fbpx
Wikipedia

RoboCop

January 01, 1970

This article is about the 1987 film. For other uses, see RoboCop (disambiguation).

RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferrer. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit in the near future, RoboCop centers on police officer Alex Murphy (Weller) who is murdered by a gang of criminals and revived by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products as the cyborg law enforcer RoboCop. Unaware of his former life, RoboCop executes a campaign against crime while coming to terms with the lingering fragments of his humanity.

RoboCop
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul Verhoeven
Written by
Produced byArne Schmidt
Starring
CinematographyJost Vacano
Edited byFrank J. Urioste
Music byBasil Poledouris
Production
company
Distributed byOrion Pictures
Release date
  • July 17, 1987 (1987-07-17)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13.7 million
Box office$53.4 million

The film was conceived by Neumeier while working on the set of Blade Runner (1982), and he developed the idea with Miner. Their script was purchased in early 1985 by producer Jon Davison on behalf of Orion Pictures. Finding a director proved difficult; Verhoeven dismissed the script twice because he did not understand its satirical content, until he was convinced of its value by his wife. Filming took place between August and October 1986, mainly in Dallas, Texas. Rob Bottin led the special-effects team in creating practical effects, violent gore and the RoboCop costume.

Verhoeven emphasized violence throughout the film, making it so outlandish that it became comical. Censorship boards believed that it was too extreme, however, and several scenes were shortened or modified to receive an acceptable theatrical rating. RoboCop was a financial success upon its release in July 1987, earning $53.4 million. Reviewers praised it as a clever action film with deeper philosophical messages and satire, but were conflicted about its extreme violence. The film was nominated for several awards, and won an Academy Award and a number of Saturn Awards.

RoboCop has been critically reevaluated since its release, and it has been hailed as one of the best films of the 1980s and one of the greatest science fiction and action films ever made. The film has been praised for its depiction of a robot affected by the loss of humanity, in contrast to the stoic and emotionless robotic characters of that era. RoboCop has continued to be analyzed for its themes such as the nature of humanity, personal identity, corporate greed and corruption, and is seen as a rebuke of the era's Reaganomics policies. Its success created a franchise: the sequels RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993), children's animated series, live-action television shows, video games, comic books, toys, clothing and other merchandise. A remake was released in 2014.

Plot edit

In a near-future dystopia, Detroit is on the brink of social and financial collapse. Overwhelmed by crime and dwindling resources, the city grants the mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) control of the Detroit Police Department. OCP senior president Dick Jones demonstrates ED-209, a law-enforcement droid designed to supplant the police. ED-209 malfunctions and brutally kills an executive, allowing ambitious junior executive Bob Morton to introduce OCP's chairman ("the Old Man") to his own project: RoboCop.

Meanwhile, officer Alex Murphy is transferred to the Metro West precinct. Murphy and his new partner, Anne Lewis, pursue notorious criminal Clarence Boddicker and his gang: Emil Antonowsky, Leon Nash, Joe Cox and Steve Minh. The gang ambushes and tortures Murphy until Boddicker fatally shoots him. Morton has Murphy's corpse converted into RoboCop, a heavily-armored cyborg with no memory of his former life. RoboCop is programmed with three prime directives: serve the public trust, protect the innocent and uphold the law. A fourth prime directive, Directive 4, is classified.

Reassigned to Metro West, RoboCop is hailed by the media for his brutally-efficient campaign against crime. Lewis suspects that he is Murphy, recognizing the unique way he holsters his gun, a trick Murphy learned to impress his son. After experiencing a nightmare of Murphy's death during maintenance, RoboCop encounters Lewis, who addresses him as Murphy. While on patrol, RoboCop arrests Emil, who recognizes Murphy's mannerisms; this furthers RoboCop's recall. RoboCop then uses the police database to identify Emil's associates and review Murphy's police record. He recalls further memories while exploring Murphy's former home, his wife and son having moved away after his death. Elsewhere, Jones gets Boddicker to murder Morton as revenge for Morton's attempt to usurp his position at OCP. RoboCop tracks down Boddicker's gang and, after a shootout, brutally interrogates Boddicker until he admits working for Jones; he cannot kill Boddicker, however, as that would violate his prime directives. RoboCop attempts to arrest Jones at the OCP Tower, but Directive 4 is activated: a fail-safe measure to disable RoboCop when he acts against an OCP executive. Jones admits his culpability in Morton's death, and releases an ED-209 to destroy RoboCop. Although he escapes, RoboCop is attacked by the police force on OCP's order and is badly damaged. He is rescued by Lewis, who brings him to an abandoned steel mill to repair himself.

Angered by OCP's underfunding and short-staffing, the police force goes on strike; Detroit descends into chaos as riots break out throughout the city. Jones frees Boddicker and his remaining gang, arming them with high-powered weaponry to destroy RoboCop. Boddicker's men are quickly eliminated at the steel mill, but Lewis is badly injured; RoboCop, trapped under steel girders, kills Boddicker by stabbing him in the throat.

RoboCop confronts Jones at the OCP Tower during a board meeting, revealing the truth behind Morton's murder. Jones takes the Old Man hostage and is fired by the Old Man from OCP; this nullifies Directive 4, which allows RoboCop to shoot him, causing Jones to crash through a window to his death. The Old Man compliments RoboCop's shooting and asks his name; he replies, "Murphy".

Cast edit

 
 
 
 
(Left to right) Peter Weller (pictured in 2016), Ronny Cox (2019), Kurtwood Smith (2010), and Miguel Ferrer (2015)
  • Peter Weller as Alex Murphy / RoboCop: A Detroit police officer murdered in the line of duty and revived as a cyborg[1]
  • Nancy Allen as Anne Lewis: A tough and loyal police officer[2]
  • Daniel O'Herlihy as "The Old Man": The chief executive of OCP[3]
  • Ronny Cox as Dick Jones: The Senior President of OCP[4]
  • Kurtwood Smith as Clarence Boddicker: A crime lord in league with Dick Jones[1]
  • Miguel Ferrer as Bob Morton: An ambitious OCP junior executive responsible for the "RoboCop" project[1][5]

In addition to the main cast, RoboCop features Paul McCrane as Emil Antonowsky, Ray Wise as Leon Nash, Jesse D. Goins as Joe Cox and Calvin Jung as Steve Minh, members of Boddicker's gang. The cast also includes Robert DoQui as Sergeant Warren Reed,[6][7] Michael Gregory as Lieutenant Hedgecock, Felton Perry as OCP employee Donald Johnson, Kevin Page as OCP junior executive Mr. Kinney (who is shot to death by ED-209) and Lee de Broux as cocaine warehouse owner Sal.[6][7][8]

Mario Machado and Leeza Gibbons play news hosts Casey Wong and Jess Perkins, respectively,[6][7] and television-show host Bixby Snyder is played by S. D. Nemeth.[6][9] Angie Bolling and Jason Levine appear as Murphy's wife and son.[6] RoboCop director Paul Verhoeven makes a cameo appearance as a dancing nightclub patron,[10][11] producer Jon Davison provides the voice of ED-209,[5] and director John Landis appears in an in-film advertisement.[6] Smith's partner, Joan Pirkle, appears as Dick Jones's secretary.[10]

Production edit

Conception and writing edit

RoboCop was conceived in the early 1980s by Universal Pictures junior story executive and aspiring screenwriter Edward Neumeier.[a] A fan of robot-themed science-fiction films, Star Wars, and action films, Neumeier had developed an interest in mature comic books while researching them for potential adaptation.[12][15][16] The 1982 science-fiction film Blade Runner was filming on the Warner Bros. lot behind Neumeier's office, and he unofficially joined the production to learn about filmmaking.[12][14][15] His work there gave him the idea for RoboCop: "I had this vision of a far-distant, Blade Runner–type world where there was an all-mechanical cop coming to a sense of real human intelligence".[12][14] He spent the next few nights writing a 40-page outline.[12]

While researching story submissions for Universal, Neumeier came across a student video by aspiring director Michael Miner.[10][13][14] The pair met and discussed their similar concepts: Neumeier's RoboCop and Miner's robot-themed rock music video. In a 2014 interview, Miner said that he also had an idea called SuperCop.[10][12][14] They formed a working partnership and spent about two months discussing the idea and two to three months writing together at night and over weekends, in addition to their regular jobs.[b] Their collaboration was initially difficult because they did not know each other well, and had to learn how to constructively criticize each other.[18]

Neumeier was influenced to kill off his main character early by the psychological horror film Psycho (1960), whose main character was killed early in the film. Inspired by comic books and his experience with corporate culture, Neumeier wanted to satirize 1980s business culture. He noted the increasing aggression of American financial services in response to growing Japanese influence and the popularity on Wall Street of The Book of Five Rings, a 17th-century book about how to kill more effectively. Neumeier also believed that Detroit's declining automobile industry was due to increased bureaucracy. ED-209's malfunction in the OCP boardroom was based on Neumeier's office daydreams about a robot bursting into a meeting and killing everyone.[12][16][19] Miner described the film as "comic relief for a cynical time" during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, when economist "Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys ransacked the world, enabled by Reagan and the Central Intelligence Agency. So when you have this cop who works for a corporation that insists 'I own you,' and he still does the right thing—that's the core of the film." Neumeier and Miner conceived the in-universe news and advertisement "Media Breaks" that appear throughout RoboCop, and a spec script was completed by December 1984.[10]

Development edit

 
Director Paul Verhoeven (pictured in 2016) rejected the RoboCop script twice before taking to its underlying story about a character losing his identity.

The first draft of the script, RoboCop: The Future of Law Enforcement, was given to industry friends and associates in early 1985.[c] A month later, Neumeier and Miner had two offers: one from Atlantic Releasing[17] and another from director Jonathan Kaplan and producer Jon Davison with Orion Pictures.[13][20] An experienced producer of exploitation and B films such as the parody Airplane! (1980), Davison said that he was drawn to the script's satire.[12][13][20] He showed Neumeier and Miner films—including Madigan (1968), Dirty Harry (1971), and Mad Max 2 (1981)—to demonstrate the tone he wanted. After Orion greenlit the project, Neumeier and Miner began a second draft.[21]

Davison produced the film with his Tobor Pictures company.[22][23] Neumeier and Miner were paid a few thousand dollars for the script rights and $25,000 between them for the rewrite. They were entitled to eight percent of the producer profits upon release.[17][24] Davison's contacts with puppeteers, animators, and practical effects designers were essential to Verhoeven, who had no prior experience with them.[13] The producers discussed changing the Detroit setting, but Neumeier insisted on its importance because of its failing auto industry.[12] The connection between Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones was added at Orion's suggestion.[12]

Kaplan left to direct Project X (1987), and finding his replacement took six months; many prospects declined because of the film's title.[d] The project was offered to David Cronenberg, Alex Cox, and Monte Hellman; Hellman joined as second-unit director.[17][25][28] Miner asked to direct, but Orion refused to trust a $7 million project to an untested director.[12][29] He declined the second-unit director position in order to direct Deadly Weapon (1989);[12][21] Orion executive Barbara Boyle suggested Paul Verhoeven—who had been praised for his work on Soldier of Orange (1977) and his first English-language film, Flesh+Blood (1985)—for director.[12][13][21] Verhoeven looked at the first page and rejected the script as awful, stalling the project.[10][13][21] Boyle sent Verhoeven another copy, suggesting that he pay attention to the subtext.[12] Verhoeven was still uninterested until his wife Martine read it and encouraged him to give it a chance, saying he had missed the "soul" of the story about someone losing his identity.[10] Not fluent in English, Verhoeven said that the satire did not make sense to him;[10] the scene that attracted his attention was RoboCop returning to Murphy's abandoned home and experiencing memories of his former life.[1][10]

Davison, Neumeier and Verhoeven discussed the project at Culver Studios' Mansion House.[12] Verhoeven wanted to direct it as a serious film; Neumeier gave him comic books to explain the tone they wanted, including 2000 AD with the character Judge Dredd.[12][21] Neumeier and Miner wrote a third draft based on Verhoeven's requests, working through injuries and late nights; the 92-page revision included a subplot about a romantic affair between Murphy and Lewis.[11][12][21] After reading it, Verhoeven admitted that he was wrong and returned to the second draft in search of a comic-book tone.[12][21][30]

Casting edit

 
Daniel O'Herlihy in 1955. His character, the Old Man, was based on MCA Inc. executive Lew Wasserman.

Six to eight months were spent searching for an actor to play Alex Murphy / RoboCop.[13][26] Arnold Schwarzenegger,[13] Michael Ironside,[31] Rutger Hauer, Tom Berenger, Armand Assante,[25] Keith Carradine and James Remar were considered.[21] Orion favored Schwarzenegger, the star of their recent success The Terminator (1984),[25] but he and other actors were considered too physically imposing to be believable in the RoboCop costume; it was thought that Schwarzenegger would look like the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Doughboy.[13][26][31] Others were reluctant because their face would be largely concealed by a helmet.[26] Davison said that Weller was the only person who wanted to be in the film.[26] The low salary he commanded was in his favor, as were his good body control from martial-arts training and marathon running and his fan base in the science-fiction genre after his performance in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). Verhoeven said he hired him because "his chin was very good".[25][29][26] Weller spent months working with mime Moni Yakim, developing a fluid movement style with a stiff ending while wearing an American football uniform to approximate the finished costume.[10][32] Weller said that working with Verhoeven was his main reason for choosing the role over appearing in King Kong Lives (1986).[15][33]

Stephanie Zimbalist was cast as Murphy's partner Anne Lewis, but dropped out because of contractual obligations to Remington Steele (which had been canceled in 1986, but was revived because of its popularity).[e] Her replacement, Nancy Allen, thought the film's title was terrible but found the script engrossing. Allen was known for her long blonde hair, but Verhoeven wanted it cut short so the character was not sexualized. Her hair was cut eight times before the desired look was achieved.[37] Allen undertook police-academy training for her role, and sought advice from her police lieutenant father.[37] Verhoeven encouraged her to act masculine and gain weight, which she accomplished by quitting smoking.[11]

Kurtwood Smith auditioned for Boddicker and Jones. He was known mainly for television work, had not had film success, and saw RoboCop as a B-film with potential.[10] The character was scripted to wear glasses so he would look like Nazi Party member Heinrich Himmler. Smith was unaware of this, and interpreted it as the character having an intelligent and militaristic front to conceal being a "sneering, smirking drug kingpin".[10] Ironside was offered the role, but did not want to be involved with another special effects-laden film or play a "psychopath" after working on Extreme Prejudice (1987).[25][31][38] Robert Picardo also auditioned for the role.[39]

Ronny Cox had been stereotyped as playing generally nice characters, and said that this left the impression that he could not play more masculine roles.[40] Because of this, Verhoeven cast him as the villainous Dick Jones.[41] Cox said that playing a villain was "about a gazillion times more fun than playing the good guys".[42] Jones, he said, has no compassion and is an "evil [son of a bitch]".[40] Miguel Ferrer was unsure if the film would be successful, but was desperate for work and would have accepted any offer.[15] The Old Man was based on MCA Inc. CEO Lew Wasserman, whom Neumeier considered a powerful and intimidating individual.[12] Television host Bixby Snyder was written as an Americanized, more-extreme version of British comedian Benny Hill.[10] Radio personality Howard Stern was offered an unspecified role, but turned it down because he thought the idea was stupid (although he later praised the finished film).[43]

Filming edit

 
Dallas City Hall appears as the exterior of OCP's headquarters. Matte paintings were used to make it appear taller.

Principal photography began on August 6, 1986, on an $11 million budget.[44][45] Jost Vacano was the cinematographer, after working with Verhoeven on Soldier of Orange.[22][45] Verhoeven wanted Blade Runner production designer Lawrence G. Paull, but Davison said he could afford either a great production designer or a great RoboCop costume – not both.[12][37] William Sandell was hired.[46] Monte Hellman directed several of the action scenes.[47]

RoboCop was filmed primarily on location in Dallas,[10][45][48] with additional filming in Las Colinas and Pittsburgh.[8][45][49] Verhoeven wanted a filming location which suggested the near future.[45] Detroit was dismissed because it had many low buildings, many brownstones and Victorian-style buildings.[26][45] Neumeier said that it was also a union city, making it more expensive to film there.[50] Detroit made a brief appearance in nighttime, stock aerial footage at the beginning of the film.[16] Chicago was dismissed for aesthetic reasons, New York City for high costs, and California because according to Davison, Orion wanted to distance itself from the project.[26][45] Dallas was chosen over Houston because it has modern buildings and older, less-maintained areas where explosives could be used.[45] The filming schedule in Dallas was nine weeks, but it soon became clear that it would take longer. Based on filmed footage, Orion approved the schedule extension and a budget increase to $13.1 million.[32][44][51] The weather fluctuated during filming; Dallas in summer was often 90 to 115 °F (32 to 46 °C),[26][37][52] and the weather in Pittsburgh was frigid.[10]

RoboCop's costume was not finished until some time into filming. This did not impact the shooting schedule, but it denied Weller the month of costume rehearsal he had expected.[f] Weller was frustrated with the costume; it was too cumbersome for him to move as he had practiced, and he spent hours trying to adapt.[10][25][53] He struggled to see through the thin helmet visor and interact with (or grab) objects while wearing the gloves.[53][54] Weller fell out with Verhoeven and was fired, with Lance Henriksen considered as a replacement; because the costume was designed for Weller, however, he was encouraged to mend fences.[25] Mime Moni Yakim helped Weller to develop a slower, more deliberate way of moving.[15] Weller's experience in the costume was worsened by the warm weather, which made him sweat off up to 3 lb (1.4 kg) per day.[26][32] Verhoeven began taking prescription medication to cope with stress-induced insomnia, and he filmed scenes under the influence.[55]

He often choreographed scenes with the actors before filming.[56][57] Improvisation was also encouraged, because Verhoeven believed that it could produce interesting results. Smith improvised some of his character's quirks, such as sticking chewing gum to a secretary's desk and spitting blood onto the police-station counter: "'What if I spat blood on the desk?' ... [Verhoeven] got this little smile on his face, and we did it."[10] Neumeier was on set throughout filming and occasionally wrote additional scenes, including a New Year's Eve party after seeing some party-hat props and a news story about the Strategic Defense Initiative platform misfiring.[10][12][21] Verhoeven found Neumeier's presence invaluable, because they could discuss how to adapt the script or location to make a scene work.[45]

 
A steel mill in Pennsylvania served as the site of RoboCop's and Clarence Boddicker's final battle.

