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Westworld
DVD cover for Westworld
Directed by	Michael Crichton
Produced by	Paul Lazarus III
Written by	Michael Crichton
Starring	Yul Brynner Richard Benjamin James Brolin
Music by	Fred Karlin
Cinematography	Gene Polito
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	November 21, 1973
Running time	88 min. (theatrical)
Country	US
Language	English
Followed by	Futureworld
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Westworld was a 1973 film written and directed by Michael Crichton. It was a seminal science fiction movie starring Yul Brynner as a malfunctioning robotic Western movie-style gunslinger in a futuristic amusement park ("Delos") where wealthy patrons vacation to role-play their fantasies. Richard Benjamin and James Brolin starred as amusement park guests that were hunted down by the Gunslinger. Because of the way it blends genres, Westworld might be described as a science fiction Western.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Filming Process 3 Sequel 4 Influence on popular culture 5 Trivia 6 External links

The title refers to the name of one of the three themed areas of the Delos amusement park. Westworld provided a simulation of the environment of a mid 19th-century western gambling town, while the two other areas, MedievalWorld and RomanWorld, provided ambiance of the time of King Arthur, and of Rome during the imperial era, respectively.

The entertainment in all three areas consisted primarily of interaction by the guests with androids in the old west, medieval Europe and pre-Christian Rome. The use of the term android refers to the fact that (with one exception, which is a critical point in the film) the robots are indistinguishable from human beings. This provides for great fun for the guests as they can indulge virtually any fantasy, including killing the androids in gory and gruesome ways, such as by sword or six-gun. The androids are programmed to respond positively to guest requests, specifically including requests for sex. Delos guests pay $1,000 a day for the experience.

The main premise, that a technology taken for granted and used irresponsibly will inevitably fail catastrophically, is a common premise running throughout several of Crichton's stories, including The Andromeda Strain, the Jurassic Park series, Prey, and Timeline.

In Westworld, Brynner's character, a relentless, emotionless, uncompromising android known only as "Gunslinger," is bent on the pursuit and destruction of his target, resembles his previous role of Chris in The Magnificent Seven and foreshadows Arnold Schwarzenegger's characters in The Terminator series of movies.

An important point of the film is that the androids are virtually indistinguishable from human beings; early in the film, one of the guests Peter Martin (Benjamin) shoots and kills the Gunslinger (who bleeds, just as a human would) and is worried he might actually kill a guest. The other guest, John Blane (Brolin), shows him (by having him try to shoot him) that the guns cannot fire at anything warm, only "something cold, like a machine."

We also discover that the only obvious physical difference between the humans and the androids is the hands: on close examination, the androids' finger joints appear somewhat fake. ("They haven't perfected the hands yet," Blane says to Martin.)

It is remarked that the machines are "almost as complex as living organisms", in many cases designed by other computers, and that even their human creators "don't know exactly how they work" - it can be inferred from this that while the robots appear to be entirely under control, the technicians cannot know for certain that there is no possibility of their failing to obey instructions.

The problems of the resort start to become apparent when technicians notice certain anomalies in the behaviour of the robotic actors including a strange increase in systemic failures of some of the dog robots. When a female servant android refuses a guest's request for sex, this causes a supervisor to suspect something is seriously wrong. Further blurring the distinction between the complex robots and living organisms, he points out in discussion that the pattern in which the malfunctions have arisen is noticably similar to that of an infectious disease.

When a robot rattlesnake makes an actual strike upon one of the guests, the supervisor realizes that there is a potential disaster on their hands, as the androids and other robotic actors are not supposed to injure a guest under any circumstances. Failures eventually cascade until the robotic Black Knight strikes and draws blood from a guest in a swordfight in MedievalWorld, after disobeying instructions from frantic technicians to be less aggressive and "let him go". The supervisor immediately orders a complete shutdown as the technicians watch, horrified, through television monitors, whereupon the knight strikes the guest in the gut with a killing blow. A little later, as the technicians realise they have no control over the robots at all, the repaired Gunslinger kills Blane in a duel that he should also have allowed him to win. The Gunslinger grins at finally being able to win a fight, and challenges Martin, who panics and flees. The movie follows Martin as he attempts to outrun or escape the inexorable pursuit by the Gunslinger, and find a way to stop him. Now that the Gunslinger is no longer compelled to lose every duel, he turns out to be a far better predator than Martin, repeatedly evading his attempts at defence. The resort's supervisors continue to attempt to regain control, in desperation shutting down power supplies to the entire park - this has the unforseen effect of trapping them in the control rooms by making the electric doors inoperable, and leaving them unable to reactivate the main power supplies remotely.

As he flees Martin runs across a technician whose transport has broken down in the WestWorld desert, presumably trying to escape from the resort. The technician informs Martin that Gunslinger can react faster and think faster than he can, and that "he'll always be one jump ahead of you, you haven't got a chance." The Gunslinger kills the technician from a distance with a high-powered rifle as he is talking to Martin, who determinedly states "Oh yes I do." The fact that the gunslinger kills the technician could suggest that he is not merely continuing to act like a cowboy for the guests' benefit, but is now acting in his own interests.

