RoboCop Classic: New Observations and Reflections

TODD-209 · Sgt-L1

All of the talk, buzz, and debate surrounding the new film has naturally inspired me to revisit the original films, namely the first and best entry...the original RoboCop. This movie is deeply embedded in my mind and permanently etched in my memories. It's just a sci-fi/action classic in every sense of the word.

I thought I'd initiate a good healthy dose of nostalgia for the original film by offering up some thoughts, impressions, and reflections:

In recent years I had sold my RoboCop Blu-ray collection, a move that I deeply regret, but I still have my beloved 20th Anniversay 2-disc set. I'm actually watching it as I type these words. Well, I decided I'd sit down and watch it from beginning to end...I'm just really bad about watching movies in increments anymore, and I thought I'd afford the film my full attention for a change...well, other than being on the internet talking to you all of course. (lol)

Anyway...I was just watching the scene where ED-209 malfunctions and blows poor ol' Kinney to smithereens, and I had never paid a whole lot of attention to the mad scramble to deactivate the control board in the background. I noticed, for the first time in twenty-five years, that you can see Dr. McNamara struggling to un-plug the control board for ED-209, and when he finally does, the robot shuts down. All these years I thought they never did get it disabled, that it just shut down on its own after it went haywire. That means two things...one, Dr. McNamara is partially responsible for Kinney's death. Had he un-plugged ED-209's control board sooner, Kinney might have been saved, and two, if Dr. McNamara hadn't unplugged the control board when he did, ED-209 may have continued to go haywire and killed even more people. That had never occured to me before.

Also, and maybe I've never noticed this before because I can see more details now on my tv, but...on Robo's neck, you can see that it looks like he has some kind of flexible latex covering, which, in the context of the film, would cover up his wiring, hydraulics, and what-not, and in reality, Peter Weller's neck of course. But at first glance, his neck looks like it was constructed with high-impact plastic and/or metal parts that simply swivel and turn like a joint on an action figure. Then of course later in the movie we see how that's truly not the case, that he has somewhat of an endoskeletal frame, not unlike a Terminator. I guess I just never paid very close attention. I think though, that with everyone analyzing the new movie's suit obsessively, including me, it's caused me to take a closer look at the original one. I have noticed that within the bends of the arms and legs, where you can see what is assumed to be servos and hydraulics I suppose, it simply looks like black latex, just like the new suit is accused of being at least partially composed of. It's extremely noticeable on his back too. I've always noticed that it seemed flexible, but it's never stood out so much to me as it does now, especially since the new suit gets flak for having a similar look in places. Sometimes I think we wear our rose-colored glasses when thinking of beloved classics, and we gloss-over inconsistencies and imperfections that have always existed because of first impressions, memories, etc. But I digress...

Another thing I've noticed, in the scene where RoboCop confronts Emil at the gas station...shouldn't his gun-barrel flashes have ignited the gasoline spraying from the hose he ruptured?

I've also just noticed, in the scene where Clarence Boddicker takes out Bob Morton, I've never noticed that Clarence snorts some of Bob's coke while Dick Jones' video is playing. It's just amazing what you notice for the first time after twenty-five years of thinking you know a movie forwards and backwards, inside and out

Something else...in the drug factory scene, where Robo is arresting Boddicker, and he spits blood in his face, it never occured to me before that in the very next scene, you don't see any blood on RoboCop's helmet.

And...this is for some of you older fans that caught the movie in theaters like I did, but...did any of you expect RoboCop to walk through the boardroom doors at the beginning of the film, when Dick Jones introduces "the future of law enforcement"? That was the tagline in all of the tv spots back in the day, before it came out, so I guess that's what I was expecting, not the red herring that was ED-209.

(lol) I also never noticed the M.P.G. for the 6000 SUX in the commercial before: 8.2. Hee hee...

On a final note, did it ever occur to anyone else that when Clarence is trying to kill RoboCop at the end with that big metal spike, it could be seen metaphorically as someone trying to drive a stake through the proverbial monster's heart? It just dawned on me. Something to think about...

vegasrobo · RoboGod and Shit

You missed all that before?...

Archive · .

Not counting movie mistakes RoboCop does have an incredible amount of layers in the form of background details and symbolism. There's a lot to watch for other than the cool "robot" action. Wink

The chaos and drama behind the scenes formed a special kind of movie that no RoboCop product to date have been able to surpass. While I like the sequel it doesn't come close to having the depth the original has.

Saasouza · L-L1

Josh · Lover Extraordinaire!

