Another movie featuring machines running out of control is Westworld, written and directed by Michael Crichton [1973]. Westworldwas inspired when Crichton took his kids to Disneyland. He wondered what would happen if the audio-animatronic pirates on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride began to kill the passengers. Notable for the perfect casting of Yul Brynner as a Western gun-slinging robot relentlessly pursuing hapless tourist Richard Benjamin, Westworldis the obvious model for James Cameron’s low-budget classic The Terminator[1984], in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a relentless robot from the future. A smart and well-made action sci-fi movie, Cameron topped it with the dazzling Terminator 2: Judgment Day[aka T2, 1991]. With a bigger budget, terrific stunt work, revolutionary computer generated images, and Stan Winston’s superb make-ups and puppetry, Cameron delivered a truly spectacular movie. This film not only made the bad guy Terminator from the first film into a good guy, it also introduced the awesome T-1000 robot, played by Robert Patrick with the help of some extraordinary special effects.
Isaac Asimov’s classic and influential collection of short stories I, Robotwas published in 1950. Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” (1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey any orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law) set the standards for practical artificial intelligence. I, Robotwas made into an underwhelming, CG-laden, Will Smith vehicle in 2004 by Alex Proyas.
One robot that disregarded all of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics was the Proteus IV in Demon Seed[Donald Cammell, 1977], in which an “artificially intelligent computer” ends up impregnating Julie Christie by force when it fails to charm her.
In The Matrix[Larry and Andy Wachowski, 1999], it is revealed that what most people experience is actually a simulation of reality created by intelligent machines to pacify the humans, whose bodies supply heat and energy to The Matrix. Neo (Keanu Reeves) becomes involved in a rebellion against the machines in a wonderful movie. I won’t talk about the increasingly stupid sequels as I enjoyed the first one so much.
Be they robots, clones, androids, cyborgs, or replicants: when does enough artificial intelligence make a non-human human? This question is addressed in movies like A.I. Artificial Intelligence[Steven Spielberg, 2001] and Ridley Scott’s visionary Blade Runner[1982]. The brilliantly realized and prophetic future of Blade Runnerwas done with traditional miniatures and an optical printer, before the existence of digital effects.
So what exactly does make us human? In the MGM classic, The Wizard of Oz[Victor Fleming, 1939], our four heroes are on a quest. The Cowardly Lion wants some courage. The Scarecrow wants something organic in his head, something other than straw; he (like many others in this guide) wants brains. And Dorothy just wants to go home. But it is the Tin Man who understands exactly what he needs to be a human. The Tin Man wants a heart.
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Christine [John Carpenter, 1983]
Another evil car movie, this one based on a Stephen King book. A witty opening sequence follows the manufacturing of the shiny red 1958 Plymouth Fury on its Detroit assembly line, as the song “Bad To The Bone” by George Thorogood & The Destroyers blares on the soundtrack.
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Metropolis [Fritz Lang, 1927]
Brigitte Helm as the “Maschinenmensch,” the robotic version of her character Maria.
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Forbidden Planet [Fred M. Wilcox, 1956]
A crew member of United Planets’ Cruiser C-57D keeps his ray gun trained on Robby the Robot. Robby’s vehicle is behind him, on the right.
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The Invisible Boy [Herman Hoffman, 1957]
MGM recycled the Robby the Robot suit from the previous year’s Forbidden Planetin this “boy and his robot” movie.
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Also given here is the very eye-catching Theatrical Poster to The Invisible Boy [1958]
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The Day the Earth Stood Still [Robert Wise, 1951]
Klaatu (Michael Rennie) and robot Gort (Lock Martin) emerge from their ship. A rare color still from this black and white classic.
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Gog [Herbert L. Strock, 1954]
“…and then, without warning, the machine became a Frankenstein of steel!!” So ran the tagline on the poster of this neat, low-budget sci-fi thriller.
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The Colossus of New York [Eugène Lourié, 1958]
Another brain transplant movie! A Nobel Prize-winning young scientist is killed in a car accident and his surgeon father puts his brain into a giant robot, with predictably dire results. Here he is carrying off his widow, Marla Powers.
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2001: A Space Odyssey [Stanley Kubrick, 1968]
Astronauts Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood suspect HAL, the spaceship’s onboard computer, and lock themselves into a pod where HAL is unable to hear them. They are in for an unpleasant surprise. HAL, the red spot outside the window, can read lips!
“I can’t put my finger on it, but I sense something strange about him.”
Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), about the onboard computer HAL, 2001: A Space Odyssey
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Westworld [Michael Crichton, 1973]
Yul Brynner’s robot gunslinger having a check-up.
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day [aka T2, James Cameron, 1991]
Robert Patrick’s incredible T-1000 model Terminator in mid-morph. Cameron raised the bar on special effects with this exciting movie.
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