Have We Got A Vacation For You!
Welcome to 2020 – the future is here!
Time for a great slice of “Cult Movie Monday” science fiction – a movie so good it’s been turned into an acclaimed HBO series!
The 70’s classic “Westworld” has a simple premise. As the opening voiceover proclaims:
“Delos is the vacation of the future, today. At Delos, you get your choice of the vacation you want. There’s Medieval World, Roman World and, of course, Westworld.”
Ready to go on vacation?
Here is the movie’s trailer:
Richard Benjamin and James Brolin star as two friends out for a fun weekend – a weekend where they can dress up and play cowboy…at a new futuristic resort that offers Medieval World. Roman World, and of course “Westworld” as an “anything goes” adult playground!
Yul Brynner gives a menacing performance as the Robot designed and operated by the resort – a robot created to challenge guests to gun battles – and of course, the vacationers always win!
It’s all male fantasty – taking part in shoot outs and killing bad guys, but things go very, very wrong…as the movie’s movie poster brilliantly said:
Where Nothing Can Possibly Go W-O-R-N-G…
That’s because things do indeed go wrong, as Yul Brynner begins to give them a vacant stare, and the guys discover that some of the resort’s toys start to act up, like when Josh Brolin is bitten by a robotic snake:
“The hell, god dammit, that’s not supposed to happen!”
And the next time they shoot Brynner in the saloon, he refuses to die, and the two friends find themselves being hunted down by the robot – let the games begin!
Best-selling Author Michael Crichton wrote the screenplay, inspired to write this film after a trip to Disneyland, where he saw the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and was impressed by the animatronic characters!
Along with writing the script, Michael Crichton also directed the film, which was a huge box office success, and spawned a sequel called “Futureworld” starring Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner.
And how about this trivia, courtesy of IMDB:
“Westworld” used the first computer digitized images as part of a feature film!
As most of you know, HBO has turned the film into an acclaimed TV series…I tried watching it but found it too convoluted – complicating a basic premise…that said, fans love it!
This is a terrific movie, and a worthy “cult movie Monday” for you to enjoy…speaking of which, here is another classic Richard Benjamin film I included recently:
“The Last of Sheila” is a GREAT 70’s mystery, populated with great Hollywood characters – an all-star cast including Raquel Welch, James Coburn, Richard Benjamin, James Mason and Dyan Cannon.
You can see the trailer here:
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Let me know if you’ve seen “Westworld!”
Categories: 70's Cinema, Action Films, Books / Media, Cult Movies, Film Fight Club, Great Films, Hollywood, Movies, Obscure Movies, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, TV Show, Uncategorized
johnrieber 
I am going to watch this again, if I can find it, John. It’s pretty old.
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Streaming services like amazon have it to rent…
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I will ask Terence. Like you, he always knows these things [smile].
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Hey John – thanks for the memory back to when my buds and I crowded into a theater to watch West World in its first release. Lord, we were talking about that one for months afterwords and even today it is stuck firmly in memory as one of the most entertaining movies from that era. Great story line (by this time I was already reading anything by Michael Crichton) and the movie had many, ‘how did they do that?’ moments.
Wonderful!
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Thanks for commenting! It was a great film and I own it on DVD to re-watch now and again..that said, NOTHING beats a moviegoing experience with a crowd of people for a film like this!
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Such a great movie! And I really liked the first two seasons of the recent show, although I can’t understand why they apparently continued it beyond that season – it seemed pretty wrapped up and done.
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I loved the original movie but couldn’t get into the TV show…everyone who did loved it, not sure why but it just didn’t click for me! Thanks for the comment!
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I saw Westworld at the cinema, and thought it was fresh and exciting. I never did see the sequel though, and didn’t bother with the TV series either.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, I have the DVD and watched it again recently…holds up as a fun “B” movie on the 70’s…TV series was convoluted and pretentious….
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Glad to hear I didn’t miss anything, John. 🙂
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