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RoboCop is a 1987 science fiction action movie and satire of business-driven capitalism, directed by Paul Verhoeven. It spawned two sequels, several comic books, multiple video games, two animated series, dozens of action figures and two television series, all featuring a cyborg police officer. The film was produced by Orion Pictures. The film is set in a dystopian near future, in Detroit, Michigan. Violent crime is out of control, and the city is in financial ruin. The city contracts the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to fund and operate the police department, in effect privatizing it. OCP is not interested in rebuilding "Old Detroit" but with replacing it with a modern utopia called "Delta City". Before this large construction project can begin, OCP wishes to end crime in the city, and creates a superhuman law-enforcement agent known as RoboCop.
PlotSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
At a meeting of OCP executives, Dick Jones, Senior Vice President, introduces a new law enforcement droid, ED-209. During the demonstration, ED-209’s programming fails and it brutally kills junior executive Mr. Kinney. Seizing upon Jones’ failure, a young, opportunistic executive, Bob Morton, convinces the head of OCP that his own project, “RoboCop”, will be a more effective and less dangerous alternative. The “Old Man” gives Morton his blessing. Jones, naturally, is infuriated at Morton for going over his head. Alex J. Murphy (Peter Weller), a dedicated cop and family man, begins his new assignment in the Metro West precinct, a particularly violent section of "Old Detroit." Murphy is partnered with Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen), a tough, experienced veteran officer. On their first assignment, they engage in a gun battle with Boddicker’s gang, who have just robbed a bank. Tracking them to an abandoned steel mill, Murphy and Lewis proceed inside without backup (which is 'unavailable'). While Lewis is temporarily incapacitated, Murphy is viciously and sadistically shot up by Boddicker and his gang, and later dies in an emergency room. Morton’s team goes ahead with its project of building a cyborg from Murphy’s corpse. Murphy, selected as a "prime candidate" for the project, is rebuilt as RoboCop. Programmed to follow a set of four Prime Directives (one of which is classified, even to RoboCop himself), RoboCop deals with criminals using extreme methods (his programming seems to disregard Miranda rights, though he does make use of them later in the film), often resulting in what would usually be considered police brutality. The project is a success with RoboCop spectacularly halting crime all over the city, and Morton is made a vice president of OCP.
Image:RoboCop portrait.jpg RoboCop, as portrayed by actor Peter Weller RoboCop tracks Boddicker to a cocaine factory. The factory workers open fire, but their firearms are useless against the armored cyborg. RoboCop reads Boddicker his Miranda rights while throwing him through several plate glass windows. He is about to kill him when the criminal reveals that he is working for Dick Jones and reminds RoboCop that he is a police officer, not a mindless killer. After some hesitation, RoboCop arrests him instead. RoboCop goes immediately to Dick Jones’ office at OCP headquarters with the intention of arresting him for "aiding and abetting a known felon." As he tries to arrest a surprisingly cooperative Jones, his system unexpectedly begins to shut down. Jones reveals that the previously classified "Directive Four" makes it impossible for RoboCop to arrest any senior executive of OCP, and any attempt to do so results in the disabling of RoboCop’s operating system. Jones also reveals that he had Morton murdered because of the success of the RoboCop project, and orders ED-209 to destroy RoboCop. A battle ensues and RoboCop manages to escape (mainly because of 209's inability to walk down stairs) though he takes heavy damage from ED-209's military grade weaponry. He is met in the parking garage by a large police unit, who open fire with armor-piercing bullets, attempting to destroy the cyborg. Lewis arrives and takes her old partner to an old factory (the same one where he was murdered). RoboCop removes his helmet and sees the face of Murphy. He asks about Murphy’s wife and son and Lewis informs him that they started a new life after his funeral. Dick Jones frees Boddicker and provides him with weapons and a tracking device to find RoboCop and destroy him. Boddicker gathers his old gang and they track their quarry to the factory. RoboCop, aided by Lewis, kills them all. He travels to OCP headquarters to deal with Jones, destroys the ED-209 guarding the entrance, and interrupts a high-level meeting where Jones is promoting the use of ED-209 to replace the striking police force. Murphy reveals to the board that Jones had Morton murdered, playing a recording of Jones’ earlier confession. Jones grabs a gun, takes the Old Man hostage, demands a helicopter, and threatens to kill the Old Man if anyone tries to stop him. The Old Man fires Jones on the spot. Murphy, no longer having to abide by Directive Four, shoots Jones, causing him to fall out the window to his death. The Old Man comments, "Nice shooting, son. What's your name?" to which RoboCop, cracking a smile, replies, "Murphy." Spoilers end here.
