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Robocop (robotic police officer film)

Started by St_Eddie, June 03, 2018, 03:29:52 AM

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greenman

Quote from: buzby on October 27, 2019, 12:54:04 AM
They did build a car for him (called the TurboCar) with all kinds of gadgets in it, but when it first appeared on-set Verhoeven thought it looked ridiculous. The Ford Taurus had just gone on sale, so he decided to buy some of those to use as police cars instead.


I think it was built from a late 70s/early 80s Pontiac TransAm.

One interesting thing is that you never see a full shot of Weller getting into or out of the car - he always has the door in front of his legs. The legs on the suit made it impossible for him to get into or out of the Taurus, so they had to take them off for those shots.

I think that's actually one of the master strokes of the film, driving the standard police car grounds things a lot more and makes the characters situation/strangeness stand out more.

buzby

Quote from: Blumf on January 17, 2020, 12:19:10 AM
Quote from: Goldentony on January 16, 2020, 09:44:07 PM
got the Arrow release yesterday and ive watched it through with the three commentaries like a massive nerd, but one thing I don't remember being explained is why all his stuff is burned when he returns to his house. I thought itd be his wife doing it out of grief. Is this talked about?
Was it just vandals that had trashed the empty home? Suggesting the place had been vacant for a while.

That's what I always assumed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vgz-FYS04
I wouldn't say the house has been trashed or vandalised - there's a pot plant that's been knocked over on the hearth, the broken mug  is left on the kitchen island top and there is a dead plant and some rubbish left on the worktops where he finds the burned photo. I'd go along with Tony that it suggests the house was vacated in a hurry by his grief-stricken wife rather than trashed by vandals.

The script doens't mention it being trashed either, just that the house is empty. The part of the scene with the photo wasn't in the 4th draft of the script (dated June 1986 - principal photography started in August), so was presumably added during the shoot. The script has an additonal coda to the scene where Murphy visits his grave, but Verhoeven never shot it as he felt it was 'too gothic' and out of step with the rest of the film.

From a production standpoint, the exterior and interior of his house were filmed at two real properties in separate locations in the reasonably affluent Dallas suburb of Lake Highlands (as was Bob Morton's house), and given the film's low budget I doubt they could afford to trash the house used for the interior.

Quote from: greenman on January 17, 2020, 01:37:28 AM
I think that's actually one of the master strokes of the film, driving the standard police car grounds things a lot more and makes the characters situation/strangeness stand out more.
Defintely. You can see some pictures of the modified Camaro TurboCruisers that were built for the film and rejected by Verhoeven in favour of the Taurus on Jay Ohlberg's site (he was the custom car builder who built them and the 6000SUX).

Dex Sawash

Don't know how old the rest of you are but the Taurus was full on alientech when it was introduced and it was a thrill to see the first few on the street. Real cop cars in mid 80s were still based on mildly updated 70s brick designs (Ford LTD/Crown Vic, Dodge Diplomat, Chevy Caprice). I can't think of another car that had the visual impact of the first few Taurus in my lifetime.

Watching Robocop when it was new, the Taurus really nailed on the future-ness of it for me despite the car being sold for a year or so when the film came out. It just wasn't a shape you associated with cop livery.

Blumf

Quote from: buzby on January 17, 2020, 09:16:08 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vgz-FYS04
I wouldn't say the house has been trashed or vandalised - there's a pot plant that's been knocked over on the hearth, the broken mug  is left on the kitchen island top and there is a dead plant and some rubbish left on the worktops where he finds the burned photo. I'd go along with Tony that it suggests the house was vacated in a hurry by his grief-stricken wife rather than trashed by vandals.

Setting a small fire in the kitchen though?

We're all probably overthinking it. They just needed a) the house to look abandoned, and b) some remnants on Murphy's past life to be there.

