The Weekly Planet - The First Westworld - Caravan Of Garbage

Episode Date: March 23, 2020

Westworld on HBO is now into season three which began in 2016 (or as we call it the past). The idea of Wsetworld though began in the 1973 Michael Crichton directed classic western. Starring Yul Brynner, James Brolin and Richard Benjamin. In a lot of ways it set the tone for many sci fi classics to come such as Terminator and Predator and in a lot of other ways it's quite dull. This is our Caravan Of Garbage review.Help support the show and decide on episodes at Patreon ► https:// patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesSUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNVideo Edition ► https://youtu.be/Dvdxzy0zrJAJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownTWP Itunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4TWP Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetTWP YouTube Channel ► https://goo.gl/1ZQFGHPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4T-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies#Westworld #HBO Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. Westworld is back and it's less... Start that again. Westworld is back, but it's less west world than ever it's future world we'll get to that in a minute or as they call it regular world we live in god it sure is a great day in regular world we live in ah kill a robot ah that's regular though yeah that's pretty regular we're used Yeah, that's pretty regular. We're used to it. Anyways, we're talking about West... Wouldn't change it for the world.

West World. We're not in that anymore, though. It's impressive. Yep. We are, though, of course, talking about West World, the original movie from 1973. Yeah. Much requested because we put a poll up on Patreon.

Requested. That's right. Very good. Thank you. To see whether people wanted to see this. Yeah, turns out they did there you go yeah yeah probably a bunch of people all watching it together i don't know doubt i've never seen it i've never seen this movie neither also if you could leave a like on

this video that'd be great because i'm about to set the scene for westworld 1973 i want you to imagine the future of 1983 when this movie is set oh. Right? You can go to a cowboy theme park for $1,000 a day. That's a bargain. It seems to be, right? Right? Pretty good. In 83, I looked it up. Comparable to like $4,000 a day today.

Yeah, right. Okay. It's an insane amount of money. Yeah. But it's doable. Isn't it? In the TV series, I think it's like 100 grand a day or something like that. Yeah, right.

That's in the future, isn't it? Yeah. Or as we call it, the future. Still in the future, isn't it? Or as we call it, the future. Still in the future, isn't it? For us. As far as we know. Yeah, that's right. So if you've seen the show, it's the same premise because they've got different worlds. In this, they've got Roman world, medieval world also.

Guns also don't work on humans until they do. But really, Westworld is just about old dudes banging robots. 100%. 100%. 100%. The intro of this movie is so boring. It's so boring. It's a bad start because it's just, there's some good stuff later and I want to talk about some good stuff later,

but it opens on just an ad for Westworld, but it's not even, look at the thrilling things you can do in Westworld. It's a boring wooden man asking people who've been to Westworld what they did at Westworld. It's just a guy standing with a microphone going, hello, what is your name and what have you done at Westworld? And they're like, my name's John and I'm an accountant

and I married a princess in Westworld. Can we say that? No. Definitely not. Absolutely not. I did some terrible things. Even though there's cameras on everyone all the time in this universe apparently. I don't care because I'm rich.

I've got $1,000 a day. Yeah. You know what's interesting about this version of Westworld? Yes. It's kind of pre the video game boom. Yeah. Right? So I feel like the appeal of this, like a theme park where you can do anything and there's

no laws and you're the king there and you can basically do whatever you want you can be the sheriff or you can kill the sheriff it doesn't matter you can rob a bank or you can stop the bank robbers you can be the bank oh my god that's right come get your money fellas now with the uh in the future or as we call the present yeah with amazing tv shows and video games and also theme parks and stuff i don't even know if i'd go to this right you know now imagine how they feel i've been to sovereign hill now imagine there's a local reference now imagine how they feel in the future or as they call it the regular world that have so many great video games absolutely they would yeah you know what's interesting about this movie, though? It is the creation of Michael Crichton, who also directs.

And, of course, people will know that he wrote the original novel of Jurassic Park. That's right. So I guess his vibe is create a world, like an amazing world, and just imagine all the fantastic things you can do in it, but not so much a plot. He's not a plot guy. Sure. I know his books are a lot about exploring technology

and the ramifications of. Yeah. Jurassic Park is a lot of like, look at these different genomes. The book I'm talking about. Yeah, right, right, right. Exactly. Because this movie is a brisk 88 minutes, and I would say the plot doesn't really kick in until about an hour.

