Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

cleanheadjeff Pretty cheesy by today's standards. Maybe cheesy by 1973 standards too. While I was alive and watching movies in '73 I don't watch them anymore so it's hard to compare. That said, despite possibly the worst musical score of any movie I've ever seen something led me to watch it all the way through. Possibly that I'm simultaneously sitting at my desk cleaning out my email or maybe there's more here than I'm willing to admit. Give it a try but don't expect the dialogue to get any better, the acting any more convincing, or the music, especially the music, to get any less annoying as it progresses.

a_chinn 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).

Myriam Nys It's a pretty safe bet that something awful happened to Michael Crichton as a child, while he was visiting some kind of theme or amusement park. So what did happen to him ? Did a drunken chimpanzee in a Cinderella costume try to kiss him ? Was he forced to listen to 999 consecutive renderings of the national anthem, imprisoned in an empty theatre ? Did a vending machine swallow his arm ? Was he trapped beneath an automated rosebush humming the "Flower Song" from Lakhmé ? Mauled by a poodle during a sandcastle building contest ? We'll never know, but it must have been bad.On a more positive note, Crichton dealt with his trauma in a productive way, by creating some pretty entertaining books and movies. My favorite one is "Westworld".To be fair, Westworld is not without its plot holes and inconsistencies. For instance : one might reasonably suppose that people clever enough to build strong, quick and resilient robots would be clever enough to include some serious kill switches. Sadly, this thought hadn't occurred to the many engineers, designers and maintenance men working in the park, causing them to die like particularly short-sighted flies. By the same token one might suppose that people clever enough to build a technologically advanced workplace would also be clever enough to provide a variety of safety measures and emergency exits - but nah, it's dying time again. Presumably these are the kind of persons who would organize a company barbecue in the middle of a fireworks factory.However, there is much to enjoy for viewers willing to overlook these flaws. After a somewhat clumsy beginning the movie picks up speed and the second half, which is genuinely scary and thrilling, boasts one of the most suspenseful pursuits ever filmed. Yul Brynner, silver-eyed and black-hatted, exudes pure menace as a robot who is machine enough to be relentless and human enough to bear grudges. It's a superlative and highly efficient performance. I defy anyone to watch his unnaturally even walk, rapid and unhurried both, without feeling a primeval fear.Also noteworthy are the fine locations (I, for one, particularly like the gardens of Roman World) and the unusual music, which creates an atmosphere of bone-chilling eeriness.Go get them, Yul !

Rameshwar IN It is important to note the context that this is viewed and reviewed after watching the highly popular TV series which goes by the same name. So some of the observations (maybe most) could be comparative in nature. The simplistic approach at times exploitative of the premise is what works the best - there is some genuine fun to be had. However it was far too ambitious and ahead of its times and doesn't seem to have aged too well especially the technology part - for that matter it is the same case even with the current TV series. Delos Westworld is a futuristic theme park accessible via an hovercraft consisting of 3 worlds - Lawless Western, Roman and Medieval. It provides a real escape vacation to its visitors to have a time of their lives without fear of consequences. All the worlds are populated with sophisticated robots that look, talk and behave like humans where each are programmed a character and a narrative - but one rule abides them all - never harm a guest. The supervisor at the park's service facility starts to observe an increasing trend of malfunctioning robots leading to unprogrammed behavior by the hosts.Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) is visiting the theme park for the first time with his buddy John Blane (James Brolin) who has been there before. When a gunslinger (Yul Brynner) teases Peter at a saloon and eggs him on for a duel, after initial reluctance Peter draws his gun and kills the gunslinger. This ice breaker works well for Peter who starts to have fun along with James going from one adventure to another including another slaying of the gunslinger. When the robots unprogrammed behavior continues to rise, the management decides to stop further guests from coming in and plans to deal with it. Can it be contained or will it spiral out of control?The theme park expanding to other genre worlds like medieval and Roman is exciting to watch even while the primary focus still remains in the Westworld. Michael Crichton is one of the most acclaimed science fiction writers of this generation but not known for his subtlety, he takes this to whole new level by helming the director's seat for this one. His trademark mix of mainstream action and highly researched science fiction is highly evident and works again here. The production values has to be appreciated, it looks grand and adequate by all means when watching the movie but when you think back on the scale - more is shown than spent. The leads Richard Benjamin and James Brolin seems to be having the time of their lives with breezy performances while the eternal foreigner Yul Brynner does a menacing villain with his trademark bald head, walk and accent. What starts off as a fun adventure quickly turns into a slasher movie (scenario is setup right from the beginning though) but competently held together by a masterful performance by Yul Brynner. It is interesting to watch which at times makes you wonder the wishful thinking towards AI during the 70s itself (not to forget the HAL9000 of the 60s). What sets it apart from the TV series especially for me is there are no dreaming, feeling or hallucinating robots here - that just comes off as silly for me. An adventure you'd wish to be in!! Funny, intelligent, corny and what not!!