Quote
From a production standpoint, the exterior and interior

Beto for senate sign! <smashes monitor (doesn't trigger prime directive violation)>

Big Mclargehuge

Only watched the first one last year for the first time and I absolutely bloody loved it! Totally blew me away and if anything it's become more relevant than ever in these "Deadsoon" times. However; I made the mistake of watching the sequels back to back for the first time ever last week...Jesus how quickly the quality dropped, and dropped HARD at that. They're almost both as bad as each other. While I like the fact they tried to take Robocop 2 in a different direction to the first movie it's just utterly lame in almost every regard (Evil Robocop2, the old man now just being a generic villain of the week rather than a greyzone businessman (In his suit and tie), drugs being a central plotline) throw in some piss weak direction and cine and "On video" bits that feel like they're there just because the first movie did it and it's almost unwatchable.

I would say "I don't know what the guys who made Robocop 3 were huffing when they made it" but I know what they were huffing...it was clearly paint fumes while watching the first Robocop. As Robocop 3 could not try any harder to suck the originals dick (Jones) if it tried. Every 20 seconds the Robocop theme plays, theres chronic references to the first film literally everywhere and they choose to sort of ignore how the 2nd film ends (Rather than the mayor being able to rally people against the OCP, the 3rd film opens with the OCP having pretty much bought a large section of Detroit and priming it for renovation) Robocop flies...in this movie...he fucking flies. I like that they focus on the people of Detroit more in this one than the business or crime side of it. But it's just too self referential and too samey in places to be enjoyable. Robot ninja woz good tho innit.

I've seen there are several other Robocop "Movies" (Re-edited footage from the Live action TV series) and I feel Im rather standing here with my hand on pandoras box with those...things...Im still morbidly curious though...

Jim Bob

#305
Quote from: Blumf on January 17, 2020, 12:22:45 PM
Setting a small fire in the kitchen though?

I'm fairly sure that the implication is that Mrs. Murphy had been burning painful physical memories and reminders of her dead Husband (likely in the fireplace located in the living room), as a means of coming to terms with her grief and moving on, hence one of the items being a partially burned family photo and why she was moving to a new house with her Son; she no longer wants to be reminded of what once was and what can never be again.

Likely, whoever came in to clean up the house and prep it for viewings with potential buyers, had removed the partially burned items from the now extinguished fireplace and placed them on the kitchen counter, in case Mrs. Murphy ever wanted to reclaim them, prior to someone else buying the property.  Either that or Mrs. Murphy had a momentary change of heart during the burning ritual, recovered the items from the fire, took them to the kitchen, looked over them one last time, before placing them down on the counter and walking out for good.

Whatever the explanation, you can be sure that the burned family photo is there for a reason; to fill in the backstory of what happened to the family once Alex Murphy had died.  It's an emotional beat, rooted in backstory; one which informs Alex that his family has moved on, both physically and emotionally.  What it isn't is a communication that vandals had broken in, set a small fire in the kitchen and in the process, just happened to have used a Murphy family photo for kindling.

buzby

#306
Quote from: Dex Sawash on January 17, 2020, 11:45:22 AM
Don't know how old the rest of you are but the Taurus was full on alientech when it was introduced and it was a thrill to see the first few on the street. Real cop cars in mid 80s were still based on mildly updated 70s brick designs (Ford LTD/Crown Vic, Dodge Diplomat, Chevy Caprice). I can't think of another car that had the visual impact of the first few Taurus in my lifetime.

Watching Robocop when it was new, the Taurus really nailed on the future-ness of it for me despite the car being sold for a year or so when the film came out. It just wasn't a shape you associated with cop livery.
I can see why the Taurus looked very futuristic, when you compare it to the Ford LTD that it replaced:


It never really had the same impact here, car-wise - the FWD GM J Body-based Vauxhall Cavalier and Ford Sierra (which unlike the Taurus was still RWD, but at least had an IRS) were our equivalents (both in the 'mid size' segment and for use as police patrol cars) and they had been on sale since 1979 and 1982 respectively.

