Movie Review – Westworld (1973)

Theme parks are known for having a combination of highly themed lands as well as a mixture of family-friendly as well as thrilling attractions.

These places also draw a firm line where there’s limited interaction between the park guests and the theming.  While you may see a costumed actors, you’re not allowed to challenge them to a duel.  There may be a bank in a western town, but you’re not allowed to draw your gun and rob it.

What if there was such a park where you could carry out such fantasies?  What if you were allowed to live for several days in a highly themed, interactive area, living life as you would in that time period, complete with being able to actually fight and “kill” bad guys?  Don’t worry though, safety protocols are in place to prevent the park guests from receiving any harm.

That’s the premise in the 1973 science-fiction film, Westworld.  Written and directed by Michael Crichton, Westworld follows along as a small group of tourists arrives at one of if not the most technologically advanced theme park in the world.  Instead of having rides, this theme park allows guests to live out their fantasies in one of three themed areas.  This movie features Richard Benjamin as Peter Martin, James Brolin as John Blane, and Yul Brynner as the Gunslinger.

Westworld begins with a television commercial for Delos – The Vacation of the Future, a sophisticated, futuristic theme park divided into three zones / “worlds”:  West World (the American Old West in the 1880s), Medieval World (medieval Europe), and Roman World (pre-Christian Rome).  A reporter asks guests about their recent experiences in Delos and how much they loved their experience.  Although visiting Delos costs $1,000 a day, the interviewees claim that it was an incredibly realistic experience well worth the money.  To get to Delos, all we have to do is speak with a travel agent and arrange a ride on the hovercraft that transports guests there.

The movie then transitions to a hovercraft carrying the next group of guests to Delos.  Inside the hovercraft some of the guests include Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin).  As the hovercraft flies over the desert terrain, Peter asks John questions about West World as he has been there and is returning for another visit.  From what John is saying, it sounds like the guests will be able to use real firearms in the theme park.  How that’s possible isn’t known yet as one would believe that it would be a major safety problem.

As the hovercraft approaches Delos, the guests are asked to wear headphones so they can listen to the welcome spiel and learn about the theme park.  They’re then given a badge pertaining to which “world” they’re planning on visiting.  After the hovercraft lands the guests are then taken on a motorized cart to their designated zone.  After that the guests are outfitted in clothing and gear from whichever time period they’re visiting.  In the case of West World, each guest is also given a loaded revolver.

West World is a lively western town set in America’s past.  Peter, John and another man, a Banker (Dick Van Patten) in the real world, are now cowboys back in the 1880s.  They stay in a western hotel where everything in the room is authentic and from that time period.  The town has a saloon, a brothel, and a local sheriff and jail as well.

One of the attributes that makes Delos unique is that most of the characters that the guests encounter are really sophisticated androids.  Even the horses and rattlesnakes in West World are robots as well.  They’re programmed to interact with the guests and to create a realistic environment.  The whole theme park is also monitored by camouflaged video recorders that feed live displays to the technicians monitoring everything inside of the theme park’s control center.  According to John Blane, a way to tell apart the androids from the human beings is to just look at the palm of their hands.  Otherwise, the androids look and behave just like their real-life counterparts.

John takes Peter to a saloon where they both drink whiskey.  In the bar a Gunslinger (Yul Brynner) instigates trouble by picking a fight with Peter, just as it’s programmed.  Peter accepts the challenge and the two men face off inside of the saloon.  Peter draws his gun first and shoots the Gunslinger several times, “killing” him.  The other patrons in the saloon drag away the Gunslinger’s body as if it’s no big deal.

It’s obvious that Peter’s gun shoots real bullets.  When he later asks John how safe it is to have a real firearm inside of the theme park, John explains that the guns here will not harm any human beings.  All of the firearms have a sensor that disables the gun from shooting at a warm-blooded object.  The androids and structures have no heat signature, so it’s possible to shoot at pretty much everything else inside of West World.

Elsewhere in Delos are other park guests living out their fantasies in Medieval World and Roman World.  One such guest gets to play the role of a Medieval Knight (Norman Bartold), and all of the perks that go with it.

