a_chinn Michael Crichton wrote and directed this classic 1970s tale of a theme park gone awry about 20 years before he went back to that same well for "Jurassic Park." In this film an enormous theme park has been created the recreates an old west setting populated entirely by robots where visitors can realistically and safely play out their cowboy fantasies (there's also a Roman themed world and and a medieval themed world). Richard Benjamin and James Brolin play two visitors to Westworld who are looking forward to strapping on sixguns, taking on robot gunslingers, and other old west clichés. Things begin to go wrong when some of the robots start to ignore their programming, which at first is damsels rebuffing the male guests and eventually becomes robot villains trying to kill the guests. Benjamin is well cast as the dopey visitor playing cowboy like a 10-year old, who instead finds himself unexpectedly fighting for his life, but casting Yul Brynner as the central robotic gunslinger villain is brilliant. Brynner donning a black hat nicely recalls his iconic role as Chris in "The Magnificent Seven." A main weaknesses of the film is the cutaway scenes to the Roman and medieval worlds, which are not all that interesting and seem only to exist to widen the theme park world, which wasn't really necessary, and to hint that something is going awry, which could easily have been done within the old west setting. Another weakness of the film is that it's not all that suspenseful or exciting, which is surprising since Crichton got much better at suspense with "The Great Train Robbery" and "Runaway," although is nowhere in the same league compared to the suspense in Spielberg's film version of Crichton's "Jurassic Park" (the T-Rex scene when the power first goes out in the park is an under-appreciated modern masterpiece of suspense), though in all fairness, few directors compare to Spielberg when it comes to suspense. Despite those deficiencies, Westworld's central premise of a massive interactive theme park is irresistible and that alone is enough to carry the film. When you top that off with casting Yul Brynner, there's no way you can't like this film. Oh, and the film also features an awesome 1970s style full-body flame stunt, which I really wish TV and films would do more of today (along with more characters getting trapped in quicksand or getting locked in deadly hot saunas).

peter-340-324380 I've watched this 1973 version (again) AFTER watching the 2016 series.And, while it now feels like a 70's-style parody on the 2016 series, I still think somehow it is stronger in its storytelling. You can almost feel the amazement of the Westworld visitors. Fun to watch, ESPECIALLY for those that weren't around in '73 when this cult classic was released.Part of the fun is the way the future machines and computes are pictured. And these sentences are only added since I seem to be obliged to submit 10 sentences or more for a review which is a bit strange since less is more. Why use too many words when you can express what you think in three sentences. Advice: go see this. Especially if you did not see it before and if your interest it raised because you enjoyed the 2016 HBO series.

Leofwine_draca Michael Crichton's thriller invariably draws comparison with the author's later JURASSIC PARK, seeing as both stories deal with amusement parks which turn into chaos. However, WESTWORLD is by far the more horrific of the two. Whereas JURASSIC PARK is a film made for children with sweet, sugary sentimentality, WESTWORLD is a brutal, nihilistic affair where the emphasis is on gritty survival horror.And a cracker it is too. WESTWORLD succeeds in building up an elaborate picture of life at the tourist resort. While concentrating the action upon the two main actors, there are also cleverly a lot of cut scenes involving various scientists and lab technicians, and other events taking place at the rest of the resort, so that a picture may build up of the entire proceedings as a whole. This gives the film an authentic sense of scale. The leisurely pace may put off some viewers (it's more than halfway through the film before the horror really begins) but it's well worth sitting through, as a fun depiction of life in a wild west town.The actual mechanical breakdown of the resort is played out nicely, with small events gradually building up into actual death, and the cold murder of James Brolin is very shocking upon first viewing. From then on it's man vs. machine in an early TERMINATOR kind of way. Brynner is definitely a lot like the unstoppable android that Schwarzenegger was, and we can safely say that WESTWORLD is an early version of the killer android on the loose story. Brynner's inhumanity is showed by shots of his computerised vision (quite basic from a modern perspective) and his special powers, such as increased hearing and being able to survive acid thrown in the face. The whole ending of the film, the last 20 minutes, is absolutely fantastic and will have you on the edge of your seat before the inevitable showdown occurs, and then there are still one or two shocks left to make you jump a little.Richard Benjamin (more familiar as a director) is realistic as the everyday Joe caught up in the events who has to fend for himself, while James Brolin has a field day as the laconic sidekick who knows all the tricks. However, the film really belongs to Yul Brynner, who is superbly cast as the cold, android villain, who even manages to gain our sympathy at the end of the film (where he is blinded by the fire). With actual effective special effects, a haunting soundtrack, and lots of important messages about relying on machines too much, WESTWORLD is a total sci-fi classic blending futuristic thrills and wonder with a cold, harsh feeling of dread. One to own.

scott I came across this film completely by accident. I was searching through Amazon, found Westworld, thought the description was good, so I watched it. I had never heard of it and didn't realise it was a 70's film. At first I though it was very retro then realised it was in fact produced in 1973. I like 70's stuff so I gave it a chance.First off I have to state that its wrong to criticise old films based on contemporary standards but you could write a dissertation on how the 70's imagined the future. Its comical in so many ways and so bad in others. As a piece of entertainment its OK. I watched the whole film but was more stuck by the imagination of a future more than the actual story. The story itself is 'middle of the road' but at the time I imagine it was original and captured the imagination of a generation. I watched it, was entertained, but laughed more at how bad it was rather than being enthralled by a piece of movie magic.I first judged the film right at the beginning where a TV reporter is talking to people getting off the plane that are just returning from Westworld (Dalos). One guy bragged that he had killed 6 people (" I think they were people" he told the reporter). The next person the reporter spoke to was overly excited having just been to Romanworld "The Men!, the men!" she exclaimed. It quite clear straight away that this is a sex park for depraved pervs. Nothing more than sex tourism for the rich. Plus you get to 'kill without committing murder'. Who in their right mind wants to go to park so they can experience the 'thrill' of murder? This is not something I would pay to experience.It goes downhill from there. The two protagonists then check into their hotel in Westworld and come to realise the Western world they have come to experience includes authentic digs. They sleep in old beds with old sheets, drink old drinks with absolutely no modern comforts. I don't know why someone would pay $1000 a day for bed bugs and malnutrition just for the privilege of sex and murder. This pretty much sums up the whole film. The 'dead' robots are cleaned up every night, while the guest are asleep, and repaired. This strikes me as an extremely expensive way of doing things. Plus the engineer at the park says "These androids were designed by computers so we don't really know how they work" Wow, great! unleash a load of highly sophisticated machines with weapons amongst a load of fee paying guests.What made me laugh the most is when Peter sleeps with the robot prostitute. He is all timid and shy and afterwards thinks hes a stallion. It was a ROBOT PROSTITUTE! Not much conquest to speak of but we was very proud of himself. Because of this he then embraces the experience and come out of his shell.Peter does ask the question 'How is it that we have real guns?' where he is then informed that the guns don't fire at warm targets. These must be non-ricochet bullets then (geeze!). When the robot snake bites John, and the park engineers start to realise things are going wrong, do they close the Park? No, just bring the snake in so we can take a look at it. Health and Safety just doesn't exist in the 70's (kinda why I like it).When the situation worsens then park engineers shutdown the power to the park all it does is shutdown the engineers computers. We discover all the robots have batteries!! Plus, somehow, shutting down the power only locked the engineers in their control room, with no oxygen. Seriously! come on.I would love to continue poking holes in this but this is too long already.Overall, a laugh but not great.