After we played Mike’s quiz at Ugly American (very hard but very fair quiz), we went to New Wave. Good trivia, written by Pat, though I like MIke’s questions a little bit better. (Oh, and no 2nd place prize, which is kind of lame.) One question we missed was about Westworld, which I had never heard of until last night. Anybody see this film and care to give a movie review in the comments? Is it worth watching? The trailer makes it look completely insane and kind of awesome. Just curious.
“Westworld…..Where nothing possibly can go worng.”
That was the tag line for the movie trailer, a sf flick featuring Yul Brynner as an android in an amusement planet where things do indeed go wrong. Similar to a Star Trek episode plot on an amusement planet where people start to get killed. Not a bad flick….great sciene fiction movies in the late '60s to early '70s, including “Silent Running”, and of course, the great Charlton Heston triad, “Planet of the Apes.” “Soylent Green” and “The Omega Man.” All of those movies should be in your catalog.
Westworld was indeed a pretty good movie, in large part because of Yul Brenner. (That, and the cool premise) It's a little odd watching this film if you've already seen The Magnificent Seven. Brenner looks exactly like he did in TM7, but that where the similarity ends. The sequel, Futureworld, is not nearly as good.
Another sci-fi flick from that era is Logan's Run. Not quite as good as the ones mentioned, but it does have it's moments. Plus, I believe it was Farrah Fawcett's fisrt film. (how's that for aliteration?) And best of all, Michael York's character is a “Sandman”, which is a cop that hunts down and kills people after they turn thirty. Vaughn, if you're out there, I will turn 29 this year and every year for the forseeable future.
For the record, while there is a second prize at my quiz, JGT didn't finish in the money there either. That's what happens when you remember the answers 20 seconds after you hand in your answer sheet. 🙂
Westworld
DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Michael Crichton
Starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin
Release date Out now
Peter (Benjamin) and John (Brolin) head out to state-of-the-art theme park Westworld, where the Wild West is perfectly recreated with robot bartenders, robot gunslingers and robot prostitutes. But then the robots malfunction – including one especially menacing gunslinger (Brynner)…
An obvious influence on both The Terminator and Crichton’s later Jurassic Park, Westworld remains a lean and gripping sci-fi thriller 35 years after it first chilled audiences.
From Coma to Jurassic Park, Crichton’s best work has often simultaneously celebrated and cautioned against the dangers of science, and with Westworld he depicts a slick corporation that exploits cutting-edge technology in order for clients to live out their wildest fantasies – with deadly results. But the movie is almost like a theme park ride itself – beginning gently, descending into terror, and all within the safe confines of your own home!
Crichton builds up the tension magnificently from the playful early scenes to the eventual robot-on-the-rampage stalkathon; it seems a pity he gave up his directing ambitions after just a handful of movies (though subsequent efforts never topped this).
1970s cinema staples Richard Benjamin and James Brolin are endearing as the businessmen forced to adopt the violent practices of the Wild West as events spiral out of control. But the film belongs to Yul Brynner as the unforgettable killing machine, and the story takes delight in twisting his Magnificent Seven image. James Skipp
VERDICT: 9/10
Terrific robo-chiller with Brynner at his taciturn best. ******THIS IS A REVIEW I FOUND ONLINE. I SHARE THE THOUGHTS OF THIS REVIEWER. I ALSO HAVE THIS MOVIE IN MY PERSONAL COLLECTION. DUANE (of DUANE'S WORLD)