Revealing Robocop circa 1987

Almost all movies a music, especially the popular ones, will provide a snapshot of the time it was created. Take the case of Robocop. When it was first revealed in 1987, it tackled people’s concerns about worsening crime.

When I first saw this film when it was released in the late 1980s and found it to be hilariously funny. Being a satire, scenes that were considered to be dead serious had me rolling on the floor with laughter. And even as I watch it now, 27 years later, the movie still cracks me up.

Story

In a dystopian future, the city of Old Detroit is riddled with crime. Unable to cope with this crime coupled with a dwindling budget, the police force is outsourced to a private company named Omni Consumer Products, or OCP.

One of the reasons motivating OCP to stamp out crime is that it will begin construction of Delta City to vating hs. out crime is that it will begin construction of Delta City, o build rt of such a broundbreaking them down one at replace Old Detroit in six months.

In order to do this, top management at OCP envisioned a 24×7 police force with individuals that do not eat or sleep and have the firepower and reflexes to use it. And the specific solution that Dick Jones, the Senior Vice President of OCP, and played by Ronny Cox, was to create an extremely imposing and well-armed robot designated as the Enforcement Droid Series 209, or ED-209 for short.

However, instead of just putting crime under control in Old Detroit, the stakes are much higher. If successful at urban pacification, OCP can expect to market ED-209s for military use, opening a whole new revenue stream for the company.

Unfortunately, the ED-209 malfunctions during a presentation to the OCP Board, killing one of the company’s employees in a barrage of bullets. This provides Bob Morton, who was played by Miguel Ferrer, the opportunity to remind the chairman about his Robocop Project.

Seeing that any delay in stamping out crime would cost OCP US$ 50 Million in interest payments alone, the Robocop Project is given the green light.

However, unlike the pure robot ED-290, the Robocop Project involved creating a cyborg. And since the Detroit Police Force is under attack from crime, it was only a matter of time when a police officer is killed to provide the human portion of the project.

Unfortunately for Police Officer Alex J. Murphy, played by Peter Weller, his violent death in the line of duty makes him a prime candidate for resurrection as Robocop.

To paraphrase an old marketing poster, the result is Robocop – part man, part machine, and all cop. Tacky as that may sound even back then, it actually fit the overall nature of the entire movie.

Character Development

One of the things that made this move great was the buildup before Robocop was revealed to viewers. It starts out with scenes from Robocop’s own point of view, moves on to a pictures on a monitor as he takes his first steps, and then moves to a blurred picture of him behind translucent glass. And all the while he his moving, the heavy sound of his footsteps can be heard.

[Ka-chunk! Ka-Chunk! Ka-chunk!]

The time devoted to the other characters was also sufficient to establish their personalities and motivations in the film. People such as The Old Man, Dick Jones, Bob Morton, Sergeant Warren Reed, Officer Anne Lewis, and Clarence J. Boddicker, among others, were handled well.

Overall, the character development was short and to the point. It never felt like it dragged out a long back story for each character.

Animation and Special Effects

I’d like to think that the movies took an interesting turn in the decade of the 80s. Just like several films of the time, there was an abundance of blood and gore.

Fortunately, the blood used wasn’t the fake-looking computerized one found in many of today’s movies. Instead, the film made heavy use of bags fill with fake blood and rigged with light explosives. Once detonated, the splatter appeared more natural because it obeyed the laws of physics.

And when I say it was a lot, I mean it was a lot. Almost every scene in this movie was violent. And each violent scene had blood overflowing from the hail of bullets.

[Probably the only thing that would have more blood and gore is something with Dracula at a buffet table.]

Another thing that might have come out of the 1980s is the seemingly unlimited supply of ammunition. While it is understandable that shooters will not be filmed reloading their weapons, the amount of rounds used just boggles the mind, at least if taken seriously.

[It’s like they had an unlimited number of clips to keep everyone going.]

Fortunately for the movie Robocop, no one really took the time to pay attention. Many viewers were too riveted with the scenes to care at all.

