RoboCop

RoboCop

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Produced by Jon Davison
Written by Edward Neumeier
Michael Miner
Starring Peter Weller
Nancy Allen
Dan O'Herlihy
Ronny Cox
Kurtwood Smith
Miguel Ferrer
Music by Basil Poledouris
Cinematography Sol Negrin
Jost Vacano
Editing by Frank J. Urioste
Distributed by Orion Pictures
Release date(s) July 17, 1987 (1987-07-17)
Running time 103 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $13 million
Gross revenue $53,424,681
Followed by RoboCop 2

RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop". In addition to being an action film, RoboCop includes larger themes regarding the media, gentrification, corruption, and human nature. It has spawned merchandise, two sequels, a television series, two animated tv series, and a television mini-series, video games and two comic book adaptations.

The film features Peter Weller, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood Smith, Nancy Allen, Miguel Ferrer, and Ronny Cox.

Contents

Plot

In a dystopian future, the city of Detroit, Michigan is on the verge of collapse due to financial ruin and unchecked crime. The mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products enters into a contract with the city to run the police force while the company makes plans to destroy "Old Detroit" to replace it with the utopia of "Delta City."

OCP Chairman (Dan O'Herlihy), known as the Old Man, recognizes that existing law enforcement is insufficient to stop the crime spree. Senior president Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) offers a law enforcement droid, the ED-209, but a demonstration of the droid goes badly wrong when a young executive is shot to death by the malfunctioning robot. Seizing his opportunity, junior executive Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer) offers the Old Man an alternative -- his own RoboCop program to create an augmented cyborg. The Old Man agrees but Jones is furious at Morton for going over his head.

Veteran police officer Alexander James Murphy (Peter Weller) is transferred to the crime-ridden Metro West precinct and partnered with Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen). On their first patrol, they chase down a team of criminals led by crime boss Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) to an abandoned steel mill. Murphy and Lewis separate. Lewis is later rendered unconscious by one of the gang, while the rest of Boddicker's men corner Murphy and sadistically mutilate him with shotguns before Boddicker executes him with a pistol shot to the head. Lewis, disarmed and unable to help, witnesses the murder in horror. Murphy is pronounced dead at the hospital, but OCP takes his body and uses it to create the first RoboCop.

RoboCop is guided by three prime directives written into his programming: serve the public trust, protect the innocent and uphold the law. He is able to single-handedly deal with much of the violent crime in the city, causing the rest of the police force to become worried they may be replaced. But RoboCop still retains memories of his life as Murphy, including brief glimpses of his wife and son, and the action of spinning his gun before holstering it, a trick Murphy had done for his son. Lewis recognizes these elements from Murphy's mannerisms, and tries to learn more from RoboCop, but he remains silent on the issues. Because of Robocop's success, Morton is promoted to become one of OCP's Vice Presidents.

Morton's success and arrogance leads Jones to have Boddicker, secretly in his employ, kill the junior executive. An armed gas station holdup by one of Boddicker's men allows RoboCop to track down Boddicker to a cocaine bunker. RoboCop bursts into the facility and a shootout between him and the bandits ensues. RoboCop then apprehends Boddicker and forcefully makes him reveal his alliance with Dick Jones. RoboCop then visits Jones at his offices at OCP, showing him Boddicker's statement and prepares to arrest Jones. As RoboCop does so, a previously unknown and secret fourth Directive activates that prevents RoboCop from acting against any senior executive of OCP. Jones boasts to RoboCop about the Fourth Directive, which he added, and his role in Morton's murder, and then sends an ED-209 against RoboCop. RoboCop, handicapped by the directive, engages the machine. The ED-209, though possessing impressive advanced technology, proves incapable of descending a stairway, enabling RoboCop to escape, but when he gets outside, the police SWAT team is waiting for him with orders to destroy him. Lewis, having followed RoboCop, saves him.