Robocop the characterThe Prime DirectivesImage:RoboCop - Directive 4 DRM.png Directive 4 RoboCop is programmed to follow four prime directives (the first three are comparable to Asimov's Laws of Robotics):
The fourth directive, which he was programmed to be unaware of unless it became relevant, rendered him physically incapable of placing any senior OCP employee under arrest ("Any attempt to arrest a senior OCP officer results in shutdown" - although it's not clear if this is the actual wording of the directive). In the first movie, it made him unable to act against corrupt Vice-President Richard "Dick" Jones until Jones was fired by the chairman of OCP. In RoboCop 3, Directive Four is labelled as "Never oppose an OCP officer". Also noteworthy is that Directive 4 has been erased twice, in each of the sequels. RoboCop 2 sees the deletion of all of the directives. Weapons
VisorRoboCop's visor contains a 4x zoom scope for better aim as well as tracking. RoboCop also has different vision modes but the only one that has been used in the movies was thermal vision in RoboCop 1 and RoboCop 3. His visor also contains a grid which is crucial to RoboCop's targeting as well as bullet projectery, though apparently the targeting reticle of RoboCop is seemingly internal to him, as seen in the first movie (after the fight with the ED-209 his aim becomes slightly unhinged and requires Lewis to "aim for him" while he recalibrates his targeting). The visor also has a recorder which can detect voice fluctuations as well as play back recordings. Besides this the visor is made of several layers of titanium laminated with kevlar and a black strip of bulletproof anti-fog glass which protects the cranium apparatus and eyes. The visor also has an under cloth of kevlar which protects the neck and covers up any wires etc. Body StructureRoboCop's body is titanium with steel backing and is also kevlar laminated. When shot at, the kevlar coating will slowly break off but will provide as much protection until that certain area of body armor has been shot off. Being made of titanium, RoboCop is incredibly resilient against both bombs and bullets, as well as getting hit by cars and any other injuries. As demonstrated in RoboCop 1 the body armor can sustain thousands of armor-piercing rounds before damage begins to appear on the armor itself. RoboCop's arms, legs and other appendages contain tubes through which the blood for RoboCop's biological organs flows. In RoboCop 2 RoboCop's right arm contained a signal that alerted personnel to his health status. RoboCop's hands also contain motors strong enough to crush every bone in a human hand (at 400 foot pounds as mentioned in Robocop 1). His right hand also contains a data jack in the shape of a spike which is used to retrieve or display data. At the end of the first film, the jack is used as a stabbing weapon against the antagonist Clarence Boddicker. Production detailsOriginsRoboCop was written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Allegedly, while the two were attempting to pitch the screenplay around Hollywood, they accidentally got stuck at an airplane terminal with a high ranking movie executive for several hours. Here they were able to warm him up for the project and thus set into motion the chain of events which eventually became RoboCop the movie. RoboCop marked the first major Hollywood production for Dutch director Paul Verhoeven. Although he had been working in the Netherlands for over a decade and directed several films to great acclaim (e.g. Soldier of Orange), Verhoeven moved away in 1984 to seek broader opportunities in Hollywood. While RoboCop is often credited as his English language debut, he had in fact previously made Flesh & Blood (film) in 1985, starring Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It was for RoboCop however, that Verhoeven would rise to the international spotlight. On the audio commentary Verhoeven recalls that, when he first glanced through the script, he threw it away in disgust. Afterwards, his wife picked the script from the bin and read it more thoroughly, convincing him that the plot had more substance than he originally assumed. Repo Man director Alex Cox was offered to direct before Verhoeven came aboard [1]. The story satirizes Reagonomics and the consumerism of the eighties era, with OCP presented as a massive corporate hulk that controls citizens' lives on all levels of society. Almost no distinction is made between the conduct of top level executives and street criminals, as both are seen occupied with drugs, corrupting society and talking the same catch phrases while conducting their shady affairs ("good business is where you find it").[2] The character of RoboCop itself was inspired by Judge Dredd[3] as well as the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man (one of these comic books can be seen during the convenience store robbery). Iron Man was conceived by Stan Lee as the alter ego of Tony Stark, a Vietnam veteran, billionaire and industrialist working as a military contractor. During the original run of the comic, Iron Man was mostly occupied battling communism. In this light, RoboCop is seen as a subversive take on this classic Marvel character. Although both Neumeier and Verhoeven have declared themselves staunchly on the left as far politics are concerned, Neumeier recalls on the audio commentary to Starship Troopers that many of his leftist friends wrongly perceived RoboCop as a fascist movie. Image:Buyfordollar.jpg "I'd buy that for a dollar" In several articles and interviews previously published and also on the DVD commentary to the film, Paul Verhoeven revealed that, despite not being a Christian, he immediately saw parallels in the story of RoboCop with that of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In the commentary, Verhoeven goes on to defend the graphic death of Murphy as a necessity to make the resurrection as RoboCop gain dramatic weight, and the aversion of the audience to the villains greater. Four years earlier, Verhoeven had made the movie The Fourth Man, which relies heavily on Christian symbolism. A running joke within RoboCop is the TV show It's Not My Problem, with its catchphrase "I'd buy that for a dollar!", starring the goofy character, Bixby Snyder (S.D. Nemeth), who was based on Benny Hill. However neither the name of the show nor the character are ever revealed in the movie. On the DVD commentary, Edward Neumeier comments that somehow they never got it into the dialog. According to the one version of the script, Snyder was set to appear in a fourth "media break" immediately following the death of Dick Jones in the OPC boardroom (where the film version ends). A news program was to show Snyder handcuffed by police and doing a Frog-march because of allegations of child molestation. CastingPaul Verhoeven initially considered Rutger Hauer, who he had worked with on most of his films, as well as Michael Ironside, for the role of RoboCop. Allegedly Arnold Schwarzenegger was at one point in talks to do the film, but Verhoeven eventually dismissed all three on the basis that the bulky RoboCop costume would require a light-built actor to work with. Peter Weller was subsequently cast as Murphy/RoboCop and prepared for the role by studying bird movements in a padded baseball suit. In the commentary, Verhoeven explains his choice to cast Kurtwood Smith and Ronny Cox as the central villains. Ronny Cox was an actor who until then was primarily known for "nice-guy" roles such as fatherly figures, and similarily Kurtwood Smith was cast against type as a more intellectual type of gang leader. Verhoeven comments that the look of Clarence Boddicker with the glasses reminded him of Heinrich Himmler. The principal cast of RoboCop:
In addition, the secretary of OCP executive Dick Jones is played by Joan Pirkle, the real-life wife of Kurtwood Smith. Paul Verhoeven himself has a small cameo during the arrest of Leon in the nightclub scene. FilmingFilming began during the summer of 1986 and lasted from August 6 until mid-October. Many of the urban settings of the movie were filmed in downtown Dallas, Texas due to the futuristic appearances of the buildings. The front of Dallas City Hall was used as the exterior for the fictional OCP Headquarters, combined with extensive matte painting to make the building appear taller. Although Peter Weller had prepared extensively for the role using a padded costume (supposedly, development of the actual RoboCop suit was three weeks behind schedule. By the time shooting was underway and the costume arrived on set, Weller discovered he was almost unable to move in it as he had anticipated, and required additional training to get accustomed. Weller later revealed to Roger Ebert that during filming, he was losing three pounds a day due to sweat loss while wearing the RoboCop suit in 100+ degree temperatures [4]. Peter's personal assistant, Todd Trotter, was responsible for keeping the actor cool in between takes with electric fans and, when available, large ducts connected to free-standing air conditioning units. The suit later had a fan built into it. Image:6000SUX.jpg 6000 SUX adversement. The Ford Taurus was used as the police interceptor in the movie due to its then-futuristic design. Additionally, the main competitor of the Ford Taurus at the time was the Pontiac 6000, which is parodied by its movie counterpart, the "6000 SUX". The 6000 SUX itself was based on a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass with extensive bodywork. Commercials advertise the SUX as "an American