Worlds) plays an unnamed character in the control room sequences.
5) Crichton didn't have enough money to build both halfs of the hovercraft. So he filmed one side of the set with different actors and had the image flip flopped in an optical printer.
6) The cover is the original poster art (although I recall it being printed on a white background) with a line about Westworld being a place where nothing can go worng (deliberately misspelled).
7) Westworld, despite it's tiny budget (it was shot for less than $3 million when ads and prints were calculated in), made a lot of money for a cash strapped MGM. The studio had recently put up much of its memorbilia for auction it was in such bad financial shape (including Dorothy's Wizard of Oz ruby slippers).
8) Crichton used many pre-existing backlot sets to save money during production.
9) The computer graphics used to depict the Gunslinger's point of view were a first for a film. They were quite sophisticated for their time and look impressive. They predate the computer graphics from Star Wars by 4 years.
10) A paperback tie in was published when MGM realized the film had so much potential. It was published by Bantam books (long since out of print) and was Crichton's original screenplay. There either wasn't enough time for a novelization or Crichton wasn't interested in doing one. It included one cool sequence cut for budget reasons (all this was explained in the introduction by the film's producer).

11)Westworld was one of the first in a series of science fiction films that helped save the studio from finanical ruin. The studio was so pleased that they greenlighted other films including Soylent Green, Logan's Run and other films. Although these films found a large audience and did well, none had the return on investment like Westworld (or were as well written).

12) Crichton's script was the first film to ever feature the concept of a computer virus. This is what ultimately causes the machines to malfunction by rewriting the robot's programs or causing their programming to fail.

Westworld is far from a perfect film. While the cast is impressive and the film well made, it has a number of minor flaws due to the time and budget constraints. It's an entertaining film that takes a number of risks that pay off with the unexpected ending of the film. Crichton would later helm Coma (based on Robin Cook's bestselling thriller)as writer/director for MGM.

As to the DVD the transfer is pretty good. With Crichton, Benjamin and Brolin available it would have been fun to have a commentary track about the film.

Tons of fun, but don't think too hard!

If there is one thing elementary chaos theory tells us, it's that ALL robots will eventually rise up and overthrow their human masters! Well, this movie came out BEFORE chaos theory was even postulated, and they called it dead on the money! Richard Benjamin plays a wussy, recently divorced lawyer whose macho buddy James Brolin takes him to Delos, a futuristic adult amusement park where fantasies come true. Westworld, Medieval World, and Roman World are a mechanized Sodom and Gomorrah (sp?), where by day the lucky humans kill robot guys, and by night make it with saucy robot girls. Unfortunately, Sodom turns into Beiruit when, all at once, the robots rebel and start wasting all the fat, dopy humans for whom they've taken so many dives. This movie is kind of a modern classic, and the performances (especially Brynner as the soulless killing machine and Benjamin as his befuddled prey) are excellent. However, the viewer has to overlook some plot holes through which one could safely drive a truck.... Among my favorites: 1) Why do the robots in Roman World, who are pretty much programmed just to feed you grapes and get naked with you start killing when they malfunction? Why don't they just feed you more grapes and have even more sex with you? 2) When the scientist-guys are suffocating, how come in a room full of people smart enough to design super-human robots, no one can figure out how to bust out those little windows in the door and let air in? They've got chairs and ashtrays that would presumably be hard enough to break glass...? 3) The robot-chicks are supposed to be indistinguishable from humans in bed, yet the guns are programmed not to fire at humans by reading body heat. Does this mean that the robot-chicks have no body heat? How much fun could it be to have sex with a woman whose body temperature is only 50 degrees? Please, please don't answer that! 4) Finally, my biggest concern: As mentioned above, the guns are programmed with heat-sensors so they won't fire at humans. So how the hell do the guns just suddenly start killing humans when the robots rebel? I mean, the programming failure has NOTHING to do with the heat-sensors on the guns! Anyway, see this movie, because it's loads of fun and it is, in a way, a metaphor for the evil encroachment of technology into our everyday lives. Just have a beer or something first so you won't care about the stitches missing from the plot-fabric.

Draw!

