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This article is about the film. For the video game, see RoboCop (video game). For the character, see RoboCop (character).

RoboCop
Film poster
Directed by	Paul Verhoeven
Produced by	Jon Davison
Written by	Edward Neumeier Michael Miner
Starring	Peter Weller Nancy Allen Dan O'Herlihy Ronny Cox Kurtwood Smith Miguel Ferrer
Music by	Basil Poledouris
Cinematography	Sol Negrin Jost Vacano
Editing by	Frank J. Urioste
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	July 17, 1987
Running time	103 Min Director's Cut
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$13,000,000 (estimated)
Followed by	RoboCop 2 (1990)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

RoboCop is a 1987 science-fiction, superhero action movie and satire of business-driven capitalism, directed by Paul Verhoeven. Filming took place in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dallas, Texas filling in for Michigan locales as well.^[1] The movie illustrates the serious problem of defective robots which do harm, thus disobeying the fundamental laws of robotics. It spawned two sequels, several comic books, multiple video games, two animated series, dozens of action figures and two television series, all featuring a cyborg police officer. The film was produced by Orion Pictures.

A 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition DVD was released on August 21, 2007.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production details 2.1 Origins 2.2 Casting 2.3 Filming 2.4 Vehicles 2.5 Soundtrack 3 Reception 4 Themes 5 Sequels, spin-offs, and attractions 6 References 7 External links

The 1987 film is set in Detroit at an indeterminate near future time. Although the world is not exactly dystopian, news reports from Media Break (slogan: "Give us three minutes, we'll give you the world!") indicate that terrorism and violent crime have gotten worse. In Detroit, violent crime has reached the point that cop killings are routine, and the police force is preparing to walk out on strike. The city contracts with megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to operate the police department, in effect privatizing it. "Old Detroit has a cancer. That cancer is crime," proclaims OCP's Chairman of the Board (Daniel O'Herlihy). OCP's plans are to replace "Old Detroit" with "Delta City", and crime must be eliminated before the construction project can begin. Part of the plan is to find a way to replace the Detroit police with machines, with several projects in the works and the idea to market an eventual success for military contracts as well. OCP Senior President Dick Jones (Ronny Cox) demonstrates to the corporation's board of directors the prototype of the "enforcement droid", ED-209. The "glitches" haven't been worked out, however; an eager young executive volunteers for the demonstration and is shot to death when ED-209 malfunctions. Taking advantage of a chance for promotion, Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer), who had been developing the "RoboCop" project, bypasses Dick Jones and pitches his program to the Chairman, who likes the idea.

All the Robocop project needs is a human candidate. Fortunately for Morton, police officer Alex J. Murphy (Peter Weller), is mortally wounded while trying to arrest the vicious gang led by Clarence J. Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith). Murphy is pronounced dead in the hospital, and his body is rebuilt by OCP as the prototype for a cyborg police officer, with the hardware of a robot and the "instincts" of a policeman. When RoboCop goes online, he spectacularly stops crimes throughout Detroit, using extreme methods bordering on police brutality. His programming is built on three directives ("Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law.") and a classified fourth rule (reading suspects their Miranda rights is, apparently, optional). Morton's success has earned him an OCP vice presidency, as well as the enmity of Jones. After a confrontation in the executive washroom, Jones arranges for Morton to be murdered at home by Boddicker.

Meanwhile, RoboCop is slowly recovering the memory of his previous life (starting with the moment he was shot to death by Boddicker and his gang). After being recognized by his former partner, Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen), and by a member of Boddicker's gang, Emil Antonowski (Paul McCrane), RoboCop reconstructs the information about his identity as Alex Murphy, then starts to pursue his assailants. He eventually arrests Boddicker in a cocaine bust, and is on the verge of killing him, when Boddicker admits that he works for Dick Jones of OCP and manages to appeal to Robocop, telling him he's a cop (thus appealing to him to show mercy). When he tries to arrest a surprisingly undisturbed Jones, Directive Four is triggered. An "OCP product" is designed to shut down if "it" attempts to arrest a senior OCP executive. Jones calls in ED-209 to finish off the job. Despite severe damage, RoboCop escapes down a stairway, something that the ED-209 wasn't designed to do. A police SWAT team is waiting for him in the parking garage armed with armour piercing ammunition. After taking a withering amount of fire robocop hurls himself down several levels of the parking lot, where Officer Lewis rescues her former partner.

