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.
I have a confession to make: I like hot dogs more than I like Wolverine.
It’s no reflection on the bajillions of fans of the oh-so-popular Marvel mutant, but something to keep in mind is that I’m freakin’ old, man. I was there when when Logan was this weird little hairy guy from Canada who kept showing up in issues of Alpha Flight. I was there when Claremont insisted on turning the character’s angst up so high it blew out the speakers. And I was there in those dark times known as the 90s, when Wolverine was EVERYWHERE.
Basically, I liked the inner beast-fighting, modern day-samurai version of Wolverine but over time found myself overstuffed with Wolverine. (Ugh – that sounds unsavory.)
At this point, I thought I couldn’t be surprised by Logan sightings, even in the most unlikely places. But then I went to my number one hot dog place in town, and guess who I ran into?
This is now officially my favorite version of Wolverine.
Right next to the apartment building I live in is a plumbing supply store, and all day long dudes in trucks filter in and out of the shop’s parking lot. There’s a pretty even mix of vans belonging to bigger plumbing companies and the everyday pick-up trucks of the independent wrench-jockey. My wife and I have lived in this building for years, and at one point were in an apartment that overlooked the back lot of the supply store itself, so I’ve become familiar with some of the local plumbers just out of sheer repetition.
There’s one, though, that’s an obvious favorite.
Strangely enough, I never see the same two plumbers in the van at the same time. Hmmm …
I don’t normally enter a lot of contests. There are some people who will sign up for any chance to take home the trophy, whether it’s the neighborhood raffle or the supermarket grocery giveaway or whatever. Not me, and for a very simple reason.
I never win.
My wife usually has better luck – she won a hundred dollar gift certificate from a bath and body place recently – but just last week my luck changed! I won! Yay, me!
Appropriately enough, the contest was over on the Dark Horse website. The challenge: Leave a comment describing the first time you saw “Star Wars” and the best three will receive a Star Wars prize package. Of course, this was irresistible! I grabbed my Yoda action figure for inspiration and sent this comment, warts and all (the “thrilling” followed by a “thrilled” still bugs me, but oh, well):
“I was seven years old when “Star Wars – Episode IV” was released, and I remember sitting in the theater with my family when the lights went down and those thrilling first notes of the theme began. From the start, I was thrilled and pulled deep, deep into the movie. From that moment on, I was a fan, and watching it the first time was immediately followed by the second – we kept out seats (you could still do that, then) and watched it again. I was so excited I couldn’t stop smiling, or talking about it. I guess I still can’t.
The rest of that summer was defined by the number of days until I could see the movie again. My dad, who himself had fond memories of watching serials and pulp sci-fi at the theater, indulged me. He took me to see “Star Wars” over and over, and never seemed to lose his own enthusiasm. By the time school started up three months later, I had seen the movie 13 or 14 times.
When “Phantom Menace” came out years later, I wasn’t sure I would make it to opening day. My dad, suddenly and unexpectedly, had died two days before. It didn’t feel right, and I told my mom so. She clicked her tongue and told me, “Well, your dad wouldn’t want you to miss it – he’d want you to go. Don’t you think?” And she was right. It wasn’t the same as seeing “Star Wars” in ’77, but in way it’s as much a memory of my dad as it had been then.
And I still get a thrill when that theme music begins.”
When Dark Horse sent an e-mail a couple of days later letting me know the comment was one of the three chosen, I was pretty excited (you can read the other winning comments at the Dark Horse page). And I don’t even know what’s in the prize package! Is it the comic book adaptations at the bottom of the page? Or could it … could it be …?
OK, I think I’m getting carried away. Plus, I don’t want to jinx it. I’m just going to go sit by the window now and wait for the mailman to get here.
I would be the first to tell you I don’t have a lot of personal experience with the work of Dwayne McDuffie.
Around the time he was helping launch the groundbreaking and bar-raising Milestone Media, I was going through one of those periods in life when – for one reason or another – you aren’t buying comics. I was aware of what was going on with Milestone – a creator-owned, multicultural and wholly creative imprint published through DC – but only on the edges. It’s a comic book reading experience I still regret missing.
Most of what I know about McDuffie is thanks to his outspoken advocacy for multiculturalism and honest storytelling. He famously butted heads with the powers that be in the comics industry, and wasn’t shy about speaking his mind at cons and in interviews. Overall, and unrelentingly, McDuffie spoke out for fairness. That’s all. And as a comic book reader who is also a person of color, I’ll always hold him in high regard for that.
Even though I wasn’t as familiar with his work as I could have been – with Milestone, and later DC, Marvel and animated shows and movies – it was still a sad shock to hear McDuffie died Monday (Feb. 21, 2011) at the age of 49 due to complications from emergency heart surgery.
McDuffie no doubt had many more stories to tell; his death is a loss to fans and potential fans alike.