You mean when the robots start killing people? Yes. There's a lot of dicking about up until that point. But that's the thing, it's a lot of, okay, so one of the things I enjoyed about this is the two main, the two leads. Yes. So it's James Brolin, who is Thanos' dad, obviously. Of course.

And then I think his name's Richard Benjamin? Yeah. Who is an actor, and I think he's directed some movies since then. Right, okay. But I feel like these guys have a great chemistry. You've got James Rowland, he's like a beautiful golden boy, and then you've got Richard Benjamin, he's this kind of like, he's a big old mustachioed man.

These two are like the quintessential 1970s dudes. Like you could tell me that they're any famous 1970s duo and I would believe you. You could be like, it's Starsky and Hutch, it's the Captain and Tennille, it's all three charlie's angels i'll be like sure it is why not it's some of gilligan's island but they're just but they're just it's just them like messing about and kind of like hey let's but i think that's appealing then it is because it didn't exist in any form so i think for people then seeing all these western shows that they grew up with,

being able to live that with no consequences, that's mind-blowing. Now it's like, who gives a shit? We've got Grand Theft Auto and the one with horses. Grand Theft Horses. That's right. This movie, pretty much it's the first episode of the TV series. It's two guys going into Westworld.

One of them's been there before, one's never been in there. They take a long time to get into that West kind of learn about west world but this movie has like less plot than one episode of the tv oh absolutely you know someone argued the tv series has too much plot going on at any one time oh my god who's even responsible for what's happening in west world who is or isn't a robot and does it matter it does not matter but i in this i liked in this one in the tv series like they're about to enter westworld and they go and they rush it in and there's this you know endless row of like these beautiful costumes they can wear and hats and weapons and like you could you craft

your personality you can be the hero or villain or you know whoever you want to be creating a video game yeah exactly but in this one it's just like you're going to that white room there's some like a couple of drawers and some shelves get an old pair of jeans it's fine it's just like, yeah, go into that white room. There's a couple of drawers and some shelves. Get an old pair of jeans. It's fine. It's only $1,000 a day, though, isn't it? What do you expect? You get to pick your own shaving brush, though. That's very true.

That was a nice touch. I think they just got all the extras clothes and just put them in a pile. It was like, yeah, take some of that. I love the jaunty number that plays as they're putting on their clothes. Incredible. And I also love, I think it's supposed to be a hovercraft flying in over Westworld. And you look out the window, and that thing is just bouncing up and down like a basketball, mate. Because it's that rear projection situation, obviously.

It's absolute insanity on that ship. The robots I find really interesting, especially for the time. You can tell by their hands whether or not they're robots. They're looking at them when they haven't done that makeup. They've obviously just got regular human hands and they didn't really do anything to it. The idea behind the eyes is they have light reflecting contact. And when they haven't done that makeup, they've obviously just got regular human hands and they didn't really do anything to it. The idea behind the eyes is they have light-reflecting contact, so that's why you can see that shimmer that comes off it.

I see. Also, they appear to spill paint when you shoot them, but also the people do as well, it would seem. There's a lot of squib action in this. Yeah, sure. Again, it's a lot of good ideas. Like there's a scene in this. I think it might be not in the theatrical version, but it's in some other versions.

But it's basically all these scientists talking about why the robots are going wild. And one of them's like, yeah, some of these computers were built by other computers, so we don't really understand how they work. And I'm like, that's really interesting. They've got some kind of computer disease. That's right.

A disease, if you will. And hear me out, of the computer. Why this is madness! Yeah, apparently though, Michael Crichton was kind of confused by the response to the making of this. He said he was intimidated

by the audience reaction because it was enjoyed. People liked it, but he said... Enough to warrant a sequel and a TV series and then another TV series. Exactly. He said the laughs were in the wrong places and there's extreme tension where i hadn't planned it so i felt the reaction and the picture for him was out of control i presume the

bit that he's talking about where people laughed in the wrong place is that snake bite where he's just flailing about so james brolin's character that he learns that the the stuff is not going wrong in the park when a snake, which is not supposed to bite, they're supposed to attack people but always miss. It gets him in the arm and he just flails around wildly. From different angles. For a good 30 seconds, yeah.

