Westworld (1973)

By Martin Davis

November 2021

By the early 1970s Michael Crichton was already established as a successful novelist, mostly within the science fiction genre, when his agent introduced him to producer Paul N. Lazurus III. The pair became good friends and decided to make a film together. Crichtons only previous foray into filmmaking had been the TV movie ‘Pursuit’ (1972) which had been a hit with the critics. The author didn’t want his feature directorial debut to be science fiction but said “That’s the only way I could get the studio to let me direct. People think I’m good at it I guess”.

The script for ‘Westworld’ was completed by Crichton in August 1972. When asked by Lazurus why he hadn’t written ‘Westworld’ as a book, the author replied that he felt the story was visual and would not really work in book form. The script was turned down by all of the major studios except Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who at the time had a bad reputation among filmmakers. Directors including Kubrick, Altman and Peckinpah had complained bitterly about their treatment by MGM with stories of unreasonable pressure, arbitrary script changes, inadequate post production and cavalier recutting of the final film. Nobody who had a choice made a film for MGM but Crichton didn’t have that choice and had to accept the studios assurance that they would not be subjected to the usual MGM treatment. In large part, they made good on their promise.

The movie is set in a high-tech adult amusement park called Delos in 1983. Wealthy guests pay $1000 a day to live out their wildest fantasies in one of three themed resorts: Medievalworld, Romanworld and Westworld which are populated by highly realistic androids programmed to indulge guests in their desires, whether it be a sexual encounter or a simulated fight to the death.

First time visitor Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and his friend John Blane (James Brolin), on a repeat visit, go to Westworld to live out their wild west dream which turns into a nightmare when a computer breakdown causes the parks androids to malfunction, leaving them at the mercy of a rogue robot gunslinger (Yul Brynner).

‘Westworld’ was the first feature film to use digital image processing which was utilised to convey the android gunslinger’s point of view as a pixelated image.

A less impressive sequel, ‘Futureworld’ (1976) followed as did a short lived TV show ‘Beyond Westworld’ (1980). A hugely successful HBO TV series based on Crichton’s film first aired in 2016 with a fourth season currently in production.

‘Westworld’ remains a highly entertaining science fiction-western adventure as well as a chilling warning of the dangers of technology taking control.