One of the most impressive new shows this fall is HBO’s Westworld. Not only the concept of the show, which is about a realistic wild west world themepark where the people “working” in it are actually androids that are there to be used (and abused) by the rich visitors. It looks amazing as well and it’s definitely a must-see. And that’s even without mentioning the impressive cast, including Jeffery Wright and Anthony Hopkins. Still the idea of this show isn’t original. It all started with this 1973 movie, which even got a sequel named Futureworld and also had spinoff TV show (Beyond Westworld), which was cancelled after a few episodes. After having seen all the episodes which have aired of the new show I was curious about the movie which started it all.
In the future it’s a company named Delos which has created a theme park for adults. Visitors pay a 1000 dollars a day (with inflation that would be 5500 now) to live out any fantasy as the androids in the park are programmed not to hurt them. In three different worlds, West World, Medieval World and Roman World they can go wild. For many it means a couple of day of sex and violence. Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) visits Westworld for the first time, together with his friend John Blane (Brolin) who has been there before. What starts out as a wild west adventure quickly turns into a nightmare when the robots turn out to be deadly.
It’s impossible after seeing the film to compare it with the current show. What immediately stands out is how much more depth the series has in a couple of episodes compared to the whole movie. Of course it is something which you can’t blame the movie for, but because of seeing HBO’s show you have that expectation. The scale of the world here is much smaller and it’s mainly about the experience of the two protagonists (Josh Brolin’s father really looks like Christian Bale) and their interactions with the “man in black”. Yul Brynner is really threatening as the “gunslinger” and you could see his character being the inspiration for Terminator. The way in which he sees the world is shown and that makes this the first movie using digital techniques to create it. You won’t be able to say this is a good movie, but as a prototype for an impressive tv show and a source of new theories it’s fun to watch.
You’re definitely right that comparing the movie and the new show is nearly impossible. What amazed me in watching the film a little while back was how long it takes to get going. It’s basically like an hour of set-up for a pretty quick finale. It still has its charms but is going to disappoint some fans of the show who go back looking for the source.
Westworld the film is a bit disappointing by modern standards, a B-movie that rises above its station but not by much. It does remain interesting, though, if for no other reason than to catch writer / director Michael Crichton incubating many of the theme park / science runs amok ideas on the way to writing Jurassic Park.
I haven’t seen this film since high school but even back then, I remember that it didn’t age well. But it contained some great ideas and obviously the current TV version expanded on those ideas.
What’s interesting is that, a film version was proposed years ago with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead and Ridley Scott was going to direct. For whatever reason, it never got made.
Hi Nostra! I can’t wait to binge on the series on HBO, though I didn’t even realize it’s a remake on a classic film. Not really interested in this one though.