What I also love about that is they run out of town and go, man, we're loving this Westworld. We're $1,000 a day in. Let's just sit on these rocks in the middle of nowhere okay but they get to smoke they do get to that's pretty good right it was 1983 you could still smoke anywhere and everywhere i just need to say this james brolin looks fucking exactly like christian bale it's frightening right you were like that's christian bale's dad yeah yeah yeah starsky or hutch yeah that's right exactly yeah of course it is he He's less Josh Brolin than he is Christian Bale, I feel.

Anyway, that's just something I feel. The other thing I guess we haven't touched on yet is Yul Brynner's role in this movie. Yeah, right. He was hot off the back of a number of huge roles over the decades, The King and I, The Magnificent Seven, obviously, and the reason I bring that up is because the character from this is dressed nearly exactly the same as his character from that movie.

I do wonder whether within this universe, Yul Brynner actually exists and they took his likeness for this movie. Or his actual face. Or his face, they just took it right off him. Maybe the most valuable part of that gunslinger unit is his face because it is removable. It certainly is. Not a bad effect either. There's a nice little cowboy switch. No pun intended.

You know when the scientist moves in front of him and then they pull back and it's the body double. It certainly is. Not a bad effect either. There's a nice little cowboy switch. No pun intended. You know when the scientist moves in front of him and then they pull back and it's the body double. But apparently at the time in the 1970s, Yul Brenner was suffering. Yes, that's right. For us. Not the people at the time. No, that was the president.

That's right. He was suffering financial difficulties and he was in desperate need of money. And with no other movie in the work or offer coming his way, he took the price of $75,000 for this movie, which is still a hell of a lot of money for that time. Someone gave me $75,000 now. They're like, well, I'm done for the year, aren't I?

I'm just going to shut down. But how many estranged ex-wives do you have? That's a good point. I think he was married three times. I did look into that. But $75,000, that can get you 75 days in Westworld, my friend. Oh, my God. Oh, my goodness.

I could be bitten by so many snakes. Exactly. Should we talk about the plot? Yeah. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before

thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one is left behind.

So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca. In the sense that there isn't one. But I couldn't believe it was Josh Brolin who dies in this. James Brolin. Whatever, Christian Bale. I can't believe he was the one,

because he's kind of the cool, handsome one, right? That's what I liked about it, though. I thought that was good. But I feel like that's kind of prototypical horror movie, is the one, because he's kind of the cool, handsome one, right? Yeah, but I mean, that's... That's what I liked about it, though. I thought that was good. But I feel like that's kind of prototypical horror movie, is the one you don't... If it's a cool, hunky, muscly man who survives to the end, and he's the one survivor, and he's facing the killer robot, you go, he'll be fine.

Yeah. Don't worry about it. But what you want is you want a little mustachioed man. Yeah, to pull through. It's like when Chris Hemsworth crashed into that force field in Cabin in the Woods. Chris Hemsworth's got this. He doesn't. He's dead.

He's got this exactly. Yeah. And there's like Draculas and shit running about. That being said, though, I feel like maybe there should have been a third party in this, like another guest. Because towards the end, it's just this one guy. He's not talking to anyone. He's just running about.

I guess what they do there, they supplement that by having the adventures of some guy we don't care about in a castle. Oh, yeah. And Guy fixing a Jeep. And Guy fixing a Jeep. Incredible. Yeah. I think, though, the chase between Yul Brynner's character and Mr. Mustache, it's got some great moments of tension. Apparently, not on purpose.

But it's very laborious for a lot of it i feel yeah it's interesting though because michael crichton felt also that the things that people took from this movie were the wrong thing like people remembered the killer robots yes but the purpose of this story is bureaucracy and corporations running amok and just being you know despite machines building machines and snakes biting people when they shouldn't, they decide not to shut it down. That's also a very Jurassic Park kind of thing. Exactly, yeah. But I think it's much better portrayed in Jurassic Park.

I didn't get that at all from this. Because even in this movie... You just remember the robots, right? I just remember the robot, but also the scientists are like, this seems like a problem, we should shut it down. They're not like, but we're making so much money, let's not shut it down. They really lean into that more in Jurassic Park, don't they and they lean into it very heavily in the in the new west world yes absolutely but in this one i feel like but i guess maybe maybe corporate responsibility

was a little different in the 70s yeah absolutely we've actually got a recurring segment of the show uh people know this it's trivia related it's called pave the way that's what i say and that's when we talk about things from this movie in particular that paved the way for future things oh like we do every week like we do every week let's do it oh we've mentioned the obvious parallels to jurassic park and i think lessons learned from this probably but also i think maybe michael crichton who builds his worlds yes needed a hand of like a steven spielberg to be okay, here's how you establish a world in 10 minutes. Yep. Now action. Now...

