RoboCop (1987)

In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally-wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg with submerged memories haunting him.

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writers:

Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner

Stars:

Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Weller	...	Officer Alex J. Murphy / RoboCop
Nancy Allen	...	Officer Anne Lewis
Dan O'Herlihy	...	The Old Man (as Daniel O'Herlihy)
Ronny Cox	...	Dick Jones
Kurtwood Smith	...	Clarence J. Boddicker
Miguel Ferrer	...	Bob Morton
Robert DoQui	...	Sergeant Warren Reed
Ray Wise	...	Leon C. Nash
Felton Perry	...	Johnson
Paul McCrane	...	Emil M. Antonowsky
Jesse D. Goins	...	Joe P. Cox (as Jesse Goins)
Del Zamora	...	Kaplan
Calvin Jung	...	Steve Minh
Rick Lieberman	...	Walker
Lee de Broux	...	Sal (as Lee DeBroux)

Storyline

Detroit - in the future - is crime-ridden, and run by a massive company. The company have developed a huge crime-fighting robot, which unfortunately develops a rather dangerous glitch. The company sees a way to get back in favour with the public when a cop called Alex Murphy is killed by a street gang. Murphy's body is reconstructed within a steel shell and named Robocop. The Robocop is very successful against criminals, and becomes a target of supervillian Boddicker.

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Plot Keywords:

robocop | gang | cyborg | future | partner | 

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Taglines:

Part man. Part machine. All cop. The future of law enforcement.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 July 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ilektronika Jasusa

Filming Locations:

Building One, Studios at Las Colinas - 6301 North O'Connor Road, Irving, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$53,424,681 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 78 min (cut) 98 min (cut) 103 min (unrated director's cut) 91 min (heavily cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) DTS (special edition)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Cronenberg was one of many directors who was offered and subsequently turned down the position. Ironically, Peter Weller played the lead in Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, in which Weller appeared in lieu of reprising his role in RoboCop 3.

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Goofs

When Bob Morton gets off the elevator to go to the meeting, the elevator says "95th floor have a nice day" yet after the meeting when there walking back to the elevator it says 120th floor on the wall.

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Quotes

Dick Jones: I say good business is where you find it.

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Crazy Credits

The title "ROBOCOP" reverse zoptic effects through the middle "O". The title turns into television white noise and zoptics forward, then cuts to the television station.

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Connections

Featured in The Mechanical Man (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Show Me Your Spine"
Music by P.T.P.

User Reviews

Really cool guns...

Back when I was the proud owner of a top of the range ZX Spectrum +2a, Robocop was probably the best platform game that I ever played. It had every thing you could want from a game: A good plot, great graphics and really cool guns! I hadn't seen the film at this point, I'm not sure why, I was way too young, yes, but that has never stopped anyone, least of all me. When I did get around to seeing the film (I still would have been underage) I loved it! It had everything: A good plot, good effects and it had really cool guns!! A few years ago, given a gentle prod by an interview with the director, I sat down and watched Robocop from a different standpoint and bugger me it was even better, it had everything: Social comment, religious overtones, biting satire and really cool guns! When Murphy is killed at the beginning of the film it's because he's a policeman, a man who gives his life to help others, a man who has no crimes and no sins. He has a wife and child and lives an idyllic life despite working to help the beaten and bedraggled, the down trodden and helpless. He's persecuted, crucified and when the scientists get hold of him they seal him in a metal tomb from which they believe he can never escape. I'm being unsubtle here but there really is no need to beat around the bush with these things. Murphy is being depicted as a Messiah for 21st Century America, a messiah as the America dictates, a messiah, that is, with really cool guns! Robocop is, despite this, a VERY funny film. But is it a piece of Hollywood trash masquerading as intelligent cinema? Or is a clever comment on America masquerading as trash? Well, let's face it, it's both! The social commentary on how big business is big crime and money is the route of all evil is as clumsy as it is obvious. However, the accusatory tone it adopts when dealing with its hero is superbly realised and works brilliantly because of it. Robocop is a character ripped from a 50's comic strip; he is violent but just, mechanical but warm and yet still, somehow, attractive to women. The director pokes fun at the ease with which he attracts the audience to his central character and develops the messiah characteristics almost as a joke on his own creation. He knows Robocop is too good to be true and has fun raising his status to king of men, even having him walk on water as he extracts his revenge on the men who 'killed' him. The real twist for me is that in order to dispense with the man who masterminded the criminal activities he has been investigating, Robocop has to break the rules. Having already begun to regain his memories and escape his tomb he proceeds to OCP to meet his Nemesis. Robocop wants to kill him, he needs to kill him, and the only way he can escape his tomb is to destroy the man who put him in it. Yet his directives, his internal rules-set down by someone else- that guide his life forbid him to do it! Thall Shalt Not Kill. You've all seen the film, you all know what happens. So what is Verhoevan saying about his messiah for the 21st century?