Westworld (1973)
Directed by Michael Crichton
Written by Michael Crichton
Starring Yul Brenner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin
Release Date August 17th, 1973
Listeners to the Everyone is a Critic Podcast know that I have a strange relationship with Westerns. On more than one occasion I have spoken of not being a fan of the genre only to then end up praising movies like Open Range, Rio Bravo or, one of my all-time favorites, 3:10 to Yuma. This bizarre relationship to the Western has a lengthy and unique history.
When I was a kid, I told my dad that I didn’t like Westerns. Being a fan of the genre himself, he wanted to try to get me into it. I refused and protested and would not brook watching them quietly. His last attempt to get me into the gunfighting, horse riding genre was rather clever. He said, “What if we watch a Western that also has robots and sword fighting?" The movie was Westworld, and it became the first time I willingly accepted liking something remotely part of the Western genre.
Westworld starred Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as a pair of rich guys who take a vacation at a futuristic park called Westworld. Westworld is one of three rich guy playgrounds where a company called Delos has employed robot technology to recreate the experience of the past. There is Westworld, set in the dusty saloons and whorehouses of the old west. Roman World where patrons indulge in the excesses of ancient Rome and finally Medieval World where guests play around with Arthurian legends.
The first half of the film cleverly plays on the fun of playing dress up and having it appear so real. It’s a wonderful sort of amusement park where Benjamin and Brolin can throw down in a gunfight one night, spend the night with prostitutes at a bordello in the next and have an old west style barfight in the next. All these things are wonderfully fun until they're not.
Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal
