Westworld (1973)

Back in 1973, this must have been one scary premise and Yul Brynner was one menacing gunslinger. Comparisons with HBO's Westworld series will be inevitable. Season 1 of the series followed closely to the central plot of the film but Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy clearly also expanded and deepened the mythology. In the film, nothing was really explained and the robots/hosts revolted assumingly because of some "computer virus". It was not explicitly stated whether they had actually gained sentience. In the end, this film felt more like a sci-fi horror rather than a sci-fi thriller. But at just a quick 88 minutes, this film was an easy and entertaining watch. 

Michael Crichton screenplay was effectively simple although the same could be said of his dialogue. Perhaps then it was a smart choice to make Brynner's The Gunslinger silent. However, that also led to many clunky, exposition-heavy exchanges between James Brolin and Richard Benjamin, and also from Alan Oppenheimer's Chief Technician/Supervisor. 

On the other hand, Crichton the director seemed to be having more fun. There were quite a number of fun scenes and tense moments. That final showdown was exciting and scary and riveting. However, at the same time there were also a few moments of excessive indulgent and unchecked quirkiness that seemed out of place. Regardless, having Crichton as the director of his own work likely did enable him to translate his vision more accurately to the big screen. 

To be honest, the acting here weren't great but the casting for our three leads were on point. Brynner was sufficiently creepy and enigmatic; Broslin was the handsome, suave, rich guy who treats Westworld as his own personal theme park; and Benjamin was the awkward newcomer, the audience surrogate, who ushered us into this new paradigm.The rest of the cast were rather unremarkable and easily forgettable.

Other than inspiring the Westworld series, the legacy of this film also includes another huge franchise. Crichton's further developed his theme of a theme park turning dangerous due to a "central malfunction" and 17 years later gave birth to Jurassic Park the book and three years after that, Spielberg's blockbuster hit that terrified a whole new generation, Jurassic Park the movie.