tradition" with a fuel efficiency of 8.2 miles per gallon. In early production, it was to be powered by jet turbines. The exhaust of the turbine is still visible above the rear license plate of Clarence Boddicker's SUX in chase scenes. The 6000 SUX was designed by Gene Winfield of Winfield Rod & Custom, while the Chiodo Brothers Productions fabricated and animated the dinosaur puppet in the 6000 SUX commercial[5]. SoundtrackThe soundtrack score for the movie was composed by Basil Poledouris (1945 - 2006), who used both synthesized and orchestral music as a mirror to the man-versus-machine theme of the movie. The score alternates brass heavy material, including the memorable RoboCop theme and ED-209's theme, with more introverted pieces for strings, such as during RoboCop's home-coming scene. The soundtrack is available on CD and has been reissued and remastered several times in recent years. The theme song also made its way into the arcade and NES RoboCop video games. In the Nightclub scene of the movie, the song "Show Me Your Spine" by P.T.P. was played. P.T.P was a short lived side project consisting of members of the band Ministry. However, this song was not available in any official form until it was eventually released in 2004 on an album called "Side Trax" by Ministry. ReceptionRoboCop opened in American theaters on July 17, 1987. The film was a commercial success and grossed over $8 million in its opening weekend and almost $54 million during its domestic run, making it the 16th most successful movie that year [6] [7]. The movie was originally given an X rating by the MPAA in 1987. To satisfy the requirements of the ratings board, Verhoeven trimmed blood and gore from the most violent scenes in the movie, including the malfunctioning of ED-209, Murphy's execution (where his entire right arm is severed by a shotgun blast and a final overhead shot of Lewis sobbing over Murphy on the blood-soaked floor), and the final battle with Clarence Boddicker. It was re-evaluated and given an R rating. The original version was included on the Criterion Collection laserdisc and DVD of the film (both now out of print), as well as the 2005 trilogy box set version. All DVD versions, except the out of print Criterion, allow the option to view both the theatrical version and the director's cut.
ThemesRoboCop explores larger themes regarding the media and human nature in addition to being a big budget action film; the philosopher Steven Best wrote an essay on some of this content[8]. In the Criterion Edition DVD commentary track, executive producer Jon Davison and writer Edward Neumeier both point to the decay of American industry from the 1970s through the early 1980s. The abandoned Rust Belt-style factories that RoboCop and Clarence Boddicker's gang use as hideouts demonstrate this theme. Massive unemployment is prevalent, being reported frequently on the news, as is poverty and the crime that results from economic hardship. The concept of dehumanization is also represented in the title character. Murphy is killed in the line of duty and rebuilt as a cold, mechanized, and violent entity. Although he later seems to regain some of his humanity, his ruthlessness in dealing with criminals is quite outside the boundaries of reasonable use of force employed by the police. His methods are, however, amazingly effective against the criminal elements of the city, with the movie depicting crime decreasing dramatically where RoboCop is operating. In contrast to the theme of dehumanization is the theme of regaining one's humanity. Although Murphy has become "RoboCop", during the last sequence of the movie we find that despite being a product of OCP, his basic core of individuality has not been lost. The president of OCP says, "Nice shooting son, what's your name?" Robocop declares, "Murphy." It is now clear that Robocop is no longer just a programmed and manufactured amalgam of flesh and robotics, but a human being. Another theme is the sense of justice finally being brought to vicious and remorseless criminals. The criminals mercilessly execute Murphy as well as many other cops and innocent citizens and are involved in drug trafficking, murder, and prostitution. A key point is that lawyers, probably controlled by ruthless corporate executives, are able to release criminals within hours or days despite the severity and number of crimes they were charged with. This shows the inability of the judicial system to effectively contend with criminals, and the only way for the citizens of Detroit to be truly safe is when Murphy "deals" with them. Sequels, Spin-offs, and AttractionsDue to the enduring popularity of the character, there have been a number of RoboCop spin-offs,sequels, and attractions. They are:
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