POCOBOR · L-L2

Anybody ever notice the thin wire attached to the back of his head after he wakes up from the nightmare and right before he walks off camera?
On a semi-related note, there's an image floating around of Robo at the gas station after it blows with the SHELL sign in the background and the 'S' missing. If I remember right it's not visible in the movie. But I always wished it had been because it goes so well with all of Verhoeven's religious metaphors. I think someone has this as their profile pic.

artuditu · mio Cid

This topic could be refocused to little things you just discovered and never noticed before. Everybody looks to have little things to comment when they rewatch the film.

vegasrobo · RoboGod and Shit

Anybody ever notice the thin wire attached to the back of his head after he wakes up from the nightmare and right before he walks off camera?

Yup I thought that was cool as hell...And really something that was totally lost in every other version..It's that level of detail that just made Robocop so bad ass!

RoboPimp · PIMPY SUPREME

TODD-209 · Sgt-L1

artuditu · mio Cid

Watching the original film for the first time in 2-3 years, and actually taking my time to enjoy it, I remember the last time I watched it I was in a hurry. I'm also trying to imagine what would be like if I never before saw it, what would I think or feel... obviously impossible, just trying.

Great direction and editing, not one single unnecessary shot, great sizes and angles, great acting and screenplay details even in minor shots. There are many shots with camera movement that don't look like travelling, I wonder if they used steady cam or just camera on shoulder, incredibly well done and filmed, very modern and not outdated cinematography.

Very fast paced movie, maybe because I have it memorized, but it's a very direct and fast story, when I was younger all the beginning was more like a long trip, all the factory and death scene, and all the laboratory-resurrection part also looked longer and deeper, I had to wait a lot to see for the first time Robo appear. Now that I'm older things happen a lot faster.

Never paid so much attention about all the blood in the floor surrounding Murphy's body, really gruesome and depressing.

The police department has a great atmosphere, very nice art direction. The steel factory is also such a great character on its own.

The "frankenstein" concept is among the strongest points of the film, when Bob Morton is shown the robo arm and shakes his hand, if you look that robo arm moving is almost terrifying and fascinating, you really understand it's not Murphy's body at all anymore that we will see afterward, but a metallic frankenstein monster independent of his mind and soul, a "full prosthesis".

The suit. Still looks so powerful to me. I understand in 2012 if you've never seen it it may not impress you that much. He really looks as a heavy mass of iron or steel, definitely not what we understand for futuristic today. But just think what was that Robo presentation in 1987 behind that blurred glass with those sounds and movements, and then seeing his back. That impression is just impossible to be reproduced again in the present to a modern audience.

TODD-209 · Sgt-L1

Yes, that's the thing...the design of the suit was so striking when it first appears on screen, that alone was enough to leave a lasting impression on the audience. But then you had such well-crafted scenes, dramatic shots, wonderful cinematography, and arguably some of the most realistic acting out of not just Peter Weller, but the entire cast. It was just one of those rare cases where every element came together to make a near-perfect movie.

You're right artuditu...whenever I watch RoboCop, there's never a time when I look at any one aspect of it and think to myself, "Hmm...he or she wasn't right for that part." Or, "That line was terrible." Or maybe, "That shot was silly." I can't say that about the sequels, but the first one was near-perfect.

artuditu · mio Cid

Watching R2 today. It really looks like a comic book. Much less mature and less realistic. My opinion has worsened a bit, but it's still a rare film, not like anything that was done in those years.

So much slower movie. It starts fast with the action, but then it completely stagnates. The second action scene is when Robo goes for Cain, and that's minute 30, and there is little action. Then you have to wait for Robo and all the cops going for Cain, and that's minute 60. Then we have all the RoboCain storyline and Robo almost disappear until the end.

Is really Robo protagonist of this film? It's hard to tell, as a character he is completely flat and aside from the discarded humanity storyline at the beginning and the "social mode" storyline, he mostly appears walking or in action scenes ready to shoot. Only deep moment is when Hob dies, and maybe his ambiguous last line at the end.

Some bad dialogues. I see Nancy Allen lost out there at times, her character is also very flat, only good moments are when she is a tough cop. I even feel Weller unmotivated, asked to pull faces or grimmace with pain, he no more takes seriously the film all the time.

The suit looks much worse. I know most of us as kids loved the blue, but it's so much lighter and gives that plastic feeling that Weller movements look much more exaggerated.

So much daylight! The beginning is cool because it's at night, but until the end fight, everything happens at day. In R1 except from the primsore lane and the steel mill scenes, he always appears at night in exterior locations. I think even in R3 they went back to the night for most action scenes.

Anyway I would take the best:

- Dr. Faxx is a nice addition. Complex and manipulative character.
- The police strike still has potential. It's emotional when they all go for Cain.
- The "Social mode" storyline. It's fun, a self-aware parody on political correctness. The kids baseball team making a robbery is hilarious.
- The final fight part is good, and I think has been influential in later sci-fi / action films.

By the way I still think the Delta City idea is good, as Dick Jones pointed in R1 its construction with million of workers presents lots of potential for gangsters and organized crime, and offers an interesting universe, it actually makes me think of Total Recall (the original).

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