Westworld (1973)

In a near future, the Delos Company offers the vacation of the future in the present days in the amusement parks Medievalworld, Romanworld and Westworld for U$ 1,000.00 per day. The vacationers can feel in the Middle Age or in the Roman Empire or in the Wild West and have joust, sex, duel against gunslinger and whatever he or she wants interacting with robots.

Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin) travel in the hovercraft to Westworld and sooner Peter duels against a Gunslinger (Yul Brynner). However, when there is a malfunctioning of the machinery, the robots get out of control jeopardizing the guests.

"Westworld" is a very successful sci-fi of my generation and a sort of grandfather of other robots films, such as "The Stepford Wives", "Blade Runner" and mainly "The Terminator". There is a scene in this last franchise that is an updated rip-off of Yul Brynner's character chasing Peter.

The story has flaws, but is engaging and suspenseful, holding the attention until the very last scene. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Westworld - Onde Ninguém Tem Alma" ("Westworld - Where No One Has Soul")

Note: On 20 January 2018 I saw this film again.

Fmovies: A bemusing new future world park for adult vacation come two vacationers friends(Richard Benjamin, James Brolin). The pleasure resort named Delos(like a futuristic Dineyland) is constituted by three fantastic world, the Roman Empire, Dark Age and Western. It's serviced by lifelike robots that provide anything they want. The customers have the opportunity to live several fantasies, but a computer breakdown and the robots are turning against tourists.The starring are suddenly confronted killer robot on impressive and dazzling scenarios.

This Sci-Fi picture made big scale and high budget contains stimulating in parts and is pretty entertaining. Climatic pursuit throughout diverse worlds is chilling mounted and various images seem admirably exciting . A black-suited (the seven magnificent-alike) Yul Brynner is a frightening and cold android gun-slinger who inexorably pursues Richard Benjamin and James Brolin . Appear as secondaries famous television actors: Dick Van Patten(Eight is enough), Majel Barret(Gene Roddenberry wife,Star Trek) and almost extra, Jared Martin(TV War of worlds). Rare and creepy music score by Fred Karlin and atmospheric cinematography by Gene Polito. The motion picture is well written and professionally directed by Michael Crichton during six weeks. Crichton is a famous novelist and screenwriter( Jurassic Park,Congo,Sphere,Andromeda Strain) and occasionally director(Coma,Runaway,First train robbery,Physical evidence).Followed by inferior sequel also produced by Paul Lazarus : Futureworld(1976)directed by Richard T Heffron and with Peter Fonda and Blyte Danner. Plus, a television series titled ¨Beyond Westworld¨ with five episodes where a scientific sending robots around world . Furthermore, ¨Welcome to blood city¨(Peter Sasdy) with similar argument of this one.

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.

Westworld fmovies. Before I begin my comments, let me admit right from the start that this is one of my very favorite movies of all time. I fell in love with it when I first saw it in the theatre at age 12 and I've never gotten over it. Even though I'm much older today, I maintain beyond personal nostalgic bias that WESTWORLD is a tight, brisk, intense, thrilling, totally satisfying 88 minutes of good fun.

Somewhere in the near future, an enterprise called Delos has developed the ultimate vacation resort. For the cost of a mere $1,000 a day, adult guests may choose to live their fantasies out in one of three different environments: Romanworld, Medievalworld, or Westworld. These resorts are each populated by very human-like robots who are programmed to serve every whim of the customer. State of the art computer technology ensures that everything's safe and that nothing can possibly go wrong.

Richard Benjamin and James Brolin are two cowboy-wannabe friends who choose the 1880's Westworld for their unusual getaway. They make love to robot saloon women, participate in wild bar room brawls, and frequently get bullied around by a tough humanoid gunslinger dressed all in black (Yul Brynner, spoofing his look from THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN), who is automatically obliged to get riddled up with bullets, repaired by technicians overnight as the guests sleep, and then shot up all over again for the next day.

All is pure fun and games until something unidentifiable in the computer system begins to malfunction, and suddenly the world of Disney devolves into a place of horror. No longer taking orders to play dead, the robots are out to kill the guests, and the ominous gunslinger develops a frightening taste for the kill as he becomes an unstoppable walking menace, 10 years before Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator ever hit the screens.

Author Michael Crichton (THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) wrote the screenplay and directed his first film with WESTWORLD, and it's an impressive debut in that he's able to keep the action moving along at a comfortable pace, using a small budget to its full advantage, and fashioning a real good-time movie experience that is at the same time both fun and foreboding. James Brolin and Richard Benjamin are completely likable in their parts, but it is Yul Brynner's multi-layered conception of the gunslinging robot who changes from willing court jester to deadly assassin that's the main draw.

Also a major asset is Fred Karlin's versatile music score. Changing from standard period western piano to a violins and whistles shindig, and finally to a weird techno-western mechanical hybrid when moods start to change for the worst, this is a very engaging soundtrack.

So why don't you make arrangements to take the Delos hovercraft to Medievalworld, Romanworld or Westworld? Contact them today or see your travel agent. Boy, have they got a vacation for you...!

A great movie about an amusement park with robots to entertain you and for you to experience life in the three different worlds. Yul Brynner as the gunfighter is truly excellent and yes, scary as hell.

To nitpick a movie from the 70s is truly childish. It was interesting, action/sci-fi. Well paced, reasonably written well. Great chase scene at the end, because if the Gunslinger was coming after me, I'd be scared. And, as far as I know, the first movie to mention a 'virus' in the machines.

You might as well complain about the bombs in Dark Star having intelligence. Why would a bomb need AI? But if it didn't, the ending wouldn't have been as interesting.

It's like complaining about movies from the 50s, like 'War of the Worlds' or 'Forbidden Planet'. They worked with what they had and had no ideal about what would or could be done in the future. OMG, 1984 didn't happen like Orwell said. Guess we should toss his book in the trash. Too many people nitpicking silly things. Ever heard of entertainment?

If your a REAL sci-fi fan, watch it. You won't be disappointed!

Classic sci-fi thriller of the 70's, Westworld is a film that never fails to be fun and riveting in its own campy way.

Two pals go on vacation to a hi-tech resort where they can live out a wild west adventure among human-like robots. Unfortunately, the robots are starting to malfunction and our human guests may be in for more excitement than they bargained for.

Michael Crichton delivers a clever and engaging story with this film. It packs plenty of intense action and increasing suspense, that firmly keeps the viewer on edge! Crichton's direction is also solidly well-done, creating a believable feel with the help of some good special FX (especially with the droids).

Cast-wise the film is great as well. Yul Brynner does a wonderfully creepy performance as the robotic gunslinger that just won't stop coming! Richard Benjamin does a nice turn as the timid visitor who must fight to survive, as does his friend played by James Brolin.

Westworld is truly enjoyable sci-fi/thriller excitement and stands as one of the best genre films of the '70s.

*** 1/2 out of ****