Westworld (1973)
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Guests at a high-tech amusement park featuring lifelike androids find themselves in peril when the park's systems begin to malfunction.
The story
In 1983, a high-tech amusement park called Delos features three distinct themed worlds populated by lifelike androids that are nearly indistinguishable from humans. Guests pay to experience adventures in these environments, including the Western-themed Westworld. The story follows two friends, Peter Martin and John Blane, as they navigate the park's attractions. However, a systemic failure begins to spread across the park's different zones, causing the androids to malfunction and act unpredictably. As the situation escalates, the guests find themselves trapped in a deteriorating environment where the line between programmed behavior and dangerous malfunction becomes increasingly blurred.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1983, the Delos amusement park features three worlds: Western, Medieval, and Roman. Guests Peter Martin and John Blane visit Westworld, where they encounter a 'Gunslinger' android. After a night of leisure, Peter is forced to shoot the Gunslinger again after a confrontation. While they attempt to escape a local jail, a robotic snake bites John. Simultaneously, a systemic failure causes androids across all three worlds to malfunction and turn violent. When the park's power is cut to contain the issue, the androids continue to operate on reserve power, attacking guests. Peter and John wake up in a brothel, unaware of the chaos. When the Gunslinger confronts them, it kills John. Peter flees through the park, encountering dead guests and a dying technician. He eventually reaches an underground laboratory where he tricks the Gunslinger by pretending to be an android. He escapes to the Medieval World, where he uses fire to stall the pursuing Gunslinger. He eventually finds a discarded android woman and survives the encounter with the malfunctioning Gunslinger, ending the film exhausted on the steps of a dungeon.
- First release year
- 1973
- Runtime (minutes)
- 88
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Michael Crichton
- Writers
- Michael Crichton · writer
- Cast and characters
- Yul Brynner · the Gunslinger; Richard Benjamin · Peter Martin; James Brolin · John Blane
- Genres
- science fiction; Western; action; thriller
- Themes
- Man vs. Machine; Corporate Greed
- Tone and mood
- tense; bleak
- Setting
- An amusement park with three themed worlds (Western, Medieval, and Roman) in 1983.
- Premise and plot tags
- Androids; Amusement Park; Survival
- Source material / true-story basis
- Original screenplay
- Franchise connections
- Westworld
- Reception
- Critical reception was largely positive at the time and in retrospective reviews.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 83% · scale: percentage · review count: 46
- Awards and nominations
- Hugo · Award · Nominated; Nebula · Award · Nominated; Saturn · Award · Nominated
- Production trivia
- First feature film to use digital image processing to simulate an android point of view.; The film contains one of the earliest mentions of a computer virus in fiction.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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