Verhoeven gained a reputation for verbal aggression and unsociable behavior on set; Smith said that he never yelled at the actors, however, but was too engrossed in filming to be sociable.[10] Cox and Allen spoke warmly of Verhoeven.[37][58] Weller spent his time between filming with the actors who played his enemies (including Smith, Ray Wise and Calvin Jung), who maintained healthy lifestyles that supported Weller in his training for the New York City Marathon.[15]

A number of locations in and around Dallas were used in production. An office in Renaissance Tower was used for the OCP interior of; the company's exterior is Dallas City Hall, modified with matte paintings to appear taller.[g] The OCP elevator was that of the Plaza of the Americas.[48][60] The Detroit police station's exterior is Crozier Tech High School; its interior is the Sons of Hermann hall, and city hall is the Dallas Municipal Building.[60] Scenes of Boddicker's gang blowing up storefronts were filmed in the Deep Ellum neighborhood. One explosion was larger than anticipated; actors can be seen moving out of the way, Smith had to remove his coat because it was on fire, and the actors involved received an additional $400 in stunt pay.[10][45] The Shell gas station that explodes was in the Arts District,[48][60] where local residents unaware of the filming called the fire department.[1] The scene was scripted for flames to modify the sign to read "hell"; Davison approved it, but it does not appear in the film. Miner called it a disappointing omission.[10]

The nightclub was the former Starck Club. Verhoeven was filmed demonstrating how the clubbers should dance, and used the footage in the film.[10][11] Other Dallas locations included César Chávez Boulevard, the Reunion Arena[60] and the parking lot of the Crescent.[50] The final battle between RoboCop and Boddicker's gang was filmed at a steel mill in Monessen, outside Pittsburgh.[h] Filming ended in late October 1986.[64]

Post-production edit

Main article: RoboCop (soundtrack)

 
"Rock Shop" by Basil Poledouris
The main theme of RoboCop by Basil Poledouris. Performed by the Sinfonia of London, the score combines orchestral music with synthesizers.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

An additional $600,000 budget increase was approved by Orion for post-production and the music score, raising the budget to $13.7 million.[i][j]

Frank J. Urioste was the film's editor.[65] Several pick-up shots were filmed during this phase, including Murphy's death, RoboCop removing his helmet, and shots of his leg holster.[66] After the OCP boardroom scene in which RoboCop calls himself Murphy, another scene revealed that Lewis was alive in a hospital before showing RoboCop on patrol. The latter scene was thought to lessen the former's triumphant feeling, and was removed.[67][68] Verhoeven wanted the in-film Media Breaks to abruptly interrupt the narrative and unsettle the viewer. He was influenced by Piet Mondrian's art, which featured stark black lines separating colored squares.[10] Peter Conn directed many of the Media Breaks, but "TJ Lazer" was directed by Neumeier.[69]

RoboCop's violent content made it difficult to receive an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which restricted the film to viewers over 17 unless accompanied by an adult. It initially received the more-restrictive X rating, limiting the film to those over 17.[10][25][70] Although some reports suggest it was refused an R-rating eleven times, Verhoeven said that the number was actually eight.[10][25] The MPAA took issue with several scenes, including Murphy's death and ED-209 shooting an executive.[51][65] The violent scenes were shortened and Media Breaks were added to help lighten the mood; Verhoeven recalled that one reviewer was confused by their jarring appearance in the film, and complained that the projectionist had used the wrong film reel.[10][25]

The MPAA also objected to a scene of a mutated Emil being disintegrated by Boddicker's car, but Verhoeven, Davison and Orion refused to remove it because it consistently received the biggest laughs during test screenings.[13][71] Verhoeven made the violence comical and surreal, and believed that the cuts made the scenes appear more (not less) violent.[10][25] He said that his young children laughed at the X-rated cut, and audiences laughed less at the R-rated version.[10][51] According to Verhoeven, people "love seeing violence and horrible things".[51] The film is 103 minutes long.[72]

Basil Poledouris composed the film score after working with Verhoeven on Flesh + Blood.[5] The score combines synthesizers and orchestral music, reflecting RoboCop's cyborg nature. The music was performed by the Sinfonia of London.[73][74]

Special effects and design edit

Special effects edit

 
Actor Paul McCrane as Emil Antonowsky. McCrane wore a prosthesis over his upper body to give the appearance of his skin melting. His death was the highest-rated scene by test audiences.[71]

The special-effects team, led by Rob Bottin, included Phil Tippett, Stephan Dupuis, Bart Mixon and Craig Davies.[k] The effects were very violent because Verhoeven believed that that made scenes funnier.[10][25] He compared the brutality of Murphy's death to the crucifixion of Jesus, an effective way to evoke sympathy for the character.[10][65][71] The scene was filmed at an abandoned auto-assembly plant in Long Beach, California, on a raised stage that allowed operators to control the effects from below.[77] To show Murphy being dismantled by gunfire, prosthetic arms were cast in alginate and filled with tubing that could pump artificial blood and compressed air. Weller's left hand, attached to his shoulders by velcro and controlled by three operators, was designed to explode in a controllable way so it could be easily put back together for repeat shots.[77] The right arm was jerked away from Weller's body by a monofilament wire.[19][77] A detailed, articulated replica of Weller's upper body was used to depict Boddicker shooting Murphy through the head.[71][77][78] A mold was made of Weller's face using foam latex that was baked to make it rubbery and flesh-like, and placed over a fiberglass skull containing a blood squib and explosive charge. The articulated head was controlled by four puppeteers, and had details of sweat and blood. A fan motor attached to the body made it vibrate, as if shaking in fear. The charge in the skull was connected to the trigger of Smith's gun by wire to synchronize the effect.[79]

Emil's melting mutation was inspired by the 1977 science-fiction film The Incredible Melting Man.[80] Bottin designed and constructed Emil's prosthetics, creating a foam-latex headpiece and matching gloves that gave the appearance of Emil's skin melting "off his bones like marshmallow sauce".[80][81] A second piece, depicting further degradation, was applied over the first. Dupuis painted each piece differently to emphasize Emil's advancing degradation. The prosthetics were applied to an articulated dummy to show Emil being struck by Boddicker's car. The head was loosened so it would fly off; by chance, it rolled onto the car's hood. The effect was completed with Emil's liquified body (raw chicken, soup, and gravy) washing over the windscreen.[81] The same dummy stands in for RoboCop when he is crushed by steel beams (painted wood).[81] Verhoeven wanted RoboCop to kill Boddicker by stabbing him in the eye, but it was believed the effort to create the effect would be wasted due to censorship concerns.[82]

Dick Jones's fatal fall is shown by a stop-motion puppet of Cox, animated by Rocco Gioffre. The limited development time forced Gioffre to use a foam-rubber puppet with an aluminum skeleton instead of a better-quality, articulated version. It was composited against Mark Sullivan's matte painting of the street below.[82][83] ED-209's murder of OCP executive Mr. Kinney was filmed over three days. Page's body was covered with 200 squibs, but Verhoeven was unhappy with the result and brought him back months later to re-shoot it in a studio-built recreation of the board room. Page was again covered in over 200 squibs and plastic bags filled with spaghetti squash and fake blood. Page described intense pain as each squib detonation felt like a punch.[8] In the cocaine-warehouse scene, Boddicker's stuntman was thrown through glass panes rigged with detonating cord to shatter microseconds before he hit.[84] Gelatin capsules filled with sawdust and a sparkling compound were fired from an air gun at RoboCop to create the effect of ricocheting bullets.[85]

RoboCop edit

Main article: RoboCop (character)

Bottin was tasked with designing the RoboCop costume.[10][13][86] He researched the Star Wars character C-3PO and its stiff costume, which made movement difficult.[86] Bottin was also influenced by robot designs in Metropolis (1927), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951),[16][65] and several comic-book superheroes.[87][88] He developed about 50 designs based on feedback from Verhoeven (who pushed for a more machine-like character),[87][89] finally landing on a sleek aesthetic inspired by the work of Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama.[90] Verhoeven admitted his unrealistic expectations after reading Japanese science-fiction manga; it took him a while to realize it, which contributed to the costume delay.[10]

The scope of the RoboCop costume was unprecedented, with its design and construction exceeding cost and schedule.[26][45][78] The costume took six months to build with flexible foam latex, semi-and completely-rigid polyurethane, and a fiberglass helmet.[26][87][91] Moving sections were joined with aluminum and ball bearings.[91] The costume is supported by an internal harness of hooks, allowing for sustained movement during action scenes.[78] Seven costumes were made, including a fireproof version and costumes depicting sustained damage.[92] Reports on their weight vary from 25 to 80 lb (11 to 36 kg).[l] RoboCop's gun, the Auto-9, is a Beretta 93R with an extended barrel and larger grip. It was modified to fire blank bullets, and vents were cut into the side to allow for multi-directional muzzle flashes with every three-shot burst.[96]

ED-209 edit

Main article: ED-209
 
One of the miniature ED-209 models used for animation by Phil Tippett, Randal M. Dutra, and Harry Walton

To budget for ED-209's development, Tippett developed preliminary sketches and hired Davies to design the full-scale model which was constructed with the help of Paula Lucchesi.[75] Verhoeven wanted ED-209 to look mean, and thought that Davies' early designs lacked a "killer" aesthetic. Davies was influenced by killer whales and a United States Air Force LTV A-7 Corsair II. He approached the design with modern American aesthetics and a corporate-design policy that he believed prioritized looks over functionality, including excessive and impractical components. He did not add eyes, thinking that they would make ED-209 more sympathetic.[97] The fully-articulated fiberglass model took four months to build, cost $25,000, stood 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, and weighed 300 to 500 lb (140 to 230 kg).[98][99][100] The 100-hour work weeks took their toll and Davies minimized the detail of ED-209's feet, since he did not think they would be shown.[101] The model was later used on promotional tours.[99][100][102]

Davies spent another four months building two 12-inch (30 cm) miniature replicas for stop motion animation.[103] The two small models allowed scenes to be animated and filmed more efficiently, which saved time in completing the 55 shots needed in three months.[103] Tippett was the lead ED-209 animator, assisted by Randal M. Dutra and Harry Walton.[13][100][104] Tippett conceived ED-209's movement as "unanimal"-like, as if it were about to fall over before catching itself.[100] To complete the character, the droid was given the roar of a leopard. Davison provided a temporary voiceover for ED-209's speaking voice, which was retained in the film.[105]

Other effects and designs edit

RoboCop contains seven matte effects, mainly painted by Gioffre. Each matte was painted on masonite. Gioffre supervised on-site filming to mask the camera where the matte is inserted, and remembered having to crawl out from a five-story-high ledge to get the right shot of the Plaza of the Americas.[106] The burnished steel RoboCop logo was developed using photographic effects that supervisor Peter Kuran based on a black-and-white sketch from Orion. Kuran created a scaled-up matte version and backlit it. A second pass was made with a sheet of aluminum behind it to create reflective detail.[64] RoboCop's vision was created with hundreds of ink lines on acetate composited over existing footage. Several attempts had to be made to get the line thickness right; at first, the lines were too thick or too thin.[107] Assuming that thermographic photography would be expensive, Kuran replicated thermal vision using actors in body stockings painted with thermal colors and filmed the scene with a polarized lens filter.[108] RoboCop's mechanical recharging chair was designed and built by John Zabrucky of Modern Props.[109] The OCP boardroom model of Delta City was made under the supervision of art director Gayle Simon.[110]

The film's police cars are 1986 Ford Taurus models painted black.[49] The Taurus was chosen because of its futuristic, aerodynamic styling for the vehicle's first production year. The car was intended to feature a customized interior that would show graphical displays of mug shots, fingerprints, and other related information, but the concept was considered too ambitious.[13][64] The 6000 SUX driven by Boddicker and others was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, modified by Gene Winfield and based on a design by Chip Foose. Two working cars were made with a third, non-functional one that was used when the vehicle exploded.[111] The 6000 SUX commercial features a plasticine dinosaur animated by Don Waller and blocked by Steve Chiodo.[111]

Release edit

Context edit

See also: 1987 in film

Industry experts were optimistic about the theatrical summer of 1987 (June–September).[112] The season focused on genre films—science fiction, horror, and fantasy—that were proven to generate revenue, if not industry respect.[113] Other films—such as Roxanne, Full Metal Jacket and The Untouchables—were targeted at older audiences (over age 25), who had been ignored in recent years by films targeted at teenagers.[114][115] The action comedy Beverly Hills Cop II was predicted to dominate the theaters[112] but many other films were expected to perform well, including the action adventure Ishtar, the comedies Harry and the Hendersons, Who's That Girl and Spaceballs, the action film Predator and sequels such as Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and The Living Daylights, the latest James Bond film.[112][115]

With the musical La Bamba, RoboCop was predicted to be a sleeper hit.[12][116] It received positive feedback before release, including a positive industry screening (considered a rarity) and pre-release screenings that demonstrated the studio's confidence in the film.[117][118]

Marketing edit

 
The RoboCop logo used in the film

Marketing the film was considered difficult.[119] For the Los Angeles Times, Jack Mathews described RoboCop as a "terrible title for a movie that anyone would expect an adult to enjoy". Orion head of marketing Charles Glenn said it had a "certain liability ... it sounds like 'Robby the Robot' or Gobots or something else. It's nothing like that."[119] The campaign began three months before the film's release, when 5,000 adult-oriented and family-friendly trailers were sent to theaters. Orion promotions director Jan Kean said that children and adults responded positively to the RoboCop character.[119] Miguel Ferrer recalled a theater audience laughing derisively at the trailer, which he found disheartening.[120] Models and actors in fiberglass RoboCop costumes made appearances in cities throughout North America. The character appeared at a motor-racing event in Florida, a laser show in Boston, a subway in New York City, and children could take their picture with him at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles.[119]

An incomplete version of the unrated film was screened early for critics, which was unconventional for an action film. Glenn reasoned that critics who favored Verhoeven's earlier work would appreciate RoboCop. Feedback was generally positive, providing quotes for promotional material and making it one of the best-reviewed films of the year up to that point.[119] The week before release saw the introduction of television commercials and limited theatrical screenings for the public.[119] The film was released in the United Kingdom without cuts, which the BBFC justified by the comic excess of the violence and the clear line between the hero and villains.[121]

Box office edit

RoboCop began a wide North American release on July 17, 1987.[122][123] During its opening weekend, the film earned $8 million from 1,580 theaters—an average of $5,068 per theater.[124][125] It was the weekend's number-one film, ahead of a re-release of the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ($7.5 million) and the horror sequel Jaws: The Revenge ($7.2 million), both of which were also in their first week of release.[124][126] RoboCop retained the number-one position in its second weekend with an additional gross of $6.3 million, ahead of Snow White ($6.05 million) and the debuting comedy Summer School ($6 million).[127][128] It was the fourth-highest-grossing film in its third weekend with a gross of $4.7 million, behind La Bamba ($5.2 million) and the debuts of the horror film The Lost Boys ($5.2 million) and The Living Daylights ($11.1 million).[129]

RoboCop never regained the number-one spot, but remained in the top ten for six weeks.[122][123] By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed about $53.4 million and was a modest success.[25][122][123][m] It was the year's fourteenth-highest-grossing film, behind Crocodile Dundee ($53.6 million), La Bamba ($54.2 million) and Dragnet ($57.4 million).[130] Figures are unavailable for the film's performance outside North America.[122][123]

Due in part to higher ticket prices and an extra week of the theatrical summer,[114] 1987 set a record of $1.6 billion in box-office gross and exceeded the previous record of $1.58 billion record set in 1984. Unlike that summer, which featured several blockbusters such as Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the summer of 1987 delivered only one: Beverly Hills Cop II. More films (including RoboCop) performed modestly well, however, earning a collective total of $274 million—a 50-percent increase over 1986.[115][131] The average audience age continued to increase, as teen-oriented films such as RoboCop and Beverly Hills Cop II had a 22-percent drop in performance from similar 1986 films. Adult-oriented films had a 39-percent increase in revenue.[131] RoboCop was one of the summer's surprise successes, and contributed to Orion's improving fortunes.[21][132]

Reception edit

Critical response edit

 
Variety's review highlighted Nancy Allen (pictured in 1984) for providing the only human warmth in RoboCop.

RoboCop opened to generally-positive reviews.[25][51] Audience polls by CinemaScore reported that moviegoers gave the film an average letter grade of A−.[133]

Critics noticed influences in the film from the action of The Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986), and the narratives of Frankenstein (1931), Repo Man (1984) and the television series Miami Vice.[134][135][136] RoboCop built a distinct, futuristic vision for Detroit, wrote two reviewers, as Blade Runner had done for Los Angeles.[116][134] A number of critics struggled to identify the film's genre, writing that it combined social satire and philosophy with elements of action, science fiction, thrillers, Westerns, slapstick comedy, romance, snuff films, superhero comics and camp without being derivative.[n]

Some publications found Verhoeven's direction smart and darkly comic, offering sharp social satire that The Washington Post suggested would have been just a simple action film in another director's hands.[136][140][141] Others, such as Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader, believed the film was over-directed with Verhoeven's European filmmaking style lacking rhythm, tension and momentum. According to the Chicago Reader review, Verhoeven's typical adeptness at portraying the "sleazily psychological" through physicality failed to properly use RoboCop's "Aryan blandness".[139][142] The Washington Post and Roger Ebert praised Weller's performance and his ability to elicit sympathy and convey chivalry and vulnerability while concealed beneath a bulky costume. Weller offered a certain beauty and grace, wrote The Washington Post reviewer, that added a mythic quality and made his murder even more horrible.[136][137] In contrast, Weller "hardly registered" behind the mask for the Chicago Reader.[139] Variety cited Nancy Allen as providing the only human warmth in the film, and Kurtwood Smith as a well-cast "sicko sadist".[143]

Many reviewers noted the film's violence.[o] It was so excessive for Ebert and the Los Angeles Times that it became deliberately comical, with Ebert writing that ED-209 killing an executive subverted audience expectations of a seemingly serious and straightforward science-fiction film. The Los Angeles Times reviewer believed that the violent scenes simultaneously conveyed sadism and poignancy .[137][141] Other reviewers were more critical, including Kehr and Walter Goodman, who believed that RoboCop's satire and critiques of corporate corruption were excuses to indulge in violent visuals.[142][144] The Chicago Reader found the violence had a "brooding, agonized quality ... as if Verhoeven were both appalled and fascinated" by it, and The Christian Science Monitor said critical praise for the "nasty" film demonstrated a preference for "style over substance".[139][140]

Kehr and The Washington Post said that the satire of corporations and the interchangeable use of corporate executives and street-level criminals was the film's most successful effort, depicting their unchecked greed and callous disregard with witty criticism of game shows and military culture.[136][142] Some reviewers appreciated the film's adaptation of a classic narrative about a tragic hero seeking revenge and redemption, with the Los Angeles Times writing that the typical cliché revenge story was transformed by making the protagonist a machine that keeps succumbing to humanity, emotion and idealism. The Los Angeles Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer considered RoboCop's victory satisfying because it offered a fable about a decent hero fighting against corruption, villains and the theft of his humanity, with morality and technology on his side.[134][135][141] The Washington Post agreed that the film's "heart" is the story of Murphy regaining his humanity: "[W]ith all our flesh-and-blood heroes failing us—from brokers to ballplayers—we need a man of mettle, a real straight shooter who doesn't fool around with Phi Beta Kappas and never puts anything up his nose. What this world needs is 'RoboCop'."[136]

Accolades edit

RoboCop received a Special Achievement for Best Sound Editing (Stephen Flick and John Pospisil) at the 60th Academy Awards. The film had two other nominations: Best Film Editing for Frank J. Urioste (losing to Gabriella Cristiani for the drama film The Last Emperor) and Best Sound for Michael J. Kohut, Carlos Delarios, Aaron Rochin and Robert Wald (losing to Bill Rowe and Ivan Sharrock for The Last Emperor).[145] In a comedy routine at the event, the RoboCop character rescued presenter Pee-wee Herman from ED-209.[146][147]

At the 42nd British Academy Film Awards, RoboCop received two nominations: Best Makeup and Hair for Carla Palmer (losing to Fabrizio Sforza for The Last Emperor), and Best Special Visual Effects for Bottin, Tippett, Kuran, and Gioffre (losing to George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston, and Edward Jones for the 1988 fantasy film Who Framed Roger Rabbit).[148]

At the 15th Saturn Awards, RoboCop was the most-nominated film. It received awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director for Verhoeven, Best Writing for Neumeier and Miner, Best Make-up for Bottin and Dupuis, and Best Special Effects for Kuran, Tippett, Bottin, and Gioffre. The film received three more nominations, including Best Actor (Weller) and Best Actress (Allen).[149][150]

After release edit

Home media edit

 
Richard Nixon shaking hands with a costumed actor as part of a paid effort to promote the film[151]

RoboCop was released on VHS in early 1988,[152][153][154] and had an estimated $24 million in sales.[13][p] Orion promoted the film by having former United States president Richard Nixon shake hands with a RoboCop-costumed actor. Nixon was paid $25,000, which he donated to the Boys Club of America.[25][151] RoboCop was a popular rental, peaking at number one in mid-March 1988.[155][156] Rental demand outstripped supply; estimates suggested that there was one VHS copy of a film per 100 households, making it difficult to find new releases such as Dirty Dancing, Predator and Platoon. The longest waiting list was for RoboCop.[157] The film was released in S-VHS in 1988, one of the earliest films to adopt the format, and was offered free of charge when buying branded S-VCR players.[152]

The extended violent content removed from the U.S. theatrical release was restored on a Criterion Collection LaserDisc, which included audio commentary by Verhoeven, Neumeier and Davison.[13][158] The uncut version of the film has been made available on other home-media releases.[13] It was released on DVD by Criterion in September 1998.[159][160] In June 2004, the DVD version was released in a trilogy box set with RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993). This edition included featurettes about the making of the film and the RoboCop design.[159] A 20th-anniversary edition was released in August 2007 which included the film's theatrical and uncut versions, previous extras, and new featurettes on the special effects and villains.[159]

Its scheduled Blu-ray debut in 2006 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment was canceled days before release, with reviews indicating poor video quality. A new version was released in 2007 by Fox Home Entertainment without extra features.[161][162][163] Reviews indicated that the film's visual quality had improved, but images were still perceived as grainy or too dark.[163][164] The trilogy was released as a Blu-ray Disc box set in October 2010.[165][166]

The film was restored in 4K resolution from the original camera negative by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 2013 for MGM's 90th anniversary the following year.[167] The restoration was approved by Verhoeven, Neumeier and Davison,[168] and it was released on Blu-ray in January 2014.[169] A two-disc limited-edition Blu-ray set was released in 2019 by Arrow Video which included collectible items (a poster and cards), new commentaries by film historians and fans, deleted scenes, new featurettes with Allen and casting director Julie Selzer, and the theatrical, extended and television cuts of the film.[170][171] Arrow re-released the set on Ultra HD Blu-ray (UHD) in 2022, which included the uncut-version scenes re-scanned from the negative to match the quality of the theatrical-cut scans.[172][173]

Other media edit

See also: List of RoboCop video games and comic books

RoboCop was considered easier to merchandise than other R-rated films.[119] Despite its violent content, film merchandise was targeted at a younger audience. Merchandise included cap guns and other toys, comic books,[q] theme-park rides, novels[65] and RoboCop Ultra Police action figures, which were released with the 1988 animated series RoboCop.[93] By the time of the film's release, Marvel Comics had published a black-and-white comic-book adaptation of the film without violence and adult language;[119][174] a video game was in development, and negotiations were underway to release T-shirts, other video games and RoboCop dolls by Christmas. The film's poster was reportedly more popular than the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue[119] and its novelization, written by Ed Naha, was in its second printing by July.[119][175] Since its release, RoboCop has continued to be merchandised with collectible action figures, clothing and crockery.[r] A 2014 book, RoboCop: The Definitive History, details the RoboCop franchise.[179][180][181]

The story of RoboCop has been continued in comics, initially by Marvel. The adaptation of the film was reprinted in color to promote a 23-issue series that ran between 1987 and 1992, when the rights were transferred to Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse released a number of miniseries, including RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1992), which pitted RoboCop against Skynet and its Terminators from The Terminator franchise.[32][174] The story was well-received and was followed by other series, including Prime Suspect (1992), Roulette (1994) and Mortal Coils (1996).[32] The RoboCop series was continued by Avatar Press (2003), Dynamite Entertainment (2010) and Boom! Studios (2013).[32][174]

Several games based on, or inspired by, the film have been released. A side-scroller of the same name was released for arcades in 1988, and was ported to other platforms such as the ZX Spectrum and Game Boy.[93][182] RoboCop Versus The Terminator, an adaptation of the comic of the same name, was released in 1994. RoboCop, a 2003 first-person shooter, was poorly received and resulted in the shuttering of developer Titus Interactive.[32]

Thematic analysis edit

Corporate power edit

 
President Ronald Reagan addressing the nation in 1981 on tax reduction. RoboCop satirizes Reagan's political policies espousing limited regulation, trickle-down economics and a pro-business agenda.