That evening John and Peter visit a brothel to seek the “services” of some of the brothel’s ladies.  Suddenly there’s a commotion outside as a gang of thieves tries to rob the town’s bank, but John shrugs it off.  He insists on staying in the brothel and getting some action from the ladies.  Peter follows suit and the two of them each take a lady to an upstairs room.  After their session, both John and Peter are pleased to how realistic it was being with the android hookers.

When the park guests at Delos finally go to bed, the park’s clean-up crew gets to work.  They work in silence as they remove the “dead” entertainers from the street and send them back to the park’s laboratory for routine service and reprogramming.  Everything in the park is reset overnight so that when the park guests awake the next morning it’s as if it’s a brand new day in their “world”.

In the control center, the park’s engineers are becoming nervous as the androids are suddenly breaking down at a faster rate than predicted.  We learn that parts of the androids were actually designed by computers, and the engineers aren’t exactly sure how they operate.  It’s a learning experience for them as they study the artificial intelligence and the mechanics that support it.  As for the more frequent breakdowns, it’s suggested that a computer virus may be affecting the androids.

The next morning the theme park is reactivated and the park’s guests awaken to a new day.

When John is shaving, he’s interrupted by a surprise appearance by the Gunslinger.  He enters John’s room and takes him hostage.  Peter returns to the room and hears the commotion inside of it.  He lives out a fantasy by kicking open the door and shooting the Gunslinger multiple times, causing him to fall out the window and land on the dusty street.

This time around Peter is arrested by the town’s sheriff for shooting the Gunslinger.  Peter insists that he was shooting in self-defense, but the sheriff keeps him locked in jail.  John plays into the story and breaks his friend out of prison by having a woman sneak in some explosives hidden on a tray of food.  There’s a small explosion as Peter blasts a hole in the side of the jail and escapes onto a waiting horse.  John then shoots and “kills” the sheriff, and he and Peter escape to the nearby hills.

Over in Medieval World, the Medieval Knight receives word that the Black Knight is looking for him.  Meanwhile, back in West World, the Banker steps up and takes the role as the town’s sheriff.

Out in the hills, a rattlesnake approaches John and Peter.  They both see it and John tries to shoot and “kill” the snake, but he misses.  The snake lunges at him and bites him in the arm, causing a bloody wound.  Although the snake has teeth, thankfully for John it doesn’t have any venom.  After John shakes loose the snake, he and Peter finally manage to shoot and kill it.  This has John concerned though as he knows that the animals should never attack the park guests.  Why did the snake bite him?

That evening, John and Peter are having drinks and playing poker in the brothel when a large brawl erupts between the cowboys.  Everybody is fighting one another and John and Peter get into the action.  The good, old fashioned brawl is just as they imagined.  Even the Banker gets involved with the fight when he steps into the brothel.

Later that night the engineers notice more trouble when one of the ladies in Medieval World resists the advances from the Medieval Knight.  She’s programmed to pleasure him as he desires.  Why would she resist his advances?

The next morning the Medieval Knight has his duel in the castle with the Black Knight.  The engineers authorize the Black Knight to fight the Medieval Knight.  The park guest in the role of the Medieval Knight isn’t very good at swordplay, and it’s just a matter of time before the Black Knight has the upper hand.  The engineers monitoring the fight try to stop the Black Knight from continuing, but the android ignores the command.  It keeps going and stabs the Medieval Knight, killing the park guest.

Over in West World, both Peter and John are nursing hangovers when they walk out of the brothel and spot the Gunslinger walking up to them.  The Gunslinger stops and challenges them to a duel.  John accepts the challenge, but this time the Gunslinger draws faster and actually shoots John in the chest.  As John stumbles around and can’t believe that he’s really been shot, the Gunslinger shoots again and kills him.

After seeing John die, Peter takes off running away from the Gunslinger.  He hops onto a horse and races into the hills and away from the deadly android.

Over in Roman World, the androids rebel and kill each other as well as the human park guests.  Everybody in that “world” and Medieval World is killed.

