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Westworld

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Mighty_Emperor

Gone But Not Forgotten
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A remake in the offing - slightly older news but if Arnie is now signed up for Termiantor 4 and True Lies 2 that would suggest he isn't going for relection and so might be free for this (not that I think that would be a good idea though).

IMDB (1973):
www.imdb.com/title/tt0070909/

IMDB (2007):
www.imdb.com/title/tt0475784/

Westworld with Schwartznegger?

Posted by Filmfanzine
Friday 12.08.2005

The remake of Westworld is now a go. Schwartznegger´s rep. insist he´s not involved with the project at this point. But if he decides to not seek re-election next year, he might be in it.

The film will be produced by Jerry Weintraub (Warner Bros), The Cell director Tarsem Singh will helm Westworld.

There is no screenplay or writer yet attached to the remake.

The original 1973 Westworld was written and directed by Jurassic Park creator Michael Crichton. The film is about a amusement park for rich vacationers. The park provides its customers a way to live out their fantasies through the use of robots that provide anything they want. Two of the vacationers choose a wild west adventure. However, after a computer breakdown, they find that they are now being stalked by a rogue robot gun-slinger.

However, in the remake Schwarzenegger was not set to play the Yul Brynner role of the robotic gunfighter, but one of the park guests.
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www.filmfanzine.com/?page_id=story&art_id=449
 
I've never actually seen Westworld, it sounds like a direct prefiguration of Jurassic Park. Is it any good?
 
It's a lot cheaper than Jurassic Park, but I find it's the better film as it has a great baddie in Yul Brynner and an amusingly cynical view of technology running out of control.

"Where nothing can go wrongg..." as it said on the poster.
 
The idea of a Westworld resort is every gamers dream (like Dreampark by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell).

A 'living' holiday when you could act out a dream existence but with no risk of personal death and responsibility? Wonderful. However...

The film is incredibly good ... with Yul Bynner as the bad guy? After his excellent portrayal in The Magnificent Seven, his clone hunting you and never stopping (like the later Terminator) is feckin' scary!

I will say Westworld could do with a remake but the remake could be done so badly, it needs considerate handling. No extra special effects - the original didn't need it. But the deadly thrill of a remorseless killer hunting you ...

Sound familiar?
 
I still get the odd nightmare about Brynner's Gunslinger character, that was one seriously scary performance. It's just the idea of this unstoppable, ruthless killing machine that just keeps on going no matter what happens to it...

Sort of like the Terminator in a cowboy hat ;)
 
H_James said:
I've never actually seen Westworld, it sounds like a direct prefiguration of Jurassic Park. Is it any good?
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Definitely. Its a must see classic.

It gets shown a lot on TCM - I'll keep an eye out for it and give people a shout when it turns up again. This seems your best bet as UK rental/buying may be tricky except for the motivated.

All the DVD releases are fairly basic:

www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=1868

and there is no current R2 release but check out:

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004V ... enantmc-20
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/07928 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0792839 ... enantmc-20

there is also a "making of":

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000B1 ... enantmc-20

------------
There was also a very similar strip in 2000AD once (pos. in an annual) with the robots running amok on some kind of holiday world (one of them was a Lizzie Borden robot) and then dressing as the returning holidaymakers to continue murdering back on Earth.
 
Arnie/Terminator had the advantage of looking big, muscular and threatening.

Yul was normal ... and unstoppable. He always had that slight smile on his face. Even when he'd been axed, he still had that slightly amused smile.

The real difference that can be made is with CGI. Even now, with all the special effects, Westworld is still scary in the same way that Psycho is scary. You have an unstoppable killer after you, after being told you were in a luxury resort when nothing could go wrong.

Ha Ha.
 
Why remake it? There's no point. It would be like remaking Beethoven's Fifth. Yes, it's a little dated, but it's fine just the way it is.

Please sir, can we have some new Science Fiction films, instead of all these endless remakes and sequels?

"NEW science fiction, Oliver? The cheek of the boy! You'll eat yesterday's reheated gruel and be thankful for it!"
 
Er ... hello? The reason why any film company makes re-makes of films already a success -

Someone has already written the plot. The merchandising of the film is going to be easy. We get CGI in on the deal which is cheaper than actors ... this is a "classic" film - nice little earner!

Par-don for me being a cynic but ...
 
Yep as SK says: Guaranteed box office and solid DVD sales. If they don't go massively over budget and don't make an awful balls of it then they are going to make a hefty return on their investment. If it gets them to pull their fingers out to release a good R2 DVD then it'd be worth it.

I'm looking in my crystal ball (the other one if fine - nasty gypsy curse on the famil we don't like to talk about) and see it being rehashed into something closer to the hash they made of AI. Rogue robots get smashed to pulp in CGI spectatcular pos. whilst smasher is saving his family.
 
bigphoot1 said:
I still get the odd nightmare about Brynner's Gunslinger character, that was one seriously scary performance. It's just the idea of this unstoppable, ruthless killing machine that just keeps on going no matter what happens to it...

