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RoboCop
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Produced by Arne Schmidt
Written by Edward NeumeierMichael Miner
Starring Peter WellerNancy AllenDan O'HerlihyRonny CoxKurtwood SmithMiguel Ferrer
Music by Basil Poledouris
Cinematography Jost Vacano
Edited by Frank J. Urioste
Distributed by Orion Pictures
Release dates July 17, 1987
Running time 101 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
RoboCopFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RoboCop is a 1987 American cyberpunk action filmdirected by Paul Verhoeven and written by EdwardNeumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars PeterWeller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood Smith,Miguel Ferrer, and Ronny Cox. Set in a crimeriddenDetroit, Michigan, in the near future, RoboCop centerson police officer Alex Murphy (Weller) who is brutallymurdered by a gang of criminals and subsequentlyrevived by the megacorporation Omni ConsumerProducts (OCP) as a superhuman cyborg law enforcerknown as "RoboCop".
Themes that make up the basis of RoboCop includemedia influence, gentrification, corruption,authoritarianism, greed, privatization, capitalism,identity, dystopia, and human nature. It receivedpositive reviews and was cited as one of the best filmsof 1987, spawning a franchise that includedmerchandise, two sequels, a television series, a remake,two animated TV series, a television miniseries, videogames, and a number of comic bookadaptations/crossovers. The film was produced for arelatively modest $13 million.[2]
Contents
1 Plot2 Cast3 Production
3.1 Inspiration and script3.2 Casting3.3 Filming3.4 RoboCop design3.5 Visual effects3.6 Score3.7 Rating
4 Release4.1 Box office4.2 Home media
5 Reception5.1 Critical response5.2 Accolades5.3 Themes and analysis
6 Novelization
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Budget $13 million[2]
Box office $53.4 million[2]
6 Novelization7 Legacy
7.1 Franchise7.2 Statue7.3 Remake
8 See also9 References10 External links
Plot
In the near future, Detroit, Michigan is a dystopia and on the verge of total collapse due to financial ruinand a high crime rate. The mayor signs a deal with the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP).The corporation will run the underfunded Detroit Police Department and clean the city of crime. Inexchange, OCP can turn the rundown sections of Detroit into a highend utopia called "Delta City," whichwill be owned by OCP as an independent citystate free of the United States.
To combat crimes, OCP senior president Dick Jones offers the prototype ED209 enforcement droid. In itsfirst demonstration, ED209 malfunctions and gruesomely kills a board member. Bob Morton, an ambitiousemployee, brings forth his experimental cyborg design titled "RoboCop." The OCP chairman, nicknamed"The Old Man", approves of Morton's plan, angering Jones. Meanwhile, police officer Alex Murphy isteamed up with Anne Lewis, a rookie. On their first patrol, they chase down a gang led by the ruthlesscriminal Clarence Boddicker, tailing them to an abandoned steel mill. When Murphy and Lewis areseparated, Boddicker's gang kills Murphy. Morton selects Murphy for the RoboCop program. Most of hisbody is replaced with cybernetics, except for his brain and part of his digestive system.
RoboCop is given three primary directives: Serve the public trust, Protect the innocent, and Uphold the law,as well as a fourth classified directive that Morton does not know of. He singlehandedly and efficientlycleans Detroit of crime. For his success, Morton is promoted to vicepresident to Jones' anger. Jones ordersBoddicker to go to Morton's home and kill him. Meanwhile, Lewis eventually realizes that RoboCop isreally Murphy, and tells him his real name. RoboCop remembers past events from his life and returns to hisformer home, but his wife and son have moved away. He connects to the police database, looks upMurphy's entry and discovers Boddicker's gang, who was responsible for his death.
RoboCop tracks down Boddicker to a cocaine factory and after a battle, threatens to kill him. Panicked,Boddicker admits his affiliation with Jones, and verbally triggers RoboCop's lawabiding programming.RoboCop arrests Boddicker. He then confronts Jones and attempts to arrest him, but begins to shut down.Jones reveals he planted the hidden Directive 4, which prevents RoboCop from arresting an OCP executive.Jones explains his larger goal of taking over OCP, and confesses to Morton's murder. He then unleashes hispersonal ED209. As RoboCop evades ED209's assault, he is cornered by police officers whom Jonescalled in. Lewis helps RoboCop escape and takes him to the steel mill. As RoboCop repairs himself, hediscusses with Lewis about his former life.