A central theme in RoboCop is the power of corporations. Those depicted in the film are corrupt and greedy, privatizing public services and gentrifying Detroit.[13][183] A self-described hippie who grew up during the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War, Miner was critical of Ronald Reagan's pro-business policies and believed that Detroit was destroyed by American corporations.[10][13][65] The Detroit presented in the film is described as beset by rape, crime and "Reaganomics gone awry", where gentrification and unfettered capitalism result in corporations waging war as the police become a profit-driven entity.[65][136][139] Miner said that out-of-control crime was a particularly Republican or right-wing fear, but RoboCop puts the blame for drugs and crime on advancing technology and the privatization of public services such as hospitals, prisons and the police.[13] Although criticism of Reagan-era policies was in the script, Verhoeven did not understand urban politics such as the privatization of prisons.[15][51] Weller said that the trickle-down economics espoused by Reagan was "bullshit" and did not work fast enough for those in need.[15]

Michael Robertson described the Media Breaks throughout the film as direct criticisms of neoliberal Reagan policies. Robertson focused on OCP's claim that it has private ownership of RoboCop, despite making use of Murphy's corpse. The Old Man was based on Reagan, and the corporation's policies emphasize greed and profit over individual rights. The police are deliberately underfunded, and the creation of RoboCop aims to replace them with a more efficient force. Jones admits that it does not matter if ED-209 works, because they have contracts to provide spare parts for years. He plots with Boddicker to corrupt workers brought in to build Delta City with drugs and prostitution.[184] Davison believed that the film is politically liberal, but the violence makes it "fascism for liberals".[65] It takes a pro-labor stance; the police chief, believing in the essential nature of his service, refuses to strike but the underfunded, understaffed and under-assault police eventually walk out. OCP sees the strike as an opportunity to develop more robots.[185]

Masculinity and authority edit

Vince Mancini describes the 1980s as a period in which cinematic heroes were unambiguously good, as depicted in films that promoted suburban living, materialism and unambiguous villains such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Back to the Future (1985).[13] Some films of the decade send the message that authority is good and trustworthy, but RoboCop demonstrates that those in authority are flawed and Detroit has been carved up by greed, capitalism and cheap foreign labor.[13] Weller described RoboCop as an evolution of strait-laced 1940s heroes such as Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart, who lived honorably; modern audiences now cheer a maimed police officer taking brutal revenge.[51]

Susan Jeffords considers RoboCop among the many "hard body" films of the decade that portray perfect, strong, masculine physiques who must protect the "soft bodies": the ineffectual and the weak. RoboCop portrays strength by eliminating crime and redeeming the city through violence. Bullets ricochet harmlessly off his armor; attempts to attack his crotch (a typical weak point) only hurt the attacker, demonstrating the uncompromising strength and masculinity needed to eliminate crime.[186] According to Darian Leader, the addition of something unnatural to a biological body is required to be truly masculine. RoboCop's body incorporates technology, a symbolic addition that makes him more than an average man.[187]

Humanity and death edit

 
The Resurrection by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1881. Murphy's transformation into RoboCop is analogous to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Another central theme is the question of what humanity is, and how much of Murphy is left in RoboCop.[136][137] Neumeier wanted to leave audiences asking "what's left" of Murphy, and described the character's journey as coping with his transformation.[83] As an officer, Murphy works for a corporation that insists it owns individuals based on waivers and can do what it wants with Murphy's remains. He does the right thing, however, and fights against the demands of his corporate masters.[10] Despite his inhuman appearance, RoboCop has a soul, experiences real human fears, and has a core consciousness that makes him more than a machine.[65] Brooks Landon says that Murphy is dead, however; although he remembers Murphy's life, RoboCop is not (and can never be) Murphy and regain enough of his humanity to rejoin his family.[188] Dale Bradley writes that RoboCop is a machine who mistakenly thinks it is Murphy because of its composite parts, and only believes it has a human spirit within.[189] An alternative view is that RoboCop's personality is a new construct, informed partially by fragments of Murphy's personality.[190] Slavoj Žižek describes Murphy as a man between life and death, who is deceased and simultaneously reanimated with mechanical parts. As he regains his humanity, he transforms from being programmed by others to his former state as a being of desire. Žižek calls this return of the living dead a fundamental human fantasy, a desire to avoid death and take revenge against the living.[191]

Murphy's death is prolonged and violent, so the audience can see RoboCop as imbued with the humanity taken from him by Boddicker's gang and OCP.[51] Verhoeven considered it important to acknowledge the inherent darkness of humanity to avoid inevitable mutual destruction. He was affected by his childhood experiences during World War II and the inhuman actions he witnessed. Verhoeven believed that the concept of an immaculate hero died after the war, and subsequent heroes had a dark side they had to overcome.[51] Describing the difference between making films in Europe and America, Verhoeven said that a European RoboCop would explore the spiritual and psychological problems of RoboCop's condition; the American version focuses on revenge.[51] He incorporated Christian mythology into the film; Murphy's brutal death is analogous to the crucifixion of Jesus before his resurrection as RoboCop, an American Jesus who walks on water at the steel mill and wields a handgun.[10][65] Verhoeven said that he did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, but "[he] can see the value of that idea, the purity of that idea. So from an artistic point of view, it's absolutely true".[10][65] The scene of RoboCop returning to Murphy's home is compared to finding the Garden of Eden or a similar paradise.[1][10]

Brooks Landon describes the film as typical of the cyberpunk genre because it does not treat RoboCop as better or worse than average humans (just different), and asks the audience to consider him a new life form.[51][188] The film does not treat this technological advance as necessarily negative, just an inevitable result of a progression that will change one's life and one's understanding of what it means to be human.[188] The RoboCop character embodies the struggle of humanity to embrace technology.[12] The central cast do not have romantic interests or overt sexual desires. Paul Sammon described the scene of RoboCop shooting bottles of baby food as symbolic of the relationship he and Lewis can never have.[13][81] Taylor agreed, but believed that the confrontation between Morton and Jones in the OCP bathroom was sexualized.[65]

Legacy edit

Cultural influence edit

 
Writer Edward Neumeier's (pictured in 2007) interest in science fiction and work on Blade Runner (1982) inspired RoboCop. His work on that film led to his employment by the United States Air Force as a consultant for futuristic concepts.

RoboCop is considered a groundbreaking entry in the science-fiction genre.[65] Unlike many protagonists at the time, the film's central character is not a robotic-like human who is stoic and invincible but a human-like robot who is affected by his lost humanity.[65] In a 2013 interview following Detroit's bankruptcy and the city's labeling as the most dangerous place in the United States, Neumeier spoke about the film's prescience: "We are now living in the world that I was proposing in RoboCop ... how big corporations will take care of us and ... how they won't."[186][192] Verhoeven described RoboCop as a film ahead of its time, which could not be improved with digital effects.[193] Weller said that the filming experience was among the worst of his life, mainly because of the RoboCop costume.[194] Verhoeven also considered filming RoboCop a miserable experience, in part due to the difficulties with special effects and other things going wrong.[195] Ferrer, however, described it as the best summer of his life.[120]

The film's impact was not limited to North America, and Neumeier recalled finding unlicensed RoboCop dolls for sale near the Colosseum in Rome.[12] He has said that many robotics labs use a "Robo-" prefix for projects in reference to the film, and he was hired as a United States Air Force consultant for futuristic concepts because of his involvement with RoboCop.[19] In the years immediately after its release, Verhoeven parlayed his success into directing the science-fiction film Total Recall (1990, also with Cox) and the erotic thriller Basic Instinct (1992).[5][7] He also worked with Neumeier on the tonally-similar science-fiction film Starship Troopers (1997).[5] In 2020, the Guardian's Scott Tobias wrote that in hindsight, RoboCop was the beginning of Verhoeven's unofficial science-fiction trilogy about authoritarian governance (followed by Total Recall and Starship Troopers).[196] Previously typecast as someone who played moral characters, Cox credited RoboCop with changing his image and—with the Beverly Hills Cop films—boosting his film career to make him one of the decade's most iconic villains.[40][42][197]

The RoboCop, ED-209 and Clarence Boddicker characters are considered iconic.[s] Lines such as RoboCop's "Dead or alive, you're coming with me", ED-209's "You have 20 seconds to comply" and television host Bixby Snyder's "I'd buy that for a dollar" are among the film's most recognizable.[t] The film has been referred to in a variety of media, from television (including Family Guy,[210] It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,[211] Red Dwarf,[212] South Park,[213] and The Simpsons[214][215]) to films (including Hot Shots! Part Deux[216] and Ready Player One[217]) and video games (Deus Ex[218] and its prequel, Deus Ex: Human Revolution[219]). Doom Eternal (2020) creative director Hugo Martin cited it as an inspiration.[220] RoboCop (voiced by Weller) is a playable character in the fighting game Mortal Kombat 11 (2019).[221] The character was a design inspiration for the Nintendo Power Glove (1989),[222] and appeared in advertisements for KFC in 2019 (again voiced by Weller),[223] and Direct Line in 2020 with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bumblebee.[224]

For the 30th anniversary of RoboCop's release in 2017, Weller attended a screening by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at Dallas City Hall (in his home town) and called the film an homage to the city.[33][48] The crowdfunded making-of documentary RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop was released in August 2023. It covers the production and influence of RoboCop, with interviews of many of the cast and crew involved.[225][226][227] A RoboCop statue is to be erected in Detroit. First proposed in 2011, $70,000 was crowdfunded for its construction. The idea for the 10-foot (3.0 m) statue had Weller's backing and the approval of RoboCop rights-holder Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). By 2022, the statue was completed and awaiting installation at an undisclosed location.[u]

Modern reception edit

RoboCop has been called one of the best science-fiction and action films of all time,[v] and among the best films of the 1980s.[w] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 92% approval rating based on 85 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. According to the website, "While over-the-top and gory, RoboCop is also a surprisingly smart sci-fi flick that uses ultraviolence to disguise its satire of American culture."[247] Rotten Tomatoes listed the film at number 139 on its list of 200 essential movies to watch, and one of 300 essential movies.[248][249] The film has a score of 70 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 17 "generally favorable reviews".[250] In the 2000s, The New York Times listed it as one of its 1,000 "Best Movies Ever",[251] and Empire ranked the film number 404 on its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[252]

Filmmakers have spoken about their appreciation for RoboCop and cited it as an inspiration in their own careers, including Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck,[253] Neill Blomkamp[24] and Leigh Whannell[254] and Ken Russell, who called it the best science fiction film since Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927).[255] During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was among the action films recommended by director James Gunn.[256]

Sequels and adaptations edit

Main article: RoboCop (franchise)

By November 1987, Orion had greenlit the development of a sequel targeting a PG rating that would allow children to see the film unaccompanied by adults[257][258][259] and tying into the 12-episode animated series RoboCop, released by Marvel Productions in 1988.[32][65] Neumeier and Miner began writing the film but were fired after refusing to work during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike and were replaced by Frank Miller, whose second draft was made into RoboCop 2 and first draft became the second sequel, RoboCop 3.[12][260] Weller reprised his role in the Irvin Kershner–directed first sequel,[261] which was released to mixed reviews and was estimated to have lost money.[262][263]

RoboCop 3, directed by Fred Dekker, was targeted at younger audiences who were driving merchandise sales. Robert John Burke replaced Weller in the title role, and Allen returned as Anne Lewis for the third and final time in the series.[32][37][65] The film was a critical and financial failure.[264] A live-action television series was released in 1994, but had a poor critical reception and was canceled after 22 episodes. Starring Richard Eden as RoboCop, the series used aspects of Neumeier and Miner's RoboCop 2 ideas.[32][65][93] A second animated series, RoboCop: Alpha Commando, followed in 1998.[32][65] Page Fletcher starred as RoboCop in a four-part live-action miniseries, RoboCop: Prime Directives (2001). The series, set ten years after the events of the first film, ignores the events of the sequels.[32][65] After years of financial difficulties, Orion and the rights to RoboCop were purchased by MGM in the late 1990s.[32][265][266]

A 2014 reboot of the first film, also called RoboCop, was directed by José Padilha and starred Joel Kinnaman. The film received mixed reviews, but was a financial success.[12][24][267] Verhoeven said that he "should be dead" before a reboot was attempted, and Allen believed that an "iconic" film should not be remade.[37] RoboCop Returns, a sequel of RoboCop that ignores the series' other films, is in development. The film is set to be directed by Abe Forsythe, who is rewriting a script written by Neumeier, Miner, and Justin Rhodes.[265][268][269]

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[12][13][14][15]
  2. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[10][12][14][17]
  3. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[12][15][17][20]
  4. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[12][21][25][26][27]
  5. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[11][34][35][36]
  6. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[10][25][26][53]
  7. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[1][48][59][60][61]
  8. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[19][45][62][63]
  9. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[13][21][44][51]
  10. ^ The 1987 budget of $13.7 million is equivalent to $36.7 million in 2023.
  11. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[13][54][75][76]
  12. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[26][93][94][95]
  13. ^ The 1987 box office gross of $53.4 million is equivalent to $143 million in 2023.
  14. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[116][135][137][138][139]
  15. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[134][141][140][142][144]
  16. ^ The 1988 VHS cost of $89.98 is equivalent to $232.00 in 2023. The VHS sales generated an estimated $24 million, equivalent to $61.8 million in 2023
  17. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[25][51][65][119]
  18. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[176][177][178][179]
  19. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[198][199][200][201][202][203][204][205]
  20. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[206][207][208][209]
  21. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[25][228][229][230][231]
  22. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[232][233][234][235][236][237][238][193][239][240]
  23. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[241][242][243][244][245][246] Several publications have listed it as one of the greatest action films of all time:[193][239][240]

