West World (1973)

Directed by: Michael Crichton | 88 minutes | action, thriller, western, science fiction | Actors: Yul Brynner, James Brolin, Richard Benjamin, Norman Bartold, Alan Oppenheimer, Victoria Shaw, Dick van Patten, Linda Gaye Scott, Steve Franken, Michael T. Milker, Terry Wilson, Majel Barrett, Anne Randall, Julie Marcus, Sharyn Winters

Have you always wanted to live out your fantasies? Want to be a gunfighter in the wild west, for example? That is possible, in Delos, where lifelike robots roam around that serve to entertain the holiday guests. The guests themselves are not at risk, until the robots are no longer guided by their creators. Despite the talk about ‘malfunction’ and the increasingly deviant behavior of the robots, the entertainment for the customers in the three fantasy worlds is of course continued for commercial reasons. And that is why it is the technology that gets out of hand in this film that will significantly reduce the amusement value of the park for the holiday guests.

The story mainly focuses on the two friends Peter Martin and John Blane (Benjamin and Brolin). In the western town where they can indulge their fantasies, fights and shootings are the order of the day, and soon a gunslinger (Brynner) crosses their path several times. Brynner is the star of this production, carries the entire film and his way of acting creates a perfect threat on his part. This is also because he seems to have a personal grudge against Martin and Blane and because of the obvious pleasure he takes in committing his misdeeds, expressed by his slightly sarcastic frozen smiles. Brynner’s performance is most evident in the lengthy and successful chase sequence in the second part of the film and this part is what makes the film most rewarding. Annoying for his target(s?), but all the more exciting for the viewer, Brynner plays a robot that is a forerunner of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator robot, notably including Schwarzenegger’s well-known “I’ll be back” statement on him. applies, as it just (though rather predictably) just keeps on coming, which of course contributes in a desirable way to the maintenance of the suspense and action.

In addition to Martin and Blane, a few more characters are brought forward, most notably the holiday guest in the medieval part of the amusement park and the holiday guest who can now play ‘raw’ sheriff. But identification with these characters is hardly established due to their underexposure. Their fortunes do provide the necessary noteworthy action, but some increased identification possibilities with these other holiday guests would have been welcome.

There are also some question marks in the story. Why can the gunslinger robot now suddenly hit the holiday guests while it was previously not possible? This cannot be explained by the emotions they seem to develop, so is it just caused by failing technology? Or is it a combination of both? But how is it possible that the horse robots do not show deviant behavior while the rattlesnake and human robots do? Ultimately, the cause does not become clear, which means that the moral of the story that director Crichton may want to bring forward also does not become clear (Don’t put too much faith in technology? Act responsibly when living out your fantasies?). How is it possible that the robots’ eyesight can be fooled repeatedly so easily? With a technology that can produce such robots, this could have been designed better. Why doesn’t the control room have an emergency exit? In addition to the various question marks that arise, the pace in the first part of the film is sometimes a bit slow, but the minuses are quickly forgotten when the robots run wild. In addition, after the various confrontations that were previously ‘safe’ for the holiday guests, this appeals all the more to the imagination.

Finally, the special effects, especially compared to later films, seem rather old-fashioned. But don’t let this be a problem, it actually enhances the charm of this film, especially in the scenes in which the various shot and otherwise disabled robots are rehabilitated. So sit back when this film presents itself because, although it may seem a bit dated at some points, it is all in all a successful piece of action, suspense and entertainment.