Under pressure by OCP and fearing their replacement by RoboCop, the police goes on strike and crime runsrampant. Jones frees Boddicker and supplies his gang with antitank rifles and a tracking device to huntdown RoboCop. The gang converge on the steel mill, and are killed one by one. A gang member drops
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metal beams on RoboCop with an electromagnet, and Lewis kills him with an antitank rifle. Boddickerattacks the trapped RoboCop, but RoboCop uses his data spike to kill him.
RoboCop heads back to the OCP headquarters. In the board room, Jones is proposing his ED209 to replacethe police. RoboCop enters and shows the recording of Jones' confession in his memory. Jones' role inMorton's murder as well as his ambitions are revealed to the whole board. RoboCop then says he is unableto act because of his fourth directive. Jones takes the Old Man hostage and demands a helicopter. The OldMan fires Jones from OCP, nullifying the effect of Directive 4. RoboCop shoots Jones out of the towerwindow and leaves. The Old Man thanks him and asks for his name, to which he replies, "Murphy."
Cast
Peter Weller as Officer Alex Murphy / RoboCopNancy Allen as Officer Anne LewisRonny Cox as OCP Senior President Richard "Dick" JonesKurtwood Smith as Clarence J. BoddickerMiguel Ferrer as OCP Executive Robert "Bob" MortonDan O'Herlihy as "The Old Man" (OCP Chairman)Paul McCrane as Emil M. AntonowskyRay Wise as Leon C. NashJesse D. Goins as Joe P. CoxCalvin Jung as Steve MinhMichael Gregory as Lt. HedgecockRobert DoQui as Sergeant Warren ReedFelton Perry as OCP Executive Donald JohnsonSage Parker as Dr. TylerLee de Broux as SalBill Farmer as Justin BallardWatkins[3]S. D. Nemeth as Bixby Snyder (TV comedian)
Production
Inspiration and script
RoboCop was written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Neumeier stated that he first got the idea ofRoboCop when he walked with a friend past a poster for Blade Runner. He asked his friend what the filmwas about and his friend replied, "It's about a cop hunting robots". For him, this sparked the idea about arobot cop. Allegedly, while the two were attempting to pitch the screenplay to Hollywood executives, theywere accidentally stranded at an airplane terminal with a highranking movie executive for several hours.Here, they were able to speak to him about the project, and thus began the series of events which eventuallygave rise to RoboCop the movie.
In 1981 Neumeier wrote the first treatment, about a robot police officer who was not a cyborg but in thedevelopment of the story his computer mind became more similar to human. The plot takes place in a fairlydistant future, the world is ruled by corporations and it was assumed that this world will be visually similarto the world shown in "Blade Runner". The treatment was rejected by many studios because of notcompleteness of the storyline and settings. In 1984 Neumeier met music video director Michael Miner, who
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worked on a similar idea, his rough draft of the script was called "SuperCop" story about a cop who hasbeen seriously injured, in consequence of which it becomes a donor for experiment to create a cyberneticpolice officer. They felt that can successfully combine their ideas.
RoboCop marked the first major Hollywood production for Dutch director Paul Verhoeven. Although hehad been working in the Netherlands for more than a decade and directed several films to great acclaim(such as Soldier of Orange in 1977), Verhoeven moved away in 1984 to seek broader opportunities inHollywood. While RoboCop is often credited as his English language debut, he had in fact previously madeFlesh & Blood, starring Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh, during 1985.
On the Criterion Edition audio commentary (available on both the LaserDisc and DVD versions),Verhoeven recalls that, when he first glanced through the script, he discarded it in disgust. Afterwards, hiswife, after picking the script from the bin and reading it more thoroughly, convinced him that the plot hadmore substance than he had originally assumed. Repo Man director Alex Cox was offered the opportunityto direct before Verhoeven came aboard.[4] Kenneth Johnson, creator of television series V, The BionicWoman, and The Incredible Hulk, said that he was offered the chance to direct, but turned it down when hewas not allowed to change aspects of the script that he considered to be "meanspirited, ugly and ultraviolent."[5]
The character of RoboCop itself was inspired by British comic book hero Judge Dredd,[6] as well as theJapanese toku series Space Sheriff Gavan and the Marvel Comics superhero Rom. A Rom comic bookappears onscreen during the film's convenience store robbery. Another Rom comic appears in a flashback ofMurphy's son. Although both Neumeier and Verhoeven have declared themselves staunchly on the politicalleft, Neumeier recalls on the audio commentary to Starship Troopers that many of his liberal friendsperceived RoboCop as a fascist movie. On the 20th Anniversary DVD, producer Jon Davison referred to thefilm's message as "fascism for liberals" – a politically liberal film done in the most violent way possible.