I am not ashamed in the least to admit that the 1973 science fiction thriller "Westworld" is one of my all time favorite movies. I first saw it about twenty years ago and never forgot it, so when I had the opportunity to watch it again recently I jumped at the chance. I can easily say that I still found this picture still compelling with its mixture of futuristic elements and chilling suspense. Directed by big shot novelist Michael Crichton, the creator of "Jurassic Park," "The Andromeda Strain," and "Congo," "Westworld" may constitute his most compelling work to date in either print or on the big screen. Why? Because even at this early date Crichton effectively displays his concerns over technology and how mankind adapts to technical innovations. Not surprisingly, at least to anyone familiar with Crichton, man suffers plenty in "Westworld." It is important to remember that this writer/director is not the only creative talent dealing with the seeming incompatibility of man and machine: writer J.G. Ballard and director David Cronenberg have been exploring these vistas for decades now. Crichton holds his own with both of these visionaries, and "Westworld" resoundingly proves it.

"Westworld" begins with a lengthy commercial touting the benefits of vacationing at Delos, a company that runs a most unusual theme park. For only one thousand dollars a day (in 1973 dollars!), the curious can star in their own version of the Wild West (Westworld), Medieval Europe (Medievalworld), or in the decadent splendor of Rome (Romanworld). A steep price to play for such diversions, to be sure, but Delos employs amazingly realistic robots and stylish props to completely recreate these eras. A visitor to the Delos amusement park can fight a knight to win the hand of a queen, gun down outlaws in the streets, or take part in a Roman banquet. The robot characters look so real that it is difficult to tell them apart from the other guests, a fact that adds a real dimension of excitement to the experience when you stand down someone at the end of a gun barrel. Obviously, Delos cannot have guests dying violently left and right, so they engineered the props, like guns, to only fire at "cold" machines. An enormous army of technicians runs the show from an underground control center where the worlds undergo constant scrutiny and where employees repair robots "killed" or "injured" in the day's activities. Despite a few worrisome problems, mainly regarding some sort of emerging computer "virus" that mystifies the techies, Delos operates without many serious hitches.

Enter the main characters of the film, two business types looking for fun played by Richard Benjamin and James Brolin. Both decide to go to Westworld, and after donning western style clothing complete with firearms, they start their adventure. What follows is every western film cliché imaginable. The two take part in a bar brawl, share special relationships with the local ladies, and orchestrate a jailbreak. Moreover, the two soon earn the enmity of the local gunslinger, a sinister, shining eyed figure clad in black played with frosty efficiency by Yul Brynner. The shootouts involving the gunslinger look as though Crichton lifted them from a Sam Peckinpah movie, with blood spraying in slow motion splendor. "Westworld" even includes a nicely done "guy on fire scene," one of the best in cinematic history. The movie occasionally shifts to Medievalworld to follow the exploits of one of the park visitors there, but most of the action involves what is going on in Westworld. Look for Dick Van Patten in a smaller role as a white bread businessman who soon learns a thing or two about manhood at the theme park.

The last part of the film, after the computer virus causes the robots to rebel against their human masters, shifts the focus of the film from science fiction fare to a harrowing thriller. I think one of the grimmest, chilliest sequences in film history involves Brynner's single-minded pursuit of Richard Benjamin through the desert and mountains surrounding Delos. I can still hear the sound of the gunslinger's boots clicking down the long hallways of Delos's control center as he marches to the final showdown with his prey. Who will win in the battle between technology and man? Benjamin's character must apply the lessons he learned about being a man during his stay at Westworld to save his own life at the conclusion of the film, but it won't be easy triumphing over an unthinking killing machine.

Flaws do abound in this movie. How does Delos insure that swords and similar weaponry in Medievalworld won't hurt real guests? Why do the hands on two immobile robots change position in various shots? How can the gunslinger detect the heat patterns from Benjamin's feet on a sunny day, especially considering Benjamin was wearing boots and had left the tracks at least ten minutes before the gunslinger saw them? These are minor problems, but they are noticeable after repeated viewings. Overall, "Westworld" is a grand slam homerun that every science fiction fan must watch at some point. Regrettably, the movie did not receive a worthy DVD release. The film's transfer quality isn't bad, but it isn't great, either. A trailer is the only extra, so forget about listening to a commentary or seeing any production stills, cast bios, behind the scenes footage, or deleted scenes. Oh well, at least "Westworld" made it to DVD. For that, we can all be thankful.