Concerned with RoboCop's recording of Boddicker's admission, Jones arranges for the release of Boddicker and gang, and provides them with military weapons, a tracking device, and the task of the destruction of RoboCop. The gang tracks RoboCop and Lewis back to the abandoned mill where the gang had tried to kill Officer Murphy. In a final showdown, Murphy and Lewis eliminate the entire gang, although he is damaged and she is seriously wounded. "They'll fix you," says Murphy, "They fix everything." RoboCop, his visor now removed, returns to OCP headquarters, where Jones is again attempting to pitch ED-209 to another board of directors meeting. When RoboCop plays back the recording of Jones's admission to murder, Jones tries to take "The Old Man" hostage. RoboCop explains the Directive 4 prohibition against arresting an OCP employee, and the Old Man solves the dilemma by yelling, "Dick, you're fired!!". "Thank you," replies RoboCop, shooting Jones, who crashes through a window and falls to his death. By film's end, RoboCop has resolved his emotional conflicts over being a hybrid of machine and man. "The Old Man" says to the former OCP product, "Nice shooting, son. What's your name?" Satisfied that he is considered a human first and a robot second, RoboCop smiles and replies, "Murphy."

RoboCop was written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Allegedly, while the two were attempting to pitch the screenplay around Hollywood, they accidentally got stuck at an airplane terminal with a high-ranking movie executive for several hours. Here they were able to warm him up for the project and thus set into motion the chain of events which eventually became RoboCop the movie.

RoboCop marked the first major Hollywood production for Dutch director Paul Verhoeven. Although he had been working in the Netherlands for over a decade and directed several films to great acclaim (e.g. Soldier of Orange), Verhoeven moved away in 1984 to seek broader opportunities in Hollywood. While RoboCop is often credited as his English language debut, he had in fact previously made Flesh & Blood in 1985, starring Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It was for RoboCop, however, that Verhoeven would rise to the international spotlight.

On the Criterion Edition audio commentary (available on both the laserdisc and DVD versions) Verhoeven recalls that, when he first glanced through the script, he threw it away in disgust. Afterwards, his wife picked the script from the bin and read it more thoroughly, convincing him that the plot had more substance than he originally assumed. Repo Man director Alex Cox was offered to direct before Verhoeven came aboard^[2].

The story satirizes Reaganomics and the consumerism of the eighties era, with OCP presented as a massive corporate hulk that controls citizens' lives on all levels of society. Almost no distinction is made between the conduct of top level executives and street criminals, as both are seen occupied with drugs, corrupting society and talking the same catch phrases while conducting their shady affairs ("good business is where you find it").^[3]

The character of RoboCop itself was inspired by Judge Dredd^[4] as well as the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man (one of these comic books can be seen during the convenience store robbery). Iron Man was conceived by Stan Lee as the alter ego of Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist working as a military contractor. During the original run of the comic, Iron Man was mostly occupied battling communism. In this light, RoboCop is seen as a subversive take on this classic Marvel character. Although both Neumeier and Verhoeven have declared themselves staunchly on the political left, Neumeier recalls on the audio commentary to Starship Troopers that many of his leftist friends wrongly perceived RoboCop as a fascist movie. However, on the 20th Anniversary DVD, producer Jon Davison referred to the film's message as "fascism for liberals" - a politically liberal film done in the most violent way possible.

In several articles and interviews previously published and also on the DVD commentary to the film, Paul Verhoeven revealed that, despite not being a Christian, he immediately saw parallels in the story of RoboCop with that of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In the commentary, Verhoeven goes on to defend the graphic death of Murphy as a necessity to make the resurrection as RoboCop gain dramatic weight, and the aversion of the audience to the villains greater. Four years earlier, Verhoeven had made the movie The Fourth Man, which relies heavily on Christian symbolism.