Casting
Before Peter Weller was cast, Rutger Hauer and Arnold Schwarzenegger were favored to play RoboCop byVerhoeven and the producers, respectively. However, each man's large frame would have made it difficultfor either of them to move in the cumbersome RoboCop suit, which had been modeled on hockey gear anddesigned to be large and bulky. Weller won the role both because Verhoeven felt that he could adequatelyconvey pathos with his lower face, and because Weller was especially lithe and could more easily moveinside the suit than a bigger actor.[7]
Stephanie Zimbalist, who at the time was one of the stars of the television series Remington Steele, wasoriginally cast as Anne Lewis. NBC had canceled Remington Steele in 1986, leaving the stars free to acceptother roles, subject to options for further episodes on their contracts. However, an upsurge of interest in theshow saw the network exercise the options,[8] which meant that Zimbalist was then forced to withdraw fromRoboCop, to be replaced by Nancy Allen.[9]
In the DVD director's commentary, Verhoeven explained that he intentionally chose to cast Kurtwood Smithand Ronny Cox against type by making them the central villains. Cox was an actor who, until then, wasprimarily known for "niceguy" roles, such as fatherly figures. Similarly, Smith had been cast as more
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intellectual characters. Verhoeven chose to outfit Smith's character Clarence Boddicker in rimless glassesbecause of their intellectual association, creating a disparity in the character that Verhoeven found akin tothe similarly bespectacled Heinrich Himmler.[10]
Filming
Filming began on August 6, 1986, and wrapped on October 20, 1986. The scenes depicting Murphy's deathwere not filmed until the following January (1987), some months after principal shooting had ceased. Manyof the urban settings of RoboCop were filmed in Dallas, Texas.[11] The futuristic appearances of the Dallasbuildings, such as the Reunion Tower, are visible in the background during the car chase. The front ofDallas City Hall was used as the exterior for the fictional OCP Headquarters, combined with extensivematte paintings to make the building appear taller. The steel mill scenes were filmed at WheelingPittsburghSteel's Monessen Works, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monessen, Pennsylvania.[11][12][13]
Peter Weller had prepared extensively for the role using a padded costume (supposedly, development of theactual RoboCop suit was three weeks behind schedule). By the time shooting was underway and thecostume had arrived on set, however, Weller discovered he was almost unable to move in it and neededadditional training to become accustomed to it. Weller later revealed to Roger Ebert that during filming, hewas losing three pounds a day due to sweat loss while wearing the RoboCop suit in 100 °F (38 °C)temperatures.[14] Weller's personal assistant, Todd Trotter, was responsible for keeping the actor cool inbetween takes with electric fans and, when available, large ducts connected to freestanding air conditioningunits. The suit later had a fan built into it.
Monte Hellman acted as second unit director after Verhoeven began to fall behind schedule.[15] He directedseveral action scenes.[15]
The 1986 Ford Taurus was used as the police cruiser in the movie, due to its thenfuturistic design. As ofMay 2012, RoboCop's Taurus is on display at the Branson Auto Museum in Branson, Missouri.[16]
Bob Morton's home was filmed in a home near Dallas featured in the show Beyond 2000 in 1987.[17]
RoboCop design
The task of creating the RoboCop suit was given to Rob Bottin.[18] The studio decided that Bottin would bethe ideal person to create the RoboCop suit, as he had just finished doing the special effects for JohnCarpenter's The Thing. A budget of up to one million dollars was allotted to the completion of the suit,making it the most expensive item on the set. A total of six suits were made: three intact and three showingdamage.
Bottin himself had produced early design sketches for the suit's prototype that the studio acceptedenthusiastically, albeit with the request of some minor adjustments. Influenced by the Japanese comic The 8Man and the first Metal Hero Space Sheriff Gavan from Toei, Rob, Paul Verhoeven, and Edward Neumeiercame up with the concept of the suit being more of an outer shell, with very little of the actor's actual facebeing visible. Bottin explained the basis of the design:
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It's meant to look very speedy and aerodynamic. All the lines are measured to go on a slant –forward, forward, forward! All the lines were geometric, and complement every shape on thebody from all angles. When Verhoeven came on the project, he requested numerous designchanges, additions to the suit which looked more like machine than manlike. I've never doneso many conceptional drawings for a director in my entire life – changing it, and changing it,and changing it![19]
However, the design ended up bearing a closer resemblance to Bottin's original design:
RoboCop looks the way he does because that's the way a man's body works! Although we wentthrough fifty different variations, developing his character, everything came back to manlike.It's definitely a guy in the suit, which doesn't belittle it any.[19]
The suit itself was attached to the actor in sections. To wear the helmet, Peter Weller wore a bald cap thatallowed the helmet to be removed easily. After almost 10 months of preparation, the RoboCop suit wascompleted based on life casts from Peter Weller and Bottin's sixfoot clay models. The suit's color wassupposed to be bright blue; however, it was given a more grayish tint to make it look more metallic andproduce less glare on the camera when it was being filmed.