Sort of like the Terminator in a cowboy hat ;)
Click to expand...
Yes. It was that good. An excellent pulp SF movie. Cheapo, but with one character, at least, giving it 110% (Brynner). :)

What helped make it really scary was that the gunslinger-bot was basically Brynner's good guy, gun-for-hire, Chris character, from The Magnificent Seven (1960):

http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/stills/MGMA5859-still_hires.jpg.
 
I can just picture it now, hundreds of CGI robots (all replicas of old western movie stars) on the rampage with Arnie kicking robot butt and dispensing "witty" one liners.

I'm just dreading the day when some suit in Hollywood sees my beloved Forbidden Planet and decides it needs a remake...
 
It wont be long.

They're going through all the back catalogue.
 
Stormkhan said:
It wont be long.

They're going through all the back catalogue.
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I can see it now: Orlando Bloom as Captian Adams, Burt Reynolds as Morbius, Madonna as Altaira and the voice of Will Smith as Robby the Robot.

And they'll probably get Micheal Bay to direct it.
 
Anyone but Paul W S Anderson! (Although it's a shame he never got the chance to film his planned remake of Death Race 2000. He was born to remake Death Race 2000!)
 
Rather fond of the original, not sure it needs a remake at all or where they're going to go with it post Terminator, post Western and sans Brenner.

Clint Eastwood in Brenner's shoes? He's about the only person I could imagine having the same presence. Or maybe some CGI to 'ressurect' various Western greats.

Robert Rodriguez to direct would be cool, in El Mariachi/Desperado mode.


James - There was a movie sequal to Westworld called Futureworld, don't recall it being super but it's been so long since I saw it I wouldn't want to be too hard on it either - poss. worth a look in if you like the first one.

There was also a spinoff TV series that IIRC only ran to 4 episodes. Used to do the rounds on Saturday morning TV cira 1980. Heard it wasn't too good, but tbh I only saw the back end of a couple of episodes myself so I never got a handle on it.
 
He was born to be a pedestrain in Death Race 2000
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Now a remake of Death Race 2000 I could live with. Esp. if we could get the electrodes on Richard Stanley's testicles for long enough to make him direct again. :D
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
James - There was a movie sequal to Westworld called Futureworld, don't recall it being super but it's been so long since I saw it I wouldn't want to be too hard on it either - poss. worth a look in if you like the first one.
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IMDB entry for that one:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0074559/
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
H_James said:
I've never actually seen Westworld, it sounds like a direct prefiguration of Jurassic Park. Is it any good?
Click to expand...

Definitely. Its a must see classic.

It gets shown a lot on TCM - I'll keep an eye out for it and give people a shout when it turns up again.
Click to expand...

Its on at 11.25 tonight on TCM.

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BlackRiverFalls said:
He was born to be a pedestrain in Death Race 2000
Click to expand...

Now a remake of Death Race 2000 I could live with.
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Remake news here:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23913
 
A bit of trivia, Westworld is on the recommended viewing list of the Church of Satan, along with the 70s version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and my fave of old, The Abominable Dr Phibes.
 
Westworld is often held up as proof that Michael Crichton did actually have talent once, before he became a hack. He not only wrote it, but also directed it, and was subject to budget constraints and studio control - in spite of which he ended up with a pretty good film.

By the time we get to the late 80s and Jurassic Park however, he's just rehashing his old plots with newer technology and churning out crap.
 
Well, that 2007 remake never happened, but a TV version is coming next year:
First Westworld teaser from HBO

The first footage from HBO’s ambitious Westworld TV series is finally here (below). After many months of anticipation (and some re-casting) HBO released the first significant online teaser for its star-filled upcoming series from Jonathan Nolan (brother of director Christopher) and Lisa Joy, along with producers J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk. Though only about 30 seconds long, you’ll get some sense of the drama series.
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http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/09/westworld-trailer
 
Great cast and Ed Harris as The Man in Black, either he's playing The Gunslinger or they've got a new Johnny CashWorld :).
 
Looks more like Futureworld, which may not be so promising. There was already a TV series called Beyond Westworld, wasn't there? Not that I watched it, I can barely remember the Logan's Run TV show.
 
Not sure about that, the original was perfect in its simplicity, but this looks a bit overcooked. Suppose they have to stretch it out to ten (?) episodes somehow.
 
I quite like the look of it, sort of suggests a Tunnel Under the World type scenario that the players are struggling to make sense of, rather than just having robots run amok because something.

There was already a TV series called Beyond Westworld, wasn't there?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can find all the episodes online now, I think they only ever aired 4 though there's a couple more that were made, George Takei is in one of them. Not brilliant but maybe could have found it's feet, possibly no more condemned than anything else that got turned into formula TV for that era.

Stupidest moment is perhaps the hero destroying a robot snake by sticking it's head in the light socket! o_O
 
New trailer:

A bit self-important, but Anthony Hopkins might be acting for a change. I miss the twisted humour of the original, though. Maybe they haven't included those bits in the trailer.
 
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