Westworld (1973)

A robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.

Director:

Michael Crichton

Writer:

Michael Crichton

Stars:

Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yul Brynner	...	Gunslinger
Richard Benjamin	...	Peter Martin
James Brolin	...	John Blane
Norman Bartold	...	Medieval Knight
Alan Oppenheimer	...	Chief Supervisor
Victoria Shaw	...	Medieval Queen
Dick Van Patten	...	Banker
Linda Gaye Scott	...	Arlette (as Linda Scott)
Steve Franken	...	Technician
Michael T. Mikler	...	Black Knight (as Michael Mikler)
Terry Wilson	...	Sheriff
Majel Barrett	...	Miss Carrie
Anne Randall	...	Daphne
Julie Marcus	...	Girl in Dungeon
Sharyn Wynters	...	Apache Girl

Storyline

An amusement park for rich vacationers, it provides its customers a way to live out their fantasies through the use of robots that provide anything they want. Two of the vacationers choose a wild west adventure. However, after a computer breakdown, they find that they are now being stalked by a rogue robot gunslinger.

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Plot Keywords:

computer | vacation | evil robot | future | hovercraft | 

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Taglines:

...Where nothing can possibly go worng!

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

MGM's biggest box office hit of the year.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 13 mins) When Peter discovers the control room, he doesn't even try the door. For all he knows, the people he sees are simply unconscious and could be revived to help him, or there could be something else useful to him in that room, but he just looks in the window and walks away.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Interviewer of Delos Guests: [hosting a commercial] Hi. Ed Renfrew for Delos again. If there's anyone who doesn't know what Delos is, well, as we've always said: Delos is the vacation of the future, today. At Delos, you get your choice of the vacation you want. There's Medieval World, Roman World and, of course, Westworld. Let's talk to some of the people who've been there.

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Alternate Versions

Early prints contain a scene in Medeval world where a guest is tortured on a rack. That scene was deleted from television and video.

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Connections

Referenced in Sledge Hammer!: Hammeroid (1987)

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Soundtracks

Home on the Range
(uncredited)
Lyrics by Brewster M. Higley
Music by Daniel E. Kelley
Performed by Richard Benjamin

User Reviews

For $1000.00 A Day

You can see the roots both in the plot and the special effects in Michael Crichton's Westworld that can later be found in the incredibly popular Jurassic Park series.

Like Jurassic Park the protagonists of Westworld are a pair of wealthy American yuppies who are going to a futuristic vacation resort. The place is called Delos and like Disneyland with its separate theme parks of Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and the World of Tomorrow, Delos has three different resort type places to visit, Romanworld, Medievalworld and Westworld.

Our two intrepids have chosen the Westworld experience. They get to mix and mingle in an old west frontier town, or at least a Hollywood type version of same and get the feel of western life. Included are gunfights and bar brawls such as you see in any good Hollywood western. 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. Will man with all of his weaknesses defeat an apparently indestructible machine?

You can also see some of the themes in the later Terminator films that Arnold Schwarzneggar popularized. Here the relentless hunter is played by Yul Brynner in the familiar black western garb that he made popular in The Magnificent Seven.

The VHS copy of Westworld advertises itself as the very first use of computer graphics. If that's the case this is one unique experience for that reason alone and should not be missed.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 November 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Westworld

Filming Locations:

Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,250,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1