Peter Weller had in the meantime hired Moni Yakim, the head of the Movement Department at Juilliard, tohelp create an appropriate way for him to move his body while wearing the RoboCop suit. He and Monihad envisioned RoboCop moving like a snake, dancing around its targets very elusively. The suit, however,proved to be too heavy and cumbersome. Instead, at the suggestion of Moni, it was decided that they wouldslow down RoboCop's movements in order to make them more appealing and plausible. Filming stoppedfor three days, allowing Peter and Paul Verhoeven to discuss new movements for the suit.
The original gun for RoboCop was a Desert Eagle, but this was deemed too small. A Beretta 93R washeavily modified by Ray Williams of Freshour Machine, Texas City, Texas, who extended the gun barrel tomake it look bigger and more proportional to RoboCop's hand. The gun holster itself was a standalone piecethat was not integrated into the suit. Offscreen technicians would operate the device on cue by pullingcables that would force the holster to open up and allow the gun to be placed inside.
Visual effects
The ED209 stop motion model was designed by Craig Davies,[20] who also built the full size models, andanimated by Phil Tippett, a veteran stopmotion animator.[20] As one of the setpieces of the movie, the ED209's look and animated sequences were under the close supervision of director Paul Verhoeven, whosometimes acted out the robot's movements himself. ED209 was voiced by producer Jon Davison. Daviesand Tippett would go on to collaborate on many more projects.
In one scene, Emil attempts to run down RoboCop, but instead accidentally drives into a vat of toxic waste,causing the flesh to melt off his face and hands. These effects were also conceived and designed by Bottin,who was inspired by Rick Baker's work on The Incredible Melting Man, and who dubbed the RoboCopeffects "the Melting Man" as an homage to the production.[21]
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'RoboCop' theme
Soundtrack's main theme, composedby Basil Poledouris.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
RoboCop (Original Motion PictureSoundtrack)
Film score by Basil Poledouris
Released 1987
Genre Soundtrack
Length 54:28
Label Varèse Sarabande
Music From The Motion Picture
Chiodo Brothers Productions fabricated and animated the dinosaur puppet in the 6000 SUX commercial.The dinosaur itself was animated by Don Waller, who also had a cameo in the same sequence, reacting tothe rampaging creature in a tight closeup.[22]
Score
The soundtrack score for the movie was composed byBasil Poledouris, who used both synthesized andorchestral music as a mirror to the manversusmachinetheme of the movie. The score alternates brassheavymaterial, including the RoboCop theme and ED209'stheme, with more introverted pieces for strings, such asduring RoboCop's homecoming scene. The music wasperformed by the Sinfonia of London, conducted byHoward Blake and Tony Britten. The soundtrack initially was released by Varèse Sarabande containinghighlights from the score in a different order to that heard in the movie. The final four tracks were includedon later CD reissues.
RoboCop (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)No. Title Length1. "Main Title" 0:392. "Van Chase" 4:523. "Murphy's Death" 2:384. "Rock Shop" 3:455. "Home" 4:166. "Robo vs. ED209" 2:077. "The Dream" 3:088. "Across The Board" 1:529. "Betrayal" 2:2010. "Clarence Frags Bob" 1:4611. "Robo Tips His Hat" 2:1112. "Drive To Jones' Office" 1:4813. "We Killed You" 1:4614. "Directive IV" 1:0415. "Showdown" 5:2416. "Have A Heart" 0:3317. "OCP Monitors" 1:1818. "Nuke 'Em" 0:2819. "Big Is Better" 0:27
Total length: 59:00
The complete score in film sequence order was released in 2015 containing four previously unreleasedtracks, the full end credits suite and the four previous CD bonus tracks.
