Robocop (1987)

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."

I have vivid memories of seeing Paul Verhoeven's first big American film ROBOCOP in a packed theater on opening day, 1987.

It was one of the most violent, over-the-top mainstream films to hit screens in the 80's. Packed with graphic carnage, mayhem and profanity, it carved a new path by being hilariously satirical at the same time.

Verhoeven had no interest in taming his European in-your-face style for USA tastes. Brave audiences ate it up, ensuring the director's amazing decade ahead, including his next two blockbusters "Total Recall" and "Basic Instinct".

As ROBOCOP opens, we see a prescient look at a TV news show that seems as much like Entertainment Tonight (I'm looking at you Leeza Gibbons!) as it does the nightly news. We learn that Detroit has pretty much gone to seed and the huge conglomerate OCP is going to level it and build a brand new, shiny city in its place.

They've won a contract to privatize the police force and when their first giant robot attack machine goes horribly (hilariously) wrong in the board room, their old man in charge (Dan O'Herlihy from "Halloween III") looks for a brash,young, new idea. In a star making turn as that a-hole one man wrecking crew, Miguel Ferrer (Twin Peaks) plays Bob Martin, whose idea to create a half human/half robot police super cyborg takes point.

He suddenly has his first subject when new OCP cop Alex Murphy is destroyed in a hail of gunfire by Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith) and his repulsive gang of murdering misfits. As Murphy, Peter Weller is perfectly cast. A deeply rooted family man with an old fashioned take on right & wrong, he's gunned down his first day on the job.

Martin's competition for the old man's seat at the head of the table is Dick Jones, played with mustache twirling relish by Ronny Cox (Beverly Hills Cop). He conspires in the shadows waiting for Martin's project to fail, but damned if Murphy's resurrection as Robocop isn't a big hit.

It's a blast watching Verhoeven play with our American patriotic sensibilities. He tees up Robocop's debut across the crumbling city of Detroit as a near replica of Christopher Reeve's first night in Metropolis from Richard Donner's brilliant "Superman" (1978).

Of course in Verhoeven's version, the caped crusader isn't flying in to rescue kitties from trees. Robocop unleashes thousands of explosive rounds, blowing away giggling rapists chasing women in alleyways and armed robbers in mid-felony. It's bloody, graphic and hilarious when it isn't pushing the boundaries of mainstream movies.

When our machine/patrolman suddenly begins to have flashes of his former life, his programming glitches. He begins to see Boddicker and his gang as they blew his former self, Murphy away.

The remainder of the film then soars off into a satisfying blend of revenge flick and self discovery, along with a healthy dose of comeuppance for bad guys on both sides of the law.

Weller is excellent, as is Cox. Those two could spar all day for my tastes.

Nancy Allen (Dressed to Kill, Carrie, 1941) has one of her best serious roles as Anne, Murphy's old partner who suddenly realizes that OCPs new prototype looks a lot like her old partner. Again, we have to apply the Superman/Lois Lane rule here, as its the same leap of faith that she cant see Murphy even though everything below his eyes is exposed. I guess that metal visor is like Supe's glasses.

Boddicker's gang is made up of some great, quirky actors, including Ray Wise (Twin Peaks), Felton Perry (Dirty Harry's partner in "Magnum Force") and the cackling Paul McCrane, whose death by toxic waste in the finale is one of Verhoeven's funniest action punch lines. The audience opening night laughed out loud and I did again, nearly 40 years later!

Rob Bottin (Se7en, Total Recall) delivers excellent makeup effects, including a scene when RoboCop's helmet comes off that's so intricate and horrifying looking that he avoids the "Darth Vader taking his helmet off an looking like Humpty Dumpty" issue that plagued "Return of the Jedi". Bottin also designed the RoboCop suit, said to have cost up to $1 million. That's a LOT of 1987 ca$h.

The final film was submitted to the ratings board 12 times before it was awarded an R. Verhoeven would test the MPAA board even more with "Basic Instinct" several years later.

Long before "The Boys", ROBOCOP brought a grown up hero to blood soaked life, a Frankenstein with a badge that's coming for justice. It plays well today, spilling accurate predictions about urban decay, and the blurring of news & entertainment. That stupid "I'll buy that for a dollar!" sexy comedy everyone is watching on TV the entire movie was also pretty dead on, it just turned out to be TikTok on everyone's phones instead of the TV sets that fill every corner of Verhoeven's 1987 version of the future.

Lower the lights, power up the sound and let Basil Poledouris's big orchestra pound you into submission. Ignore the sequels and the remakes and revisit Verhoeven's original blockbuster. ROBOCOP still gets an A.

"Nice shootin, son. What's your name?"