A running joke within RoboCop is a popular, but inane TV show with the catchphrase "I'd buy that for a dollar!", which people in the film's future universe find humorous. The star is the goofy Bixby Snyder (S.D. Nemeth), who is somewhat reminiscent of Benny Hill. Neither the name of the show nor the character are ever revealed in the movie, although girls are heard to greet him with and "Bixby!" and "Happy birthday Dave!". On the DVD commentary, Edward Neumeier comments that somehow the explanation & history of this television show never made it into the script.

Paul Verhoeven initially considered Rutger Hauer, whom he had worked with on most of his films, as well as Michael Ironside, for the role of RoboCop. Allegedly Arnold Schwarzenegger was at one point in talks to do the film, but Verhoeven eventually dismissed all three on the basis that the bulky RoboCop costume would require a light-built actor to work with. Peter Weller was subsequently cast as Murphy/RoboCop and prepared for the role by studying bird movements in a padded baseball suit.

In the commentary, Verhoeven explains his choice to cast Kurtwood Smith and Ronny Cox as the central villains. Ronny Cox was an actor who until then was primarily known for "nice-guy" roles such as fatherly figures, and similarly Kurtwood Smith was cast against type as a more intellectual type of gang leader; Smith was originally brought in to read for both Clarence and Dick Jones.^[5] Verhoeven comments that the look of Clarence Boddicker with the glasses reminded him of Heinrich Himmler.

The principal cast of RoboCop:

• Peter Weller — Alex J. Murphy/RoboCop
• Nancy Allen — Officer Anne Lewis
• Ronny Cox — Dick Jones
• Kurtwood Smith — Clarence Boddicker
• Miguel Ferrer — Bob Morton
• Robert DoQui — Sergeant Warren Reed
• Felton Perry — Johnson
• Paul McCrane — Emil Antonowsky
• Jesse D. Goins — Joe Cox
• Ray Wise — Leon Nash

In addition, the secretary of OCP executive Dick Jones (whom Boddicker lasciviously hits on) is played by Joan Pirkle, the real-life wife of Kurtwood Smith. Television personality Leeza Gibbons has a small role as news anchor Jesse Perkins. Paul Verhoeven himself has a small cameo during the arrest of Leon in the nightclub scene; there is one brief close-up of him dancing maniacally as Leon is being dragged away by his hair.

Interestingly, RoboCop features three actors who would go on to have recurring roles on the TV series "Twin Peaks" (1990-1991): Ray Wise (Leland Palmer), Miguel Ferrer (Albert Rosenfield), and Dan O'Herlihy (Andrew Packard). Several members of the cast would also go on to play roles in the fifth season of 24 including Peter Weller as Christopher Henderson, Paul McCrane as Graem Bauer, and Ray Wise as Hal Gardner

Filming began during the summer of 1986 and lasted from August 6 until mid-October. Many of the urban settings of the movie were filmed in downtown Dallas, Texas due to the futuristic appearances of the buildings. The front of Dallas City Hall was used as the exterior for the fictional OCP Headquarters, combined with extensive matte painting to make the building appear taller.

Peter Weller had prepared extensively for the role using a padded costume (supposedly, development of the actual RoboCop suit was three weeks behind schedule). By the time shooting was underway and the costume arrived on set, however, Weller discovered he was almost unable to move in it as he had anticipated, and required additional training to get accustomed. Weller later revealed to Roger Ebert that during filming, he was losing three pounds a day due to sweat loss while wearing the RoboCop suit in 100+ degree Fahrenheit temperatures ^[6]. Peter's personal assistant, Todd Trotter, was responsible for keeping the actor cool in between takes with electric fans and, when available, large ducts connected to free-standing air conditioning units. The suit later had a fan built into it.

The Ford Taurus was used as the police interceptor in the movie, due to its then-futuristic design.

