Westworld

Westworld
by Michael Crichton

List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $4.62
You Save: $15.36 (77%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.57 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases

DVD Cover Information

• Actors: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Norman Bartold, Alan Oppenheimer.
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC.
• Language: English, French, Spanish.
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
• Rated PG. Run Time: 88 minutes.

Movie Reviews of Westworld

Movie Review: Draw!
Summary: 5 Stars

"Westworld" begins with a lengthy commercial touting the benefits of vacationing at Delos, a company that runs a most unusual theme park. For only one thousand dollars a day (in 1973 dollars!), the curious can star in their own version of the Wild West (Westworld), Medieval Europe (Medievalworld), or in the decadent splendor of Rome (Romanworld). A steep price to play for such diversions, to be sure, but Delos employs amazingly realistic robots and stylish props to completely recreate these eras. A visitor to the Delos amusement park can fight a knight to win the hand of a queen, gun down outlaws in the streets, or take part in a Roman banquet. The robot characters look so real that it is difficult to tell them apart from the other guests, a fact that adds a real dimension of excitement to the experience when you stand down someone at the end of a gun barrel. Obviously, Delos cannot have guests dying violently left and right, so they engineered the props, like guns, to only fire at "cold" machines. An enormous army of technicians runs the show from an underground control center where the worlds undergo constant scrutiny and where employees repair robots "killed" or "injured" in the day's activities. Despite a few worrisome problems, mainly regarding some sort of emerging computer "virus" that mystifies the techies, Delos operates without many serious hitches.

Enter the main characters of the film, two business types looking for fun played by Richard Benjamin and James Brolin. Both decide to go to Westworld, and after donning western style clothing complete with firearms, they start their adventure. What follows is every western film cliché imaginable. The two take part in a bar brawl, share special relationships with the local ladies, and orchestrate a jailbreak. Moreover, the two soon earn the enmity of the local gunslinger, a sinister, shining eyed figure clad in black played with frosty efficiency by Yul Brynner. The shootouts involving the gunslinger look as though Crichton lifted them from a Sam Peckinpah movie, with blood spraying in slow motion splendor. "Westworld" even includes a nicely done "guy on fire scene," one of the best in cinematic history. The movie occasionally shifts to Medievalworld to follow the exploits of one of the park visitors there, but most of the action involves what is going on in Westworld. Look for Dick Van Patten in a smaller role as a white bread businessman who soon learns a thing or two about manhood at the theme park.

The last part of the film, after the computer virus causes the robots to rebel against their human masters, shifts the focus of the film from science fiction fare to a harrowing thriller. I think one of the grimmest, chilliest sequences in film history involves Brynner's single-minded pursuit of Richard Benjamin through the desert and mountains surrounding Delos. I can still hear the sound of the gunslinger's boots clicking down the long hallways of Delos's control center as he marches to the final showdown with his prey. Who will win in the battle between technology and man? Benjamin's character must apply the lessons he learned about being a man during his stay at Westworld to save his own life at the conclusion of the film, but it won't be easy triumphing over an unthinking killing machine.

Flaws do abound in this movie. How does Delos insure that swords and similar weaponry in Medievalworld won't hurt real guests? Why do the hands on two immobile robots change position in various shots? How can the gunslinger detect the heat patterns from Benjamin's feet on a sunny day, especially considering Benjamin was wearing boots and had left the tracks at least ten minutes before the gunslinger saw them? These are minor problems, but they are noticeable after repeated viewings. Overall, "Westworld" is a grand slam homerun that every science fiction fan must watch at some point. Regrettably, the movie did not receive a worthy DVD release. The film's transfer quality isn't bad, but it isn't great, either. A trailer is the only extra, so forget about listening to a commentary or seeing any production stills, cast bios, behind the scenes footage, or deleted scenes. Oh well, at least "Westworld" made it to DVD. For that, we can all be thankful.

Summary of Westworld