Westworld (film)

Westworld
File:WestworldDelos.jpg
Directed by	Michael Crichton
Written by	Michael Crichton
Produced by	Paul Lazarus III
Starring	Yul Brynner Richard Benjamin James Brolin
Distributed by	MGM
Running time	88 min. (theatrical)

Westworld, written and directed by Michael Crichton and released in 1973, was a seminal science fiction movie starring Yul Brynner as a malfunctioning robotic Western movie-style gunslinger in a futuristic amusement park (called Delos) where wealthy patrons vacation to role-play their fantasies. Richard Benjamin and James Brolin starred as amusement park guests that were hunted down by the Gunslinger.

The title refers to the name of one of the three themed areas of the Delos amusement park. Brynner's character, a relentless, emotionless, uncompromising robot bent on the pursuit and destruction of his target, resembles his previous role of Chris in The Magnificent Seven and foreshadows Arnold Schwarzenegger's characters in The Terminator series of movies. The two other themed areas of Delos were MedievalWorld and RomanWorld. Delos guests paid $1,000 a day for their experience.

Westworld was the first major feature film to use 2D computer generated images (CGI) during scenes showing the point-of-view of the robotic gunslinger. The world's first use of 3D CGI in a feature film is also a Crichton movie, Looker of 1981.

This theme park-based movie also predates Crichton's highly successful Jurassic Park.

Westworld was followed by a sequel, Futureworld, in 1976, and by a short-lived sequel television series, Beyond Westworld in 1980.