The technicians are horrified at the violence and try to stop the androids from attacking.  Nothing is working.  The robots simply refuse to respond to the programmers’ commands.  In a last ditch effort, the engineers shut off the power to the entire complex and to hopefully stop the androids.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.  The androids can still operate on battery power.  In a second blow to the engineers, the power loss also seals closed the electric-operated doors in the control room, and it stops the room’s ventilation system.  Unless they can restore power, they’re going to suffocate in the control room.

Peter continues to flee through the hills, but the Gunslinger easily tracks and follows him.  At one point Peter encounters a field technician and learns a few tricks to defeating the androids.  Just after Peter leaves him, the Gunslinger shoots and kills the field technician.  The android then continues with his pursuit of Peter.

Using the field technician’s advice, Peter goes up a creek to throw off the Gunslinger’s tracking system and buy him some time.  He continues and ultimately crosses into Roman World where he discovers that everybody is dead.  In the Roman World he discovers a manhole and climbs down it to access the underground corridors.  When he passes by the control room, Peter looks through a window and sees that all of the technicians are dead.  They’ve all suffocated.

Meanwhile, the Gunslinger also discovers the manhole and he descends it and continues tracking Peter.

In the underground corridors, Peter discovers the engineering laboratory where the workers would repair and reactivate the “dead” androids.  He discovers a container of acid and then hides in the room.  When the Gunslinger enters the room, Peter ambushes him and throws the acid into his face.  This doesn’t stop the Gunslinger, but it interferes with his vision.  The android has to switch to infared mode to continue tracking Peter, but the alternate mode isn’t as accurate.

Peter returns to the surface and finds his way to Medieval World.  Inside of the castle he has another encounter with the Gunslinger.  This time Peter sets the Gunslinger on fire, causing it to burn in a large fireball.

Thinking that it’s over, Peter explores the castle’s dungeon looking for survivors.  He finds a woman chained to a wall.  When he gives her a drink of water, she starts smoking and Peter discovers that she’s also an android.  As he climbs the stairs out of the dungeon, suddenly the severely burned version of the Gunslinger tries to grab him.  The android misses and it falls to the floor where it finally breaks and becomes disabled.

Westworld ends with Peter Martin overwhelmed with what he just encountered.  He sits down and reflects the theme park’s slogan of “Have we got a vacation for you!”

So is Westworld a good film?

Yes!

Although this film has its share of plot holes, and it won’t win any awards, this movie still has a great story involving a futuristic theme park that I’m sure most of us would love to visit some day.  Who out there wouldn’t love to visit a place where you can temporarily live in an alternate time period and interact with lifelike androids?

As you can guess, I love the story in this movie.  It’s easy to get caught up in the movie and just let your imagination go wild as you think of visiting such a place one day.

Westworld is a film that’s ahead of its time.  It’s clear that some of the ideas presented here would have a later impact on director Michael Crichton when he would write Jurassic Park nearly twenty years later.

The downfalls of Westworld don’t reside with the film’s rather bland sets or somewhat lackluster special effects, but rather the plot holes within the story.  For example, wouldn’t there be a security force somewhere in the park that’s trained to handle the androids should they be aggressive?  Wouldn’t the technicians in the control room also called in experts outside of the park to assist when the androids began malfunctioning?

Also, what ever happened to the Banker who became the town’s sheriff?  After the brawl scene in the brothel we never saw him again.  Was he killed by an android?

Westworld (1973) – movie trailer

Those are just some of the plot holes in Westworld.  This is a great science-fiction film with a fantastic premise, but it’s clear that the final version of the movie’s story leaves too many holes and unanswered questions.  That’s really too bad as this movie is still a lot of fun, especially the sinister Gunslinger character.

Sit back and enjoy Westworld.  This is a great film for lovers of science-fiction as well as amusement parks.

Peter Martin – “You talk too much.”
Gunslinger – “You say something, boy?”
Peter Martin – “I said you talk too much.”
Gunslinger – “Try to make me shut up.”

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Gunslinger – “Draw.”