He wasn't a robot. He was a cyborg. Bob Morton told the boss that the problem with that robot at the beginning was that a machine can't make good choices so they needed a human element. Lewis recognized Murphy at the shooting range when he did the gun spinning thing.
*Ididnotwanttojoin* Lewis was his partner before his incident: and when she saw Murphy the gun from outside his Holster 🔫 she knew admittedly that was him: Murphy was a true boy in blue, head strong, charming, nonchalant to any criminal, and straightforward yellow jacket: he to be honest have no fucks, who was bringing in dead or alive(even when we a human before he became a cyborg... A similar incident happened with Keanu Reeves playing as a human/overworked scientist in the movie "Surrogates" where he and the family went on a vacation trip, lost control of the wheel of the vehicle killing his wife, older daughter and younger daughter. In that moment of clarity he went into his companies funding to save their downloading their brain waves into "cloned bodies" he grew within a week from test tubes(some very intelligent 🤓,and alot of money involved in the process) The first time he and his team, tried to transfer the wounded soldier's mind into a robot: but what algorithms failed at is the robots programming wouldn't accept the human consciousness, well it least it partially did 😅..) when the human psych took over, it admittedly tried to kill itself cause it refused to live as a machine. "If you can trick the mind, that body that it's occupying its very own construct and not a copy or machine, the human psych will accept the hosts and continue on like it's Normal"- Dr That's what the Dr success was when he brought his family back as clones.. Murphy however, remembered bits and pieces of his past life: " Ghost in a shell" references basically, and senses he's the law he can do within the confides of his program: even though he has past experiences "He can learn within the boundaries of his Primary Programming: his Prime Directives who can kill can vs what is a crime vs who is innocent until proven guilty. He can also use data-mine any: but not limited to recordings, files, pictures, audio frequencies, distress calls or "over ride" protocols if the situation calls for it..
@@jebVlogs556 Yeah, that first part is what I said, Lewis recognized him when he did the gun spinning thing, not because of his lips. The rest I don't have time to read right now, I have to get ready for work. Maybe later.
Yes he is a cyborg but I've wondered how are they able to merge human physiology and not only that but the brain with cybernetics because like in Robocop 3 this doctor says if they wanted a machine in there why did they stick Murphy in there and in Robocop two all of their subjects was going psychotic
He recognized who he was because Dead or Alive You're Coming with me was the last thing Murphy said to him before they killed him, and Murphy's partner recognized him because of the gun trick his son thought was cool
Yeah i caught the gun trick in editing. As for the other guy, i eventually decided he must’ve known about the partnership between Dick and Clarence but i see now maybe that was only between them
@@ShanelleRiccio I think they messed up when they used the “dead or alive phrase” …. They should have shown robocop using that line before (with the shop lifter or the r@pers (sorry @trying not to get you a community standards hit) or a third scene ) otherwise it goes unexplained WHY Robo uses that phrase here IF he doesn’t yet recognize him
@@MrSheckstrHe says it to the dude as Murphy and says it again to the same dude as Robocop so the dude recognizes it. Jesus, do people need to have it written down?
@@Jayskiallthewayski dude thats EXACTLY MY POINT !!!!!! Yet he DOESNT SAY IT any time in between…. And he SAYS IT as robocop BEFORE Murphy /Robocop recognizes the guy….. so get off your high horse, pull that stick out if you arse and TRY to explain why he would have said it the second time. For someone who whines about people needing things written down, you have a serious problem with reading comprehension because my issue was CLEARLY that he did NOT say it AS ROBOCOP at any of the encounters with criminals between his two encounters with this man…. And since he didnt recognize him yet…. There is no explanation why he would say it now!!!
@@MrSheckstrdo you interact with people by a script? Or do you sometimes say different things to different people? I’m not understanding why you think he should or would say the exact same thing every time he interacts with a perpetrator.
I always hear at the gas station scene " how do they remember his face when its covered up!? " .... he remembers him from the " Dead or alive you're coming with me " line.
Murphy was wearing chest armor when they shot him with the shotguns. It's why is arms and legs were damaged, requiring amputation, but his torso and most of his internal organs survived.
I’m not sure of the shots in the regular version or exactly what version Shanelle is watching but in the unrated version his chest is clearly covered in blood and gore in the shot where the camera pans in an arc from in front of him to the rear. And as his head hits the ground, you can see all the gore on the chest on the far right edge of the screen.