Lewis tends to RoboCop's injuries at the same steel mill where Murphy was killed, and discovers that there is still some of Murphy's old self present despite the cyborg augmentation. Meanwhile, the police launch their long-threatened strike, sending the city into chaos. Jones arranges for Boddicker and his men to be released from prison and funds them with new cars and Cobra Assault Cannons capable of puncturing RoboCop's heavy armor. Boddicker's team converges on the steel mill using a tracking device provided by OCP. RoboCop and Lewis defend themselves and kill the whole gang, though Lewis is severely wounded.

RoboCop returns to OCP headquarters and uses one of the Assault Cannons to destroy the ED-209 guarding the building. Arriving in the middle of an executive board meeting with the president, Jones, and other executives, RoboCop plays back Jones's confession to Morton's murder and explains his inability to arrest OCP employees. Jones quickly grabs a gun, takes the president hostage and begins making demands. The president, after being enlightened about the Fourth Directive by RoboCop, fires Jones from OCP, which nullifies the directive. After thanking the president, RoboCop promptly shoots Jones, who then falls out the window to his death.

As the board room recovers from the crisis, the president commends RoboCop for his skill and asks for his name, to which he replies, "Murphy".

Cast

Paul Verhoeven initially considered Rutger Hauer, whom he had worked with on most of his films, as well as Michael Ironside, for the role of RoboCop. Ironside was also originally considered for the villainous part of Clarence Boddicker; he later portrayed a similar villain in Verhoeven's Total Recall (coincidentally, Kurtwood Smith (who portrayed Clarence) was considered to play the villain in Total Recall, but passed the script to Ironside). Allegedly Arnold Schwarzenegger was at one point in talks to do the film, but Verhoeven eventually dismissed all three on the basis that the bulky RoboCop costume would require an actor of light build to work with. Peter Weller, a method actor known for playing everyman characters, was subsequently cast as Murphy/RoboCop.

After being cast as Anne Lewis, Nancy Allen had to get her hair cut several times, until it was short enough for Verhoeven, because he wanted to desexualize her character.

In the commentary, Verhoeven explains his choice to cast Kurtwood Smith and Ronny Cox as the central villains. Cox was an actor who until then was primarily known for "nice-guy" roles such as fatherly figures, and similarly Smith was cast as a more intellectual type; Smith was originally brought in to audition for both Clarence and Jones.[1] Verhoeven comments that the look of Clarence Boddicker with the glasses reminded him of Heinrich Himmler. The background of Cox's character Dick Jones is similar to Superman villain Lex Luthor.

In addition, Barbara the secretary of OCP Vice President Dick Jones (whom Boddicker lasciviously hits on) is played by Joan Pirkle, the real-life wife of Kurtwood Smith. Television personality Leeza Gibbons has a small role as news anchor Jesse Perkins. Paul Verhoeven himself has a small cameo appearance during the arrest of Leon in the nightclub scene; there is one brief close-up of him dancing maniacally as Leon is being dragged away by his hair.

Blooper

In the scene near the end of the movie, where Clarence reunites with his friends, Leon taps on the rooftop of the car, causing the rearview mirror to fall from the windshield.

Production

RoboCop was written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Edward Neumeier stated that he first got the idea of Robocop when he walked past a poster for Blade Runner. He asked his friend what the film was about and he replied saying, "It's about a cop hunting robots". This then sparked the idea for him about a Robot Cop.

Allegedly, while the two were attempting to pitch the screenplay to Hollywood executives, they were stranded accidentally at an airplane terminal with a high-ranking movie executive for several hours. Here they were able to speak to him about the project and thus begin the series of events which eventually became RoboCop the movie.

RoboCop marked the first major Hollywood production for Dutch director Paul Verhoeven. Although he had been working in the Netherlands for more than a decade and directed several films to great acclaim (e.g. Soldier of Orange), Verhoeven moved away in 1984 to seek broader opportunities in Hollywood. While RoboCop is often credited as his English language debut, he had in fact previously made Flesh & Blood during 1985, starring Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

On the Criterion Edition audio commentary (available on both the laserdisc and DVD versions) Verhoeven recalls that, when he first glanced through the script, he discarded it in disgust. Afterwards, his wife picked the script from the bin and read it more thoroughly, convincing him that the plot had more substance than he originally assumed. Repo Man director Alex Cox was offered to direct before Verhoeven came aboard.[2]