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Gallagher, Danny (July 11, 2017). "RoboCop, The Movie That Blew Up Dallas Filmmaking, Turns 30". Dallas Observer. from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  2. ^ Burke-Block, Candace (July 7, 1987). "Actress's Role In RoboCop Will Again Surprise". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  3. ^ "Oscar Nominee Dan O'Herlihy Dies". BBC News. February 19, 2005. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  4. ^ Miska, Brad (September 9, 2020). "MGM Developing RoboCop Prequel Series Focusing On Villainous Omni VP Dick Jones". Bloody Disgusting. from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e Brew, Simon (October 22, 2013). "RoboCop: Where Are They Now?". Den of Geek. from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f . British Film Institute. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d Roberson, Chris Chan (September 30, 2017). "RoboCop: What Does The Cast Look Like Now?". Comic Book Resources. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Parker, Ryan (July 14, 2017). "RoboCop Actor's X-Rated Death Wasn't Gory Enough For Paul Verhoeven". The Hollywood Reporter. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  9. ^ Iaquinta, Chris (May 10, 2012). "OCD: RoboCop's Bixby Snyder". IGN. from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Abrams, Simon (February 12, 2014). "RoboCop: The Oral History". Esquire. from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d e Cohen, Ivan (February 14, 2014). "26 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Original RoboCop". Vulture. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Tobias, Scott (February 13, 2014). "RoboCop Writer Ed Neumeier Discusses The Film's Origins". The Dissolve. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Mancini, Vince (July 20, 2017). "RoboCop At 30 — An Island Of Dark Satire In A Decade Of Cheerleading". Uproxx. from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Goldberg 1988, p. 22.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Setchfield, Nick (March 14, 2012). . SFX. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  16. ^ a b c d Sammon 1987, p. 7.
  17. ^ a b c d e Mathews, Jack (September 1, 1987). "The Word Is Out: Good Writing Still Pays Off : Summer Box-office Hits Sparkled On Paper Before They Sparkled On The Screen". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  18. ^ Goldberg 1988, pp. 22–23.
  19. ^ a b c d "Technology Issue Extra – How Not to Afford a Flying Car". Vice. November 5, 2009. from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  20. ^ a b c Goldberg 1988, pp. 23–24.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Goldberg 1988, p. 25.
  22. ^ a b Niderost 1987a, p. 58.
  23. ^ Drake 1987, p. 20.
  24. ^ a b c Fleming, Mike Jr. (July 11, 2018). "Neill Blomkamp To Direct New RoboCop For MGM; Justin Rhodes Rewriting Sequel Script By Creators Ed Neumeier & Michael Miner". Deadline Hollywood. from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Lyttleton, Oliver (July 17, 2012). "5 Things You Might Not Know About Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop,' Released 25 Years Ago Today". IndieWire. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Warren 1987, p. 19.
  27. ^ Robey, Tim (February 7, 2014). "RoboCop: The Bloody Birth Of The Original Film". The Dissolve. from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  28. ^ Rabin, Nathan (September 20, 2000). "Alex Cox". The A.V. Club. from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  29. ^ a b Goldberg 1988, pp. 23, 25.
  30. ^ Niderost 1987d, pp. 36, 38.
  31. ^ a b c De Semlyen, Phil (May 16, 2016). "'80s Heroes: Michael Ironside". Empire. from the original on July 18, 2016. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hawker, Tim (February 6, 2014). "The History Of RoboCop". IGN. from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  33. ^ a b "Peter Weller Explains How He 'Bullsh--ted' His Way Into RoboCop". Entertainment Weekly. September 5, 2017. from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  34. ^ Bobbin, Jay (January 1, 1987). "Remington Steele Back For Round 2". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  35. ^ Bark, Ed (August 12, 1986). "Brosnan A Series Star Caught In TV's Trap". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  36. ^ Jacobs, Alexandra (November 24, 2003). "Actress Roles Over 40? 'It's A Big Fat Zero'". The New York Observer. from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  37. ^ a b c d e f g Spry, Jeff (February 14, 2014). "Exclusive: RoboCop's Nancy Allen On The Original's Epic Cast Chemistry, The Remake, And Verhoeven Vs. Kershner". Syfy. from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  38. ^ Kaye, Don (December 7, 2020). "How Total Recall Brought a Memorable Villain to Life". Den of Geek. from the original on February 18, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  39. ^ Pockross, Adam (June 1, 2020). "Total Recall At 30: Cohaagen, Benny & Johnny Cab Recall Paul Verhoeven's Mind-Bending Masterpiece". Syfy Wire. from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  40. ^ a b c Mills, Nancy (August 18, 1987). "Recognizing The Assets Of Recognition". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  41. ^ Pockross, Adam (June 24, 2020). "Ronny Cox Only Played 'Boy Scout Nice-Guys' Until Paul Verhoeven Turned Him Bad". Syfy. from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  42. ^ a b Harris, Will (July 5, 2012). "Deliverance's Ronny Cox On Robocop, Total Recall, And The Glory Of Cop Rock". The A.V. Club. from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  43. ^ Evans, Bradford (February 9, 2017). "The Lost Roles Of Howard Stern". Vulture. from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  44. ^ a b c "RoboCop (1987)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  45. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gallagher, Danny (July 11, 2017). "Director Paul Verhoeven On RoboCop, The Bit Of 'American Nonsense' That Changed His Career". Dallas Observer. from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  46. ^ Goodman, Walter (July 17, 1987). "Film: RoboCop,' Police Drama With Peter Weller". The New York Times. from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  47. ^ Phillips, Keith (November 10, 1999). "Monte Hellman". The A.V. Club. from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  48. ^ a b c d e Wilonsky, Robert (September 8, 2017). "Robocop,' Now 30, Is Still The Most Dallas Movie Ever Made, Despite Being Set In Detroit". The Dallas Morning News. from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  49. ^ a b Viladas, Pilar (November 1, 1987). "Design In The Movies : Good Guys Don't Live In White Boxes : In Today's Movies, Modern Design Signifies Ambition, Money, Power--and Now Evil". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  50. ^ a b Bates 1987a, p. 17.
  51. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m McKenna, Christine (July 18, 1987). "Verhoeven Makes Good With Violence". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  52. ^ Niderost 1987c, p. 46.
  53. ^ a b c Niderost 1987c, p. 48.
  54. ^ a b Niderost 1987a, p. 61.
  55. ^ Collis, Clark (August 14, 2006). "RoboCop: Collector's Edition". Entertainment Weekly. from the original on December 9, 2017. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  56. ^ Bates 1987a, pp. 17, 20.
  57. ^ Niderost 1987a, p. 60.
  58. ^ Bates 1987a, p. 20.
  59. ^ Niderost 1987a, p. 59.
  60. ^ a b c d e . Dallas Film Commission. 2012. Archived from the original on June 16, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  61. ^ Bates 1987a, p. 21.
  62. ^ King 1986.
  63. ^ Gallagher, Danny; Maschino, Brian (July 11, 2017). "RoboCop Versus Reality: Looking At Dallas Locations Of The Film's Scenes". Dallas Observer. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  64. ^ a b c Sammon 1987, p. 8.
  65. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Taylor, Drew (February 13, 2014). "10 Reasons Why The Original RoboCop Can't Be Beaten By The Remake". IndieWire. from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  66. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 23, 38.
  67. ^ Warren 1987, p. 72.
  68. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 41.
  69. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 8–9, 24.
  70. ^ "Movies". Los Angeles Times. May 20, 1987. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  71. ^ a b c d Warren 1987, p. 20.
  72. ^ "RoboCop". British Board of Film Classification. from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  73. ^ "RoboCop". Filmtracks.com. January 30, 2004. from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  74. ^ "The 80 Greatest Movies Of The '80s". Sinfonia of London. from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  75. ^ a b Sammon 1987, pp. 12, 15.
  76. ^ Niderost 1987c, pp. 46, 48.
  77. ^ a b c d Sammon 1987, p. 23.
  78. ^ a b c Niderost 1987, p. 23.
  79. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 23–24.
  80. ^ a b "50 Greatest Movie Make-Up Effects (Page 3)". GamesRadar+. January 21, 2013. from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  81. ^ a b c d Sammon 1987, p. 39.
  82. ^ a b Sammon 1987, p. 40.
  83. ^ a b Bates 1987a, p. 23.
  84. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 32.
  85. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 31–32.
  86. ^ a b Niderost 1987, pp. 20–21.
  87. ^ a b c Bates 1987b, p. 19.
  88. ^ Niderost 1987, p. 22.
  89. ^ Niderost 1987, pp. 21–22.
  90. ^ Volk-Weiss 2021, 28:00.
  91. ^ a b Niderost 1987, pp. 22–23.
  92. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 27.
  93. ^ a b c d Cecchini, Mike (February 12, 2019). "RoboCop: The Franchise Of Diminishing Returns". Den of Geek. from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  94. ^ Bates 1987a, p. 18.
  95. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 26.
  96. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 19, 27.
  97. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 15.
  98. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 15–16.
  99. ^ a b Bates 1987a, p. 24.
  100. ^ a b c d Bates 1987c, p. 25.
  101. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 16.
  102. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 16, 40.
  103. ^ a b Sammon 1987, pp. 16, 19.
  104. ^ Sammon 1987, pp. 19–20.
  105. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 20.
  106. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 11.
  107. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 24.
  108. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 28.
  109. ^ Perman, Stacy (January 3, 2020). "His props starred in hundreds of Hollywood movies and TV shows. Now he's exiting the stage after 42 years". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  110. ^ Sammon 1987, p. 12.
  111. ^ a b Sammon 1987, pp. 35–36.
  112. ^ a b c Mathews, Jack (April 23, 1987). "'Cop' Sequel Is Hottest Prospect For Summer Of '87". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  113. ^ Broeske, Pat H. (June 8, 1987). "Summer Screams--The Invasion Begins : See Superheroics!!! : Thrill To Mutants And Monsters!!! : Marvel At Technology Gone Mad!!! : Cringe At Fiendish Aliens!!!". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  114. ^ a b Harmetz, Aljean (September 9, 1987). "Summer Movies Set A Record". The New York Times. from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  115. ^ a b c Maslin, Janet (September 13, 1987). "Film View; Summer's Portents Of Money And Sex". The New York Times. from the original on November 2, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  116. ^ a b c Maslin, Janet (August 2, 1987). "Film View; Summer Serves Up Its Sleepers". The New York Times. from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  117. ^ Mathews, Jack (July 7, 1987). "Always Expecting The Very Best From Stanley Kubrick". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  118. ^ Goldstein, Patrick; Pecchia, David (August 9, 1987). "The Buzz Biza Look At The 'Word' On This Summer's Movies". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  119. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mathews, Jack (July 21, 1987). "The Marketing Of A Mechanical Hero". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  120. ^ a b Murray, Noel (December 11, 2009). "Miguel Ferrer". The A.V. Club. from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  121. ^ "RoboCop (1987)". British Board of Film Classification. from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  122. ^ a b c d "RoboCop (1987)". Box Office Mojo. from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  123. ^ a b c d "RoboCop (1987)". The Numbers. from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  124. ^ a b "Domestic 1987 Weekend 29". Box Office Mojo. from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  125. ^ "Weekend Box Office". Los Angeles Times. July 21, 1987. from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  126. ^ "Movies". Los Angeles Times. July 22, 1987. from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  127. ^ "Domestic 1987 Weekend 30". Box Office Mojo. from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  128. ^ "RoboCop Is No. 1 Film Again At The Box Office". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 29, 1987. from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  129. ^ "Domestic 1987 Weekend 31". Box Office Mojo. from the original on January 9, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  130. ^ "Domestic Box Office For 1987". Box Office Mojo. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  131. ^ a b Cieply, Michael (August 29, 1987). "Odd Script To Summer Film Season". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  132. ^ "Orion Pictures Corp. Announced A Turnaround, With...". Los Angeles Times. January 14, 1988. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  133. ^ . CinemaScore. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  134. ^ a b c d Rickey, Carrie (July 17, 1987). . The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  135. ^ a b c Howe, Desson (July 17, 1987). . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  136. ^ a b c d e f g Kempley, Rita (July 17, 1987). . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  137. ^ a b c d Ebert, Roger (July 17, 1987). "RoboCop". RogerEbert.com. from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  138. ^ "RoboCop". Time Out. from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  139. ^ a b c d e Graham, Pat (1987). "RoboCop". Chicago Reader. from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  140. ^ a b c Sterritt, David (July 24, 1987). "Freeze Frames". The Christian Science Monitor. from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  141. ^ a b c d Wilmington, Michael (July 17, 1987). "Movie Reviews : High Marks For High Tech And High Style : RoboCop: Ferocious Touch Of High-energy Cleverness". Los Angeles Times. from the original on July 25, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  142. ^ a b c d Kehr, Dave (July 17, 1987). "RoboCop Packs Little Power In Its Action Punch". Chicago Tribune. from the original on July 25, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  143. ^ . Variety. January 1, 1987. Archived from the original on April 10, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  144. ^ a b Goodman, Walter (August 16, 1987). "Film View; Prankster Pals: The Appeal Never Ages". The New York Times. from the original on November 4, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  145. ^ "The 59th Academy Awards 1987". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  146. ^ Merchan, George (December 14, 2010). "Cool Videos: The Oscars, Pee-Wee Herman, And RoboCop". JoBlo.com. from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  147. ^ Maslin, Janet (April 13, 1988). "Review/Television; An Identity Crisis For The Oscars". The New York Times. from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  148. ^ "Film Nominations 1988". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  149. ^ . SaturnAwards.org. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  150. ^ . Associated Press. April 7, 1988. Archived from the original on January 9, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  151. ^ a b "Nixon's New Bodyguard?". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. December 26, 1987. p. 58. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  152. ^ a b Hunt, Dennis (January 8, 1988). "At $89.95, Beverly Hills Cop II Is No Steal; HBO, Vestron Still Battling Over Platoon". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  153. ^ Hunt, Dennis (December 16, 1988). "A Tiny Step For Super VHS In A Big Market". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  154. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T. (January 31, 1988). "Home Video/New Releases". The New York Times. from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  155. ^ Voland, John (February 18, 1988). "Video Charts : Rental Deja Vu". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  156. ^ Hunt, Dennis (March 17, 1988). "Video Charts : 'Cop' Out; 'Hill' Climbs". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  157. ^ Hunt, Dennis (February 5, 1988). "Cassette Supply Not Meeting Demand". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  158. ^ Jagernauth, Kevin (July 17, 2014). "Happy Birthday RoboCop! Listen To Paul Verhoeven's DVD Commentary Plus Watch 'Siskel & Ebert' Review". IndieWire. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  159. ^ a b c Gilchrist, Todd (October 16, 2007). "Double Dip Digest: RoboCop". IGN. from the original on September 10, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  160. ^ "RoboCop: The Criterion Collection". IGN. December 7, 1999. from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  161. ^ Drawbaugh, Ben (August 14, 2006). "What Happend [sic] To RoboCop On Blu-ray?". Engadget. from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  162. ^ "Sony To RoboCop: You're Terminated". Hi-Def Digest. August 13, 2006. from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  163. ^ a b Bracke, Peter (October 10, 2007). "RoboCop". Hi-Def Digest. from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  164. ^ "RoboCop Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  165. ^ McCutcheon, David (August 31, 2010). "Robocop's Trilogy In HD". IGN. from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  166. ^ Shaffer, R.L. (October 22, 2010). "RoboCop Trilogy Blu-ray Review". IGN. from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  167. ^ "MGM Announces Year-Long 90th Anniversary Celebration". ComicMix. January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  168. ^ RoboCop (Ultra HD Blu-ray booklet). Arrow Video. 2022. AV430.
  169. ^ Reuben, Michael (January 4, 2014). "RoboCop Blu-ray Review". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  170. ^ Squires, John (August 30, 2019). "Arrow Bringing Original RoboCop To Blu-ray In US & UK With Brand New Bonus Features". Bloody Disgusting. from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  171. ^ Bowen, Chuck (December 5, 2019). "Review: Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop Gets An Arrow Video Blu-ray Steelbook". Slant Magazine. from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  172. ^ Duarte, M. Enois (April 3, 2022). "RoboCop - 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray (Limited Edition)". Hi-Def Digest. from the original on May 19, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  173. ^ Arrigo, Anthony (May 24, 2022). "RoboCop 4K Review: I'd Buy That For (More Than) A Dollar". Dread Central. from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  174. ^ a b c Jasper, Gavin (January 22, 2018). "The History Of RoboCop Comics". Den of Geek. from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  175. ^ "RoboCop". NPR. from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  176. ^ Nicholson, Max (October 23, 2013). "NECA Unveils NES RoboCop Action Figure". IGN. from the original on February 15, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  177. ^ Schedeen, Jesse (May 31, 2013). "RoboCop Is Back At Hot Toys". IGN. from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  178. ^ Moser, Cassidee (June 1, 2015). "Battle-Damaged RoboCop And Alex Murphy Figure Set Announced By Hot Toys". IGN. from the original on December 14, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  179. ^ a b Allan, Scoot (September 17, 2019). "10 Gifts For Fans Of RoboCop". Screen Rant. from the original on September 23, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  180. ^ Saathoff, Evan (December 2, 2014). "Book Review: RoboCop: The Definitive History". Birth. Movies. Death. from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  181. ^ Lussier, Germain (October 20, 2014). "See RoboCop Behind the Scenes Photos From New Official Book". /Film. from the original on June 13, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  182. ^ Colburn, Randall (November 30, 2017). "The Enduring Appeal Of RoboCop For Game Boy's Sad, Shimmering Theme Song". The A.V. Club. from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  183. ^ Clark, Krystal (February 10, 2014). "Man Vs. Machine: Why 1987's RoboCop Was Awesome Then, And Is Iconic Now". Syfy. from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  184. ^ Robertson 2008, pp. 219–220.
  185. ^ Riseman, Abraham (February 9, 2017). "30 Years Later, RoboCop Is More Relevant Than Ever". Vulture. from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  186. ^ a b Leary, John Patrick (June 2, 2014). "Austerity Economics Is Like A Kick In The Groin". Guernica. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  187. ^ Leader 1996, pp. 27–29.
  188. ^ a b c Landon 1987, p. 20.
  189. ^ Bradley 2008, p. 16.
  190. ^ Bradley 2008, p. 17.
  191. ^ Žižek 1992, p. 22.
  192. ^ Joy, Oliver (July 25, 2013). "RoboCop Creator: Detroit Shows The Film's Fictional Future Is Upon Us". Detroit Free Press. from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  193. ^ a b c "The 25 Greatest Action Films Ever!". Entertainment Weekly. from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  194. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 5, 1993). "RoboCop 3". RogerEbert.com. from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  195. ^ Niderost 1987d, p. 36.
  196. ^ Tobias, Scott (June 1, 2020). "Total Recall at 30: A Thrilling Reminder Of Paul Verhoeven At His Best". The Guardian. from the original on September 29, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  197. ^ Gilchrist, Todd (June 28, 2012). "Why RoboCop, 'Total Recall' Villain Ronny Cox Hates Remakes: 'Those Films Hold Up Pretty Damn Well'". The Hollywood Reporter. from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  198. ^ Blaine, Lucas (November 20, 2020). "RoboCop Needs A New Video Game". Comic Book Resources. from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  199. ^ Wold, Scott; et al. (June 17, 2021). "The 100 Greatest Movie Robots Of All Time". Paste. from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  200. ^ Fillani, Alessandro (May 7, 2020). "Mortal Kombat 11's Next DLC Character Is RoboCop, Reprised By Original Actor Peter Weller". GameSpot. from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  201. ^ Tatum, Jasmine (January 31, 2014). "Promo: The Trailer Breakdown of the New "RoboCop"". Complex. from the original on June 6, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  202. ^ Knight, Rosie (November 7, 2017). "9 Perfect Practical Effects Moments From The Films Of Paul Verhoeven". Nerdist. from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  203. ^ Sciretta, Peter (April 24, 2014). "Cool Stuff: Hot Toys RoboCop ED-209 Sixth Scale Figure". /Film. from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  204. ^ Orbesen, James (February 20, 2014). "The RoboCop Rule: When Remakes Have More Killing, But Less Gore". The Atlantic. from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  205. ^ Blaine, Lucas (July 15, 2021). "Four Things RoboCop: Rogue City Can Do To Please Fans". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  206. ^ McCormick, Colin (July 20, 2021). "Yippee Ki-Yay: 10 Best Action Movie Catchphrases Of All Time, Ranked". Screen Rant. from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  207. ^ Chacksfield, Marc (March 15, 2021). "30 Action Hero One-liners: The Best Action Hero Quotes". ShortList. from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  208. ^ Child, Ben (July 9, 2012). "Has RoboCop Remake Malfunctioned By Rebuilding ED-209?". The Guardian. from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  209. ^ Draven, Derek (July 29, 2021). "RoboCop: The 15 Funniest Quotes From The 1987 Film". Screen Rant. from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  210. ^ McFarland, Kevin (March 5, 2012). "Family Guy: "Burning Down The Bayit"". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  211. ^ Fowler, Matt (August 6, 2015). "Top 10 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Episodes". IGN. from the original on May 25, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  212. ^ "Red Dwarf IV - The Chaos Continues On DVD In February". BBC News. January 9, 2004. from the original on December 3, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  213. ^ Longo, Chris (October 30, 2019). "South Park: Ranking The Best Halloween Episodes". Den of Geek. from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  214. ^ Stubbs, Dan (February 5, 2021). "'The Simpsons' – 'Treehouse Of Horror XXXI' Recap: 'Toy Story' Parodied, The Simpsons Go CGI And Homer Is An Anti-masker". NME. from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  215. ^ Harrison, Mark (September 5, 2014). "15 Hidden Gems From The Last 15 Years Of The Simpsons". Den of Geek. from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  216. ^ Sheppard, Rob (October 30, 2017). "Why The Hot Shots! Movies Are the Last Great Spoofs". Den of Geek. from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  217. ^ Reisman, Abraham (March 28, 2018). "Here Are All the References In Ready Player One". Vulture. from the original on January 3, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  218. ^ Spector, Warren (December 6, 2000). "Postmortem: Ion Storm's Deus Ex". Game Developer. from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  219. ^ Misra, Ria (February 12, 2014). "Was Deus Ex: Human Revolution A Re-Imagining Of RoboCop?". Gizmodo. from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  220. ^ Gill, Patrick (March 27, 2020). "7 Unlikely Inspirations For Doom Eternal". Polygon. from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  221. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (May 6, 2020). "Mortal Kombat 11 Is Getting Story DLC And Three New Playable Characters - Including RoboCop". Eurogamer. from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  222. ^ Rossen, Jake (February 22, 2017). "An Oral History Of Nintendo's Power Glove". Mental Floss. from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  223. ^ Weiss, Josh (February 21, 2019). "RoboCop Is KFC's New Colonel And He'll Kill You If You Ask About The Secret Recipe". Syfy. from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  224. ^ Stanley, T.L. (March 16, 2020). "RoboCop, A Ninja Turtle And A Transformer Are All Back In Action To… Sell Insurance?". Adweek. from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  225. ^ Miska, Brad (July 18, 2019). "'RoboDoc: The Creation Of RoboCop Sneak Peek Recounts The Death Of Murphy [Video]". Bloody Disgusting. from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  226. ^ Miska, Brad (July 18, 2017). "Peter Weller Refused To Partake In This Awesome RoboCop Documentary". Bloody Disgusting. from the original on May 11, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  227. ^ Pirrello, Phil (August 28, 2023). "RoboDoc: The Creation Of RoboCop Sneak Peek Celebrates The Amazing Special Effects Team [Exclusive]". Collider. from the original on August 28, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  228. ^ Suebsaeng, Asawin (August 29, 2013). "Behind The Saga To Bring A Giant RoboCop Statue To Detroit". Mother Jones. from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  229. ^ Hinds, Julie (January 14, 2020). . Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  230. ^ Hertzfeld, Laura (April 4, 2012). "Detroit Getting RoboCop Statue". Entertainment Weekly. from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  231. ^ Rubin, Neal (January 21, 2022). "Detroit's RoboCop Has Been Moved — And He's Almost Ready For His Close-Up". The Detroit News. from the original on January 22, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  232. ^ Burgin, Michael (November 13, 2018). "The 100 Best Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time". Paste. from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  233. ^ "Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies". IGN. from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  234. ^ Fischer, Russ. "The 50 Greatest Sci-Fi Films Of All Time". Thrillist. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  235. ^ Travis, Ben; White, James (May 27, 2020). "The 50 Greatest Sci-Fi Movies". Empire. from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  236. ^ Shepherd, Jack (2020). "The 30 Best Sci-fi Movies Of All Time". GamesRadar+. from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  237. ^ "150 Essential Sci-Fi Movies To Watch Now". Rotten Tomatoes. from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  238. ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (October 19, 2015). "50 Brilliant Science Fiction Movies That Everyone Should See At Least Once". io9. from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  239. ^ a b Rothkopf, Joshua; Huddleston, Tom (April 5, 2019). "The 101 Best Action Movies Ever Made". Time Out. from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  240. ^ a b "The 60 Best Action Movies". Empire. October 1, 2016. from the original on November 23, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  241. ^ "The 80 Greatest Movies Of The '80s". Consequence of Sound. July 2, 2019. from the original on October 7, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  242. ^ Chacksfield, Marc (September 9, 2020). "Best '80s Movies: The Greatest Films Of The 1980s". ShortList. from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  243. ^ de Semlyen, Phil; Nugent, John; Thrower, Emma; White, James; Williams, Owen; Jolin, Dan (May 11, 2016). "The 80 Best '80s Movies: 39-1". Empire. from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  244. ^ Barone, Matt; Gallagher, Brendan; Topscher, Greg; Serafino, Jason; Wood, Jennifer; Monroe, Justin; Scarano, Ross; Aquino, Tara (February 16, 2018). . Complex. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  245. ^ Pirrello, Phil (March 8, 2019). "The Best 80s Sci-Fi Movies". Collider. from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  246. ^ Banks, Alec (2020). "68 Classic '80s Movies Every Highsnobiety Reader Should See". Highsnobiety. Archived from the original on October 7, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  247. ^ "RoboCop (1987)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2023.  
  248. ^ . Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  249. ^ "200 Essential Movies To Watch Now". Rotten Tomatoes. from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  250. ^ "RoboCop (1987)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  251. ^ "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. April 29, 2003. from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  252. ^ "The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time". Empire. October 3, 2008. from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  253. ^ Knight, Rosie (January 8, 2019). "Captain Marvel Directors On How The Original RoboCop Inspired Their Film". Nerdist.com. from the original on January 31, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  254. ^ Newby, Richard (June 2, 2018). "How 'Upgrade' Stands On The Shoulders Of RoboCop". The Hollywood Reporter. from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  255. ^ "RoboCop". The Criterion Collection. from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  256. ^ Fowler, Matt (April 18, 2020). "James Gunn Recommends 54 Action Movies To Cure The Quarantine Blues". IGN. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  257. ^ Goldberg 1988, pp. 25, 72.
  258. ^ "First Off . . ". Los Angeles Times. August 7, 1987. from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  259. ^ Klady, Leonard (November 1, 1987). "Sequels: A Follow-Up". Los Angeles Times. from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  260. ^ Goldberg 1988, p. 72.
  261. ^ Renyolds, Andrew (May 21, 2013). "Looking back At RoboCop 2". Den of Geek. from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  262. ^ "RoboCop 2". from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  263. ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (August 13, 1990). "The Media Business; Orion Sees Its Financial Star Fade". The New York Times. from the original on February 21, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  264. ^ Lambie, Ryan (September 26, 2012). "10 Remarkable Things About RoboCop 3". Den of Geek. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  265. ^ a b Kit, Borys (November 20, 2019). "Robocop Returns Lands 'Little Monsters' Director Abe Forsythe (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. from the original on November 20, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  266. ^ "MGM To Get Orion Assets". United Press International. July 10, 1997. from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  267. ^ Birrell, Mark (June 3, 2020). "5 Reasons Why RoboCop 2014 Isn't As Bad As People Say It Is (& 5 Reasons It Is)". Screen Rant. from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  268. ^ Turney, Drew (September 1, 2020). "Screenwriter Ed Neumeier On Disguising 'Tougher Issues' Behind Genre And RoboCop Returns' Future". Syfy. from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  269. ^ Chilton, Louis (November 21, 2019). "New RoboCop Movie Will Be A Direct Sequel To The Original". Radio Times. from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2022.