I have a giant pile of shit in my film. Right. Your film did not have that, which is better. Exactly. If we're honest. Yeah. Yeah. This is also the first film with CGI.

Oh. Yeah. Which bit? The CGI vision? The vision, exactly. The robot vision? I'm not talking about like monitor graphics in movies, which you also saw.

Yeah, so apparently it took eight hours to produce each 10 seconds of footage from the gunslinger's pixelated point of view. I just presumed that was some kind of filter they put over it or something. Like a colander maybe. Yeah, exactly. That's what I...

In front of the lens. Because you know how you look through a kaleidoscope? I just figured it was some kind of lens kind of distortion going on there, but actually computer generated. People in the 70s would have assumed that because they loved kaleidoscopes back in the day. They're like, oh my god, any kind of entertainment, please.

That was like their Game Boy, because they were in the past. To us, I mean to them, it was the present. Game Boys were kaleidoscopes. Yeah, and probably yo-yos and probably... Wait, yo-yos were kaleidoscopes? Yes! Wow! That's right. And punching people, that was what you did. You just punched people.

Friends, family, it didn't matter, did it? That's right. That was primetime TV, baby. The other thing is John Carpenter... Bit of the old Brady Bunch. Brady Punch. Very good. The other thing is John Carpenter based the indestructible nature

of the killer Michael Myers off your Brenner. Oh, there you go. Similarly, Arnold Schwarzenegger used Brenner's performance as the basis for his role in The Terminator. And there was obvious parallels there because also you got the vision. They're both robots, obviously. That's right. Arnold was also going to do a remake in the early 2000s

before he became governor. Yeah, I remember that. The idea was that he was going to bring this back. And this hasn't been mentioned anywhere, but I feel like the heat vision distortion, that's the Predator, right? They've taken that from the Predator. Oh, the Predator, sorry, took that from this.

Oh, maybe, yeah. But in Predator they were like, what if it worked? You know, what if he could see things? What if he could see things? What if he wasn't distracted by torches and oh my goodness warm baths and such you know yeah absolutely what what a thing that doesn't doesn't i don't quite buy in this is apparently in this in this universe in the in west world you get accosted by this gunslinger every day like you shoot him to death i think some people are but then but then he keeps coming back he'd

be like this has broken the reality exactly this. Exactly. Make it a different guy. You're absolutely right because it is supposed to be, the reality of it should never be shattered. Even though they just bring in people in hazmat suits every night to pick up the bodies and prepare the bath. But everybody's in bed. That's another little difference. No one's going to bed.

It was the 70s, I guess. Yeah, so then another little difference between this and the TV series, the new TV series, is in the TV series, Westworld is happening just nonstop. But in this, it seems to be like midnight till six, switching it off. Everybody's going, no, no. Go to bed or you're a communist. That's right.

Exactly, yes. But yeah, you're right, 100%. Everybody will be having a bender. They'll be like, I'm here for a week, seven-day bender. Here we go. Absolutely. Another scene that I enjoyed, there's a scene where there's a bar fight happening behind the two main guys

and they're just like chilling. Yeah. That's a good scene. Yeah. Well, I guess because you would because it doesn't really matter, does it? Right. Yeah, apparently this also leaned into a lot of the Western tropes on purpose. Oh, sure, yeah.

I feel like some of them come across at this point as like a bit laborious because we've seen them a million times before and a million times after. But I like that these characters enjoy kind of being in these scenarios, I guess. The other thing is, this is a big hit. It was made for $1.2 million. That's not a lot of money. That's not a lot of money. But it made $10 million, which sounds ridiculous.

I deliberately mumbled that, so maybe it was a lot of money in the 70s. I don't know. Yeah, it was a little bit of money. A little bit of money. Yeah, so, but it made $10 million, which sounds ridiculous nowadays. But that's a big return. That's right. That's the present, though, for you, isn't it?

That's right. Unless you're watching this in the future, in which case this is the past. Also, fuck off if you're from the future. We don't want you here. Yeah, right. You know things that we don't, and we hate that. Yeah, tell us all the things. Yeah, please do.