Trapped in the control room deep underground, the technicians can only watch as the robots kill the guests throughout the park - robot slaves in RomanWorld in particular stage a bloody revolt, echoing human history. Martin arrives in the desolated RomanWorld a little later and finds an access hatch to the underground control area. As he wanders the deserted corridors, he comes across the control room, finding that the resort's technicians have all suffocated since the ventilation shut down, leaving him completely on his own. The Gunslinger pursues Martin through the corridors, arriving at the robot repair facility where Martin lies in wait, pretending to be a disabled robot. The ruse works, barely, and he ambushes the Gunslinger by throwing a bottle of acid, found amongst the repair materials, into the machine's face. Thinking he disabled the Gunslinger, he leaves the service area and goes into MedievalWorld and into the Great Hall. However Martin is followed by the Gunslinger, whose face has melted but is still functional, though its visible spectrum optics were destroyed by the acid. The robot can still see Martin, but only via infra-red back-ups, and is confused when he moves in front of several flaming torches, something it would not have been programmed to deal with in WestWorld. The Gunslinger begins to leave the room, but Martin accidentally makes a noise, allowing the Gunslinger to zero in on him again - when it lunges to strike (its electric pistol is exhausted), Martin seizes the opportunity to set fire to it with the overhead torch.

Thinking this has destroyed the robot, Martin leaves the burning Gunslinger and wanders out of the great hall, finding a female guest chained up in the dungeon. He releases her and, responding to her apparent physically traumatized state, gives her a drink of water, whereupon her face bursts into sparks, revealing she was a machine. Backing away in shock, he is confronted by the still moving burned hulk of the Gunslinger, which continues its attempt to attack him. However it falls off a high set of steps in the process and, finally succumbing to damage, shuts down.

The film ends with Martin lying exhausted resting on the dungeon steps, while the words of Delos' advertisement echo in his head: "Boy, have we got a vacation for you, vacation for you, vacation for you..."

The cinematographic process used in this film was anamorphic. This is a process that was first developed in the 1940s but did not become widely used until the 1960s. In essence, the anamorphic cinematographic process employs a wider lens that films a wider image than other technologies used in filmmaking. Therefore, the aspect ratio of the image imprinted onto the film is larger. When projected, this process provides the viewer with a wider, more natural view of the scene.

Westworld was followed by a sequel, Futureworld, in 1976, and by a short-lived sequel television series, Beyond Westworld in 1980.

Currently, a remake of Westworld is in development and slated for release in 2007, to be directed by Tarsem Singh. It was originally stated to star Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, no further details are known about the film or even if it will come to fruition.

• In 1981 Theatre of Hate had a top 40 hit with Do You Believe (In the Westworld).
• In 1985 Colourbox recorded a song titled Just Give 'em Whiskey which sampled dialogue widely from the film.
• Stephen Malkmus' debut, self-titled album featured the song Jo Jo's Jacket, which was partially sung from the perspective of Yul Brynner. It included the lines “Perhaps you saw me in Westworld, I acted like a robotic cowboy”.
• The band Westworld takes their name from the film.
• The Canadian Post-Rock band Valley of the Giants's debut self-titled album is heavily influenced by the movie, with a track called Westworld.
• The Simpsons'' episode "Itchy & Scratchy Land" (S6Ep04), the "theme park of the future" slogan for Itchy & Scratchy Land is an allusion to the 1973 film, and chaos ensues in the same manner.
• In another episode of The Simpsons, "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"", Westworld is referenced again.

• Westworld was the first major feature film to use 2D computer generated images (CGI) during scenes showing the point of view of the robotic gunslinger. The first use of 3D CGI in a feature film was Westworld's sequel, Futureworld, in 1976.

• Information International, Inc., or better known as Triple-I, created the digitized shots of The Gunslinger's point of view for the movie. According to Turner Classic Movies, some of the shots took 8 hours to render completely, and many tests were made to get the right look. Probably Triple I's most famous CGI work is for the film, Tron, mainly the scenes featuring the Master Control Program, Sark's Carrier and the Solar Sailer.

• The Gunslinger (Yul Brynner) is either a homage or spoof of Chris, Brynner's character from The Magnificent Seven. Both characters wear the same costume.

• The film features one of the few major film appearances of Star Trek-actress Majel Barrett (as "Miss Carrie").

• In the scene when Richard Benjamin's character splashes "The Gunslinger" (Yul Brynner) in the face with hydrochloric acid, Brynner's face was covered with an oil-based makeup mixed with ground Alka-Seltzer. A splash of water then produced the fizzing effect.

• Westworld at the Internet Movie Database
• Westworld at All Movie Guide
• Westworld at Rotten Tomatoes
• Westworld Trailer on Youtube