'Westworld (1973)' is now better known as the source-material for the acclaimed television series, though it's actually a seminal piece of science-fiction in its own right that inspired far more than just its own remake. Indeed, Yul Brynner's dead-eyed, unflinching and dread-inducing 'Robot Gunslinger' is the grandfather to not only the eponymous 'The Terminator (1984)' but also, perhaps slightly less obviously, the relentless Michael Myers from 'Halloween (1978)'. Of course, the idea of a corporation putting cash before customers, and their safety, is one practically inherent in the sci-fi genre, and cinema in general, but this was one of the first features to use that conceit so heavily and to do so in conjunction with the now common theme of machine turning against man. While we're on the subject of firsts, it's also interesting to note that this was the first picture to feature computer-generated imagery - and not just on monitors, in the form of the pixelated vision of the 'Robot Gunslinger'. These P.O.V. shots, which took eight hours to render ten seconds (not bad considering the infancy of the technology), add a lot to the believability of and ominous nature surrounding the killer bot run amok and, though they look somewhat dated now and it is difficult to believe they provide the superior aiming they supposedly do, are an impressive effect considering the age of the piece. The effects in general are pretty remarkable. Every android seems as such, especially when they are pulled apart and put back together again. Rich, paint-like squibs explode ruby red when someone gets shot, compounding the piece within the era but also giving it a distinct, slightly comic-book aesthetic. You believe this is an amusement park and that everything is built to be specifically the way it is, replicating real-life but never exactly getting it spot-on because that just wouldn't be 'fun.' In this way, the slightly less realistic blood makes more sense as it usually sprays from androids and if you, as a guest, saw the real gore when you 'killed' a foe, it wouldn't have the same 'movie' appeal. The violence isn't flinched away from but is never too graphic, allowing the movie to be entertaining first even when it is at its most suspenseful. These moments are perhaps when it works the best, when our hero runs for his life from the never-ceasing chase of his new enemy. It is also a joy when we are introduced to the park along with the protagonist, seeing the wonders of 'Westworld' first-hand. Where it falters slightly is in its structure. There is time spent with the scientists seeing small signs of things going wrong which should be building tension, but these people aren't really characters and so it kills the pace. As do the 'Romanworld' and 'Medievalworld' asides. This version of the 'robot uprising' doesn't have any sentience attached to it either. Just unthinking machines calculatingly killing anything with a high-body temperature. The film is enjoyable throughout, though. It's just that it could have used with some tightening in the pacing and structure department. 6/10

Michael Crichton wrote and directed this classic 1970s tale of a theme park gone awry about 20 years before he went back to that same well for "Jurassic Park." In this film an enormous theme park has been created the recreates an old west setting populated entirely by robots where visitors can realistically and safely play out their cowboy fantasies (there's also a Roman themed world and and a medieval themed world). Richard Benjamin and James Brolin play two visitors to Westworld who are looking forward to strapping on sixguns, taking on robot gunslingers, and other old west clichés. Things begin to go wrong when some of the robots start to ignore their programming, which at first is damsels rebuffing the male guests and eventually becomes robot villains trying to kill the guests. Benjamin is well cast as the dopey visitor playing cowboy like a 10-year old, who instead finds himself unexpectedly fighting for his life, but casting Yul Brynner as the central robotic gunslinger villain is brilliant. Brynner donning a black hat nicely recalls his iconic role as Chris in "The Magnificent Seven." A main weaknesses of the film is the cutaway scenes to the Roman and medieval worlds, which are not all that interesting and seem only to exist to widen the theme park world, which wasn't really necessary, and to hint that something is going awry, which could easily have been done within the old west setting. Another weakness of the film is that it's not all that suspenseful or exciting, which is surprising since Crichton got much better at suspense with "The Great Train Robbery" and "Runaway," although is nowhere in the same league compared to the suspense in Spielberg's film version of Crichton's "Jurassic Park" (the T-Rex scene when the power first goes out in the park is an under-appreciated modern masterpiece of suspense), though in all fairness, few directors compare to Spielberg when it comes to suspense. Despite those deficiencies, Westworld's central premise of a massive interactive theme park is irresistible and that alone is enough to carry the film. When you top that off with casting Yul Brynner, there's no way you can't like this film. Oh, and the film also features an awesome 1970s style full-body flame stunt, which I really wish TV and films would do more of today (along with more characters getting trapped in quicksand or getting locked in deadly hot saunas).

What a film! Michael Chrichton's screenplay adapted into movie format with Yul Brynner playing the role of his life (after "The King and I") with a great supporting cast including Richard Benjamin and James Brolin. A dystopian future. Theme parks are now robotic holiday resorts so real that they'd pass for real. Experiences from visits to fighting gardens in RomanWorld, to exploring the wild American frontier in WestWorld all needs and tastes are catered for here. But what happens when the robots decide they don't want slavery anymore? I have soo many fond memories of watching this as a child with glee. The story of the gunslinger in black hunting guests terrified and excited me so much. After re-watching it every couple of years I still have same enjoyment from this film. Yul Brynner is immaculate as the pre-terminator robot gone bad.Culturally this film asked a lot of valid questions prevalent at the time as mankind was integrating more and more with technology while being on the doorstep to various conflicts globally. Like some of the themes, some of the visuals are now very dated but don't forget, this is pre-CGI mainstream, this is the 1970's. Despite that this is and remains one of my favorite films and it's highly recommended. It has spawned a sequel ("FutureWorld") and it's own TV series. Enjoy!

Story follows many characters that have decided to arrive in amusement park Delos and there are offered to choose which world will they go in. Mainly we are focused onto Peter and John that are in West World, but there are some scenes from Medieval World. Movie introduces us into everything with very shortly and explains a lot and then as hosts start to malfunction with higher rate things get really interesting. As John and Peter enjoy themselves, on the other side everybody at Delos is trying to figure out what is going on and how should they react and couple of bad decisions have caused everything to fall apart. Problem with malfunctioning was that host were not able to be controlled and that could be connected with explanation that was given to us before, how other androids are creating androids and how they do not understand everything. Then it got wild as androids started to kill everybody and people are desperate, on the other hand John and Peter encounter Gunslinger again and this time John dies and now Peter in shock is on run for his life. After a pretty nice chase and a lot of tense scenes he managed to get into facility of Delos and discover horrifying truth that everybody is gone. There are some issues with the movie like too many information about everything and how things in Delos works, such as we are never shown where they put androids only where they repair them and some other plot holes that should be filled to our better understanding of the world. Main focus of the movie is on "rebelion" of machines and how they tend to control everything eventually killing everybody and showing how humans are not as advanced as they are with the control room scene where they got locked and didn't manage to escape which led to their deaths. Benjamin, Brolin and Brynner totally stole the whole show with some pretty nice scenes. 3/4