RoboCop (1987)

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

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 has developed a huge crime-fighting robot, which unfortunately develops a rather dangerous glitch. The company sees a way to get back in favor with the public when policeman Alex Murphy is killed by a street gang. Murphy's body is reconstructed within a steel shell and called RoboCop. RoboCop is very successful against criminals and becomes a target of supervillian Boddicker.

---

Plot Keywords:

graphic violence | robocop | gang | robot | police | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Certificate:

12

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 January 1988 (France)

Also Known As:

Робокоп

Filming Locations:

Dallas Municipal Building - 106 South Harwood, Dallas, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$53,424,681 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

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

In the hostage scene, as RoboCop is walking toward the room where the former councilman is holding the mayor hostage, the infrared heat vision mode was actually executed using fluorescent body paint on the (nude) actors and a black light. Paul Verhoeven says that he thought this technique would be cheaper than getting an actual infrared spectrometer camera.

---

Goofs

Shutters on the door of the van reappear after it is abandoned.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
News Crew: This is Media Break. You give us 3 minutes, and we'll give you the world.
Casey Wong: Good morning. I'm Casey Wong, with Jess Perkins. Top story: Pretoria. The threat of nuclear confrontation in South Africa escalated today when the ruling white military government of that besieged city-state unveiled a French-made neutron bomb and affirmed its willingness to use the 3 megaton device as the city's last line of defense.
Jesse Perkins: And the President's first press conference from the Star Wars orbiting ...

---

Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits save the title "ROBOCOP".

---

Connections

Referenced in Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Cheddar (2016)

---

Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

A brilliant mix of science fiction, action and satire that has yet to be topped.

Paul Verhoeven's career in recent years has been wildly uneven, but back in the 1980s he rocked! His movies 'Spetters', 'The Fourth Man' and 'Flesh & Blood' are all brilliant and worth tracking down. His next movie, his first Hollywood one, could have been a complete disaster. Verhoeven initially passed on it without reading the script and wasn't experienced in working with special effects or a fan of science fiction. Thankfully his wife insisted he make the picture and the end result was a triumph. Apparently this was a very tough shoot for all concerned but the bottom line is what is on screen, and it really works. Few movies if any have managed to juggle SF, action and grim satire in such an entertaining and original fashion. Verhoeven was blessed with an excellent script, a well chosen bunch of actors, and a great behind the scenes team, and added to his own vision 'RoboCop' turned out to be one of the best movies of the 1980s, whatever the genre. Peter Weller ('Buckaroo Banzai') pulls off a difficult job - making the audience care about a guy in a monster suit. Probably the best performance of its kind since Boris Karloff in James Whale's 'Frankenstein' back in the 1930s. Nancy Allen ('Dressed To Kill'), Kurtwood Smith ('12.01 PM'), Ronny Cox ('Deliverance'), Miguel Ferrer ('Twin Peaks'), and the rest of the supporting cast are all first rate, and everything about this movie is perfect. Verhoeven stumbled with his next movie 'Total Recall', and apart from 'Starship Troopers' has pretty much failed to fulfill his potential, but 'RoboCop' remains a classic SF/action movie and a fantastic way to end a great decade of work.