Westworld

Westworld is a 1973 American science fiction Western film written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film follows guests visiting an interactive amusement park containing lifelike androids that unexpectedly begin to malfunction. The film stars Yul Brynner as an android in the amusement park, with Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.

The film was from an original screenplay by Crichton and was his first theatrical film as director, after one TV film. It was also the first feature film to use digital image processing to pixellate photography to simulate an android point of view. Critical reception was largely positive by contemporary and retrospective critics and Westworld was nominated for Hugo, Nebula, and Saturn awards.

Westworld was followed by a sequel, Futureworld (1976), and a short-lived television series, Beyond Westworld (1980). A television series based on the film debuted in 2016 on HBO.

Plot

In the near future, a highly realistic adult amusement park called Delos features three themed "worlds": Western World (the American Old West), Medieval World (medieval Europe) and Roman World (the ancient city of Pompeii). The resort's worlds are populated with lifelike androids that are practically indistinguishable from human beings, each programmed in character for their historical environment. For $1,000 per day, guests may indulge in any adventure with the android population of the park, including sexual encounters and simulated fights to the death.

Peter Martin, a first-time Delos visitor and his friend John Blane, on a repeat visit, go to Westworld. One of the attractions is the Gunslinger, an android programmed to instigate gunfights. The firearms issued to the park guests have temperature sensors that prevent them from shooting anything with a high body temperature, such as humans, but allow them to "kill" the cold-blooded androids. The Gunslinger's programming allows guests to draw their guns and kill it, with the android always returning the next day for another duel.

The technicians running Delos notice problems are beginning to spread: the androids in Roman World and Medieval World begin experiencing various breakdowns and systemic failures, which may have also spread to Westworld.

After a night spent with two android prostitutes, John is accosted by the same gunslinger Peter killed in the saloon the previous day. Peter bursts into the room and once again shoots the gunslinger dead. Peter is jailed awaiting trial, so John breaks him out and the two try to head out of town.

The malfunctions become more serious when a robotic rattlesnake bites John and against its program, a female android refuses a guest's advances in Medieval World. The failures escalate until Medieval World's Black Knight android kills a guest in a sword fight. The resort's supervisors try to regain control by shutting down power to the park. The shutdown traps them in central control when the doors automatically lock, and they cannot turn the power back on to escape. The androids in all three worlds run amok, operating on reserve power.

Peter and John, recovering from a drunken bar-room brawl, wake up in Westworld's brothel, unaware of the park's breakdown. When the Gunslinger challenges the men to a showdown, John treats the confrontation as an amusement but the android shoots him dead. Peter runs for his life, and the android follows.

Peter flees to other areas of the park but finds only dead guests, damaged androids and a panicked technician attempting to escape Delos, who is soon killed by the Gunslinger. Peter climbs down through a manhole in Roman World into the underground control complex and discovers that the resort's computer technicians suffocated in the control room when the ventilation system shut down. The Gunslinger stalks him through the underground corridors. While running away, Peter enters an android-repair laboratory. When the Gunslinger arrives there, Peter pretends to be an android lying on a table for repairs before throwing acid into the Gunslinger's face. Peter flees, returning to the surface inside the Medieval World castle.

With its optical inputs damaged, the Gunslinger cannot track Peter visually and tries instead to find him using its infrared scanners. Peter stands beneath flaming torches and discovers that they mask his presence from the android. He sets it on fire with a torch and leaves the android to burn. Peter hears a call in a dungeon and finds a chained woman begging for help. He gives her water but this causes her to short-circuit and shut down. Shocked, Peter realizes she was a robot. The burned shell of the Gunslinger attacks him once again before succumbing to its damage.

Peter then sits on the dungeon steps, exhausted and shocked, as the memory of Delos' marketing slogan resonates: "Boy, have we got a vacation for you!"

Cast

• Yul Brynner as the Gunslinger
• Richard Benjamin as Peter Martin
• James Brolin as John Blane
• Norman Bartold as Medieval Knight
• Alan Oppenheimer as the Chief Supervisor
• Victoria Shaw as the Medieval Queen
• Dick Van Patten as the Banker
• Linda Gaye Scott as Arlette, the French saloon prostitute
• Steve Franken as the Delos technician shot dead by the Gunslinger
• Michael Mikler as the Black Knight
• Terry Wilson as the Sheriff
• Majel Barrett as Miss Carrie, madame of the Westworld bordello
• Anne Randall as Daphne, the serving-maid who refuses the Medieval Knight's advances
• Robert Hogan as Ed Wren (uncredited)
• Kenneth Washington as Technician (uncredited)
• Nora Marlowe as the Hostess
• Charles Seel as the Bellhop
• Robert Patten as the Technician