Works cited edit

  • Bates, Dan (December 1987a). "On Location With The Cast & Crew of RoboCop". Cinefantastique. Vol. 18, no. 1. Forest Park, Illinois: Fourth Castle Micromedia. pp. 16–25. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  • Bates, Dan (December 1987b). "The Making of RoboCop". Cinefantastique. Vol. 18, no. 1. Forest Park, Illinois: Fourth Castle Micromedia. p. 19. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  • Bates, Dan (December 1987c). "The Making of ED-209". Cinefantastique. Vol. 18, no. 1. Forest Park, Illinois: Fourth Castle Micromedia. p. 25. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  • Bradley, Dale (September 2008). "The Return Of The Repressed: Cybersubjectivity In RoboCop" (PDF). Invisible Culture: An Electronic Journal for Visual Culture (10). Rochester, New York: University of Rochester. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  • Drake, C.V. (December 1987). "Producer Jon Davison". Cinefantastique. Vol. 18, no. 1. Forest Park, Illinois: Fourth Castle Micromedia. p. 20. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  • Goldberg, Lee (February 1988). "RoboWriters!". Starlog. No. 127. United States: Starlog Group, Inc. pp. 22–25, 72. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  • King, Peter B. (October 29, 1986). "Hollywood Turns To Monessen Steel Plant In Filming 'RoboCop'". The Pittsburgh Press. p. C6. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  • Landon, Brooks (December 1987). "A Cyberpunk Future". Cinefantastique. Vol. 18, no. 1. Forest Park, Illinois: Fourth Castle Micromedia. p. 22. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  • Leader, Darian (1996). Why Do Women Write More Letters Than They Post?. London: Faber & Faber. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-0-571-17619-9.
  • Niderost, Eric (April 1987a). "On The Beat With "Robocop"". Starlog. No. 117. United States: Starlog Group, Inc. pp. 58–61. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  • Niderost, Eric (August 1987). . Fangoria. No. 66. Atlanta, Georgia: Fangoria Publishing, LLC. pp. 20–23. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  • Niderost, Eric (August 1987c). "Peter Weller Code Name: RoboCop". Starlog. No. 121. United States: Starlog Group, Inc. pp. 45–48. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  • Niderost, Eric (September 1987d). "War, Remembrance and RoboCop". Starlog. No. 122. United States: Starlog Group, Inc. pp. 36–39. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  • Robertson, Michael (September 2008). "Property And Privatisation In RoboCop". International Journal of Law in Context. 4 (3). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press: 217–235. doi:10.1017/S1744552308003029. S2CID 144031924.
  • Sammon, Paul M. (November 1987). . Cinefex. No. 32. United States. ISSN 0198-1056. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  • Volk-Weiss, Brian (October 12, 2021). "RoboCop". The Movies That Made Us (Television production). Season 3. Episode 4.
January 01, 1970
robocop, this, article, about, 1987, film, other, uses, disambiguation, 1987, american, science, fiction, action, film, directed, paul, verhoeven, written, edward, neumeier, michael, miner, film, stars, peter, weller, nancy, allen, daniel, herlihy, ronny, kurt. This article is about the 1987 film For other uses see RoboCop disambiguation RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner The film stars Peter Weller Nancy Allen Daniel O Herlihy Ronny Cox Kurtwood Smith and Miguel Ferrer Set in a crime ridden Detroit in the near future RoboCop centers on police officer Alex Murphy Weller who is murdered by a gang of criminals and revived by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products as the cyborg law enforcer RoboCop Unaware of his former life RoboCop executes a campaign against crime while coming to terms with the lingering fragments of his humanity RoboCopTheatrical release posterDirected byPaul VerhoevenWritten byEdward Neumeier Michael MinerProduced byArne SchmidtStarringPeter Weller Nancy Allen Daniel O Herlihy Ronny Cox Kurtwood Smith Miguel FerrerCinematographyJost VacanoEdited byFrank J UriosteMusic byBasil PoledourisProductioncompanyOrion PicturesDistributed byOrion PicturesRelease dateJuly 17 1987 1987 07 17 Running time102 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 13 7 millionBox office 53 4 million The film was conceived by Neumeier while working on the set of Blade Runner 1982 and he developed the idea with Miner Their script was purchased in early 1985 by producer Jon Davison on behalf of Orion Pictures Finding a director proved difficult Verhoeven dismissed the script twice because he did not understand its satirical content until he was convinced of its value by his wife Filming took place between August and October 1986 mainly in Dallas Texas Rob Bottin led the special effects team in creating practical effects violent gore and the RoboCop costume Verhoeven emphasized violence throughout the film making it so outlandish that it became comical Censorship boards believed that it was too extreme however and several scenes were shortened or modified to receive an acceptable theatrical rating RoboCop was a financial success upon its release in July 1987 earning 53 4 million Reviewers praised it as a clever action film with deeper philosophical messages and satire but were conflicted about its extreme violence The film was nominated for several awards and won an Academy Award and a number of Saturn Awards RoboCop has been critically reevaluated since its release and it has been hailed as one of the best films of the 1980s and one of the greatest science fiction and action films ever made The film has been praised for its depiction of a robot affected by the loss of humanity in contrast to the stoic and emotionless robotic characters of that era RoboCop has continued to be analyzed for its themes such as the nature of humanity personal identity corporate greed and corruption and is seen as a rebuke of the era s Reaganomics policies Its success created a franchise the sequels RoboCop 2 1990 and RoboCop 3 1993 children s animated series live action television shows video games comic books toys clothing and other merchandise A remake was released in 2014 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Conception and writing 3 2 Development 3 3 Casting 3 4 Filming 3 5 Post production 4 Special effects and design 4 1 Special effects 4 2 RoboCop 4 3 ED 209 4 4 Other effects and designs 5 Release 5 1 Context 5 2 Marketing 5 3 Box office 6 Reception 6 1 Critical response 6 2 Accolades 7 After release 7 1 Home media 7 2 Other media 8 Thematic analysis 8 1 Corporate power 8 2 Masculinity and authority 8 3 Humanity and death 9 Legacy 9 1 Cultural influence 9 2 Modern reception 10 Sequels and adaptations 11 References 11 1 Notes 11 2 Citations 11 3 Works cited 12 External linksPlot editIn a near future dystopia Detroit is on the brink of social and financial collapse Overwhelmed by crime and dwindling resources the city grants the mega corporation Omni Consumer Products OCP control of the Detroit Police Department OCP senior president Dick Jones demonstrates ED 209 a law enforcement droid designed to supplant the police ED 209 malfunctions and brutally kills an executive allowing ambitious junior executive Bob Morton to introduce OCP s chairman the Old Man to his own project RoboCop Meanwhile officer Alex Murphy is transferred to the Metro West precinct Murphy and his new partner Anne Lewis pursue notorious criminal Clarence Boddicker and his gang Emil Antonowsky Leon Nash Joe Cox and Steve Minh The gang ambushes and tortures Murphy until Boddicker fatally shoots him Morton has Murphy s corpse converted into RoboCop a heavily armored cyborg with no memory of his former life RoboCop is programmed with three prime directives serve the public trust protect the innocent and uphold the law A fourth prime directive Directive 4 is classified Reassigned to Metro West RoboCop is hailed by the media for his brutally efficient campaign against crime Lewis suspects that he is Murphy recognizing the unique way he holsters his gun a trick Murphy learned to impress his son After experiencing a nightmare of Murphy s death during maintenance RoboCop encounters Lewis who addresses him as Murphy While on patrol RoboCop arrests Emil who recognizes Murphy s mannerisms this furthers RoboCop s recall RoboCop then uses the police database to identify Emil s associates and review Murphy s police record He recalls further memories while exploring Murphy s former home his wife and son having moved away after his death Elsewhere Jones gets Boddicker to murder Morton as revenge for Morton s attempt to usurp his position at OCP RoboCop tracks down Boddicker s gang and after a shootout brutally interrogates Boddicker until he admits working for Jones he cannot kill Boddicker however as that would violate his prime directives RoboCop attempts to arrest Jones at the OCP Tower but Directive 4 is activated a fail safe measure to disable RoboCop when he acts against an OCP executive Jones admits his culpability in Morton s death and releases an ED 209 to destroy RoboCop Although he escapes RoboCop is attacked by the police force on OCP s order and is badly damaged He is rescued by Lewis who brings him to an abandoned steel mill to repair himself Angered by OCP s underfunding and short staffing the police force goes on strike Detroit descends into chaos as riots break out throughout the city Jones frees Boddicker and his remaining gang arming them with high powered weaponry to destroy RoboCop Boddicker s men are quickly eliminated at the steel mill but Lewis is badly injured RoboCop trapped under steel girders kills Boddicker by stabbing him in the throat RoboCop confronts Jones at the OCP Tower during a board meeting revealing the truth behind Morton s murder Jones takes the Old Man hostage and is fired by the Old Man from OCP this nullifies Directive 4 which allows RoboCop to shoot him causing Jones to crash through a window to his death The Old Man compliments RoboCop s shooting and asks his name he replies Murphy Cast edit nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Left to right Peter Weller pictured in 2016 Ronny Cox 2019 Kurtwood Smith 2010 and Miguel Ferrer 2015 Peter Weller as Alex Murphy RoboCop A Detroit police officer murdered in the line of duty and revived as a cyborg 1 Nancy Allen as Anne Lewis A tough and loyal police officer 2 Daniel O Herlihy as The Old Man The chief executive of OCP 3 Ronny Cox as Dick Jones The Senior President of OCP 4 Kurtwood Smith as Clarence Boddicker A crime lord in league with Dick Jones 1 Miguel Ferrer as Bob Morton An ambitious OCP junior executive responsible for the RoboCop project 1 5 In addition to the main cast RoboCop features Paul McCrane as Emil Antonowsky Ray Wise as Leon Nash Jesse D Goins as Joe Cox and Calvin Jung as Steve Minh members of Boddicker s gang The cast also includes Robert DoQui as Sergeant Warren Reed 6 7 Michael Gregory as Lieutenant Hedgecock Felton Perry as OCP employee Donald Johnson Kevin Page as OCP junior executive Mr Kinney who is shot to death by ED 209 and Lee de Broux as cocaine warehouse owner Sal 6 7 8 Mario Machado and Leeza Gibbons play news hosts Casey Wong and Jess Perkins respectively 6 7 and television show host Bixby Snyder is played by S D Nemeth 6 9 Angie Bolling and Jason Levine appear as Murphy s wife and son 6 RoboCop director Paul Verhoeven makes a cameo appearance as a dancing nightclub patron 10 11 producer Jon Davison provides the voice of ED 209 5 and director John Landis appears in an in film advertisement 6 Smith s partner Joan Pirkle appears as Dick Jones s secretary 10 Production editConception and writing edit RoboCop was conceived in the early 1980s by Universal Pictures junior story executive and aspiring screenwriter Edward Neumeier a A fan of robot themed science fiction films Star Wars and action films Neumeier had developed an interest in mature comic books while researching them for potential adaptation 12 15 16 The 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner was filming on the Warner Bros lot behind Neumeier s office and he unofficially joined the production to learn about filmmaking 12 14 15 His work there gave him the idea for RoboCop I had this vision of a far distant Blade Runner type world where there was an all mechanical cop coming to a sense of real human intelligence 12 14 He spent the next few nights writing a 40 page outline 12 While researching story submissions for Universal Neumeier came across a student video by aspiring director Michael Miner 10 13 14 The pair met and discussed their similar concepts Neumeier s RoboCop and Miner s robot themed rock music video In a 2014 interview Miner said that he also had an idea called SuperCop 10 12 14 They formed a working partnership and spent about two months discussing the idea and two to three months writing together at night and over weekends in addition to their regular jobs b Their collaboration was initially difficult because they did not know each other well and had to learn how to constructively criticize each other 18 Neumeier was influenced to kill off his main character early by the psychological horror film Psycho 1960 whose main character was killed early in the film Inspired by comic books and his experience with corporate culture Neumeier wanted to satirize 1980s business culture He noted the increasing aggression of American financial services in response to growing Japanese influence and the popularity on Wall Street of The Book of Five Rings a 17th century book about how to kill more effectively Neumeier also believed that Detroit s declining automobile industry was due to increased bureaucracy ED 209 s malfunction in the OCP boardroom was based on Neumeier s office daydreams about a robot bursting into a meeting and killing everyone 12 16 19 Miner described the film as comic relief for a cynical time during the presidency of Ronald Reagan when economist Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys ransacked the world enabled by Reagan and the Central Intelligence Agency So when you have this cop who works for a corporation that insists I own you and he still does the right thing that s the core of the film Neumeier and Miner conceived the in universe news and advertisement Media Breaks that appear throughout RoboCop and a spec script was completed by December 1984 10 Development edit nbsp Director Paul Verhoeven pictured in 2016 rejected the RoboCop script twice before taking to its underlying story about a character losing his identity The first draft of the script RoboCop The Future of Law Enforcement was given to industry friends and associates in early 1985 c A month later Neumeier and Miner had two offers one from Atlantic Releasing 17 and another from director Jonathan Kaplan and producer Jon Davison with Orion Pictures 13 20 An experienced producer of exploitation and B films such as the parody Airplane 1980 Davison said that he was drawn to the script s satire 12 13 20 He showed Neumeier and Miner films including Madigan 1968 Dirty Harry 1971 and Mad Max 2 1981 to demonstrate the tone he wanted After Orion greenlit the project Neumeier and Miner began a second draft 21 Davison produced the film with his Tobor Pictures company 22 23 Neumeier and Miner were paid a few thousand dollars for the script rights and 25 000 between them for the rewrite They were entitled to eight percent of the producer profits upon release 17 24 Davison s contacts with puppeteers animators and practical effects designers were essential to Verhoeven who had no prior experience with them 13 The producers discussed changing the Detroit setting but Neumeier insisted on its importance because of its failing auto industry 12 The connection between Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones was added at Orion s suggestion 12 Kaplan left to direct Project X 1987 and finding his replacement took six months many prospects declined because of the film s title d The project was offered to David Cronenberg Alex Cox and Monte Hellman Hellman joined as second unit director 17 25 28 Miner asked to direct but Orion refused to trust a 7 million project to an untested director 12 29 He declined the second unit director position in order to direct Deadly Weapon 1989 12 21 Orion executive Barbara Boyle suggested Paul Verhoeven who had been praised for his work on Soldier of Orange 1977 and his first English language film Flesh Blood 1985 for director 12 13 21 Verhoeven looked at the first page and rejected the script as awful stalling the project 10 13 21 Boyle sent Verhoeven another copy suggesting that he pay attention to the subtext 12 Verhoeven was still uninterested until his wife Martine read it and encouraged him to give it a chance saying he had missed the soul of the story about someone losing his identity 10 Not fluent in English Verhoeven said that the satire did not make sense to him 10 the scene that attracted his attention was RoboCop returning to Murphy s abandoned home and experiencing memories of his former life 1 10 Davison Neumeier and Verhoeven discussed the project at Culver Studios Mansion House 12 Verhoeven wanted to direct it as a serious film Neumeier gave him comic books to explain the tone they wanted including 2000 AD with the character Judge Dredd 12 21 Neumeier and Miner wrote a third draft based on Verhoeven s requests working through injuries and late nights the 92 page revision included a subplot about a romantic affair between Murphy and Lewis 11 12 21 After reading it Verhoeven admitted that he was wrong and returned to the second draft in search of a comic book tone 12 21 30 Casting edit nbsp Daniel O Herlihy in 1955 His character the Old Man was based on MCA Inc executive Lew Wasserman Six to eight months were spent searching for an actor to play Alex Murphy RoboCop 13 26 Arnold Schwarzenegger 13 Michael Ironside 31 Rutger Hauer Tom Berenger Armand Assante 25 Keith Carradine and James Remar were considered 21 Orion favored Schwarzenegger the star of their recent success The Terminator 1984 25 but he and other actors were considered too physically imposing to be believable in the RoboCop costume it was thought that Schwarzenegger would look like the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Doughboy 13 26 31 Others were reluctant because their face would be largely concealed by a helmet 26 Davison said that Weller was the only person who wanted to be in the film 26 The low salary he commanded was in his favor as were his good body control from martial arts training and marathon running and his fan base in the science fiction genre after his performance in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension 1984 Verhoeven said he hired him because his chin was very good 25 29 26 Weller spent months working with mime Moni Yakim developing a fluid movement style with a stiff ending while wearing an American football uniform to approximate the finished costume 10 32 Weller said that working with Verhoeven was his main reason for choosing the role over appearing in King Kong Lives 1986 15 33 Stephanie Zimbalist was cast as Murphy s partner Anne Lewis but dropped out because of contractual obligations to Remington Steele which had been canceled in 1986 but was revived because of its popularity e Her replacement Nancy Allen thought the film s title was terrible but found the script engrossing Allen was known for her long blonde hair but Verhoeven wanted it cut short so the character was not sexualized Her hair was cut eight times before the desired look was achieved 37 Allen undertook police academy training for her role and sought advice from her police lieutenant father 37 Verhoeven encouraged her to act masculine and gain weight which she accomplished by quitting smoking 11 Kurtwood Smith auditioned for Boddicker and Jones He was known mainly for television work had not had film success and saw RoboCop as a B film with potential 10 The character was scripted to wear glasses so he would look like Nazi Party member Heinrich Himmler Smith was unaware of this and interpreted it as the character having an intelligent and militaristic front to conceal being a sneering smirking drug kingpin 10 Ironside was offered the role but did not want to be involved with another special effects laden film or play a psychopath after working on Extreme Prejudice 1987 25 31 38 Robert Picardo also auditioned for the role 39 Ronny Cox had been stereotyped as playing generally nice characters and said that this left the impression that he could not play more masculine roles 40 Because of this Verhoeven cast him as the villainous Dick Jones 41 Cox said that playing a villain was about a gazillion times more fun than playing the good guys 42 Jones he said has no compassion and is an evil son of a bitch 40 Miguel Ferrer was unsure if the film would be successful but was desperate for work and would have accepted any offer 15 The Old Man was based on MCA Inc CEO Lew Wasserman whom Neumeier considered a powerful and intimidating individual 12 Television host Bixby Snyder was written as an Americanized more extreme version of British comedian Benny Hill 10 Radio personality Howard Stern was offered an unspecified role but turned it down because he thought the idea was stupid although he later praised the finished film 43 Filming edit nbsp Dallas City Hall appears as the exterior of OCP s headquarters Matte paintings were used to make it appear taller Principal photography began on August 6 1986 on an 11 million budget 44 45 Jost Vacano was the cinematographer after working with Verhoeven on Soldier of Orange 22 45 Verhoeven wanted Blade Runner production designer Lawrence G Paull but Davison said he could afford either a great production designer or a great RoboCop costume not both 12 37 William Sandell was hired 46 Monte Hellman directed several of the action scenes 47 RoboCop was filmed primarily on location in Dallas 10 45 48 with additional filming in Las Colinas and Pittsburgh 8 45 49 Verhoeven wanted a filming location which suggested the near future 45 Detroit was dismissed because it had many low buildings many brownstones and Victorian style buildings 26 45 Neumeier said that it was also a union city making it more expensive to film there 50 Detroit made a brief appearance in nighttime stock aerial