WESTWORLD

TCM ran this one the other day. I hadn't seen it in several years so I recorded it and watched it yesterday evening. I well remember when this film was released in 1973. It played at the grand old Americana Theater (now a public library) in Austin and I couldn't wait to see it. In 1973, any science fiction film was cause for celebration and anticipation. Some of the films actually lived up to expectations. Many did not. But as a die hard genre fan, I tried to see as many science fiction/fantasy/horror films as came my way in the early '70s.

WESTWORLD was the directorial debut of writer Michael Crichton. He'd already had two of his books adapted for the screen: THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (1971), and THE CAREY TREATMENT (1972, based on the book A CASE OF NEED). WESTWORLD was entirely Crichton's baby and for a rookie writer/director, it's an admirable effort.

You know the story. Two men, Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin), come to Delos, a futuristic adult-oriented amusement park, for a vacation. Delos is divided into three "worlds": Westworld, Romanworld and Medievalworld. Each "world" is populated by incredibly life-like robots that interact with the vacationers in extremely realistic ways. Peter and John opt for Westworld and, dressed like movie cowboys, they enjoy life in the old west, which includes a saloon brawl and sex with robot prostitutes. Oh, and gunfights with a black-clad gunfighter (Yul Brynner, channeling his character from THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)), who bleeds real blood when shot. After each gun down, the gunslinger is repaired and sent back into action.

Of course, as you can tell by looking at the poster, something goes "worng". The robots malfunction on a widespread basis and begin killing the guests. John is gunned down by the gunslinger who then begins chasing Peter. The robot has a bit of the Terminator in him as he survives an acid bath and being set ablaze and he just keeps coming and coming and coming....

WESTWORLD shows Crichton flexing his creative muscles and riffing on the thematic concern of a high tech wonderland going horribly wrong, an idea that would eventually result in JURASSIC PARK. Crichton does a decent job with a story is basically all high concept with little in the way of character development or back story. Here's Crichton's elevator pitch: There is an amusement park populated by life-like robots that break down and start killing people.

The film, produced by MGM, has very good production values and Crichton keeps things moving at a good clip. There's a couple of expository, set-up scenes at the beginning of the film and then the action starts. The score by Fred Karlin, utilizes a recurring mechanical "stuttering" motif which sounds remarkably like a 1970s era computer breaking down.

WESTWORLD was cover featured in FAMOUS MONSTERS #107, which was published in May 1974. FUTUREWORLD, a sequel which Crichton had nothing to do with, followed in 1976, along with a very short lived television series BEYOND WESTWORLD in 1980. The HBO series debuted in 2016 but, since I don't have HBO, I have not seen it and cannot comment on it.

WESTWORLD is an enjoyable little exercise in "what if?" It holds up reasonably well and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Thumbs up.