The character of RoboCop itself was inspired by British comic book hero Judge Dredd[3] as well as the Marvel Comics superhero Rom. A ROM comic book appears on screen during the film's convenience store robbery. Another ROM comic appears in a flashback of Murphy's son. Although both Neumeier and Verhoeven have declared themselves staunchly on the political left, Neumeier recalls on the audio commentary to Starship Troopers that many of his leftist friends perceived RoboCop as a fascist movie. On the 20th Anniversary DVD, producer Jon Davison referred to the film's message as "fascism for liberals" - a politically liberal film done in the most violent way possible.

Filming

Filming began during the summer of 1986 and lasted from August 6 until mid-October. The scenes depicting Murphy's 'death' were not filmed until the following January (1987), some months after principal shooting had ceased. Many of the urban settings of the movie were filmed in downtown Dallas, Texas due to the futuristic appearances of the buildings. The Reunion Tower is also visible in the background near the end. The front of Dallas City Hall was used as the exterior for the fictional OCP Headquarters, combined with extensive matte paintings to make the building appear taller. The steel mills were filmed in Monessen, Pennsylvania.

Peter Weller had prepared extensively for the role using a padded costume (supposedly, development of the actual RoboCop suit was three weeks behind schedule). By the time shooting was underway and the costume arrived on set, however, Weller discovered he was almost unable to move in it as he had anticipated, and required additional training to get accustomed. Weller later revealed to Roger Ebert that during filming, he was losing three pounds a day due to sweat loss while wearing the RoboCop suit in +100°F (+38°C) temperatures.[4] Peter's personal assistant, Todd Trotter, was responsible for keeping the actor cool in between takes with electric fans and, when available, large ducts connected to free-standing air conditioning units. The suit later had a fan built into it.

Vehicles

6000 SUX advertisement.

The 1986 Ford Taurus was used as the police cruiser in the movie, due to its then-futuristic design.

One of the Taurus's competitors at the time, the Pontiac 6000, is parodied in the movie as the "6000 SUX". The 6000 SUX itself was based on a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with extensive bodywork. Commercials advertise the SUX as "an American tradition" with a fuel efficiency of 8.2 miles per gallon. In early production, it was to be powered by jet turbines; the exhaust of the turbine is still visible above the rear license plate of Clarence Boddicker's SUX in chase scenes. The 6000 SUX was designed by Gene Winfield of Winfield Rod & Custom, while Chiodo Brothers Productions fabricated and animated the dinosaur puppet in the 6000 SUX commercial. The dinosaur itself was animated by Don Waller, who also had a cameo in the same sequence, reacting to the rampaging creature in a tight close-up.[5]

The newly-released Merkur XR4Ti makes a small cameo appearance as an executive vehicle when RoboCop is delivered to the precinct.

As of June 2010, RoboCop's Taurus is on display at the Branson Auto Museum in Branson, Missouri.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack score for the movie was composed by Basil Poledouris (1945–2006), who used both synthesized and orchestral music as a mirror to the man-versus-machine theme of the movie. The score alternates brass heavy material, including the memorable RoboCop theme and ED-209's theme, with more introverted pieces for strings, such as during RoboCop's home-coming scene. The music was performed by the Sinfonia of London conducted by Howard Blake and Tony Britton.

The soundtrack is available on CD from Varèse Sarabande and has been reissued and remastered several times in recent years. The listing below reflects the 2004 reissue, featuring four tracks (in italics) previously unreleased.

  1. Main Title (:39)
  2. Van Chase (4:51)
  3. Murphy's Death (2:36)
  4. Rock Shop (3:42)
  5. Home (4:15)
  6. Robo Vs. Ed-209 (2:07)
  7. The Dream (3:06)
  8. Across The Board (1:50)
  9. Betrayal (2:18)
  10. Clarence Frags Bob (1:43)
  11. Care Package (2:09)
  12. Robo Drives To Jones (1:46)
  13. We Killed You (1:44)
  14. Directive IV (1:03)
  15. Showdown (5:15)
  16. Have A Heart (:31)
  17. OCP Monitors (1:15)
  18. Nuke 'Em (:26)
  19. Big Is Better (:27)

The theme song also made its way into the arcade and NES RoboCop video games.