Its not that Murphy couldnt see the baby food to shoot it, its that his body wasnt doing what his eye was seeing. Lewis could see which way his aim was off, and guide him to compensate, so he was accurate again. But yes, its a 'touch' moment.
Peter Weller has major Sci-fi nerd cred. Check his back catalogue. He did a lot of dramas as a leading man, too. All solid work, if not blockbusters. *Leviathan* (1989), and *Screamers* (1995), are underrated Sci-fi gems, and *Buckaroo Bonzai* (1984) is a Sci-fi cult classic. He was a major character in the second of the *Star Trek* reboot movies, *Into Darkness* (2013). And he's still working, as far as I know.
I think he still acts occasionally but he stepped back to become a pretty well respected professor of art history, or renaissance history or some shit. I forget which university he lectures at and im too lazy to recheck.
Screamers AHAHAHAHAHAH With Roy Dupuis! That movie was a big thing where i live in Quebec Canada, first time a Sci fi movie was shot here back then... And Roy dupuis was an Actor from here too so it was all over the news but when we saw it lol.... Maybe not at the level of Batlefeild earth desaster but ishh was not a great movie either as i remember. Maybe i should watch it back as im now a grown man at that time i was 13 years old i i dont think i ever watched Screamers since.
At about 15:00 he recognized him from the phrase “dead or alive, you’re coming with me”. Murphy said it to him as he tried arresting him, only to be shout up by the hand, then he said it as Robocop.
Paul Verhoeven has a history of making films that on their surface look like they're mindless indulgence, but actually are much deeper when you dig in. Robocop is the most famous of them (I would say), but he also created Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, Showgirls, and Hollow Man (well, also others, but those are the ones he's done that I've heard of). It's telling that he's not involved in the Robocop sequels, and those are generally not regarded as fondly as the first (though people at least like Robocop 2--Robocop 3, on the other hand, is pretty well disliked).
Although there are sparks of comedy and bangs of violence, it’s the haunting and saddening undertones that make this a favorite for me. The arch for Robocop becoming familiar again with his previous self, is what really makes me wish we would had a chance to explore this further.
Even a Terminator would have to eat, our brain is a major part of our energy budget so by comparison Robocop would have to eat a lot more than a Terminator that only needs to sustain a basic digestion system and skin.
You'll have to do the Paul Verhoeven trilogy. Robocop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers. They all three have varying layers of social satire peppered throughout.
Great point on the scene blocking - not seen it mentioned by reactors or critics, but imo it's where Verhoeven really is masterful with ensemble casts and group scenes. Constantly changing the perspective all the time as well to keep it fresh. It runs through so many of his movies, the ultimate is the chaos backstage in Showgirls, it's sensational.
I was 11 years old in 1987 and saw it in the theater with my parents and siblings. It was an awesome family movie that I love even more to this day. Classic!
That would have been awesome I wish I could have done that but that's a little bit before I could experience that since it came out when I was born but a family movie I don't know about that
An American production company gave a Dutchman millions of dollars to take the piss out of American society, genius. Verhoeven's Sci-Fi satire trilogy are essential movies, absolute classics. For anyone interested in the film I highly, highly recommend the recent "RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop", its maybe the best 'making of' I've ever seen. +1 for not editing out the best line... "Bitches leave", cracks me up every time.
I was working in post production vfx in Dallas when they filmed this. It’s always comical to me to see the Dallas 80’s skyline standing in for detroit where my husband was from. It opened doors for us lowly local production types to be extras. I opted out but my buddy who did composite work spent 3 long nights suited up as a cop in a parking garage only to end up a lone shadow on a wall. The satirical elements were dead on. Sensational news programs were a big thing at the time so we’re often parodied in shows in the 80’s.
She sounds cool. I didn't get to see it in the theater, but I turned 11 later that year and talked my dad into renting it for my birthday party. That's a fond memory.
RoboCop is a masterpiece. Saw it on VHS late 80ies or early 90ies. Blew my mind. Also from same director Starship Troopers, is popcorn movie but also has social commentary. Total Recall is also great.
You need to watch buckaroo banzai, Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum and more. Scifi, weird, silly and fun. The Stop motion in Robocop 2 was some of the best Stop motion.
As a 7th grader at the time, we all definitely loved it and the humor... the toxic waste scene was talked about for years. Also side note, when I first saw That 70s Show and saw the character Red, I was like hey its that scary criminal dude from Robocop... :)
Trivia: The hostage situation with the mayor is clearly a reference to the real life murder of Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone in San Francisco in 1978.
