Western world (film)

The film takes place in 1983. The theme park "Delos" imitates three popular periods of history: Ancient Rome , the knightly Middle Ages and the Wild West . Statisticians in the parks are depicted androids that exactly simulate the appearance and behavior of people. Visitors to the park are equipped according to the chosen era and can do whatever they want - security systems ensure that they do not suffer in shootings or sword fights (heat sensors are mounted in firearms that prevent the android from shooting into a living creature, and androids armed with cold steel are unable to injure the visitor).

Pals Peter and John come to Delos to have a nice weekend. For Peter, this is his first visit to the park, while John has already been to Delos and takes on the role of a mentor, demonstrating to Peter how the park functions. Having chosen the world of the Wild West, friends are immersed in the atmosphere of a typical American town, based on numerous Western cliches. In the saloon, they encounter Shooter, an android depicting a bandit and provoking visitors to a conflict. Peter kills Strelka in a shootout, after which he and John go to the brothel .

At nightfall, the technical staff of the park is engaged in cleaning, damaged androids are transported to the laboratory, where they are repaired and returned to service. The shooter robot, repaired by technicians and returned to the park, continues to act according to its role: after tracking his friends, he enters the room with the intention of killing them, but is shot again by Peter.

At this time, the Delos technicians fix cases of errors in the android programs of two other parks: the number of malfunctions in the work of extras of the medieval and Roman attractions is growing and spreading like an infection , and the head of the technical service suggests that the problem area will reach the Wild West in the near future. Meanwhile, failures are becoming more serious: a robotic rattlesnake bites John’s hand in spite of the program laid down in it, the android girl denies the visitor proximity, although it is programmed for helpful behavior. The problems in the park reach their climax when in the medieval part the Black Knight calls the guest to battle and kills him with the sword.

Technicians of “Delos” decide to de-energize the park, as a result of which they are locked in the control room. The androids that inhabit the park continue to operate on autonomous power and act according to their programs. In the morning, Peter and John wake up in a brothel and go out into the city, not suspecting that the Shooter chasing them is no longer subject to the directives laid down in him.

• Yul Brynner - Shooter
• James Brolin - John Blaine
• Richard Benjamin - Peter Martin
• Majel Barrett - Miss Curry , Madame in a Brothel
• Dick Van Patten - Banker
• Victoria Shaw - Medieval Queen

Pre-Production

Creighton wrote the screenplay in August 1972. It was proposed for consideration by major film studios, but only interested Daniel Melnik, producer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , who was in distress at that time. As Crichton said in an interview, MGM, in addition to financial difficulties, also experienced difficulties with working with staff and was far from the best among film makers: many directors and scriptwriters complained of severe pressure from the leadership, interference with the filming process, script edits, etc., however The miller promised Crichton that he would not encounter such an appeal, and he fulfilled his promise “mostly”.

MGM management delayed the process of accepting the script of the tape and approved it only two days before the start of filming. At the same time, Crichton was not allowed to cast the cast. Initially, a budget of $ 1 million was allocated to the film, but later it was increased by another 250 thousand. According to Crichton, 250 thousand were paid to the cast, 400 thousand were spent on salaries for the film crew and staff, the remaining amount went to technical expenses, decorations, props ^[1] .

Computer Graphics

For the first time in a full-length film, computer-processed images were used - fragments depicting Strelka's thermal imaging in low resolution. The film crew called this effect “gunslinger POV” (first-person shooter Strelka). Initially, Creighton sent a request for the generation of such film material to the NASA research laboratory . According to preliminary estimates, the production of a 2-minute fragment would take 9 months and cost 200 thousand dollars, which was extremely expensive and did not fit into the budget of the picture.

Crichton made his request to John Whitney (Sr.), an animator and pioneer of computer animation, who has been producing animated materials for television and advertising companies since the 1960s. Whitney introduced Crichton to his son, John Whitney Jr., who promised to complete the task faster and much cheaper. Whitney Jr. developed a process in which the shot material of the “vision” Strelka was digitized frame-by-frame and programmed into blocks, after which it was again transferred frame-by-frame to a 70-mm film. This special effect is now called pixelation . In his work, Whitney Jr. used the computer base of Information International, Inc. , for which this project was one of the first orders for computer visualization. Whitney Jr. worked on the project at night, the final miscalculation of the 10-second episode required 8 hours of machine time. As a result, the preparation of special effects required 4 months and a budget of $ 20 thousand dollars ^[1] .

Filming

The entire filming cycle took 30 days. Crichton economically approached the issues of film consumption and time management, so the material was filmed mainly from the first take. Despite this, some scenes were cut from the final version of the picture.