Leave it in the comments. This also made huge money in home rentals, because that was just kind of taking off at the time. And I remember that VHS cover with that Yul Bry bring a face coming off yeah exactly yeah never rented it but could have any any day you could right good exactly when you know new episodes of biker mice from mars were getting a bit thin on the ground maybe i'd read that probably not though probably not michael crichton also uh he re-edited the first cut of this movie because he found it long and boring there's a bunch of deleted scenes. Can you imagine this being more boring?

Yeah. I really love hate on this. Yeah, right? Because there's so much I like. But there was a bank robbery. There was a sales room. Which we don't see. No. The version I saw anyway, it's like, man, we could have been involved in that bank robbery.

And they're like, nah, don't worry about it. We've got stuff to do. We've got stuff to do. There was a sales room sequence. The hovercraft flying over the desert, they took that out because apparently the effect wasn't very good. There was additional and longer dialogue. There were more scenes of robots going crazy and killing guests.

Oh, come on. Give us more of those. Including a scene where a guest is tied to a rack and killed when his arms are pulled off. There's a longer chase scene with the gunslinger. The gunslinger is cleaning his face with water after the acid situation. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so there's a bunch of stuff that was not put in,

which I think this film benefits from taking it out. That being said, I would have put all the murders in. Right? Keep the murders in. Keep all the murders in. Have everybody's arms get torn off. That's right. That's what happens after you leave.

And that would be intriguing because right at the start of the movie, the guy would be interviewing people and be like, how did you enjoy your time at Westworld? And the guy would show up with no arms and be like, I loved it. I loved Westworld. Of course, there is a sequel. You mentioned it.

It's called Future World, set three years later. What is it? I have no idea. Set in the future, though, isn't it? Set in the future. But do they call it present world in the movie? Oh, God.

Are they like, okay, today we're all going to enter future world. But while you're in there to maintain the illusion, you have to call it present day world going to enter a future world, but while you're in there to maintain the illusion, you have to call it present day world. None of this future world nonsense. Don't spin out any of those robots, all right? That's right.

Yeah. Of course, also there was a 1980s short-lived series. Beyond Westworld? Something like that, yeah. Okay. And then from that we get the modern reboot, though really it could also be a continuation because there is hints towards this movie, including you see the gunslinger in the background of some shots oh at one point so i do wonder

whether in the alternate world where westworld is set yeah in 1983 there were robot snakes and your brenna's yeah right and they hushed it up hushed it up exactly anyway this being westworld what do you think is Is it good? No. I mean, it's nearly 50 years old, isn't it? Yeah, exactly, yeah. I'm seeing it through the lens of the future, or as I call it, the present. And I'm like, you're like, it does seem kind of hokey, but again, maybe that's what it's supposed to be.

It was supposed to feel a little like a hokey old-timey Western. Ten-minute short film, I feel. You could edit this down to something very watchable. But if you do want us to come back to Future World let us know also of course

we do our Patreon polls if you want to vote on things which we discuss every week and if you do want to know what's coming up next week guess what here's a hint

it's Milan Mason we just did that we recorded it already we recorded the music out of order because we're in the future we're in the future I've lost track of where we are but when this comes out we'll be in the past that's right but a version of us we're in the future. We're in the future. I've lost track

of where we are. But when this comes out we'll be in the past. That's right. But a version of us will be in the future. That's right. That's us living our lives.

And the people watching it will be in their present which they may call the future. They can't call it that because it will be their present. That's true.

Also of course we have a podcast where we talk movies and comics and TV shows. We talk the news of the week. We do a topic. We will talk about Westworld when the season wraps up or just during. Comes out every Monday morning. Depends how intriguing it is and how and TV shows. We talk the news of the week. We do a topic. We will talk about Westworld when the season wraps up

or just during. It comes out every Monday morning. It depends how intriguing it is. Absolutely. And how confused it is. Yeah. How confused we are. Absolutely.

That is also the case. I'm at MrSundayMovies on Twitter. I'm at WikipediaBrown on Twitter. Thanks for stopping by and subscribe if you want. Thank you. Grab that jam, you guys. We will see you next week. Which you call the future.

But at the time. Sorry. It'll be the present for them when they come back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. you next week. Which you call the future. But at the time. Sorry. It'll be the present for them when they come back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we nailed it, though. Absolutely. But sometimes I wish we'd lived in simpler times. Sure.

You know, just being attacked by snakes and such. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. I mean, if you want. It's up to you. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London.

One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.