NO, You're WRONG, MILK-SUCKER. The movie was released on July 17, 1987 - BEFORE that occurred ( November 27, 1987). Maybe someone fed you that FALSE information. ...or perhaps FACTS & LOGIC do NOT exist in your woke mind?
This movie has a lot of intresting sidecharacters. They are all veridos. Like the thumbs up guy at the office, the guy in the restrom, the 2 hokers, the laughing guy, the guy at the disco. My favorite is the guy who got drenched in chemicals. Who did i miss ?
Peter Weller is also Buckaroo Banzai, one of the greatest rockstar scientists to ever exist! And he's also an art historian. And Naked Lunch is a bizarre film
This is a timeless masterpiece, who cares about some of the wonky effects. Great script, great memorable characters (unlike that 2014 tturd). I must've been one of the few who recognized Peter Weller from before Robocop. I had seen him in a very different film called "Of Unknown Origin" first.
Now that people put cgi in everything as if obviously fake stuff were the be all and end all of cinematography the older effects look better...if people watched films with the cgi jabber the hut in the re- released star wars ep 4 in 97 or whenever it was they'll watch stuff from the 80s that doesn't have that rubbish in. Maybe you have to play computer games to get it I don't know.
Considering when it was made, they didn't have CGI available for ED 209. The stop motion is also directed by Phil Tippet. Imagine clowning on his work.
Real reason Robocop wears a helmet to disguise his looks is off duty, Murphy is physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot and rock star Buckaroo Banzai. (also Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow and Christopher Lloyd).
He has to eat because there are still organic components to Murphy. Under the armor and hardware you still have a head..a brain... At the very least. The food keeps those living components functioning.
In an interview for an anniversary edition, Peter Weller (or it might have been Ray Wise) was asked how it felt to be part of a movie that became a cultural icon. He answered "I'm just happy that we were able to make something that was interesting and good. The rest is just gravy on the cake...GRAVY on the CAKE?" realizing he had mix up his metaphors.
RoboCop is my #1 and #2 all time favourite, interchangeable alongside Jurassic Park for #1 and #2 spots. It came out when I was 5, and I saw this when I was 7 in 1989... and it changed my movie going world forever and cemented me as a Paul Verhoeven fan for life. At that time, I'd seen Superman 1 and 2, Ghostbusters, maybe Goonies being the most risque movie because the kids swear in that film... and all the other kids my age were into maybe Superman or Indiana Jones, stuff like Mary Poppins and Disney stuff, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and so on. I grew up as a movie-goer very, very quickly when I saw RoboCop. It lead me onto movies like Predator, Alien, Aliens, Terminator, Poltergeist, Blade Runner, The Shining, The Lost Boys, Lethal Weapon, all by the age of 7, 8 and 9. RoboCop was my seminal moment, and made me the cineaste and the writer I am, and drove me to critique cinema. There's so much to this movie than just swearing, gore and action. I've written thesis on RoboCop. I adore this movie.
0:47 - A little, yeah. 6:00 - There's an important line right here that most people miss. Morton says they've 'placed prime candidates' for the Robocop program. Murphy doesn't know WHY he was transferred, just that the order came from OCP. 11:12 - Because he's not 100% robot, he's a cyborg. His brain and certain elements of his torso are still organic, so he still needs food. 15:53 - He recognized his voice when he said "Dead or alive, you're coming with me."
Yeah I've noticed not a lot of people catch that as well. "We've restructured the police department and placed prime candidates according to risk factor." I somewhat understand that though. He says it very quickly and it comes off sounding like corporate/legal jargon while most people are probably still stuck on Mr. Kinney being blown to pieces.
My dad took me to see Robocop in theaters when I was a little kid. I was basically traumatized by Murphy's death. As I grew up, I kind of thought maybe I simply saw the movie too young, but I credit it more to the very effect that Verhoeven was going for. The movie kills that nameless suit with ED 209 in the board room and everyone laughs and cheers (and you're supposed to). Then Murphy dies and it's horrific and tragic and real - movies train us to think that guns and knives kill you instantly and they don't a lot of the time. Him still being alive with the POV, memories of his wife and son, and hand-held camera shots of the EMTs working on him as he's rushed to the hospital - Verhoeven made you laugh at movie violence and then shoves a very realistic gunshot victim death in your face. Verhoeven did the same thing with Showgirls. Shows you gratuitous nudity and sex, sex, sex the whole movie, often over the top and even silly, and then slaps a violent sexual assault scene right into your face.