The limited budget forced the crew to save money wherever this could be achieved. Considering that as a result, only 75 thousand dollars were spent on decorations from the budget, most of them were involved in more than one scene. So, the medieval staircase was in a single copy, and Crichton shot it three times in three different scenes. The underground corridor was shot in nine different scenes with six lighting options, it was also used as decoration for the room in which the Delos technicians restored damaged androids.

For the cabin of a passenger ship that delivered visitors to the park at the beginning of the film, only the starboard side of the fuselage with windows and chairs was built. The frames with the passengers located on the port side were shot in the same scenery and “mirrored” during installation, which created the impression of a full-fledged interior.

Crichton wanted to achieve the emphatically sinister appearance of androids in certain scenes. After many experiments, mirror contact lenses of 80 percent opacity helped to get the desired effect: they allowed using the lighting to give the gaze of the android detachment, while the actor could see partners through them and move around the site.

The shooter robot performed by Brinner was purposely made to look like Chris Adams, played by Brinner in the movie The Magnificent Seven , and wore a similar costume.

In the 2nd week of shooting, a burning wad from an empty cartridge hit Brinner in the eye and scratched the cornea, which is why it was necessary to postpone the shooting of scenes with his participation. There was no serious damage to the health of the actor, however, he could not wear silver contact lenses (giving his character an additional sinister appearance): the damaged eye quickly reddened and began to watery.

On the last day of shooting, during the shooting of the rattlesnake episode, James Brolin was really bitten. The scene was shot in the opposite order: a snake clung to the actor’s hand, then it was uncoupled, and the footage during installation was launched at a reverse speed, making it appear as if the snake clung to the hand. To protect the actor from being bitten, he wore a thick leather lining on his forearm under his shirt. However, during the filming of the scene, Brolin cried out in pain, unexpectedly for everyone: while the upper teeth of the snake were digging into the skin of the protective shield, it closed its jaws and the lower teeth entered the actor’s hand. Despite the fact that the snake involved in the filming was not previously “milked”, as is usually done during filming, the poison did not enter the blood of Brolin and he did not experience any side effects.

The effect of Strelok's dissolving face after Peter splashed acid at him was achieved using a mixture of theatrical makeup and Alka-Seltzer superimposed on Brinner's face. Smoke was supplied through several plastic pipes glued to the actor’s face and masked with make-up. The smoke was so pungent that the actor had to hold his breath to shoot the scene, otherwise he went into a cough. On the day of filming, according to Crichton's recollections, Brinner had pains in his stomach and took Alka-Seltzer, because of which someone joked that he was now both inside Brinner and outside.

In 1976, a direct sequel was shot - the film " World of the Future " ( Eng. Futureworld ). Its action takes place 2 years after the events of the first film, after a significant improvement in the security system, Delos Park is preparing for the opening, and its owners invite influential businessmen and the press for an orientation tour. Of the original cast, only Yul Brynner in the role of Shooter is involved in this film.

In 1980, CBS began showing the Beyond Westworld series, shot by MGM Television. The series indirectly continued the plot of the second film with the participation of new characters, the main character, the chief of the security service of Delos Corporation, tried to interfere with the plans of the mad scientist to seize world domination using androids from the park. Despite the fact that the series was nominated for an Emmy in two categories, low television ratings led to its close soon and the series was removed from broadcast after the third episode.

In early 2007, the media reported that a remake of the “Western World” with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role was put into production, and the script was written by Michael Ferris and John Bracanto, who worked on “ Terminator 3 ” ^{[2] [3] [4]} . Initially, Tarsem Singh was appointed director, but he soon left the project. Quentin Tarantino was invited to do the film, but he refused ^[5] . January 19, 2011 Warner Bros. confirmed that the remake is still in the plans of the studio ^[6] .

In January 2015, the film “ Welcome to Paradise ” ( English Vice ) was released, the plot of which is similar in many scenes to the “Western World”.

In August 2013, it was announced that HBO had ordered a pilot from the West World series , which was produced by JJ Abrams , Jonathan Nolan, and Jerry Weintraub. ^[7] Nolan and Lisa Joy, in addition to writing the script, will also take on the functions of executive producers, in addition, Nolan himself will remove the pilot series. Production should begin in the summer of 2014 ^[8] in Los Angeles ^[9] .

The series premiered on October 2, 2016.

The Western World is the first feature film to cover the subject of a computer virus . The analogy of the wave of malfunctions among androids and the epidemic is drawn by the chief of the technical service of Delos during a discussion of the situation.

The motif of the high-tech amusement park, which is getting out of control and becoming deadly, was later used by Crichton in the novel Jurassic Park and its film adaptation .