Music From The Film RoboCop ( CompleteOriginal Score By Basil Poledouris)
0:00 MENU
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RoboCop (Original Score)Film score by Basil Poledouris
Released 2015
Genre Soundtrack
Length 59:00
No. Title Length1. "Main Title" 0:492. "Have A Heart" 0:353. "O.C.P. Monitors" 1:434. "Twirl (previously unreleased)" 0:275. "Van Chase" 4:586. "Murphy Dies (previously titled "Murphy's
Death)" 2:39
7. "Robo Lives (previously unreleased)" 1:068. "Drive Montage (previously unreleased)" 1:069. "Helpless Woman (previously unreleased)"
1:18
10. "Nukem" 0:2911. "Murphy's Dream (previously titled "The
Dream")" 3:09
12. "Gas Station BlowUp (previously titled"We Killed You")"
1:46
13. "Murphy Goes Home (previously titled"Home")"
4:16
14. "Clarence Frags Bob" 1:4715. "Rock Shop" 3:4616. "Robo Drives To Jones (previously titled
"Drive To Jones' Office")" 1:49
17. "Directive IV" 1:0718. "Robo & ED 209 Fight (previously titled
"Robo vs. ED209")" 2:11
19. "Force Shoots Robo (previously titled"Betrayal")"
2:47
20. "Big Is Better" 2:3821. "Care Package (previously titled "Robo Tips
His Hat")" 3:01
22. "Looking For Me (previously titled"Showdown")"
5:18
23. "Across The Board/End Credits(previously unreleased extended version)"
7:33
Total length: 59:00
On the theatrical trailer, the theme of The Terminator (1984) was used instead of the RoboCop theme. Thetheme song also made its way into the arcade and NES RoboCop video games.
The song "Show Me Your Spine" by P.T.P. was played during the nightclub scene. P.T.P was a shortlivedside project consisting of members of the band Ministry and Skinny Puppy. However, this song was notavailable in any official form and could only be heard in the film. It was eventually released in 2004 on acompilation album called Side Trax by Ministry.
Rating
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The movie was originally given an X rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in 1987due to its graphic violence, in sharp contrast to most other Xrated movies that received the rating due tostrong sexual content. To appease the requirements of the ratings board, Verhoeven reduced the blood andgore in the most violent scenes in the movie, including ED209's shooting of Kinney in the boardroom,Bobby being shot in the leg, the Boddicker gang's execution of Murphy with shotguns, and the final battlewith Boddicker (in which RoboCop stabs him in the neck with his neural spike and Boddicker's bloodspatters onto RoboCop's chest). Verhoeven also added humorous commercials throughout the newsbroadcasts to lighten the mood and distract from the violent aspects of the movie (most of the commercialssatirize various aspects of the American consumer culture, such as the commercial for the 6000 SUXsedan). After 11 original X ratings, the film was eventually given an R rating.[23] The original uncut versionwas included on the Criterion Collection LaserDisc and DVD of the film (both out of print), the 2005trilogy box set, and the 2007 anniversary edition—the latter two were released by MGM and were unrated.The 2014 Bluray 4K master edition also features this unrated cut.
Regarding the omitted scenes, Verhoeven stated on the 2007 anniversary edition DVD that he had wantedthe violence to be "over the top", in an almost comical fashion (such as the scene involving the executivethat is killed by ED209, and Bob Morton immediately asking "Somebody wanna call a goddamnparamedic?!", which was meant as black comedy). Verhoeven also stated that the tone of the violence waschanged to a more upsetting tone due to the deletions requested by the MPAA, and that the deletions alsoremoved footage of the extensive animatronic puppet of Murphy just before he is executed by Boddicker.