The sporty XR4i 3-door Sierra was also sold in the US as the Merkur XR4Ti with the 2.9l Cologne V6 swapped for the 2.3l Turbo Lima 4-cylinder used in the Fox-body Mustang. Ford also homologated the XR4Ti in the FIA's Group A regulations and it was used in Touring Car Racing in Europe and Australia (despite never being sold in those markets) as the turbocharged engine was far more tunable than the V6. It also led to the development of the Sierra Cosworth and RS500 homologation specials by Ford Europe, which went on to dominate Group A racing to the end of the decade.

The Taurus' styling owed a lot to the Sierra, particularly the Mk2 version that came out about the same time as the Taurus. Ray Everts, the head of the Taurus styling team, had moved onto that project straight from the same role in the Sierra project at Ford Europe's studio in Cologne.

When it was released in 1982, the futuristic aerodynamic shape of the Sierra had the same effect you describe with the Taurus, as it replaced the more traditional 'three-box' Cortina Mk5.

For the first few years the reaction to the Sierra's styling and only being available as a 5-door hatchback had an adverse effect on sales (particularly in the fleet sector), enough for Ford to introduce a more conventional 4-door Sierra Sapphire saloon version in the 1987 Mk2 update.

Sebastian Cobb

Fixing the edit glitch, and name-checking the Mk3 Granada.

Non Stop Dancer

"Bitches leave"

That's a fuckin' line right there.


Shit Good Nose


PlanktonSideburns

this sounds a bit sexist, but would all of the women fuck off a minute

cheers guys


PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: buzby on January 17, 2020, 01:42:57 PM







this car makes me feel a sense of dread for some reason, really depressed

Replies From View

Ladies if you wouldn't mind vacating the premises so that my friends and I here have the space to powder our noses, thank you.

Goldentony

yalright brasses, im going to shoot your mate here a bit

Blumf

Quote from: PlanktonSideburns on January 21, 2020, 10:17:47 PM
this car makes me feel a sense of dread for some reason, really depressed

Is this better?


idunnosomename

ADULT HUMAN FEMALES LEAVE THE TOILETS. SO I CAN PUNCH THESE TRANS RIGHTS GRIFTERS' LIGHTS OUT

TOP O' MA FIST TA YA LAD(Y)/(DDIE)

Blumf

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 22, 2020, 12:56:56 AM
ADULT HUMAN FEMALES LEAVE THE TOILETS. SO I CAN PUNCH THESE TRANS RIGHTS GRIFTERS' LIGHTS OUT

Bitches bleed!

Replies From View


gmoney

All of those cars are exactly the same.

greenman

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 16, 2020, 10:41:12 PM
Sorry if im repeating but the gross-out special effect sequence for Emil's death bursting due to toxic waste is very much in the "melt movie" tradition of the late 80s. I watched Street Trash over Christmas and I want to air my views on it being a wonderfully horrible film full of people melting due to very old alcohol, rape, violence, shoplifting, and a man chasing after his genitals being thrown about.

The other thing is that it's odd how RoboCop had a really poor attempt to turn it into a family franchise in the mid-90s. There was RoboCop 3, then the series in 1994, which I remember had a toy line, but it was very poor.
Fuck me. Orion produced a cartoon of RoboCop in '88, before even RoboCop 2 came out. Did that air on Sky in the UK? I have vague memories but I definitely never saw an episode.

I'm guessing they figured the nature of the franchise made it an easier switch than the likes of Terminator, Aliens, Predator, etc, you take out the violence and the satire and your left with a relatively conventional TV cop show or family action hero.

