<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

For the 2009 remake of this film see: Westworld (2009 movie)

Westworld
Release Date	November 21, 1973
Genre	Sci Fi, Western
Director	Michael Crichton
Screenwriter	Michael Crichton
Stars	Yul Brynner Richard Benjamin James Brolin Norman Bartold Alan Oppenheimer Victoria Shaw Dick Van Patten
Studio	MGM

Westworld (1973), an MGM hit, marked the feature-film debut, as a screenwriter and director, of Michael Crichton, whose bestseller The Andromeda Strain had been turned into a classic film by Robert Wise in 1971. He had already directed Pursuit (1972), a TV-movie based on his book Binary (the film’s alternate title), written under the pseudonym of John Lange and adapted by Robert Dozier.

Crichton adaptations from other directors include Jurassic Park, Rising Sun (both 1993), Disclosure (1994), Congo (1995), and Sphere (1998). His subsequent efforts as a writer-director were Coma (1978), based on Robin Cook’s bestseller; The Great Train Robbery (1979), scripted by the author from his novel; and two original screenplays, Looker (1981) and Runaway (1984).

Westworld is set in Delos, a theme park offering “the vacation of the future today,” where tourists pay a thousand dollars a day to act out their fantasies in one of three areas, which include Roman World and Medieval World. The park is populated by lifelike robots, enabling guests to “kill,” maim, or make love to them, after which technicians remove and repair them every night.

Buddies Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin) come to Delos to visit the 1880 setting of Westworld. Perhaps Crichton’s greatest inspiration was casting Yul Brynner as “The Gunslinger,” the robot modeled on his character from The Magnificent Seven (1960), which—along with The King and I (1956)—gave Brynner his most career-defining role.

Peter delights in shooting it out with the Gunslinger, and also enjoys the favors of Arlette (Linda Scott) at the brothel run by Miss Carrie (Majel Barrett, the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry). But behind the scenes, the chief supervisor (Alan Oppenheimer) is troubled by the increased number and severity of robotic malfunctions, analogous to an infectious disease.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

He fruitlessly advocates a shutdown after a robot rattlesnake bites John, and things go from bad to worse when a would-be medieval knight (Norman Bartold) is refused by a robot servant girl (Anne Randall), then killed by the Black Knight (Michael Mikler) in a duel. Frantic, the technicians shut down the power, but the robots continue running on their stored charges.

Peter flees as the Gunslinger kills John in the street, and while the guests are massacred, the technicians—locked in by electronic doors—are unable to restore the power. Trying to stay alive long enough for the robots’ batteries to run out, Peter meets a technician (Steve Franken), who is quickly killed by the Gunslinger, and then finds the others suffocated in the control area.

The Gunslinger uses its infrared sensors to track Peter, who throws acid in its face. It follows him to Medieval World, where Peter sets it aflame with a torch. After Peter frees a girl in the dungeon (Julie Marcus) and gives her a drink of water, only to have her revealed as a robot when she short-circuits, the Gunslinger reappears long enough to collapse and burst into sparks.

Crichton had no involvement with the sequel, Futureworld (1976), produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff’s American International Pictures and directed by television vet Richard T. Heffron. Yul Brynner did return, making his final onscreen appearance, as did composer Fred Karlin, the winner of an Oscar for the song “For All We Know,” from Lovers and Other Strangers (1970).

Written by Mayo Simon, who had scripted the SF films Marooned (1969) and Phase IV (1974), and George Schenck, the sequel has reporters Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda) and Tracy Ballard (Blythe Danner) probing fresh deviltry at Delos. They uncover a plot to replace world leaders with robotic doubles, and the Gunslinger appears in Tracy’s dream as her fantasy lover.

A Westworld remake has been announced for 2009, but to date its most recent incarnation has been the CBS series Beyond Westworld, which was cancelled after three episodes (five were filmed). It pitted Delos security chief John Moore (Jim McMullan) against a renegade scientist, Simon Quaid (James Wainwright), who steals a set of androids for his own nefarious purposes.