Release
Box office
RoboCop was released in American theaters on July 17, 1987. The film was a commercial success andgrossed over $8 million in its opening weekend[24] and $53,424,681 during its North American domesticrun,[25] making it the 16th most successful movie that year.[26]
Home media
The Rrated cinema version of RoboCop was released on VHS and LaserDisc in February 1988. The filmwas released on Philips CDi VCD(Video CD) in 1994. Criterion released the uncut directors edit onLaserDisc in 1996. In 1998 Criterion released it on DVD while Image Entertainment released the Rratedcinema version. It was rereleased on Region 1 DVD in 2007 and on Bluray in 2010 as part of the BlurayRobocop Trilogy. A remastered Bluray edition was released in January 2014 to tie into the 2014 RoboCopremake.[27]
Reception
Critical response
The film received positive reviews from critics[28] and is considered by many as one of the best films of1987.[29][30][31][32] Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively gave it a rating of 88% based on reviews from 57critics. The site's consensus was: "While overthetop and gory, RoboCop is also a surprisingly smart scifi
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flick that uses ultraviolence to disguise its satire of American culture".[33]
Roger Ebert praised the film, calling RoboCop "a thriller with a difference," praising the way it puts theaudience offguard, and calling it a thriller not easily categorized with splashes of other genres added. Ebertpraised Weller for his performance and his ability to elicit sympathy despite the layers of makeup andprosthetics.[34] Walter Goodman, writing for The New York Times, believed the film's anticorporatemessage "has more trouble emerging from Mr. Verhoeven's sizzling battles than poor Murphy does from hisrobosuit."[35]
Feminist author Susan Faludi called RoboCop one of "an endless stream of war and action movies" inwhich "women are reduced to mute and incidental characters or banished altogether."[36] Rene Denfelddisagreed with Faludi's characterization of the film, calling it her "favorite blow'emup movie," citingOfficer Lewis as an example of an "independent and smart police officer."[37] In the commentary track ofthe Special Edition DVD release, the Director explained that he intentionally depicted Officer Lewis as"gender neutral" thus her gender is hidden during her introductory scene, a physical fight with a male in thepolice station, and the choice of the character having short hair.
Accolades
RoboCop was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing and the Academy Award for Best Sound(Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios, Aaron Rochin, and Robert Wald). It won the Academy Award forSound Effects Editing (Stephen Hunter Flick and John Pospisil).[38] In 2007, Entertainment Weekly namedit the #14 greatest action movie of all time.[39] In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one ofThe 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, placing at #404.[40] It made a similar list, The Best 1000 Movies EverMade, by The New York Times.[41]
The film was on the ballot for two of the American Film Institute's 100 Series lists. These lists included 100Years…100 Thrills,[42] a list of America's most heartpounding movies, and AFI's "Ten Top Ten", a list ofthe best 10 films in 10 "classic" American film genres. RoboCop was a candidate in the science fictioncategory.[43] At its release, British director Ken Russell said that this was the best science fiction film sinceFritz Lang's Metropolis (1927).
Themes and analysis
In a 2013 interview, Edward Neumeier reflected on how the film's script is starting to play into reality: "Weare now living in the world that I was proposing in RoboCop…how big corporations will 'take care of us'and…how they won't."[44][45][46]
Two of the primary themes explored by RoboCop are the media and human nature. On the Criterion EditionDVD commentary track, executive producer Jon Davison and writer Edward Neumeier both relate the filmto the decay of American industry from the 1970s through the early 1980s, with the abandoned "Rust Beltstyle" factories that RoboCop and Clarence Boddicker's gang use as hideouts reflecting this concern.Massive unemployment is prevalent, being reported frequently on the news, as are poverty and the crimethat results from economic hardship.
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Director Paul Verhoeven, known for his heavy use of Christian symbolism, states in the documentary"Flesh and Steel: The Making of RoboCop" (featured on the RoboCop DVD) that his intention was toportray RoboCop as a Christ figure. This is represented in Murphy's horrific death, his resurrected return asRoboCop, and the scene at the steel mill in which RoboCop is seen walking ankledeep in water, creatingthe illusion of him walking on water. Some fans have gone a step further on this note, by likening the finalshowdown with Dick Jones (who falls from grace in every sense) to Satan once second only to God being stripped of his prestige, cast out of Heaven and falling to Earth. Yet when all of this was mentioned toVerhoeven, along with the OCP Chairman's last line "Nice shooting, son. What's your name?" (In theBook of Revelations, besides being the Son of God, Christ had a name known to few other than Himself) Verhoeven answered, "It's a sharp observation, but none of that was on my mind at the time."
