RoboCop

1987
R
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

290K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer0:31

Cyberpunk One-Person Army Action Superhero Action Crime Sci-Fi Thriller

In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.

Director
- Paul Verhoeven
Writers
- Edward Neumeier
- Michael Miner
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

290K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,457

183

Director
- Paul Verhoeven
Writers
- Edward Neumeier
- Michael Miner
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 11 wins & 13 nominations total

Trivia
Most shots of RoboCop and the police car show him getting out or preparing to get in. Peter Weller didn't fit into the police car in full costume. When he needed to be in the car, he wore the top part of the costume and sat in his underwear. To maintain the illusion that RoboCop wears the entire suit while inside a car, most shots show his robotic feet exiting first.

Goofs
When RoboCop goes to the grocery store robbery and sends the robber through the glass door of the small refrigerator, you can see that the glass is already cracked and starts to break before the man goes through it.

Quotes
Bixby Snyder: I'd buy that for a dollar!

Crazy credits
The standard copyright notice at the end of the film includes a warning that "This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries and its unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution by enforcement droids."

Alternate versions
In 1995, The Criterion Collection premiered the 'unrated' edition of RoboCop on LaserDisc. The 1987 theatrical release was cut in several scenes to attain an R-rating, and this unrated version restored that footage. The unrated version has subsequently been used for many of the film's DVD and Blu-Ray releases.
The first cuts appear in the scene where ED-209 goes berserk and shoots Kinney during the meeting. In the director's cut there is another frontal shot of Kinney getting riddled with bullets at the start of the scene. When Kinney collapses onto the model of Delta City, there are extra shots of him being bloodily hit with more bullets, as well as the ED-209 technicians struggling to rip wiring out of the circuit board. Restoring this footage makes the scene much more darkly comical.
During the car chase, when Clarence's henchman Bobby is shot in the leg, the R-rated version shows a long shot, while the unrated has a gruesome close-up of Bobby's leg being shot.
Murphy's death is almost a minute longer in the unrated version. After his hand is blown off, Murphy looks in horror at the stump, before Clarence's gang blows off his entire arm with gunfire. The subsequent part with him being riddled with bullets is much longer as well. An elaborate tracking shot is used only in the unrated that shows the back of Murphy's head exploding into the camera when he is finally shot by Clarence. This shot made use of a fully-mechanical prosthetic Murphy built by make-up special effect artist Rob Bottin. The overhead shot of Lewis kneeling beside Murphy's body at the end of the scene is also exclusive to the unrated version.
Clarence Boddicker's death is shown in different shots depending on the version. The R-rated shows a long shot of him staggering away immediately after being stabbed, while the unrated shows a tight close-up.

Connections
Edited into Zeiram (1991)

Soundtracks
Show Me Your Spine
Music by P.T.P.

User reviews653

Review

Featured review

8/10

80s Classic That Didn't Need Remaking

In a crime ridden Detroit of the near future a corporate company OCP has the answer to fighting crime - invent a new type of policeman who won't go on strike . After the death of a policeman called Murphy they stick his body in to a metal shell . Murphy however can still remember a time when he was human

I once did an evening film course called Talking Pictures which would involve watching a film then having a two hour group discussion on the film . I saw the filmography before the class started and the vast majority would be art house foreign cinema . The one exception was ROBOCOP and I knew instantly this was the one that was going to split the group right down the middle in to love it or hate it with no in between . True to form this how things worked out . Most the class despised it wondering why the class had to watch such a cartoonish commercial film . I however did state I loved it and considered it to be the third best SF movie of the 1980s behind THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS

What makes ROBOCOP such a cerebral enjoyable film is the uncommon mix of social satire and no holds barred Verhoeven excess . While " greed is good " to a certain extent the idea of corporate capitalism is something to be rejected . A small self elected clique ruling over the Universe in order to maximise profits is a bad mix of capitalism meets self serving communism . Not so much a mixed economic system but more a combination of greedy speculators from one system being merged with the unthinking party loyalty of the other system . It's greed for money plus greed for power which is a marriage made in hell and being dead isn't enough to make you escape the clutches of OCP and the film revolves around the human element of Murphy remembering who he once was and it's this that is at the core of the movie

Of course Verhoeven isn't a director who does sentimental mawkish stuff and I doubt if the audience was wanting to see a Walt Disney film . What they were wanting to see was bad things happen to very bad people and you can't help cheering as criminals get killed , maimed , mutilated and in one case melted . It's a violent film but one that is so cartoonish that the violence is not to be taken seriously , a fact reflected in the loud slightly unrealistic acting style . This attitude wasn't enough to stop its British network premiere on ITV becoming farcical with a TV version being broadcast with notorious lines like " you gonna be a bad mother crusher " along with key scenes like the ones with mister melty conspicuous by their absence

There is of course a new version of ROBOCOP hitting the cinema this week but is a film I have no interest in watching judging by the clips I've seen of it . It's strange to think that another Verhoeven classic TOTAL RECALL was also recently remade . As it stands the original ROBOCOP remains one of the greatest genre films from the 1980s containing wit , satire and enjoyably mean carnage