[Heck! Someone running out of ammo would probably end up spoiling the movie!]

Now just in case you think I am ridiculing the overuse of blood, gore, and bullets, you are mistaken. This movie is all about things that are over the top – the commercials, the guns, the people, the blood, the gore, the bullets, and the dark humor. Anything less would have diminished its impact on viewers.

Then of course, there was the body armor of Robocop. Made primarily of silver metal, the sheer appearance of it just screamed “Do not try anything stupid!” Used in conjunction with the slow robot-like movements of Peter Weller, it was awesome.

To top it all off, Robocop’s helmet was just right by being simple. However, what made it perfect was Peter Weller’s ability to channel emotions through his lower jaw without the upper part of his face being seen.

[He is in a league of just a handful of artists who can act without needing to see their faces.]

However, the 1980s still had its weaknesses. In this movie, it was the stop motion photography used to film the ED-209 robots. Even when it came out, viewers knew that the ED-209s were fake because of their jolty movements. Fortunately, the exposure of these robots was minimized so it didn’t detract from the rest of the movie.

Favorite Character

Without a doubt Robocop is my favorite character. Peter Weller did an excellent job with his slow robotic movements and monotone voice.

And unlike some movies I have seen over the years, he never broke character. From start to finish, he was consistent – he was Robocop.

A very close runner up is Clarence J. Boddicker, who was played by Kurtwood Smith. His take on Robocop’s antagonist was pure evil. And just like the Joker is to Batman, he was colorful and over-the-top to Robocop’s seriousness.

Favorite Scene

For me, the scene involving the drug bust has to be the best. It starts off with Robocop hammering a thick door before knocking it down to enter the drug laboratory. As he enters, his targeting system starts picking out all the criminals in the room one at a time.

He then stops and asks everyone to surrender in his monotone voice. And since we all know what the response was going to be, he proceeds to take them down with extreme, but emotionless, prejudice.

[Eh, is that even possible?]

Apart from providing the most gratification for the movie, Robocop is seen striking robotic poses throughout the gunfight. Cheesy as it may be for today’s generation, I found it to be rather stylish and cool because of movie’s overall atmosphere.

[Hey, it’s still is cool after 27 years.]

And while a 1987 Robocop could get away with posing in the middle of a gunfight, I doubt if today’s films could get away with it.

Final Thoughts

There have been many cyborg heroes in the comics and movies, but the one that made many young people, at least during my time, want to become one was Robocop circa 1987.

It was so successful that I even recall adults quoting lines from the movie in bars as patrons got more inebriated weeks after the film came out.

On the surface, it may be easy to dismiss Robocop as a shallow and callous movie with huge amounts of bullets, blood, gore, and profanity. In fact, I understand that director Paul Verhoeven was worried how it would be received by the Rating Board.

But before you dismiss this film as a gratuitous work violence, it actually tackled the difficulty of a cyborg losing his humanity. Once a man with a very happy family life, Robocop needs to accept losing much of what was important to him – his family, his friends, and even his past life, in order to become a superhuman hero he was built to be.

It was quite a feat tackling such a serious topic of what it is to be human within the shell of a robot; all the while making it downright funny.

[Satire at its best.]

The movie’s impact was so strong that actors Peter Weller and Kurtwood Smith are still identified with their characters of Robocop and Clarence Boddicker, even after taking on many other roles since then.

Some may call it a blessing as they have achieved cult status, while others may consider it a curse because they will forever be seen this way. Personally, I think it is a blessing. Very few people get the opportunity to be part of such a groundbreaking film and be immortalized for their roles.

Finally, it may be interesting to note that the movie may be considered visionary. Decades after Robocop was released, the city of Detroit actually filed for bankruptcy.

[Talk about a parallel to the movie!]

In addition to this, the idea of outsourcing may have been foreseen by the movie as well. Some cities in the United States today outsource their 911 calls to American companies in other states.

Not bad for something that was revealed to the viewing public in 1987. Not bad at all.

“*itches, leave!”
-Clarence J. Boddicker