The Taurus's main competitor at the time, the Pontiac 6000, is parodied in the movie as the "6000 SUX". The 6000 SUX itself was based on a 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass with extensive bodywork. Commercials advertise the SUX as "an American tradition" with a fuel efficiency of 8.2 miles per gallon. In early production, it was to be powered by jet turbines; the exhaust of the turbine is still visible above the rear license plate of Clarence Boddicker's SUX in chase scenes. The 6000 SUX was designed by Gene Winfield of Winfield Rod & Custom, while Chiodo Brothers Productions fabricated and animated the dinosaur puppet in the 6000 SUX commercial. The dinosaur itself was animated by Don Waller, who also had a cameo in the same sequence, reacting to the rampaging creature in a tight close-up. ^[7].

The newly-released Mercury Merkur XR4Ti makes a small cameo appearance as an executive vehicle when RoboCop is delivered to the precinct.

The soundtrack score for the movie was composed by Basil Poledouris (1945 - 2006), who used both synthesized and orchestral music as a mirror to the man-versus-machine theme of the movie. The score alternates brass heavy material, including the memorable RoboCop theme and ED-209's theme, with more introverted pieces for strings, such as during RoboCop's home-coming scene. The soundtrack is available on CD and has been reissued and remastered several times in recent years. The theme song also made its way into the arcade and NES RoboCop video games.

In the Nightclub scene of the movie, the song "Show Me Your Spine" by P.T.P. was played. P.T.P was a short lived side project consisting of members of the band Ministry. However, this song was not available in any official form until it was eventually released in 2004 on an album called "Side Trax" by Ministry.

RoboCop opened in American theaters on July 17, 1987. The film was a commercial success and grossed over $8 million in its opening weekend and almost $54 million during its domestic run, making it the 16th most successful movie that year ^{[8] [9]}.

The movie was originally given an X rating by the MPAA in 1987. (It is important to note here that the rating which replaced X, NC-17 did not yet exist.) To satisfy the requirements of the ratings board, Verhoeven trimmed blood and gore from the most violent scenes in the movie, including the malfunctioning of ED-209, Murphy's execution (where his entire right arm is severed by a shotgun blast and a final overhead shot of Lewis sobbing over Murphy on the blood-soaked floor), and the final battle with Clarence Boddicker. It was re-evaluated and given an R rating. The original version was included on the Criterion Collection laserdisc and DVD of the film (both now out of print), the 2005 trilogy box set and the 2007 anniversary edition, the latter two were released by MGM.

RoboCop explores larger themes regarding the media and human nature in addition to being a big budget action film; the philosopher Steven Best wrote an essay on some of this content^[10].

In the Criterion Edition DVD commentary track, executive producer Jon Davison and writer Edward Neumeier both point to the decay of American industry from the 1970s through the early 1980s. The abandoned Rust Belt-style factories that RoboCop and Clarence Boddicker's gang use as hideouts demonstrate this theme. Massive unemployment is prevalent, being reported frequently on the news, as is poverty and the crime that results from economic hardship.

The concept of dehumanization is also represented in the title character. Murphy is killed in the line of duty and rebuilt as a cold, mechanized, and violent entity. Although he later seems to regain some of his humanity, his ruthlessness in dealing with criminals is quite outside the boundaries of reasonable use of force employed by the police. His methods are, however, amazingly effective against the criminal elements of the city, with the movie depicting crime decreasing dramatically where RoboCop is operating.

In contrast to the theme of dehumanization is the theme of regaining one's humanity. Although Murphy has become "RoboCop", during the last sequence of the movie we find that, despite being a product of OCP, his basic core of individuality has not been lost. The Old Man says, "Nice shooting, son, what's your name?" RoboCop smiles and replies, "Murphy." It is now clear that RoboCop is no longer just a programmed and manufactured amalgam of flesh and robotics, but a human being.