footage at the beginning of the film 16 Chicago was dismissed for aesthetic reasons New York City for high costs and California because according to Davison Orion wanted to distance itself from the project 26 45 Dallas was chosen over Houston because it has modern buildings and older less maintained areas where explosives could be used 45 The filming schedule in Dallas was nine weeks but it soon became clear that it would take longer Based on filmed footage Orion approved the schedule extension and a budget increase to 13 1 million 32 44 51 The weather fluctuated during filming Dallas in summer was often 90 to 115 F 32 to 46 C 26 37 52 and the weather in Pittsburgh was frigid 10 RoboCop s costume was not finished until some time into filming This did not impact the shooting schedule but it denied Weller the month of costume rehearsal he had expected f Weller was frustrated with the costume it was too cumbersome for him to move as he had practiced and he spent hours trying to adapt 10 25 53 He struggled to see through the thin helmet visor and interact with or grab objects while wearing the gloves 53 54 Weller fell out with Verhoeven and was fired with Lance Henriksen considered as a replacement because the costume was designed for Weller however he was encouraged to mend fences 25 Mime Moni Yakim helped Weller to develop a slower more deliberate way of moving 15 Weller s experience in the costume was worsened by the warm weather which made him sweat off up to 3 lb 1 4 kg per day 26 32 Verhoeven began taking prescription medication to cope with stress induced insomnia and he filmed scenes under the influence 55 He often choreographed scenes with the actors before filming 56 57 Improvisation was also encouraged because Verhoeven believed that it could produce interesting results Smith improvised some of his character s quirks such as sticking chewing gum to a secretary s desk and spitting blood onto the police station counter What if I spat blood on the desk Verhoeven got this little smile on his face and we did it 10 Neumeier was on set throughout filming and occasionally wrote additional scenes including a New Year s Eve party after seeing some party hat props and a news story about the Strategic Defense Initiative platform misfiring 10 12 21 Verhoeven found Neumeier s presence invaluable because they could discuss how to adapt the script or location to make a scene work 45 nbsp A steel mill in Pennsylvania served as the site of RoboCop s and Clarence Boddicker s final battle Verhoeven gained a reputation for verbal aggression and unsociable behavior on set Smith said that he never yelled at the actors however but was too engrossed in filming to be sociable 10 Cox and Allen spoke warmly of Verhoeven 37 58 Weller spent his time between filming with the actors who played his enemies including Smith Ray Wise and Calvin Jung who maintained healthy lifestyles that supported Weller in his training for the New York City Marathon 15 A number of locations in and around Dallas were used in production An office in Renaissance Tower was used for the OCP interior of the company s exterior is Dallas City Hall modified with matte paintings to appear taller g The OCP elevator was that of the Plaza of the Americas 48 60 The Detroit police station s exterior is Crozier Tech High School its interior is the Sons of Hermann hall and city hall is the Dallas Municipal Building 60 Scenes of Boddicker s gang blowing up storefronts were filmed in the Deep Ellum neighborhood One explosion was larger than anticipated actors can be seen moving out of the way Smith had to remove his coat because it was on fire and the actors involved received an additional 400 in stunt pay 10 45 The Shell gas station that explodes was in the Arts District 48 60 where local residents unaware of the filming called the fire department 1 The scene was scripted for flames to modify the sign to read hell Davison approved it but it does not appear in the film Miner called it a disappointing omission 10 The nightclub was the former Starck Club Verhoeven was filmed demonstrating how the clubbers should dance and used the footage in the film 10 11 Other Dallas locations included Cesar Chavez Boulevard the Reunion Arena 60 and the parking lot of the Crescent 50 The final battle between RoboCop and Boddicker s gang was filmed at a steel mill in Monessen outside Pittsburgh h Filming ended in late October 1986 64 Post production edit Main article RoboCop soundtrack nbsp Rock Shop by Basil Poledouris source source The main theme of RoboCop by Basil Poledouris Performed by the Sinfonia of London the score combines orchestral music with synthesizers Problems playing this file See media help An additional 600 000 budget increase was approved by Orion for post production and the music score raising the budget to 13 7 million i j Frank J Urioste was the film s editor 65 Several pick up shots were filmed during this phase including Murphy s death RoboCop removing his helmet and shots of his leg holster 66 After the OCP boardroom scene in which RoboCop calls himself Murphy another scene revealed that Lewis was alive in a hospital before showing RoboCop on patrol The latter scene was thought to lessen the former s triumphant feeling and was removed 67 68 Verhoeven wanted the in film Media Breaks to abruptly interrupt the narrative and unsettle the viewer He was influenced by Piet Mondrian s art which featured stark black lines separating colored squares 10 Peter Conn directed many of the Media Breaks but TJ Lazer was directed by Neumeier 69 RoboCop s violent content made it difficult to receive an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America MPAA which restricted the film to viewers over 17 unless accompanied by an adult It initially received the more restrictive X rating limiting the film to those over 17 10 25 70 Although some reports suggest it was refused an R rating eleven times Verhoeven said that the number was actually eight 10 25 The MPAA took issue with several scenes including Murphy s death and ED 209 shooting an executive 51 65 The violent scenes were shortened and Media Breaks were added to help lighten the mood Verhoeven recalled that one reviewer was confused by their jarring appearance in the film and complained that the projectionist had used the wrong film reel 10 25 The MPAA also objected to a scene of a mutated Emil being disintegrated by Boddicker s car but Verhoeven Davison and Orion refused to remove it because it consistently received the biggest laughs during test screenings 13 71 Verhoeven made the violence comical and surreal and believed that the cuts made the scenes appear more not less violent 10 25 He said that his young children laughed at the X rated cut and audiences laughed less at the R rated version 10 51 According to Verhoeven people love seeing violence and horrible things 51 The film is 103 minutes long 72 Basil Poledouris composed the film score after working with Verhoeven on Flesh Blood 5 The score combines synthesizers and orchestral music reflecting RoboCop s cyborg nature The music was performed by the Sinfonia of London 73 74 Special effects and design editSpecial effects edit nbsp Actor Paul McCrane as Emil Antonowsky McCrane wore a prosthesis over his upper body to give the appearance of his skin melting His death was the highest rated scene by test audiences 71 The special effects team led by Rob Bottin included Phil Tippett Stephan Dupuis Bart Mixon and Craig Davies k The effects were very violent because Verhoeven believed that that made scenes funnier 10 25 He compared the brutality of Murphy s death to the crucifixion of Jesus an effective way to evoke sympathy for the character 10 65 71 The scene was filmed at an abandoned auto assembly plant in Long Beach California on a raised stage that allowed operators to control the effects from below 77 To show Murphy being dismantled by gunfire prosthetic arms were cast in alginate and filled with tubing that could pump artificial blood and compressed air Weller s left hand attached to his shoulders by velcro and controlled by three operators was designed to explode in a controllable way so it could be easily put back together for repeat shots 77 The right arm was jerked away from Weller s body by a monofilament wire 19 77 A detailed articulated replica of Weller s upper body was used to depict Boddicker shooting Murphy through the head 71 77 78 A mold was made of Weller s face using foam latex that was baked to make it rubbery and flesh like and placed over a fiberglass skull containing a blood squib and explosive charge The articulated head was controlled by four puppeteers and had details of sweat and blood A fan motor attached to the body made it vibrate as if shaking in fear The charge in the skull was connected to the trigger of Smith s gun by wire to synchronize the effect 79 Emil s melting mutation was inspired by the 1977 science fiction film The Incredible Melting Man 80 Bottin designed and constructed Emil s prosthetics creating a foam latex headpiece and matching gloves that gave the appearance of Emil s skin melting off his bones like marshmallow sauce 80 81 A second piece depicting further degradation was applied over the first Dupuis painted each piece differently to emphasize Emil s advancing degradation The prosthetics were applied to an articulated dummy to show Emil being struck by Boddicker s car The head was loosened so it would fly off by chance it rolled onto the car s hood The effect was completed with Emil s liquified body raw chicken soup and gravy washing over the windscreen 81 The same dummy stands in for RoboCop when he is crushed by steel beams painted wood 81 Verhoeven wanted RoboCop to kill Boddicker by stabbing him in the eye but it was believed the effort to create the effect would be wasted due to censorship concerns 82 Dick Jones s fatal fall is shown by a stop motion puppet of Cox animated by Rocco Gioffre The limited development time forced Gioffre to use a foam rubber puppet with an aluminum skeleton instead of a better quality articulated version It was composited against Mark Sullivan s matte painting of the street below 82 83 ED 209 s murder of OCP executive Mr Kinney was filmed over three days Page s body was covered with 200 squibs but Verhoeven was unhappy with the result and brought him back months later to re shoot it in a studio built recreation of the board room Page was again covered in over 200 squibs and plastic bags filled with spaghetti squash and fake blood Page described intense pain as each squib detonation felt like a punch 8 In the cocaine warehouse scene Boddicker s stuntman was thrown through glass panes rigged with detonating cord to shatter microseconds before he hit 84 Gelatin capsules filled with sawdust and a sparkling compound were fired from an air gun at RoboCop to create the effect of ricocheting bullets 85 RoboCop edit Main article RoboCop character Bottin was tasked with designing the RoboCop costume 10 13 86 He researched the Star Wars character C 3PO and its stiff costume which made movement difficult 86 Bottin was also influenced by robot designs in Metropolis 1927 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 16 65 and several comic book superheroes 87 88 He developed about 50 designs based on feedback from Verhoeven who pushed for a more machine like character 87 89 finally landing on a sleek aesthetic inspired by the work of Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama 90 Verhoeven admitted his unrealistic expectations after reading Japanese science fiction manga it took him a while to realize it which contributed to the costume delay 10 The scope of the RoboCop costume was unprecedented with its design and construction exceeding cost and schedule 26 45 78 The costume took six months to build with flexible foam latex semi and completely rigid polyurethane and a fiberglass helmet 26 87 91 Moving sections were joined with aluminum and ball bearings 91 The costume is supported by an internal harness of hooks allowing for sustained movement during action scenes 78 Seven costumes were made including a fireproof version and costumes depicting sustained damage 92 Reports on their weight vary from 25 to 80 lb 11 to 36 kg l RoboCop s gun the Auto 9 is a Beretta 93R with an extended barrel and larger grip It was modified to fire blank bullets and vents were cut into the side to allow for multi directional muzzle flashes with every three shot burst 96 ED 209 edit Main article ED 209 nbsp One of the miniature ED 209 models used for animation by Phil Tippett Randal M Dutra and Harry Walton To budget for ED 209 s development Tippett developed preliminary sketches and hired Davies to design the full scale model which was constructed with the help of Paula Lucchesi 75 Verhoeven wanted ED 209 to look mean and thought that Davies early designs lacked a killer aesthetic Davies was influenced by killer whales and a United States Air Force LTV A 7 Corsair II He approached the design with modern American aesthetics and a corporate design policy that he believed prioritized looks over functionality including excessive and impractical components He did not add eyes thinking that they would make ED 209 more sympathetic 97 The fully articulated fiberglass model took four months to build cost 25 000 stood 7 feet 2 1 m tall and weighed 300 to 500 lb 140 to 230 kg 98 99 100 The 100 hour work weeks took their toll and Davies minimized the detail of ED 209 s feet since he did not think they would be shown 101 The model was later used on promotional tours 99 100 102 Davies spent another four months building two 12 inch 30 cm miniature replicas for stop motion animation 103 The two small models allowed scenes to be animated and filmed more efficiently which saved time in completing the 55 shots needed in three months 103 Tippett was the lead ED 209 animator assisted by Randal M Dutra and Harry Walton 13 100 104 Tippett conceived ED 209 s movement as unanimal like as if it were about to fall over before catching itself 100 To complete the character the droid was given the roar of a leopard Davison provided a temporary voiceover for ED 209 s speaking voice which was retained in the film 105 Other effects and designs edit RoboCop contains seven matte effects mainly painted by Gioffre Each matte was painted on masonite Gioffre supervised on site filming to mask the camera where the matte is inserted and remembered having to crawl out from a five story high ledge to get the right shot of the Plaza of the Americas 106 The burnished steel RoboCop logo was developed using photographic effects that supervisor Peter Kuran based on a black and white sketch from Orion Kuran created a scaled up matte version and backlit it A second pass was made with a sheet of aluminum behind it to create reflective detail 64 RoboCop s vision was created with hundreds of ink lines on acetate composited over existing footage Several attempts had to be made to get the line thickness right at first the lines were too thick or too thin 107 Assuming that thermographic photography would be expensive Kuran replicated thermal vision using actors in body stockings painted with thermal colors and filmed the scene with a polarized lens filter 108 RoboCop s mechanical recharging chair was designed and built by John Zabrucky of Modern Props 109 The OCP boardroom model of Delta City was made under the supervision of art director Gayle Simon 110 The film s police cars are 1986 Ford Taurus models painted black 49 The Taurus was chosen because of its futuristic aerodynamic styling for the vehicle s first production year The car was intended to feature a customized interior that would show graphical displays of mug shots fingerprints and other related information but the concept was considered too ambitious 13 64 The 6000 SUX driven by Boddicker and others was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme modified by Gene Winfield and based on a design by Chip Foose Two working cars were made with a third non functional one that was used when the vehicle exploded 111 The 6000 SUX commercial features a plasticine dinosaur animated by Don Waller and blocked by Steve Chiodo 111 Release editContext edit See also 1987 in film Industry experts were optimistic about the theatrical summer of 1987 June September 112 The season focused on genre films science fiction horror and fantasy that were proven to generate revenue if not industry respect 113 Other films such as Roxanne Full Metal Jacket and The Untouchables were targeted at older audiences over age 25 who had been ignored in recent years by films targeted at teenagers 114 115 The action comedy Beverly Hills Cop II was predicted to dominate the theaters 112 but many other films were expected to perform well including the action adventure Ishtar the comedies Harry and the Hendersons Who s That Girl and Spaceballs the action film Predator and sequels such as Superman IV The Quest for Peace and The Living Daylights the latest James Bond film 112 115 With the musical La Bamba RoboCop was predicted to be a sleeper hit 12 116 It received positive feedback before release including a positive industry screening considered a rarity and pre release screenings that demonstrated the studio s confidence in the film 117 118 Marketing edit nbsp The RoboCop logo used in the film Marketing the film was considered difficult 119 For the Los Angeles Times Jack Mathews described RoboCop as a terrible title for a movie that anyone would expect an adult to enjoy Orion head of marketing Charles Glenn said it had a certain liability it sounds like Robby the Robot or Gobots or something else It s nothing like that 119 The campaign began three months before the film s release when 5 000 adult oriented and family friendly trailers were sent to theaters Orion promotions director Jan Kean said that children and adults responded positively to the RoboCop character 119 Miguel Ferrer recalled a theater audience laughing derisively at the trailer which he found disheartening 120 Models and actors in fiberglass RoboCop costumes made appearances in cities throughout North America The character appeared at a motor racing event in Florida a laser show in Boston a subway in New York City and children could take their picture with him at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles 119 An incomplete version of the unrated film was screened early for critics which was unconventional for an action film Glenn reasoned that critics who favored Verhoeven s earlier work would appreciate RoboCop Feedback was generally positive providing quotes for promotional material and making it one of the best reviewed films of the year up to that point 119 The week before release saw the introduction of television commercials and limited theatrical screenings for the public 119 The film was released in the United Kingdom without cuts which the BBFC justified by the comic excess of the violence and the clear line between the hero and villains 121 Box office edit RoboCop began a wide North American release on July 17 1987 122 123 During its opening weekend the film earned 8 million from 1 580 theaters an average of 5 068 per theater 124 125 It was the weekend s number one film ahead of a re release of the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 7 5 million and the horror sequel Jaws The Revenge 7 2 million both of which were also in their first week of release 124 126 RoboCop retained the number one position in its second weekend with an additional gross of 6 3 million ahead of Snow White 6 05 million and the debuting comedy Summer School 6 million 127 128 It was the fourth highest grossing film in its third weekend with a gross of 4 7 million behind La Bamba 5 2 million and the debuts of the horror film The Lost Boys 5 2 million and The Living Daylights 11 1 million 129 RoboCop never regained the number one spot but remained in the top ten for six weeks 122 123 By the end of its theatrical run the film had grossed about 53 4 million and was a modest success 25 122 123 m It was the year s fourteenth highest grossing film behind Crocodile Dundee 53 6 million La Bamba 54 2 million and Dragnet 57 4 million 130 Figures are unavailable for the film s performance outside North America 122 123 Due in part to higher ticket prices and an extra week of the theatrical summer 114 1987 set a record of 1 6 billion in box office gross and exceeded the previous record of 1 58 billion record set in 1984 Unlike that summer which featured several blockbusters such as Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the summer of 1987 delivered only one Beverly Hills Cop II More films including RoboCop performed modestly well however earning a collective total of 274 million a 50 percent increase over 1986 115 131 The average audience age continued to increase as teen oriented films such as RoboCop and Beverly Hills Cop II had a 22 percent drop in performance from similar 1986 films Adult oriented films had a 39 percent increase in revenue 131 RoboCop was one of the summer s surprise successes and contributed to Orion s improving fortunes 21 132 Reception editCritical response edit nbsp Variety s review highlighted Nancy Allen pictured in 1984 for providing the only human warmth in RoboCop RoboCop opened to generally positive reviews 25 51 Audience polls by CinemaScore reported that moviegoers gave the film an average letter grade of A 133 Critics noticed influences in the film from the action of The Terminator 1984 and Aliens 1986 and the narratives of Frankenstein 1931 Repo Man 1984 and the television series Miami Vice 134 135 136 RoboCop built a distinct futuristic vision for Detroit wrote two reviewers as Blade Runner had done for Los Angeles 116 134 A number of critics struggled to identify the film s genre writing that it combined social satire and philosophy with elements of action science fiction thrillers Westerns slapstick comedy romance snuff films superhero comics and camp without being derivative n Some publications found Verhoeven s direction smart and darkly comic offering sharp social satire that The Washington Post suggested would have been just a simple action film in another director s hands 136 140 141 Others such as Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader believed the film was over directed with Verhoeven s European filmmaking style lacking rhythm tension and momentum According to the Chicago Reader review Verhoeven s typical