Robocop's partner was played by Nancy Allen. An underrated actor perhaps best known for her work with Brian De Palma in Carrie, Dressed to Kill and Blow Out...all great films!
The Nuke 'em commercial was very topical at the time. The cold war was still going on and there was a lot of talk in the news about the nuclear arms race, and how many MX "peacekeeper" missiles we were deploying everywhere. And the "line of death" came straight from the mouth of Libya's Mommar Gadhaffi, who we also weren't getting along with very well. Having the game end in a joyous nuking was a bit of gallows humor, since people weren't really sure that we *weren't* going to kill ourselves in a nuclear war.
Peter Weller, star of my all-time favorite movie: “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension.” Nancy Allen is great in “1941,” a WWII comedy by Stephen Spielberg. Paul Verhoeven is best known for his three sci-fi flicks: “Robocop,” “Total Recall.” and “Starship Troopers.” All three movies are so much fun. It’s okay to laugh; we all do it. Fun is fun! Emil’s death-by-toxic waste remains one of my favorite movies deaths, ever.
I think you might be mixing up Karen Allen (who isn't in this movie) with Nancy Allen, who is. Nancy Allen's most famous other role I'm aware of was in Carrie, but Nancy is in 1941, so it seems like you only mixed up the actresses' names.
@jamielandis4308 definitely not a big deal. It was a simple mix-up. Also, I try not to care _who_ i's "right" or "wrong," I just want the most correct information to be what ultimately gets passed along.
15:55: you asked how did he recognize murphy as Robocop: because the bad guy remembered Murphy saying"Dead or Live your coming with me" before they shot him and then Robocop says it again at the gas station which sparks the bad guy's memory 😊
11:12 - “Why would he need to eat?” He’s called Robocop, but he’s not a robot. He’s a cyborg. He has living tissue that needs sustenance, or they’d rot.
Kurtwood Smith plays, perhaps, the greatest villain of all-time in this movie. And his performance is absolutely hysterical. It's especially funny because by almost all accounts, Kurtwood is one of the nicest guys around but Boddicker is so evil, lol
Gotta look into pre-Hollywood Verhoeven. He's WAY more than just "the Robocop guy" and if you thought his popular stuff is wild, man oh man, just you wait..
I'm so glad you've seen this. It's straight-up one of the greatest films of the latter 20th century. A true satire, and a true black comedy, as well as a kick-ass action flick. As you were saying, it was VERY much needed in 1987. Nobody was making satire at the time, or great superhero stories, either. When I saw it at the cinema, the audience cheered at the end. So rare! Forget Total Recall. You need to see BUCKAROO BANZAI!!!
I saw this as a kid and most of the satiric content went over my head, but the more you watch the more you see. The movie is a SCATHING attack on capitalism. They even have the evil corporate guy and the evil crime boss give essentially the same speech at different scenes in the movie, both ending with "good business is where you find it," showing that the movie sees corporations and criminal cartels as interchangeable. The movie also casts RoboCop as a modern-day Jesus analogue. He dies and rises again, and in the final battle he appears to be walking on water (just a camera trick but still) and he is stabbed in the side with a spear just like Jesus on the cross. I guess that makes Officer Lewis Mary Magdalene? (Maybe that's pushing the analogy too far). The RoboCop suit was so painful and so hot that even with fans, Peter Weller is said to have sweated off about 3 pounds for each full day of filming. He quit the movie shortly into filming but was convinced to come back and finish. Weller is a very smart and very eclectic guy, he's been in a ton of stuff as you mentioned and directed quite a bit of TV as well. Besides ROBOCOP he's most famous for playing the title role in a 1984 sci-fi movie which is the definition of a cult classic (get ready) - THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE EIGHTH DIMENSION, which is very weird and very fun and very, very, very 1980s. Besides that Weller is also a jazz musician (he's been in a band with Jeff Goldblum) and has a Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance Art History (a real degree, not a fake honorary one) and has taught university-level courses on art history and archaeology. Another great reaction, thanks as always.
Can't ignore the heavy Christian symbolism Verhoeven put in. He wanted Murphy's execution to be as brutal as the crucification. He wanted Murphy's rebuilding into RoboCop to equal the Resurrection. He even included a shot where RoboCop appeared to walk on water near the end!