Darian Leader considers RoboCop one example of how the cinema has dealt with the problem ofmasculinity, showing that to be a man requires more than having the body of a man: something symbolicthat is not ultimately human must be added. He sees RoboCop as similar to The Terminator and The SixMillion Dollar Man in this respect. Leader wrote of RoboCop:
The RoboCop is a family man who is destroyed by thugs, then rebuilt as a robot by science.His son always insists, before the transformation, that his human father perform the gunspinning trick he sees on TV. When the robot can finally do this properly, he is no longer just amale biological body: he is a body plus machinery, a body which includes within it thesymbolic circuitry of science. Old heroes had bits of metal outside them (knights), but modernheroes have bits of metal inside them. To be a man today thus involves this kind of realincorporation of symbolic properties.[47]
Philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek wrote that:
RoboCop, a futuristic story about a policeman shot to death and then revived after all parts ofhis body have been replaced by artificial substitutes, introduces a more tragic note: the herowho finds himself literally "between two deaths" – clinically dead and at the same timeprovided with a new, mechanical body—starts to remember fragments of his previous,"human" life and thus undergoes a process of resubjectivication, changing gradually back frompure incarnated drive to a being of desire. (...) [I]f there is a phenomenon that fully deserves tobe called the "fundamental fantasy of contemporary mass culture," it is this fantasy of thereturn of the living dead: the fantasy of a person who does not want to stay dead but returnsagain and again to pose a threat to the living.[48]
The depiction of Murphy's struggles in reasserting his humanity also deals with themes of identity. This iseven touched upon in the cyborg's construction. On the Robocop: 20th Anniversary Collector's EditionDVD, Paul Sammon states:
Rob Bottin and Paul Verhoeven, and Ed Neumeier had all come up with a concept that therewould be such a potential for psychological disruption. Even if you had supposedly wipedsomeone's memories and emotions they'd still might have some kind of residual humanitywhere, if they'd looked at themselves as a complete robot with no relation to their past organic
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form, they'd completely freak out and have a psychotic breakdown. So the idea was thatsurgeons had literally skinned off Alex Murphy's face and then placed it on the cyborg. So it'snot like they transplanted his head, they just took his face off and laid it on the cyborg, and thatwas to give him his own little sense of identity.[49]
Novelization
The film novelization, written by Ed Naha, was released on June 1, 1987. The novel differed in severalways from the film by following one of the earlier drafts of the screenplay. It expanded on Murphy'sstruggle with being part man and part machine, and his memories. It also included more "humanized"dialogue from RoboCop, as opposed to the minimal, cold dialogue heard in the film.[50]
Legacy
Franchise
The success of the movie spawned a large franchise, including merchandise, two sequels, a televisionseries, a remake, two animated TV series, a television miniseries, video games, and a number of comicbook adaptations/crossovers.
Statue
In February 2011, a humorous ploy asked Detroit Mayor Dave Bing if there was to be a RoboCop statue inhis "New Detroit" proposal, which was planned to turn Detroit back into a prosperous city again. WhenBing said there was no such plan, and word of this reached the Internet, several fundraising events raisedenough money for the statue, which would be built at the Imagination Station.[51] There were plans tounveil the RoboCop statue in spring of 2014.[52]
Remake
MGM and Sony produced a remake of RoboCop, directed by José Padilha. Joel Kinnaman plays the role ofAlex Murphy and Gary Oldman is "Norton", a new character, "the scientist who creates RoboCop and findshimself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of acorporation."[53] Samuel L. Jackson plays a powerful and charismatic media mogul, while Michael Keatonplays the CEO of Omnicorp after Hugh Laurie dropped out of the project in August 2012.[54] Actress AbbieCornish plays Murphy's wife and Watchmen star Jackie Earle Haley plays Maddox, the man who givesRoboCop his military training.[55] The film was finally released in the United States on February 12, 2014.
See also
References
7.4.2016 RoboCop Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboCop 13/14
1. Classification.gov.au(http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=5lqeoRQqyhIzdX1X9wSpNA%253d%253d&ncdctx=uqMRlpqViGv6Skqdi2zUiPMl1P7flOSxQptxqaYlnpXK588698kELYYSbGNMhcHQ)
2. "Box Office Information for RoboCop". Box OfficeMojo. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
3. "RoboCop (1987) Paul Verhoeven Cast andCrew". AllMovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved28 June 2015.
4. Rabin, Nathan. "Alex Cox Interview with TheOnion". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
5. "Kenneth Johnson Director/Producer (Short Circuit2, V) The Movie Raid". YouTube. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2014.
6. "Interview with Paul Verhoeven by XiOnline". Xionline.nl. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
7. DVD Director's Commentary8. Sanderson Healy, Laura; Norbom, Mary Ann (11August 1986). "The Spy Who's Loved Too Much".People Magazine. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
9. Stephanie Zimbalist (November 24, 2003). ActressRoles Over 40? 'It's a Big Fat Zero'. New YorkObserver. Interview with Alexandra Jacobs.Retrieved April 29, 2014.
10. Villains of Old Detroit(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478283/). Featurette.2007, RoboCop 20th Anniversary DVD.
11. King, Peter B. (October 29, 1986). "Hollywoodturns to Monessen steel plant in filming'RoboCop' ". The Pittsburgh Press . p. C6.Retrieved April 29, 2014.