In the nightclub scene, the song "Show Me Your Spine" by P.T.P. was played. P.T.P was a short lived side project consisting of members of the band Ministry and Skinny Puppy. However, this song was not available in any official form and could only be heard in the film. It was eventually released in 2004 on a compilation album called Side Trax by Ministry.

Rating

The movie was given an X rating by the MPAA in 1987 (the rating which replaced X, NC-17, emerged in 1990) due to its graphic violence. To appease the requirements of the ratings board, Verhoeven strove to reduce blood and gore in the most violent scenes in the movie, including the malfunctioning of ED-209, Murphy's execution (where his entire right arm is severed by a shotgun blast and a final overhead shot of Lewis sobbing over Murphy on the blood-soaked floor), and the final battle with Clarence Boddicker (in which RoboCop stabs Boddicker in the neck with his neural spike and a chunk of Boddicker's throat splatters onto RoboCop's chest). Verhoeven also added humorous commercials throughout the news broadcasts to lighten the mood and distract from the violent aspects of the movie. After 11 original X-ratings, the film was eventually given an R rating.[6] The original uncut version was included on the Criterion Collection laserdisc and DVD of the film (both out of print), the 2005 trilogy box set and the 2007 anniversary edition; the latter two were released by MGM and are classified as unrated.

Regarding the omitted scenes, Verhoeven stated in the 2007 anniversary edition DVD that he had wanted the violence to be 'over the top', in an almost comical fashion (the executive that is killed by ED-209, for example, and the line about calling a paramedic soon after his demise, was meant as black comedy). Verhoeven also states that the tone of the violence was changed to a more upsetting tone due to the deletions requested by the MPAA, and that the deletions also remove footage of the extensive animatronic puppet of Murphy just before he is executed by Boddicker.

Reception

RoboCop was released in American theaters on July 17, 1987. The film was a commercial success and grossed over $8 million in its opening weekend[7] and $53,424,681 during its domestic run,[8] making it the 16th most successful movie that year.[9]

The film was well received by critics[10] and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1987.[11][12][13][14][15] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an 88% "Certified Fresh" rating from critics, with the following consensus: "While over-the-top and gory, RoboCop is also a surprisingly smart sci-fi flick that uses ultraviolence to disguise its satire of American culture".[16]

RoboCop was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing and the Academy Award for Sound. It won the Academy Award for Sound Effects Editing. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named it the #14 greatest action movie of all time.[17] In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[18] It was placed on a similar list, The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made, by The New York Times.[19]

The film was on the ballot for two of the American Film Institute's 100 Series lists. These lists included 100 Years…100 Thrills,[20] a list of America's most heart-pounding movies, and AFI's "Ten Top Ten", a list of the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres. RoboCop was a candidate for the science fiction category.[21] At its release, British director Ken Russell said that this was the best science fiction movie since Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927).

Themes

RoboCop explores larger themes regarding the media and human nature in addition to being a big budget action film; the philosopher Steven Best wrote an essay on some of this content.[22]

In the Criterion Edition DVD commentary track, executive producer Jon Davison and writer Edward Neumeier both mention the decay of American industry from the 1970s through the early 1980s. The abandoned "Rust Belt-style" factories that RoboCop and Clarence Boddicker's gang use as hideouts demonstrate this theme. Massive unemployment is prevalent, being reported frequently on the news, as is poverty and the crime that results from economic hardship.