adeptness at portraying the sleazily psychological through physicality failed to properly use RoboCop s Aryan blandness 139 142 The Washington Post and Roger Ebert praised Weller s performance and his ability to elicit sympathy and convey chivalry and vulnerability while concealed beneath a bulky costume Weller offered a certain beauty and grace wrote The Washington Post reviewer that added a mythic quality and made his murder even more horrible 136 137 In contrast Weller hardly registered behind the mask for the Chicago Reader 139 Variety cited Nancy Allen as providing the only human warmth in the film and Kurtwood Smith as a well cast sicko sadist 143 Many reviewers noted the film s violence o It was so excessive for Ebert and the Los Angeles Times that it became deliberately comical with Ebert writing that ED 209 killing an executive subverted audience expectations of a seemingly serious and straightforward science fiction film The Los Angeles Times reviewer believed that the violent scenes simultaneously conveyed sadism and poignancy 137 141 Other reviewers were more critical including Kehr and Walter Goodman who believed that RoboCop s satire and critiques of corporate corruption were excuses to indulge in violent visuals 142 144 The Chicago Reader found the violence had a brooding agonized quality as if Verhoeven were both appalled and fascinated by it and The Christian Science Monitor said critical praise for the nasty film demonstrated a preference for style over substance 139 140 Kehr and The Washington Post said that the satire of corporations and the interchangeable use of corporate executives and street level criminals was the film s most successful effort depicting their unchecked greed and callous disregard with witty criticism of game shows and military culture 136 142 Some reviewers appreciated the film s adaptation of a classic narrative about a tragic hero seeking revenge and redemption with the Los Angeles Times writing that the typical cliche revenge story was transformed by making the protagonist a machine that keeps succumbing to humanity emotion and idealism The Los Angeles Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer considered RoboCop s victory satisfying because it offered a fable about a decent hero fighting against corruption villains and the theft of his humanity with morality and technology on his side 134 135 141 The Washington Post agreed that the film s heart is the story of Murphy regaining his humanity W ith all our flesh and blood heroes failing us from brokers to ballplayers we need a man of mettle a real straight shooter who doesn t fool around with Phi Beta Kappas and never puts anything up his nose What this world needs is RoboCop 136 Accolades edit RoboCop received a Special Achievement for Best Sound Editing Stephen Flick and John Pospisil at the 60th Academy Awards The film had two other nominations Best Film Editing for Frank J Urioste losing to Gabriella Cristiani for the drama film The Last Emperor and Best Sound for Michael J Kohut Carlos Delarios Aaron Rochin and Robert Wald losing to Bill Rowe and Ivan Sharrock for The Last Emperor 145 In a comedy routine at the event the RoboCop character rescued presenter Pee wee Herman from ED 209 146 147 At the 42nd British Academy Film Awards RoboCop received two nominations Best Makeup and Hair for Carla Palmer losing to Fabrizio Sforza for The Last Emperor and Best Special Visual Effects for Bottin Tippett Kuran and Gioffre losing to George Gibbs Richard Williams Ken Ralston and Edward Jones for the 1988 fantasy film Who Framed Roger Rabbit 148 At the 15th Saturn Awards RoboCop was the most nominated film It received awards for Best Science Fiction Film Best Director for Verhoeven Best Writing for Neumeier and Miner Best Make up for Bottin and Dupuis and Best Special Effects for Kuran Tippett Bottin and Gioffre The film received three more nominations including Best Actor Weller and Best Actress Allen 149 150 After release editHome media edit nbsp Richard Nixon shaking hands with a costumed actor as part of a paid effort to promote the film 151 RoboCop was released on VHS in early 1988 152 153 154 and had an estimated 24 million in sales 13 p Orion promoted the film by having former United States president Richard Nixon shake hands with a RoboCop costumed actor Nixon was paid 25 000 which he donated to the Boys Club of America 25 151 RoboCop was a popular rental peaking at number one in mid March 1988 155 156 Rental demand outstripped supply estimates suggested that there was one VHS copy of a film per 100 households making it difficult to find new releases such as Dirty Dancing Predator and Platoon The longest waiting list was for RoboCop 157 The film was released in S VHS in 1988 one of the earliest films to adopt the format and was offered free of charge when buying branded S VCR players 152 The extended violent content removed from the U S theatrical release was restored on a Criterion Collection LaserDisc which included audio commentary by Verhoeven Neumeier and Davison 13 158 The uncut version of the film has been made available on other home media releases 13 It was released on DVD by Criterion in September 1998 159 160 In June 2004 the DVD version was released in a trilogy box set with RoboCop 2 1990 and RoboCop 3 1993 This edition included featurettes about the making of the film and the RoboCop design 159 A 20th anniversary edition was released in August 2007 which included the film s theatrical and uncut versions previous extras and new featurettes on the special effects and villains 159 Its scheduled Blu ray debut in 2006 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment was canceled days before release with reviews indicating poor video quality A new version was released in 2007 by Fox Home Entertainment without extra features 161 162 163 Reviews indicated that the film s visual quality had improved but images were still perceived as grainy or too dark 163 164 The trilogy was released as a Blu ray Disc box set in October 2010 165 166 The film was restored in 4K resolution from the original camera negative by Metro Goldwyn Mayer MGM in 2013 for MGM s 90th anniversary the following year 167 The restoration was approved by Verhoeven Neumeier and Davison 168 and it was released on Blu ray in January 2014 169 A two disc limited edition Blu ray set was released in 2019 by Arrow Video which included collectible items a poster and cards new commentaries by film historians and fans deleted scenes new featurettes with Allen and casting director Julie Selzer and the theatrical extended and television cuts of the film 170 171 Arrow re released the set on Ultra HD Blu ray UHD in 2022 which included the uncut version scenes re scanned from the negative to match the quality of the theatrical cut scans 172 173 Other media edit See also List of RoboCop video games and comic books RoboCop was considered easier to merchandise than other R rated films 119 Despite its violent content film merchandise was targeted at a younger audience Merchandise included cap guns and other toys comic books q theme park rides novels 65 and RoboCop Ultra Police action figures which were released with the 1988 animated series RoboCop 93 By the time of the film s release Marvel Comics had published a black and white comic book adaptation of the film without violence and adult language 119 174 a video game was in development and negotiations were underway to release T shirts other video games and RoboCop dolls by Christmas The film s poster was reportedly more popular than the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue 119 and its novelization written by Ed Naha was in its second printing by July 119 175 Since its release RoboCop has continued to be merchandised with collectible action figures clothing and crockery r A 2014 book RoboCop The Definitive History details the RoboCop franchise 179 180 181 The story of RoboCop has been continued in comics initially by Marvel The adaptation of the film was reprinted in color to promote a 23 issue series that ran between 1987 and 1992 when the rights were transferred to Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse released a number of miniseries including RoboCop Versus The Terminator 1992 which pitted RoboCop against Skynet and its Terminators from The Terminator franchise 32 174 The story was well received and was followed by other series including Prime Suspect 1992 Roulette 1994 and Mortal Coils 1996 32 The RoboCop series was continued by Avatar Press 2003 Dynamite Entertainment 2010 and Boom Studios 2013 32 174 Several games based on or inspired by the film have been released A side scroller of the same name was released for arcades in 1988 and was ported to other platforms such as the ZX Spectrum and Game Boy 93 182 RoboCop Versus The Terminator an adaptation of the comic of the same name was released in 1994 RoboCop a 2003 first person shooter was poorly received and resulted in the shuttering of developer Titus Interactive 32 Thematic analysis editCorporate power edit nbsp President Ronald Reagan addressing the nation in 1981 on tax reduction RoboCop satirizes Reagan s political policies espousing limited regulation trickle down economics and a pro business agenda A central theme in RoboCop is the power of corporations Those depicted in the film are corrupt and greedy privatizing public services and gentrifying Detroit 13 183 A self described hippie who grew up during the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War Miner was critical of Ronald Reagan s pro business policies and believed that Detroit was destroyed by American corporations 10 13 65 The Detroit presented in the film is described as beset by rape crime and Reaganomics gone awry where gentrification and unfettered capitalism result in corporations waging war as the police become a profit driven entity 65 136 139 Miner said that out of control crime was a particularly Republican or right wing fear but RoboCop puts the blame for drugs and crime on advancing technology and the privatization of public services such as hospitals prisons and the police 13 Although criticism of Reagan era policies was in the script Verhoeven did not understand urban politics such as the privatization of prisons 15 51 Weller said that the trickle down economics espoused by Reagan was bullshit and did not work fast enough for those in need 15 Michael Robertson described the Media Breaks throughout the film as direct criticisms of neoliberal Reagan policies Robertson focused on OCP s claim that it has private ownership of RoboCop despite making use of Murphy s corpse The Old Man was based on Reagan and the corporation s policies emphasize greed and profit over individual rights The police are deliberately underfunded and the creation of RoboCop aims to replace them with a more efficient force Jones admits that it does not matter if ED 209 works because they have contracts to provide spare parts for years He plots with Boddicker to corrupt workers brought in to build Delta City with drugs and prostitution 184 Davison believed that the film is politically liberal but the violence makes it fascism for liberals 65 It takes a pro labor stance the police chief believing in the essential nature of his service refuses to strike but the underfunded understaffed and under assault police eventually walk out OCP sees the strike as an opportunity to develop more robots 185 Masculinity and authority edit Vince Mancini describes the 1980s as a period in which cinematic heroes were unambiguously good as depicted in films that promoted suburban living materialism and unambiguous villains such as Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 and Back to the Future 1985 13 Some films of the decade send the message that authority is good and trustworthy but RoboCop demonstrates that those in authority are flawed and Detroit has been carved up by greed capitalism and cheap foreign labor 13 Weller described RoboCop as an evolution of strait laced 1940s heroes such as Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart who lived honorably modern audiences now cheer a maimed police officer taking brutal revenge 51 Susan Jeffords considers RoboCop among the many hard body films of the decade that portray perfect strong masculine physiques who must protect the soft bodies the ineffectual and the weak RoboCop portrays strength by eliminating crime and redeeming the city through violence Bullets ricochet harmlessly off his armor attempts to attack his crotch a typical weak point only hurt the attacker demonstrating the uncompromising strength and masculinity needed to eliminate crime 186 According to Darian Leader the addition of something unnatural to a biological body is required to be truly masculine RoboCop s body incorporates technology a symbolic addition that makes him more than an average man 187 Humanity and death edit nbsp The Resurrection by Carl Heinrich Bloch 1881 Murphy s transformation into RoboCop is analogous to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Another central theme is the question of what humanity is and how much of Murphy is left in RoboCop 136 137 Neumeier wanted to leave audiences asking what s left of Murphy and described the character s journey as coping with his transformation 83 As an officer Murphy works for a corporation that insists it owns individuals based on waivers and can do what it wants with Murphy s remains He does the right thing however and fights against the demands of his corporate masters 10 Despite his inhuman appearance RoboCop has a soul experiences real human fears and has a core consciousness that makes him more than a machine 65 Brooks Landon says that Murphy is dead however although he remembers Murphy s life RoboCop is not and can never be Murphy and regain enough of his humanity to rejoin his family 188 Dale Bradley writes that RoboCop is a machine who mistakenly thinks it is Murphy because of its composite parts and only believes it has a human spirit within 189 An alternative view is that RoboCop s personality is a new construct informed partially by fragments of Murphy s personality 190 Slavoj Zizek describes Murphy as a man between life and death who is deceased and simultaneously reanimated with mechanical parts As he regains his humanity he transforms from being programmed by others to his former state as a being of desire Zizek calls this return of the living dead a fundamental human fantasy a desire to avoid death and take revenge against the living 191 Murphy s death is prolonged and violent so the audience can see RoboCop as imbued with the humanity taken from him by Boddicker s gang and OCP 51 Verhoeven considered it important to acknowledge the inherent darkness of humanity to avoid inevitable mutual destruction He was affected by his childhood experiences during World War II and the inhuman actions he witnessed Verhoeven believed that the concept of an immaculate hero died after the war and subsequent heroes had a dark side they had to overcome 51 Describing the difference between making films in Europe and America Verhoeven said that a European RoboCop would explore the spiritual and psychological problems of RoboCop s condition the American version focuses on revenge 51 He incorporated Christian mythology into the film Murphy s brutal death is analogous to the crucifixion of Jesus before his resurrection as RoboCop an American Jesus who walks on water at the steel mill and wields a handgun 10 65 Verhoeven said that he did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus but he can see the value of that idea the purity of that idea So from an artistic point of view it s absolutely true 10 65 The scene of RoboCop returning to Murphy s home is compared to finding the Garden of Eden or a similar paradise 1 10 Brooks Landon describes the film as typical of the cyberpunk genre because it does not treat RoboCop as better or worse than average humans just different and asks the audience to consider him a new life form 51 188 The film does not treat this technological advance as necessarily negative just an inevitable result of a progression that will change one s life and one s understanding of what it means to be human 188 The RoboCop character embodies the struggle of humanity to embrace technology 12 The central cast do not have romantic interests or overt sexual desires Paul Sammon described the scene of RoboCop shooting bottles of baby food as symbolic of the relationship he and Lewis can never have 13 81 Taylor agreed but believed that the confrontation between Morton and Jones in the OCP bathroom was sexualized 65 Legacy editCultural influence edit nbsp Writer Edward Neumeier s pictured in 2007 interest in science fiction and work on Blade Runner 1982 inspired RoboCop His work on that film led to his employment by the United States Air Force as a consultant for futuristic concepts RoboCop is considered a groundbreaking entry in the science fiction genre 65 Unlike many protagonists at the time the film s central character is not a robotic like human who is stoic and invincible but a human like robot who is affected by his lost humanity 65 In a 2013 interview following Detroit s bankruptcy and the city s labeling as the most dangerous place in the United States Neumeier spoke about the film s prescience We are now living in the world that I was proposing in RoboCop how big corporations will take care of us and how they won t 186 192 Verhoeven described RoboCop as a film ahead of its time which could not be improved with digital effects 193 Weller said that the filming experience was among the worst of his life mainly because of the RoboCop costume 194 Verhoeven also considered filming RoboCop a miserable experience in part due to the difficulties with special effects and other things going wrong 195 Ferrer however described it as the best summer of his life 120 The film s impact was not limited to North America and Neumeier recalled finding unlicensed RoboCop dolls for sale near the Colosseum in Rome 12 He has said that many robotics labs use a Robo prefix for projects in reference to the film and he was hired as a United States Air Force consultant for futuristic concepts because of his involvement with RoboCop 19 In the years immediately after its release Verhoeven parlayed his success into directing the science fiction film Total Recall 1990 also with Cox and the erotic thriller Basic Instinct 1992 5 7 He also worked with Neumeier on the tonally similar science fiction film Starship Troopers 1997 5 In 2020 the Guardian s Scott Tobias wrote that in hindsight RoboCop was the beginning of Verhoeven s unofficial science fiction trilogy about authoritarian governance followed by Total Recall and Starship Troopers 196 Previously typecast as someone who played moral characters Cox credited RoboCop with changing his image and with the Beverly Hills Cop films boosting his film career to make him one of the decade s most iconic villains 40 42 197 The RoboCop ED 209 and Clarence Boddicker characters are considered iconic s Lines such as RoboCop s Dead or alive you re coming with me ED 209 s You have 20 seconds to comply and television host Bixby Snyder s I d buy that for a dollar are among the film s most recognizable t The film has been referred to in a variety of media from television including Family Guy 210 It s Always Sunny in Philadelphia 211 Red Dwarf 212 South Park 213 and The Simpsons 214 215 to films including Hot Shots Part Deux 216 and Ready Player One 217 and video games Deus Ex 218 and its prequel Deus Ex Human Revolution 219 Doom Eternal 2020 creative director Hugo Martin cited it as an inspiration 220 RoboCop voiced by Weller is a playable character in the fighting game Mortal Kombat 11 2019 221 The character was a design inspiration for the Nintendo Power Glove 1989 222 and appeared in advertisements for KFC in 2019 again voiced by Weller 223 and Direct Line in 2020 with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bumblebee 224 For the 30th anniversary of RoboCop s release in 2017 Weller attended a screening by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at Dallas City Hall in his home town and called the film an homage to the city 33 48 The crowdfunded making of documentary RoboDoc The Creation of RoboCop was released in August 2023 It covers the production and influence of RoboCop with interviews of many of the cast and crew involved 225 226 227 A RoboCop statue is to be erected in Detroit First proposed in 2011 70 000 was crowdfunded for its construction The idea for the 10 foot 3 0 m statue had Weller s backing and the approval of RoboCop rights holder Metro Goldwyn Mayer MGM By 2022 the statue was completed and awaiting installation at an undisclosed location u Modern reception edit RoboCop has been called one of the best science fiction and action films of all time v and among the best films of the 1980s w On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes it has a 92 approval rating based on 85 reviews with an average rating of 8 1 10 According to the website While over the top and gory RoboCop is also a surprisingly smart sci fi flick that uses ultraviolence to disguise its satire of American culture 247 Rotten Tomatoes listed the film at number 139 on its list of 200 essential movies to watch and one of 300 essential movies 248 249 The film has a score of 70 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 17 generally favorable reviews 250 In the 2000s The New York Times listed it as one of its 1 000 Best Movies Ever 251 and Empire ranked the film number 404 on its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time 252 Filmmakers have spoken about their appreciation for RoboCop and cited it as an inspiration in their own careers including Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck 253 Neill Blomkamp 24 and Leigh Whannell 254 and Ken Russell who called it the best science fiction film since Fritz Lang s Metropolis 1927 255 During the COVID 19 pandemic it was among the action films recommended by director James Gunn 256 Sequels and adaptations editMain article RoboCop franchise By November 1987 Orion had greenlit the development of a sequel targeting a PG rating that would allow children to see the film unaccompanied by adults 257 258 259 and tying into the 12 episode animated series RoboCop released by Marvel Productions in 1988 32 65 Neumeier and Miner began writing the film but were fired