RoboCop (1987)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writers:

Edward Neumeier (written by) &
Michael Miner (written by)

Release Date:

17 July 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Part man. Part machine. All cop. The future of law enforcement.

Plot:

In a dystopic & crime ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg with submerged memories haunting him.

Plot Keywords:

Robocop | Gang | Memory | Robot | Future

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Peter Weller	...	Officer Alex J. Murphy / RoboCop
Nancy Allen	...	Officer Anne Lewis
Dan O'Herlihy	...	The Old Man (as Daniel O'Herlihy)
Ronny Cox	...	Richard 'Dick' Jones
Kurtwood Smith	...	Clarence J. Boddicker
Miguel Ferrer	...	Robert Morton
Robert DoQui	...	Sergeant Warren Reed
Ray Wise	...	Leon C. Nash
Felton Perry	...	Johnson
Paul McCrane	...	Emil M. Antonowsky
Jesse D. Goins	...	Joe P. Cox (as Jesse Goins)
Del Zamora	...	Kaplan
Calvin Jung	...	Steve Minh
Rick Lieberman	...	Walker
Lee de Broux	...	Sal (as Lee DeBroux)

Runtime:

102 min | Germany:78 min (cut version) | Norway:98 min (cut version) | USA:103 min (unrated director's cut) | Finland:91 min (heavily cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2004) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating) | Germany:18 (re-release) (JK/SPIO) (uncut) | West Germany:18 (cut) (video premiere) | Australia:R | Italy:T | Finland:K-16 (heavily cut) (video rating) (1989) | Finland:(Banned) (1987) | Germany:16 (cut version) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (re-rating) (2004) | Canada:18A (Ontario) (re-rating) (2004) | USA:R (certificate #28646) (edited for re-rating) | USA:X (original rating) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1988) | Spain:13 (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (also director's cut) (2002) | South Korea:15 | Brazil:14 | Malaysia:18SG | Hungary:16 | Italy:VM14 (DVD rating) | India:A | Finland:(Banned) (cut) (video rating) (1987) | UK:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M (theatrical rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Chile:18 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:(Banned) | Iceland:16 (cut) | Ireland:18 (director's cut) | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M (TV rating) | New Zealand:R18 (theatrical rating) (director's cut) | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Singapore:M18 (director's cut) (uncut version) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Building One, Studios at Las Colinas - 6301 North O'Connor Road, Irving, Texas, USA

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Bodycount: 30

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Clarence flips his 2000SUX into the scrap pond, Anne arrives seconds later and the pool's surface is perfectly smooth, indicating the car has been there long enough for all the waves to subside.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Slimey Lawyer: Attempted murder? It's not like he killed someone. This is a clear violation of my client's civil rights.
Bail Bondsman: Make it aggravated assault and I can make bail in cash, now.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Beavis and Butt-Head: The Final Judgement of Beavis (#4.13)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Show Me Your Spine

Really cool guns...

Back when I was the proud owner of a top of the range ZX Spectrum +2a, Robocop was probably the best platform game that I ever played. It had every thing you could want from a game: A good plot, great graphics and really cool guns! I hadn't seen the film at this point, I'm not sure why, I was way too young, yes, but that has never stopped anyone, least of all me. When I did get around to seeing the film (I still would have been underage) I loved it! It had everything: A good plot, good effects and it had really cool guns!! A few years ago, given a gentle prod by an interview with the director, I sat down and watched Robocop from a different standpoint and bugger me it was even better, it had everything: Social comment, religious overtones, biting satire and really cool guns! When Murphy is killed at the beginning of the film it's because he's a policeman, a man who gives his life to help others, a man who has no crimes and no sins. He has a wife and child and lives an idyllic life despite working to help the beaten and bedraggled, the down trodden and helpless. He's persecuted, crucified and when the scientists get hold of him they seal him in a metal tomb from which they believe he can never escape. I'm being unsubtle here but there really is no need to beat around the bush with these things. Murphy is being depicted as a Messiah for 21st Century America, a messiah as the America dictates, a messiah, that is, with really cool guns! Robocop is, despite this, a VERY funny film. But is it a piece of Hollywood trash masquerading as intelligent cinema? Or is a clever comment on America masquerading as trash? Well, let's face it, it's both! The social commentary on how big business is big crime and money is the route of all evil is as clumsy as it is obvious. However, the accusatory tone it adopts when dealing with its hero is superbly realised and works brilliantly because of it. Robocop is a character ripped from a 50's comic strip; he is violent but just, mechanical but warm and yet still, somehow, attractive to women. The director pokes fun at the ease with which he attracts the audience to his central character and develops the messiah characteristics almost as a joke on his own creation. He knows Robocop is too good to be true and has fun raising his status to king of men, even having him walk on water as he extracts his revenge on the men who 'killed' him. The real twist for me is that in order to dispense with the man who masterminded the criminal activities he has been investigating, Robocop has to break the rules. Having already begun to regain his memories and escape his tomb he proceeds to OCP to meet his Nemesis. Robocop wants to kill him, he needs to kill him, and the only way he can escape his tomb is to destroy the man who put him in it. Yet his directives, his internal rules-set down by someone else- that guide his life forbid him to do it! Thall Shalt Not Kill. You've all seen the film, you all know what happens. So what is Verhoevan saying about his messiah for the 21st century?