Westworld poster & wallpaper

Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin

A futuristic amusement park becomes a deathtrap when the androids and computer systems used in it begin to murderously run amok.

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69% liked it

9,109 ratings

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90% liked it

30 critics

PG, 1 hr. 28 min.

Directed by: Michael Crichton

Release Date: November 21, 1973

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DVD Release Date: September 29, 1998

Stats: 673 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (673)

  • mjgildea
    October 4, 2009
    mjgildea
    Westworld is possibly one of the most overrated exercises in drawn-out nonsense known to man. Granted, this was probably Michael Crichton's monumental fuck up that allowed him to get Jurassic Park halfway right (if you think about it they're the same thing) but that doesn't make ...( read more)Westworld any easier to watch. Yeah, yeah. An interactive amusement park that recreates the wild west with robots that go haywire and start killing people. The movie was still about a half hour too long (never thought I'd say that about a 90-minute movie.) I'll give half a star for Dick Van Patten's voice, another half for the genuine creepiness of the Yul Bynner robot right before it died, another half for James Brolin's hair and the last half for the 70s hotness/robot sex. More specifically, Arlette. Mmm. Arlette...
  • SirPant
    September 25, 2009
    SirPant
    Classic sci-fi from Michael Crichton and the inspiration for Jurassic Park
  • ceWEBrity
    April 16, 2009
    ceWEBrity
    I was surprisingly invested in this. Yul Brynner's performance is deceptively complex and it really projects a great deal of thought. If at all possible, he humanizes this robot. The film itself is a little slow at times, using drawn-out chase scenes to pad the low budget (they u...( read more)sed a bunch of stock sets for the environments), but otherwise it remains compelling. Some of the imagery is especially evocative and even haunting.

    Highly recommended for the discerning sci-fi fan.
  • YosemiteSamFan
    January 23, 2009
    YosemiteSamFan
    Before Jurassic Park, there was Westworld! An earlier work from the same writer, Michael Crichton, it involves a theme park got wrong. It's the kind of place I would like to go! Android "actors" inhabit the three worlds of the park: Roman World, Medieval World and West World. I w...( read more)ould have such a fun time there. Human guests can basically role play as much as they want. Sadly, in this movie, the androids malfunction and go on a killing spree after all humans. A suspenseful action film. I wondered what I would do in such a situation. Great concept for a theme park and a movie. I guess if they had a plot where everything ran smoothly and the androids didn't go on a killing spree, it wouldn't be very exciting. I rate this highly.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    September 15, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Not so dear hollywood: We need more movies these days about cowboy robots going berserk and killing people.
  • mundo20002000
    November 2, 2009
    mundo20002000
    Ahead of its time when it came out...
  • papisa
    October 27, 2009
    papisa
    This is more scifi than western
  • WitchfulThinking
    October 10, 2009
    WitchfulThinking
    The robotized vacation resort of the future where nothing can possibli go wrong. Er, ah, make that "possibly . . . That's probably the first time that anything has ever gone wrong.
  • jasonvargo
    September 29, 2009
    jasonvargo
    Westworld is one of three high-tech adult amusement parks under the Delos brand. In this place, guests can engage in role play fantasies involving the Old West, Roman times (in Romanworld) or in Medieval England (in Medievalworld). Anything goes in these places for one simple rea...( read more)son: nothing, evidently, can go wrong. Heat sensors prevent gunslingers from shooting other humans in Westworld, for example. So who do they shoot? Robots. When the robots refuse to accept commands from their human masters, it's up to the guests to fend for themselves.

    It shouldn't be any shock that Westworld comes from the mind of writer/director Michael Crichton, the same man behind Jurassic Park. Both films deal with humans trying to harness technology for entertainment purposes. Their major conflict occurs because of man's hubris over what he's able to control. And, eventually, the simple lesson that "just because we can doesn't mean we should" sinks in. It's as if Westworld served as a template for Jurassic Park, showing Crichton the pitfalls of this kind of story, allowing him to work out the kinks and flesh out his ideas. But Westworld isn't just Jurassic Park-light; it's an entertaining, action-oriented message film.

    Clocking in at just 88-minutes, Westworld is very efficient in its storytelling, forgoing minor subplots and peripheral characters in favor of focusing on guests Peter and John (Richard Benjamin and James Brolin) and their adventure in Westworld. By relegating secondary characters like Dick Van Patten's "Banker" to the background, Crichton allows the audience to feel the claustrophobia both men experience at the park. The most peculiar thing about the story isn't how few "other" personalities are on the screen; it's actually how slowly the robots going crazy storyline is introduced.

    Crichton refuses to push it down our throats or make it completely obvious. Instead, small scenes are inserted during the first 45 minutes showing problems behind the scenes. As opposed to John Hammond in Jurassic Park, these designers didn't do all the work themselves: apparently (and the movie doesn't delve into the specifics), computers designed some of the robots. Naturally, when something does go wrong, they don't know how to fix it. Nor does Crichton seem to care about the nitty gritty of the technology (remember the complicated animation in JP which explained how the dinosaurs were made?). All that's important is that the audience buy into the concept.

    And that we do, primarily because Peter is our proxy on screen. Initially, he feel silly interacting in this environment, sheepishly telling Yul Brynner's "Gunslinger" he talks too much. Each passing time he says it, we can see his confidence rising and acceptance of the situation coming to the surface. Think about it: if you've always dreamed of going to the Wild West and taking part in a bar brawl, actually doing it is going to be odd at the outset. But as you see the people around you open and involved in the action, you eventually become comfortable with it. In that sense, it's perfectly logical.

    Most of the action takes place in Westworld and Medievalworld; there are precious few scenes of Romanworld. While it's never said, the insinuation is the guests can have sex with anyone they want to, no holds barred. That's the same rule as in the other two areas, though neither the west or England are known for homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality or sexual orgies. That's the most plausible explanation as to why this portion of Delos is rarely shown.

    The actors-save Brynner-are typical 1970s actors lacking a true emotional range, acting as though they're on television and not on the movie screen. Brynner, though, understands his role to perfection, acting without moving his face or a ton of dialogue. He does what he needs to do by, simply, staring at his opponents.

    Because Crichton doesn't spend a lot of time on the workings of the robot technology or the rules of the world, he misses a few obvious questions. Remember those heat sensors? Theoretically speaking, they work on the same principle as infrared imaging. If there is a heat signature in the direction the gun is pointing, it won't fire. However, what happens if a person stands behind a chair. The heat signature is gone, allowing the gun to fire. And what about overrides? A group of scientists suffocates after the electronic doors no longer work. There's no fire exit? Where's the rest of the human staff at the park-dead, like the guests?

    We're not meant to think about those aspects to closely, I suspect. Crichton is trying to warn us about putting too much trust in technology, something he saw before James Cameron in Terminator (but not before Gene Roddenberry in Star Trek).
  • ariadne104
    September 5, 2009
    ariadne104
    saw this a long time ago can't really remember what happened goes to show how it's stuck with me lol

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Westworld Trivia

  • "Westworld" is a great "technology runs amok" flick. Who played theintense, single-minded gunslinger android out to kill tourists Richard Benjamin and James Brolin?  Answer »
  • Which writer's wrote the books which the following films were based on? Congo Sphere Westworld The Andromeda Strain  Answer »
  • Which writer directed the film "Westworld?"  Answer »
  • Name this movie: Two tourists take a vacation to a park where robots cater to all of their fantasies. But the robots malfunction and start killing the human guests.  Answer »
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