Another theme is the sense of justice finally being brought to vicious and remorseless criminals. The criminals mercilessly execute Murphy as well as many other cops and innocent citizens and are involved in drug trafficking, murder, and prostitution. A key point is that lawyers, probably controlled by ruthless corporate executives, are able to release criminals within hours or days, despite the number and severity of the crimes they were charged with. This shows that the judicial system is unable to effectively contend with criminals, and the only way for the citizens of Detroit to be truly safe is when Murphy "deals" with them. The film shifts between three groups of characters-- the Detroit police, the Boddicker gang (whose 7 members are killed off at different points in the film), and the corporate executives at OCP.

Due to the enduring popularity of the character, there have been a number of RoboCop spin-offs, sequels, and attractions. They are:

• Two feature film sequels, RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3, were made. Both movies were based on a story by Frank Miller.
• A series of licensed video games for various arcade and home console systems. See: RoboCop, RoboCop 2, RoboCop 3, Robocop versus The Terminator.
• Two animated television series, RoboCop: The Animated Series in the 1980s, and RoboCop: Alpha Commando in the late-90s.
• A live-action television series in 1994, RoboCop: The Series.
• RoboCop: The Ride – SimEx-Iwerks (formerly Iwerks Entertainment) opened RoboCop: The Ride around the world at its various Iwerks Motion Simulator Theaters, amusement parks, and casinos in the winter of 1995 . The "Turbo Ride", as it was called, was a "ride simulation" synchronizing hydraulically-activated seats with an over-sized screen displaying the projection, putting the audience right in the middle of the movie action (similar to Star Tours at Disneyland with a screen about three-quarters the size of an IMAX). The ride focused on you assisting RoboCop riding a souped-up police motorcycle on a mission to save the mayor of Detroit from the clutches of the vicious Cyberpunk ROM and his gang of villains. In the latter part of the ride the bike would then convert into hover mode and would fly through the skyline of New Detroit using rockets that jettisoned from the back sides of the motorcycle. Though not as impressive or technical-savvy as other Iwerks attractions at the time, due to the enduring popularity of the character the ride was very popular amongst children and teenagers and especially in foreign markets outside of North America. The ride was a mixture of motion picture film and computer animation which lasted approximately 4:00 minutes, the cost was $5.00 USD to ride at pay-per-ride theaters. The ride was removed from the Iwerks theaters in the North American market in 1998. (http://www.robocoparchive.com/info/ride.htm)
• A four-part television mini-series, RoboCop: Prime Directives, in 2000.
• Comic books published by Marvel, Dark Horse Comics and Avatar Press which, along with containing the further adventures of RoboCop, also included titles such as the speculative crossover RoboCop vs. The Terminator (which was also converted into a video game) and Frank Miller's RoboCop, a graphic novel limited series of Miller's rejected original script for RoboCop 2.
• Remake of the original RoboCop - Sony Pictures (Screen Gems division) was working on a remake of RoboCop in the winter of 2005-2006. No details were revealed other than the unofficial (and confirmed) announcement. A source from Bloody-Disgusting.com wrote that the RoboCop remake was halted as of November 2006 because Sony felt it was too soon to re-make a film that's barely 20 years old.

• RoboCop at the Internet Movie Database
• RoboCop Archive
• Robocop :A collection of memorabilia.
• Criterion Collection essay by Carrie Rickey

Awards
Preceded by Aliens	Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1987	Succeeded by Alien Nation

v • d • e RoboCop
Films:	RoboCop • RoboCop 2 • RoboCop 3
TV:	RoboCop: The Animated Series • RoboCop: The Series • RoboCop: Alpha Commando • RoboCop: Prime Directives
Video Games:	RoboCop • RoboCop 2 • RoboCop 3 • RoboCop versus The Terminator
Comics:	RoboCop versus The Terminator • Frank Miller's RoboCop
Characters:	RoboCop • ED-209 • Anne Lewis
Organizations:	Omni Consumer Products

v • d • e Feature films directed by Paul Verhoeven
Business Is Business • Turkish Delight • Katie Tippel • Soldier of Orange • All Things Pass • Spetters • The Fourth Man • Flesh & Blood • RoboCop • Total Recall • Basic Instinct • Showgirls • Starship Troopers • Hollow Man • Black Book • The Thomas Crown Affair 2

v • d • e American films of the 1980s
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