Futureworld (1976)
Reviewed by Geno McGahee – October 15, 2007
This is the sequel to the 1973 hit, “Westworld,” where vacationers go to a remote resort to rewind time and relive the old west and face off against human-looking robots that are programmed to lose to the visitors every time, and there is a bonus, there are hot female sexbots. Unfortunately, the robots go bad and kill all of the vacationers and Westworld is no more, thanks in large part to the negative coverage by journalist, Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda). Well, Westworld is gone but Futureworld is now open for business, operated by the same company: Delos. To avoid any confusion and to erase the negative stigma surrounding the company, both Chuck and another journalist, Tracy Ballard (Blythe Danner), have been invited to Futureworld for an all access pass to prove that it is a safe place for people to visit, but there is an ulterior motive.
Futureworld is an outstanding place, and along with the two journalists, many world leaders are invited as well. Chuck and Tracy or “Socks,” as Chuck calls her, have a history together and there is a competition between the two. Tracy wasn’t very happy that Chuck was invited to come along because it was her story, but her demands fall on deaf ears and now she is stuck with Chuck.
Prior to leaving, Chuck is phoned by a former employee of Futureworld with some interesting information for sale concerning the resort, but when they meet, the messenger falls dead, shot in the back. There is something horrible going on at Futureworld, but there is something going on that is just  fantastic…the sexbots. They have incredibly attractive female robots, programmed to have sex with the vacationers. Sexbots have always been a fantasy of mine…in fact, in the mid 1980s, I made it happen, although the robot wasn’t as attractive as the ones that I saw in this movie, but whatcha gonna do?
Futureworld is awesome and all of the world leaders are having fun, pretending to be knights and astronauts and having sex with robots. Am I talking about sexbots too much? I wish I owned one. Ok…back to the movie.
Everything seems normal, but Chuck wants to get behind the scenes and away from the guided tour. He and “Socks” sneak around and try to uncover the secrets of the resort and get help from Harry (Stuart Margolin), a mechanic that has reprogrammed a robot to help him in the repairs. The name of the robot is “Clark,” and as far as I know, he and Harry were not romantically involved.
Harry cooperates with the journalistic duo and uncover the horrible truth of the resort. This is a suspenseful, interesting, and very well paced. I liked Westworld, but this sequel is even better. Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner deliver in this movie, as they always do, but the entire movie is well cast and well acted. John P. Ryan also does a very good job as the Scientist, Dr. Schneider. He is a consistently good actor and his facial expressions and delivery is always great, as it was here.
Futureworld is a great 1970s movie that reminds me a lot of the Stepford Wives and has that same sort of suspense and mystery that made that movie so special. I cannot recommend this one enough.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10. I promise that I won’t talk about sexbots anymore.
|
|
FAMILY SECRET
