Futureworld

Futureworld (1976)

Runtime: 107 minutes

Directed by: Richard T. Heffron

Starring: Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, Arthur Hill, John P. Ryan, Stuart Margolin

From: AIP

Viewing the sequel of the last film I watched seemed like a logical idea. 

I don’t plan on checking out the 5-episode Beyond Westworld TV show from 1980, but that may change one day years in the future. Naturally, Futureworld suffers in comparison to Westworld and Michael Crichton is missed. That said, my love of 70’s kitsch is an asset; how can I not smile at seeing pea green shag carpeting ON THE STAIRS of a two-story apartment in what was 1985 in this universe? Richard T. Heffron is at least a competent veteran director. The Prime Video description sadly gave away too much of the plot-although there was some obvious hints dropped early on that suggested where the story was headed… heck, the movie’s official posters also gave unsubtle hints as to the plot! 

Somehow, Palpa… er, I mean somehow Delos the resort reopened two years after the catastrophe presented in Westworld despite several dozen civilians dying. Spending the equivalent of almost 9 billion dollars evidently does wonders. Peter Fonda (print reporter) and Blythe Danner (TV newscaster)-who of course have a history w/ each other-are among the dignitaries invited to a preview of the new & improved Delos.

Even I can’t deny the flaws in logic, the preponderance of scenes set in the basement of a factory, the focus on the two leads after the opening act featured other characters in several different lands. There’s no character as menacing as The Gunslinger in Westworld, who many have accurately noted was a proto T-800, nor will you be reminded of Jurassic Park. Be that as it may, the 70’s sets and color schemes did some of the heavy lifting for me, as did the score from a returning Fred Karlin. Some of the sets were fancy, there’s hologram chess that reminded me of the scene in A New Hope, and there’s other wacky ideas present of life in this alternate 80’s. I also dug rogue employee Hank and his old model android lackey Clark. 

Heck, there’s even the first usage of CGI in this movie & even odder, this of all movies was apparently the first American movie to be wide-released in China, in 1979. Early CG in movies I know only a few things about… the latter, nothing is known about but both are rabbit holes that could possibly explored one day in the future.

In any event, I happened to enjoy this movie and its relaxed pacing; many don’t but I won’t fault them for finding the picture “dull” or even somnambulistic. The most WTF scene by far: Yul Brynner returned as the Gunslinger, albeit for only one like three minutes, in a moment shoehorned in which bears no relation to the rest of the plot. Danner has a dream inspired by the final few scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey which involve the Gunslinger in increasingly bizarre moments; what a way for Brynner to end his career in either the last or next-to-last movie he filmed.