Going over the same ground as earlier in the thread but I do still wonder why the sequel was viewed so negatively, not so much in undermining the drama of the original but by critics who seemed to have liked the satire of the original failing to see it in the sequel. Maybe it became rather too cutting and straight in that respect? the original does advertise its satire rather more I'd say.

colacentral

Robocop's attempted reinvention as a kids' cartoon franchise is perhaps not as bizarre as the Toxic Avenger getting a Saturday morning cartoon and toy line. Seemed to be a common thing in that era. I'm sure Rambo had a cartoon too. So did Conan the Barbarian

PlanktonSideburns


buzby

Quote from: PlanktonSideburns on January 23, 2020, 11:15:45 PM
Genuinely love that. Teenage me would approve also
That's 'only' a standard Sierra RS Cosworth - as nice as they are, the RS500 'Evolution'* version is even more special - mint ones go for around £100k nowadays


*The Group A motorsport homolgation regulations required 5000 examples of a road car to be built for sale to the public for it to be eligible for motorsport use - the Sierra RS Cosworth was built to satisfy this point (they were only available in Black, White or Moonstone Blue,, which was the rarest colour). The regulations then allowed the manufacturer to make  modifications to the specification of the standard car (bigger turbo, bigger fuel injectors, heavy duty axles and gearboxes, modified suspension geometry, extra aerodynamic tweaks) specifically for top-level racing, but they had to modify at least 10% or 500 of the original 5000 cars. This would be known as the Evolution specification, and Ford built the Sierra RS500 Cosworth as the 'Evolution' of the RS Cosworth.

Most of the 500 produced were sold to be used in motorsport and so were modified, crashed and in some cases destroyed or dismantled to be used for spares, so mint-condition road-going examples are very much sought after  The most noticeable outward identifying features of an RS500 are the additional low-level boot spoiler, the black rubber lip extensions on on the upper boot spoiler and bottom of the front bumper, and the front foglights were replaced with extra cooling vents.

idunnosomename

Quote from: colacentral on January 23, 2020, 11:07:37 AM
Robocop's attempted reinvention as a kids' cartoon franchise is perhaps not as bizarre as the Toxic Avenger getting a Saturday morning cartoon and toy line. Seemed to be a common thing in that era. I'm sure Rambo had a cartoon too. So did Conan the Barbarian
i think this is a vaugely interesting phenomenon of late 80s marketing to kids via adult franchises and the terminator and aliens toys (the latter i bloody loved) represent an attempt to try the same but the cartoons got lost in development hell because the tide was changing.

If you think about it by early 90s kids cartoons stop selling toys. Maybe Power Rangers but after that not really. Cartoons are cartoons.

Has some yank cunt made a youtube video about this

bgmnts

Human Centipede seems ripe for a cartoom reimagining.

Jim Bob

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 25, 2020, 12:32:07 AM
i think this is a vaugely interesting phenomenon of late 80s marketing to kids via adult franchises and the terminator and aliens toys (the latter i bloody loved)...

The Kenner Rhino Alien is *puts thumb and index finger to mouth and makes kissing motion*

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 25, 2020, 12:32:07 AM
If you think about it by early 90s kids cartoons stop selling toys. Maybe Power Rangers but after that not really. Cartoons are cartoons.

This kid disagrees.

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 25, 2020, 12:32:07 AM
Has some yank cunt made a youtube video about this

Indubitably.

Quote from: bgmnts on January 25, 2020, 12:50:46 AM
Human Centipede seems ripe for a cartoom reimagining.

Simpsons South Park did it.


Jim Bob

Quote from: phantom_power on January 25, 2020, 08:26:05 AM
Is the Arrow Blu-Ray good?

I have yet to purchase it but I feel confident in saying that it's better than good because it's freakin' Arrow!

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 25, 2020, 12:32:07 AM
Has some yank cunt made a youtube video about this

I watched one a while back saying action toy tie-ins like gi joe etc were what put the final nails into hanna barbara, who then got bought out by Turner Broadcasting and ended up in the hands of Cartoon Network, who both used their library of cartoons verbatim, but also recycled old animation to make new original shows like space ghost coast-to-coast and later, things like sealab 2021.