Director Paul Verhoeven, known for his heavy use of Christian symbolism, states in the documentary "Flesh and Steel: The Making of RoboCop" (featured on the RoboCop DVD) that his intention was to portray RoboCop as a Christ figure. This is represented in Murphy's horrific death, his return as RoboCop, and the scene at the steel mill where RoboCop is seen walking ankle-deep in water, creating the illusion of him walking on water. On that note, Verhoeven was asked by a fan whether the showdown with Dick Jones was intended as a representation of Satan (Jones)'s rebelling against Jehovah (the OCP president), or the Devil's subsequent fall from grace after being stripped of his prestige and cast out of Heaven (being fired on the spot, and then blown backwards through the window of the OCP tower to his death). Verhoeven's reply: "It's a sharp observation, but none of that was on my mind at the time."

See also

References

  1. ↑ Villains of Old Detroit featurette. RoboCop 20th Anniversary DVD.
  2. ↑ Rabin, Nathan. "Alex Cox Interview with The Onion". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/22824. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  3. ↑ "Interview with Paul Verhoeven by Xi-Online". Xi-online.nl. http://www.xi-online.nl/feature/28. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  4. ↑ "Roger Ebert reviews RoboCop 3". Chicago Sun-Times. November 5, 1993. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19931105/REVIEWS/311050305/1023. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  5. ↑ "FX Credits". Chiodobros.com. http://www.chiodobros.com/fxcredits.html#features. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  6. ↑ "Backstory RoboCop AMC". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBkjTxD1a0. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  7. ↑ "Box office receipts for ''RoboCop''". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093870/business. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  8. ↑ "Box Office Information for RoboCop". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=robocop.htm. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  9. ↑ "1987 Domestic Grosses". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1987&p=.htm. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  10. ↑ "RoboCop Movie Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/robocop?q=robocop. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  11. ↑ "Greatest Films of 1987". AMC Filmsite.org. http://www.filmsite.org/1987.html. Retrieved April 23, 2010. 
  12. ↑ "The 10 Best Movies of 1987". Film.com. August 2, 2007. http://www.film.com/features/story/10-best-movies-1987-rave/15746782. Retrieved April 23, 2010. 
  13. ↑ "The Best Movies of 1987!". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Movies-of-1987/lm/2O1R5JPJZP7VQ. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  14. ↑ "The Best Movies of 1987 by Rank". Films101.com. http://www.films101.com/y1987r.htm. Retrieved April 23, 2010. 
  15. ↑ "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1987". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/search/title?year=1987,1987&title_type=feature&sort=moviemeter,asc. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  16. ↑ "RoboCop Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1017712-robocop/. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  17. ↑ "The 25 Greatest Action Movies Ever!". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20041669_20041686_20042607_12,00.html. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 
  18. ↑ "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire. http://www.empireonline.com/500/18.asp. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  19. ↑ "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. April 29, 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html. Retrieved May 22, 2010. 
  20. ↑ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills: Official Ballot". AFI.com. http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/thrills400.pdf. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  21. ↑ "AFI's 10 Top 10: Official Ballot". AFI.com. http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/10top10.pdf?docID=381&AddInterest=1781. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
  22. ↑ "Dr. Steven Best, PhD - Robocop: The Crisis of Subjectivity (1987)". DrSteveBest.org. http://www.drstevebest.org/Essays/Robocop.htm. Retrieved April 17, 2009. 

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Aliens		 Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
1987		 Succeeded by
Alien Nation
RoboCop
Films
RoboCop • RoboCop 2 • RoboCop 3
Animated television
The Animated Series • Alpha Commando
Live-action television
The Series • Prime Directives
Video games
RoboCop versus The Terminator
Comics
RoboCop versus The Terminator
Characters
RoboCop / Alex Murphy • ED-209
Organizations
Omni Consumer Products
Other
Kidou Keiji Jiban • Tokusou Robo Janperson • WCW Capital Combat: The Return of RoboCop
Films directed by Paul Verhoeven
1970s
Business Is Business (1971) · Turkish Delight (1973) · Katie Tippel (1975) · Soldier of Orange (1977) · All Things Pass (1979)
1980s
Spetters (1980) · The Fourth Man (1983) · Flesh & Blood (1985) · RoboCop (1987)
1990s
Total Recall (1990) · Basic Instinct (1992) · Showgirls (1995) · Starship Troopers (1997)
2000s
Hollow Man (2000) · Black Book (2006)