Great Caesar’s Movie Club: Shutdown at the OK Corral

Posted: April 7th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Hey, you like cowboys, right? And robots? And the bald dude who danced with Moses and argued with his kids’ schoolteacher? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera?!?

Then, buddy, have I got something for you.

In 1973 Yul Brynner beat The Terminator to the punch by more than a decade when he played an unstoppable cyborg killing machine in the folly-of-man movie Westworld, a film that still packs a creepy punch today. There are some other guys in it, including the one who played the Van Helsing heir in Love at First Bite (Anyone? No?), but it’s really all about Brynner and the strange delight his Gunslinger takes in wasting a bunch of weekend wannabes. Since that sounds like good, clean fun to me, the latest selection for Great Caesar’s Movie Club is:

WESTWORLD

OK, let me give you a little more background: In the “future,” rich folks looking for new thrills are flocking to a new resort, where cyborgs that are indistinguishable from their human guests play out their various roles and fulfill the patron’s fantasies. And when I say “fantasies” … well, it was the 70s. The resort is broken into three sections — Medieval World, Roman World and Westworld — each with its simulated pleasures and dangers, and all perfectly safe due to the cyborg’s programming, which prevents any nasty accidents.

You can see where this is going, right?

Along for the ride with Brynner (in full Magnificent Seven dress, no less) are character actor Richard Benjamin and a young James Brolin, who form the core of this Michael Crichton written and directed murder-fest. It’s just this side of pulp, and it’s totally on this side of radical. Check out the original promo:

See what I mean? Westworld is available on DVD at Netflix, and you can also find the whole thing over at YouTube. As always, I’d like to hear what you think of the movie so if you’d like to participate, here are the guidelines:

Now showing: Westworld (1973)

Due date: Thursday, April 28

The deal: Write a review of this months’ selection, link it back to me and I’ll link back to you. Send me an e-mail or drop it in the comments so I know it’s there.

Make contact: maxoromero [at] gmail [com]


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