12. "Explorepahistory.com". ExplorePAHistory.com.Archived from the original on May 21, 2008.Retrieved 3 April 2011.
13. "Technology Issue Extra – How Not to Afford aFlying Car". Vice.com. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
14. Ebert, Roger (November 5, 1993). "RoboCop 3".Chicago SunTimes. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
15. Phillips, Keith (10 November 1999). "MonteHellman – TwoLane revisted (sic)". The Onion.Retrieved 7 May 2012.
16. Herzog, Stephen (May 15, 2012). "Holyautomobiles, Batman". Branson TriLakes News.
17. "Beyond 2000 (Full Episode, BTQ7, 1987)".18. Metcalfe, John (April 6, 2012). "RoboCop Statue
'Definitely' Coming to Detroit". Comic Book Movie.Retrieved April 9, 2012.
19. Bates, Dan (December 1987). Clarke, Frederick S.,ed. "On Location with 'RoboCop' ". Cinefantastique18 (1): 16–25.
20. Duncan, Jody (February 1991). "Clash of theRobotitans". Cinefex. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
21. Sammon, Paul M. (November 1987). "ShootingRoboCop". Cinefex (32): 39.
22. "FX Credits". Chiodobros.com. Retrieved April 17,2009.
23. "Backstory RoboCop AMC". YouTube. Archivedfrom the original on July 18, 2013. RetrievedJuly 18, 2010.
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25. "Box Office Information for RoboCop". Box OfficeMojo. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
26. "1987 Domestic Grosses". Box Office Mojo.Retrieved April 17, 2009.
27. "RoboCop Bluray". Bluray.com. January 5, 2014.28. "RoboCop Movie Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved
July 18, 2010.29. "Greatest Films of 1987". AMC Filmsite.org.
Retrieved April 23, 2010.30. "The 10 Best Movies of 1987". Film.com. August
2, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2010.31. "The Best Movies of 1987 by Rank".
Films101.com. Retrieved April 23, 2010.32. "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1987".
IMDb.com. Retrieved July 18, 2010.33. "RoboCop Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten
Tomatoes. Retrieved April 17, 2009.34. Roger Ebert's review of RoboCop
(http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/robocop1987),July 17, 1987.
35. Goodman, Walter (July 17, 1987). "Robocopreview". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October2014.
36. Susan Faludi, in Backlash, Chatto & Windus, 1992,p. 169
37. Rene Denfeld, in The New Victorians, WarnerBooks, 1995, p. 196
38. "The 60th Academy Awards (1988) Nominees andWinners". oscars.org. Retrieved 20111016.
39. "The 25 Greatest Action Movies Ever!".Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
40. "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire.Retrieved July 18, 2010.
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7.4.2016 RoboCop Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboCop 14/14
Wikiquote has quotationsrelated to: RoboCop
External links
RoboCop (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093870/) at theInternet Movie DatabaseRoboCop (http://www.allmovie.com/movie/v41702) atAllMovieRoboCop (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=robocop.htm) at Box Office MojoRoboCop (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1017712robocop/) at Rotten TomatoesCriterion Collection essay by Carrie Rickey (http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RoboCop&oldid=713143114"
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45. CNN(http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/25/business/robocopneumeierdetroitbankruptcy/index.html)
46. Guernicamag.com(http://www.guernicamag.com/features/austerityeconomicsislikeakickinthegroin/)
47. Leader, Darian (1996). Why do women write moreletters than they post?. London: Faber & Faber.p. 28. ISBN 0571176194.
48. Žižek, Slavoj (1992). Looking Awry: anIntroduction to Jacques Lacan through PopularCulture. The MIT Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780262740159.
49. RoboCop 20th Anniversary Edition DVD50. Naha, Ed (1988). RoboCop. Corgi Books. ISBN 0
552132438.
51. "RoboCop Statue". mlive.com. Retrieved Feb 18,2011.
52. "Get a peek at the lifesize model for Detroit'sRoboCop statue", Detroit Free Press, May 13,2013, Freep.com(http://www.freep.com/article/20130513/COL36/305130092/robocopstatuedetroitphotos)
53. Nordling (May 23, 2012). "Gary Oldman Joins TheROBOCOP Remake!". Ain't it Cool News.Retrieved December 21, 2013.
54. Kit, Borys (29 August 2012). "Michael KeatonReplaces Hugh Laurie in 'RoboCop' Remake". TheHollywood Reporter.
55. Child, Ben (13 June 2012). "Hugh Laurie in talksto play villain in 'RoboCop' remake". The Guardian(London).
