WESTWORLD

Mr. Intense: Yul Brynner

WESTWORLD (1973). Written and directed by Michael Crichton.

The amusement park Delos, primarily for the very wealthy, offers something that even Disneyworld can't provide: incredibly lifelike robots who can interact -- and even have intercourse -- with the guests. Delos is divided into sections where guests can live out their fantasies: Westworld, Roman World, and Medieval World. Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin of The Car) check into the wild west and tangle with an intense, unfriendly gunslinger (Yul Brynner), who has little to say and seems to die quite easily -- at first. Things start going wrong at Delos and suddenly the robots aren't so compliant ... Westworld has a terrific (if probably not very original) idea, but its execution is hit or miss. There isn't much internal logic for one thing: why do the robots' guns have real bullets in them, and since you generally can't tell a human from a robot, can't a guest accidentally wind up injuring or killing another guest? There is some mild suspense at the climax, but this never really develops into much of anything. It certainly could have used a better script and a bigger budget. Yul Brynner has little dialogue but he easily walks off with the movie with his trademark intensity; Brolin is satisfactory; but Benjamin -- admittedly this material is not exactly Diary of a Mad Housewife -- mostly walks through the movie, but in the wrong way.  Jared Martin is a technician; Dick Van Patten a horny guest; and Majel Barrett [As Young As We Are] a madame. Followed by the film Futureworld, the TV series Beyond Westworld, and a 2016 HBO series.

Verdict: Somewhat entertaining but basically disappointing. **.

AS YOUNG AS WE ARE

AS YOUNG AS WE ARE (1958). Director: Bernard Girard.

Kim Hutchins (Pippa Scott) gets a teaching position in a small town and becomes friends and roomies with another teacher, Joyce (Majel Barrett). One afternoon a handsome trucker named Hank (Robert Harland) stops to fix their car, and Kim accepts a date with him. She believes Hank is around her own age, but to her horror Hank shows up in her classroom! Kim wants to cut if off with him before the whole town starts talking, but it may not be as simple as it seems ... As Young As We Are is an interesting picture, and its bolstered by the acting, with Scott [Mr. Lucky], Barrett and Harland all taking top bows. Ellen Corby and Ross Elliott are also in the cast -- as a landlady and Kim's old boyfriend, respectively -- and Ty Hardin [Berserk] makes his mark as another student who is as hunky as he is rude and unruly. This was Robert Harland's first picture, and it's a surprise that this good-looking, sensitive and sexy actor didn't have a much bigger career, although he did much television work in the years after this picture's release; he gives an excellent performance in this as well. The pleasant theme song is sung well by Andy Russell [Copacabana].

Verdict: A nice, well-acted movie from Paramount. ***.