Another common observation is the film was WAY more over the top satirical back then than it is now. The news reports were so extreme, and yet Fox News and such feel like they are currently about 80% of the way there.
Director Paul Verhoeven is responsible for some of the most innovative and biting satires of modern society: Robocop (a satire of corporate takeovers of public services), Starship Troopers (a satire of the 1980s-pro-war mentality), and Total Recall. All of them are over-the-top hyper-violent, itself a comment on our appetite for violence.
I find it fascinating that the actor who plays the homicidal biker (Emil), also plays the gay drama student in the film, Fame (Montgomery). Those parts couldn't be any further apart.
So this is a very adult move. However, this movie spawned toys and a Saturday morning cartoon. I remember seeing this with my folks when we rented it. I think most kids I know saw it. Kind of surprising to me now considering how ultra violent it is.
@@0okamino There was an Alien toy line planned. I think a few of the figures were made then the line was cancelled. I think Reaction Toys ended up with the molds.
@@jamesroseii Yes, Kenner did produce and release 18" xenomorph figures in 1979, 4 series of _Aliens_ toys from 1992 to 1994 (which were released again as double-packs called _Aliens vs Marine_ in 1996), _Predator_ toys in 1994, and _Aliens: Hive Wars_ toys in 1998. These were all specifically marketed for kids, rather than mainly collectibles like later lines have been. I remember seeing a few commercials for them at the time.
Robocop is a classic; it's a hero's journey story that puts you through the wringer with the protangonist, laced with social commentary and dark satire that very few films can match. Love all of Verhoven's stuff - even Showgirls.
15:54 I assume you figured this out in the editing, but just in case (and since comments help with the algorithm...), Murphy said "Dead or alive, you're coming with me" to that guy both at the gas station and at the chemical plant earlier in the film. (15:18 and 7:54) That's how the criminal recognized him, he knew the voice and that's a reasonably uncommon phrase. Edit: Also, you didn't react to the joke at 20:45 that the car being advertised is the "6000 SUX" ("An American tradition!"). As a kid, I thought the SUX was hilarious (and it's also the car model they offered to the man who took the mayor hostage earlier in the film at 12:53).
I remember watching a movies show on TV with my big brother. Verhoeven was a well-known director in the Netherlands with some big movies already on his resume (Turkish Delight being his most famous one) and he moved to the USA to make movies. This was his first really big production (Flesh & Blood didn't get as big) and they showed some sequences including a scene with ED201. I clearly remember both my brother and I being impressed with what he was doing in the USA and we commented on that.
The most straightforward social commentary statement was the scruffy-looking man-on-the-street. "It's the law of the jungle. No guarantees." Paul's only ever on screen cameo was the guy gyrating directly into the camera in the dance club scene. The shot of the melting man being exploded over the car was almost cut because the executives didn't like it until they saw that moment got the biggest laugh of the movie in test screenings. The stunt guy who was shot up in the conference room came in twice for reshoots to get all the squibs. The film first got an X rating (now NC17) for violence. In the extended version, the guy is shot for about a full minute. BTW, the "Would someone call a paramedic!" line was improvised on the day and the production kept it. There was scripted one more Media Break scene at the end to show Lewis in the hospital and not the next RoboCop. However, they decided to end the film on the emotional climax of RoboCop reclaiming his name at the end.
This was the first R rated movie I saw at age 10. My friend's dad took us but then his mom felt terrible about all the violence I had been exposed to, whereas I was reveling in hearing the F word in a movie! The violence barely phased me. Not sure what that says about me at age 10, lol. 😊
@@JamesASharp me too! That's part of the reason I get such a kick out of reaction videos from people in their 20's because their reaction is PRICELESS, yet we just took it for granted because that's how it was back then.
When news broke that Robocop was getting a reboot there was such backlash that film makers across RU-vid remade different scenes and edited it all together to make "Our Robocop Remake."
I want a Robocop musical where ED209 has a quiet song by itself, reflecting on existence right before it goes into the boardroom the first time... Then a huge dance number after the "glitch"...
Shanelle, your reaction to ed-209 killing Mr. Kenny or Kinney (whatever his name was) was absolutely priceless 😆. Also this was the first ever film I saw where it only showed the title of the film and not the names of the actors and actresses at the beginning.
As someone who loves the behind the scenes stuff, you should check out how much work Peter Weller put into just getting his movements to look good. Clearly robotic, but not cheesy. They even hired a movement coach to help out with this.