after refusing to work during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike and were replaced by Frank Miller whose second draft was made into RoboCop 2 and first draft became the second sequel RoboCop 3 12 260 Weller reprised his role in the Irvin Kershner directed first sequel 261 which was released to mixed reviews and was estimated to have lost money 262 263 RoboCop 3 directed by Fred Dekker was targeted at younger audiences who were driving merchandise sales Robert John Burke replaced Weller in the title role and Allen returned as Anne Lewis for the third and final time in the series 32 37 65 The film was a critical and financial failure 264 A live action television series was released in 1994 but had a poor critical reception and was canceled after 22 episodes Starring Richard Eden as RoboCop the series used aspects of Neumeier and Miner s RoboCop 2 ideas 32 65 93 A second animated series RoboCop Alpha Commando followed in 1998 32 65 Page Fletcher starred as RoboCop in a four part live action miniseries RoboCop Prime Directives 2001 The series set ten years after the events of the first film ignores the events of the sequels 32 65 After years of financial difficulties Orion and the rights to RoboCop were purchased by MGM in the late 1990s 32 265 266 A 2014 reboot of the first film also called RoboCop was directed by Jose Padilha and starred Joel Kinnaman The film received mixed reviews but was a financial success 12 24 267 Verhoeven said that he should be dead before a reboot was attempted and Allen believed that an iconic film should not be remade 37 RoboCop Returns a sequel of RoboCop that ignores the series other films is in development The film is set to be directed by Abe Forsythe who is rewriting a script written by Neumeier Miner and Justin Rhodes 265 268 269 References editNotes edit Attributed to multiple references 12 13 14 15 Attributed to multiple references 10 12 14 17 Attributed to multiple references 12 15 17 20 Attributed to multiple references 12 21 25 26 27 Attributed to multiple references 11 34 35 36 Attributed to multiple references 10 25 26 53 Attributed to multiple references 1 48 59 60 61 Attributed to multiple references 19 45 62 63 Attributed to multiple references 13 21 44 51 The 1987 budget of 13 7 million is equivalent to 36 7 million in 2023 Attributed to multiple references 13 54 75 76 Attributed to multiple references 26 93 94 95 The 1987 box office gross of 53 4 million is equivalent to 143 million in 2023 Attributed to multiple references 116 135 137 138 139 Attributed to multiple references 134 141 140 142 144 The 1988 VHS cost of 89 98 is equivalent to 232 00 in 2023 The VHS sales generated an estimated 24 million equivalent to 61 8 million in 2023 Attributed to multiple references 25 51 65 119 Attributed to multiple references 176 177 178 179 Attributed to multiple references 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 Attributed to multiple references 206 207 208 209 Attributed to multiple references 25 228 229 230 231 Attributed to multiple references 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 193 239 240 Attributed to multiple references 241 242 243 244 245 246 Several publications have listed it as one of the greatest action films of all time 193 239 240 Citations edit a b c d e f g Gallagher Danny July 11 2017 RoboCop The Movie That Blew Up Dallas Filmmaking Turns 30 Dallas Observer Archived from the original on November 11 2020 Retrieved January 14 2021 Burke Block Candace July 7 1987 Actress s Role In RoboCop Will Again Surprise Sun Sentinel Retrieved January 29 2021 Oscar Nominee Dan O Herlihy Dies BBC News February 19 2005 Archived from the original on January 30 2021 Retrieved January 29 2021 Miska Brad September 9 2020 MGM Developing RoboCop Prequel Series Focusing On Villainous Omni VP Dick Jones Bloody Disgusting Archived from the original on January 16 2021 Retrieved January 29 2021 a b c d e Brew Simon October 22 2013 RoboCop Where Are They Now Den of Geek Archived from the original on January 14 2021 Retrieved December 3 2020 a b c d e f RoboCop 1987 British Film Institute Archived from the original on November 24 2020 Retrieved January 11 2021 a b c d Roberson Chris Chan September 30 2017 RoboCop What Does The Cast Look Like Now Comic Book Resources Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved January 11 2021 a b c Parker Ryan July 14 2017 RoboCop Actor s X Rated Death Wasn t Gory Enough For Paul Verhoeven The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved November 24 2020 Iaquinta Chris May 10 2012 OCD RoboCop s Bixby Snyder IGN Archived from the original on June 13 2016 Retrieved January 11 2021 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Abrams Simon February 12 2014 RoboCop The Oral History Esquire Archived from the original on August 21 2020 Retrieved November 24 2020 a b c d e Cohen Ivan February 14 2014 26 Things You Probably Didn t Know About The Original RoboCop Vulture Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved January 15 2021 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Tobias Scott February 13 2014 RoboCop Writer Ed Neumeier Discusses The Film s Origins The Dissolve Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved November 26 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Mancini Vince July 20 2017 RoboCop At 30 An Island Of Dark Satire In A Decade Of Cheerleading Uproxx Archived from the original on September 30 2020 Retrieved November 25 2020 a b c d e f Goldberg 1988 p 22 a b c d e f g h i j Setchfield Nick March 14 2012 The Making Of RoboCop Extended Cut SFX Archived from the original on October 9 2014 Retrieved January 1 2021 a b c d Sammon 1987 p 7 a b c d e Mathews Jack September 1 1987 The Word Is Out Good Writing Still Pays Off Summer Box office Hits Sparkled On Paper Before They Sparkled On The Screen Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Goldberg 1988 pp 22 23 a b c d Technology Issue Extra How Not to Afford a Flying Car Vice November 5 2009 Archived from the original on January 24 2013 Retrieved January 8 2021 a b c Goldberg 1988 pp 23 24 a b c d e f g h i j k l Goldberg 1988 p 25 a b Niderost 1987a p 58 Drake 1987 p 20 a b c Fleming Mike Jr July 11 2018 Neill Blomkamp To Direct New RoboCop For MGM Justin Rhodes Rewriting Sequel Script By Creators Ed Neumeier amp Michael Miner Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on November 9 2020 Retrieved January 28 2021 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Lyttleton Oliver July 17 2012 5 Things You Might Not Know About Paul Verhoeven s RoboCop Released 25 Years Ago Today IndieWire Retrieved December 2 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Warren 1987 p 19 Robey Tim February 7 2014 RoboCop The Bloody Birth Of The Original Film The Dissolve Archived from the original on September 4 2020 Retrieved March 5 2022 Rabin Nathan September 20 2000 Alex Cox The A V Club Archived from the original on September 13 2017 Retrieved December 3 2020 a b Goldberg 1988 pp 23 25 Niderost 1987d pp 36 38 a b c De Semlyen Phil May 16 2016 80s Heroes Michael Ironside Empire Archived from the original on July 18 2016 Retrieved December 2 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hawker Tim February 6 2014 The History Of RoboCop IGN Archived from the original on February 6 2018 Retrieved January 14 2020 a b Peter Weller Explains How He Bullsh ted His Way Into RoboCop Entertainment Weekly September 5 2017 Archived from the original on July 16 2019 Retrieved January 29 2021 Bobbin Jay January 1 1987 Remington Steele Back For Round 2 Orlando Sentinel Archived from the original on December 2 2020 Retrieved January 1 2021 Bark Ed August 12 1986 Brosnan A Series Star Caught In TV s Trap Sun Sentinel Archived from the original on December 2 2020 Retrieved January 1 2021 Jacobs Alexandra November 24 2003 Actress Roles Over 40 It s A Big Fat Zero The New York Observer Archived from the original on April 29 2014 Retrieved January 6 2021 a b c d e f g Spry Jeff February 14 2014 Exclusive RoboCop s Nancy Allen On The Original s Epic Cast Chemistry The Remake And Verhoeven Vs Kershner Syfy Archived from the original on June 24 2020 Retrieved December 2 2020 Kaye Don December 7 2020 How Total Recall Brought a Memorable Villain to Life Den of Geek Archived from the original on February 18 2021 Retrieved September 29 2021 Pockross Adam June 1 2020 Total Recall At 30 Cohaagen Benny amp Johnny Cab Recall Paul Verhoeven s Mind Bending Masterpiece Syfy Wire Archived from the original on April 18 2021 Retrieved September 30 2021 a b c Mills Nancy August 18 1987 Recognizing The Assets Of Recognition Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Pockross Adam June 24 2020 Ronny Cox Only Played Boy Scout Nice Guys Until Paul Verhoeven Turned Him Bad Syfy Archived from the original on October 4 2020 Retrieved January 18 2020 a b Harris Will July 5 2012 Deliverance s Ronny Cox On Robocop Total Recall And The Glory Of Cop Rock The A V Club Archived from the original on November 15 2019 Retrieved December 3 2020 Evans Bradford February 9 2017 The Lost Roles Of Howard Stern Vulture Archived from the original on August 19 2021 Retrieved February 19 2012 a b c RoboCop 1987 AFI Catalog of Feature Films Archived from the original on November 25 2020 Retrieved January 18 2021 a b c d e f g h i j k l Gallagher Danny July 11 2017 Director Paul Verhoeven On RoboCop The Bit Of American Nonsense That Changed His Career Dallas Observer Archived from the original on September 23 2020 Retrieved December 3 2020 Goodman Walter July 17 1987 Film RoboCop Police Drama With Peter Weller The New York Times Archived from the original on September 25 2020 Retrieved January 7 2021 Phillips Keith November 10 1999 Monte Hellman The A V Club Archived from the original on July 7 2012 Retrieved January 8 2021 a b c d e Wilonsky Robert September 8 2017 Robocop Now 30 Is Still The Most Dallas Movie Ever Made Despite Being Set In Detroit The Dallas Morning News Archived from the original on November 11 2020 Retrieved December 3 2020 a b Viladas Pilar November 1 1987 Design In The Movies Good Guys Don t Live In White Boxes In Today s Movies Modern Design Signifies Ambition Money Power and Now Evil Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 a b Bates 1987a p 17 a b c d e f g h i j k l m McKenna Christine July 18 1987 Verhoeven Makes Good With Violence Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 10 2020 Retrieved December 10 2020 Niderost 1987c p 46 a b c Niderost 1987c p 48 a b Niderost 1987a p 61 Collis Clark August 14 2006 RoboCop Collector s Edition Entertainment Weekly Archived from the original on December 9 2017 Retrieved January 14 2021 Bates 1987a pp 17 20 Niderost 1987a p 60 Bates 1987a p 20 Niderost 1987a p 59 a b c d e A Look At RoboCop s Dallas Shooting Locations Shot In 1986 To Current Day 2012 Dallas Film Commission 2012 Archived from the original on June 16 2020 Retrieved January 8 2021 Bates 1987a p 21 King 1986 Gallagher Danny Maschino Brian July 11 2017 RoboCop Versus Reality Looking At Dallas Locations Of The Film s Scenes Dallas Observer Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved December 3 2020 a b c Sammon 1987 p 8 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Taylor Drew February 13 2014 10 Reasons Why The Original RoboCop Can t Be Beaten By The Remake IndieWire Archived from the original on November 2 2020 Retrieved December 3 2020 Sammon 1987 pp 23 38 Warren 1987 p 72 Sammon 1987 p 41 Sammon 1987 pp 8 9 24 Movies Los Angeles Times May 20 1987 Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 a b c d Warren 1987 p 20 RoboCop British Board of Film Classification Archived from the original on January 22 2021 Retrieved January 22 2021 RoboCop Filmtracks com January 30 2004 Archived from the original on August 3 2019 Retrieved February 4 2021 The 80 Greatest Movies Of The 80s Sinfonia of London Archived from the original on November 26 2020 Retrieved February 4 2021 a b Sammon 1987 pp 12 15 Niderost 1987c pp 46 48 a b c d Sammon 1987 p 23 a b c Niderost 1987 p 23 Sammon 1987 pp 23 24 a b 50 Greatest Movie Make Up Effects Page 3 GamesRadar January 21 2013 Archived from the original on February 12 2018 Retrieved January 28 2021 a b c d Sammon 1987 p 39 a b Sammon 1987 p 40 a b Bates 1987a p 23 Sammon 1987 p 32 Sammon 1987 pp 31 32 a b Niderost 1987 pp 20 21 a b c Bates 1987b p 19 Niderost 1987 p 22 Niderost 1987 pp 21 22 Volk Weiss 2021 28 00 a b Niderost 1987 pp 22 23 Sammon 1987 p 27 a b c d Cecchini Mike February 12 2019 RoboCop The Franchise Of Diminishing Returns Den of Geek Archived from the original on May 14 2020 Retrieved January 15 2021 Bates 1987a p 18 Sammon 1987 p 26 Sammon 1987 pp 19 27 Sammon 1987 p 15 Sammon 1987 pp 15 16 a b Bates 1987a p 24 a b c d Bates 1987c p 25 Sammon 1987 p 16 Sammon 1987 pp 16 40 a b Sammon 1987 pp 16 19 Sammon 1987 pp 19 20 Sammon 1987 p 20 Sammon 1987 p 11 Sammon 1987 p 24 Sammon 1987 p 28 Perman Stacy January 3 2020 His props starred in hundreds of Hollywood movies and TV shows Now he s exiting the stage after 42 years The Los Angeles Times Retrieved February 9 2023 Sammon 1987 p 12 a b Sammon 1987 pp 35 36 a b c Mathews Jack April 23 1987 Cop Sequel Is Hottest Prospect For Summer Of 87 Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 9 2020 Retrieved December 9 2020 Broeske Pat H June 8 1987 Summer Screams The Invasion Begins See Superheroics Thrill To Mutants And Monsters Marvel At Technology Gone Mad Cringe At Fiendish Aliens Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 9 2020 Retrieved December 9 2020 a b Harmetz Aljean September 9 1987 Summer Movies Set A Record The New York Times Archived from the original on April 25 2019 Retrieved January 1 2021 a b c Maslin Janet September 13 1987 Film View Summer s Portents Of Money And Sex The New York Times Archived from the original on November 2 2017 Retrieved January 1 2021 a b c Maslin Janet August 2 1987 Film View Summer Serves Up Its Sleepers The New York Times Archived from the original on January 1 2021 Retrieved January 1 2021 Mathews Jack July 7 1987 Always Expecting The Very Best From Stanley Kubrick Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 9 2020 Retrieved December 9 2020 Goldstein Patrick Pecchia David August 9 1987 The Buzz Biza Look At The Word On This Summer s Movies Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k Mathews Jack July 21 1987 The Marketing Of A Mechanical Hero Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 24 2020 Retrieved December 24 2020 a b Murray Noel December 11 2009 Miguel Ferrer The A V Club Archived from the original on August 12 2020 Retrieved December 3 2020 RoboCop 1987 British Board of Film Classification Archived from the original on November 29 2020 Retrieved January 22 2021 a b c d RoboCop 1987 Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on February 9 2021 Retrieved February 9 2021 a b c d RoboCop 1987 The Numbers Archived from the original on February 9 2021 Retrieved February 9 2021 a b Domestic 1987 Weekend 29 Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on January 7 2021 Retrieved January 6 2021 Weekend Box Office Los Angeles Times July 21 1987 Archived from the original on January 1 2021 Retrieved January 1 2021 Movies Los Angeles Times July 22 1987 Archived from the original on January 1 2021 Retrieved January 1 2021 Domestic 1987 Weekend 30 Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on December 14 2020 Retrieved January 6 2021 RoboCop Is No 1 Film Again At The Box Office The New York Times Associated Press July 29 1987 Archived from the original on November 18 2018 Retrieved January 5 2021 Domestic 1987 Weekend 31 Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on January 9 2021 Retrieved January 6 2021 Domestic Box Office For 1987 Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved January 6 2021 a b Cieply Michael August 29 1987 Odd Script To Summer Film Season Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Orion Pictures Corp Announced A Turnaround With Los Angeles Times January 14 1988 Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Cinemascore CinemaScore Archived from the original on August 9 2019 Retrieved August 9 2019 a b c d Rickey Carrie July 17 1987 A Clash Of Futuristic Cops And Robber Barons The Philadelphia Inquirer Archived from the original on September 22 2015 Retrieved January 8 2020 a b c Howe Desson July 17 1987 RoboCop R The Washington Post Archived from the original on July 5 2020 Retrieved January 8 2020 a b c d e f g Kempley Rita July 17 1987 RoboCop R The Washington Post Archived from the original on March 30 2016 Retrieved January 8 2020 a b c d Ebert Roger July 17 1987 RoboCop RogerEbert com Archived from the original on November 30 2020 Retrieved January 8 2020 RoboCop Time Out Archived from the original on December 5 2020 Retrieved January 8 2020 a b c d e Graham Pat 1987 RoboCop Chicago Reader Archived from the original on December 31 2015 Retrieved January 8 2020 a b c Sterritt David July 24 1987 Freeze Frames The Christian Science Monitor Archived from the original on September 29 2020 Retrieved January 8 2020 a b c d Wilmington Michael July 17 1987 Movie Reviews High Marks For High Tech And High Style RoboCop Ferocious Touch Of High energy Cleverness Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on July 25 2020 Retrieved January 1 2021 a b c d Kehr Dave July 17 1987 RoboCop Packs Little Power In Its Action Punch Chicago Tribune Archived from the original on July 25 2020 Retrieved January 1 2021 RoboCop Variety January 1 1987 Archived from the original on April 10 2007 Retrieved January 8 2020 a b Goodman Walter August 16 1987 Film View Prankster Pals The Appeal Never Ages The New York Times Archived from the original on November 4 2017 Retrieved January 1 2021 The 59th Academy Awards 1987 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Archived from the original on January 4 2021 Retrieved January 9 2021 Merchan George December 14 2010 Cool Videos The Oscars Pee Wee Herman And RoboCop JoBlo com Archived from the original on December 16 2010 Retrieved February 17 2022 Maslin Janet April 13 1988 Review Television An Identity Crisis For The Oscars The New York Times Archived from the original on March 8 2016 Retrieved February 17 2022 Film Nominations 1988 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Archived from the original on February 28 2008 Retrieved January 9 2021 Film Awards SaturnAwards org Archived from the original on February 7 2008 Retrieved November 5 2020 RoboCop Leads In Nominations For Saturn Awards Associated Press April 7 1988 Archived from the original on January 9 2021 Retrieved January 9 2021 a b Nixon s New Bodyguard Billboard Nielsen Business Media Inc December 26 1987 p 58 Retrieved January 2 2024 a b Hunt Dennis January 8 1988 At 89 95 Beverly Hills Cop II Is No Steal HBO Vestron Still Battling Over Platoon Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Hunt Dennis December 16 1988 A Tiny Step For Super VHS In A Big Market Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 O Conner Patricia T January 31 1988 Home Video New Releases The New York Times Archived from the original on February 1 2018 Retrieved January 1 2021 Voland John February 18 1988 Video Charts Rental Deja Vu Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Hunt Dennis March 17 1988 Video Charts Cop Out Hill Climbs Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Hunt Dennis February 5 1988 Cassette Supply Not Meeting Demand Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Jagernauth Kevin July 17 2014 Happy Birthday RoboCop Listen To Paul Verhoeven s DVD Commentary Plus Watch Siskel amp Ebert Review IndieWire Retrieved January 11 2021 a b c Gilchrist Todd October 16 2007 Double Dip Digest RoboCop IGN Archived from the original on September 10 2020 Retrieved January 14 2020 RoboCop The Criterion Collection IGN December 7 1999 Archived from the original on January 14 2021 Retrieved January 14 2021 Drawbaugh Ben August 14 2006 What Happend sic To RoboCop On Blu ray Engadget Archived from the original on January 14 2021 Retrieved January 14 2021 Sony To RoboCop You re Terminated Hi Def Digest August 13 2006 Archived from the original on September 26 2020 Retrieved January 14 2021 a b Bracke Peter October 10 2007 RoboCop Hi Def Digest Archived from the original on September 24 2020 Retrieved January 14 2021 RoboCop Blu ray Blu ray com Archived from the original on February 19 2022 Retrieved February 19 2022 McCutcheon David August 31 2010 Robocop s Trilogy In HD IGN Archived from the original on January 14 2021 Retrieved January 14 2021 Shaffer R L October 22 2010 RoboCop Trilogy Blu ray Review IGN Archived from the original on January 14 2021 Retrieved January 14 2021 MGM Announces Year Long 90th Anniversary Celebration ComicMix January 22 2014 Retrieved January 4 2022 RoboCop Ultra HD Blu ray booklet Arrow Video 2022 AV430 Reuben Michael January 4 2014 RoboCop Blu ray Review Blu ray com Retrieved January 4 2022 Squires John August 30 2019 Arrow Bringing Original RoboCop To Blu ray In US amp UK With Brand New Bonus Features Bloody Disgusting Archived from the original on November 7 2020 Retrieved January 14 2021 Bowen Chuck December 5 2019 Review Paul Verhoeven s RoboCop Gets An Arrow Video Blu ray Steelbook Slant Magazine Archived from the original on September 21 2020 Retrieved January 14 2021 Duarte M Enois April 3 2022 RoboCop 4K Ultra HD Blu Ray Limited Edition Hi Def Digest Archived from the original on May 19 2022 Retrieved October 19 2022 Arrigo Anthony May 24 2022 RoboCop 4K Review I d Buy That For More Than A Dollar Dread Central Archived from the original on June 26 2022 Retrieved October 19 2022 a b c Jasper Gavin January 22 2018 The History Of RoboCop Comics Den of Geek Archived from the original on October 30 2020 Retrieved January 15 2021 RoboCop NPR Archived from the original on January 13 2021 Retrieved February 1 2021 Nicholson Max October 23 2013 NECA Unveils NES RoboCop Action Figure IGN Archived from the original on February 15 2019 Retrieved January 31 2021 Schedeen Jesse May 31 2013 RoboCop Is Back At Hot Toys IGN Archived from the original on June 8 2013 Retrieved January 31 2021 Moser Cassidee June 1 2015 Battle Damaged RoboCop And Alex Murphy Figure Set Announced By Hot Toys IGN Archived from the original on December 14 2015 Retrieved January 31 2021 a b Allan Scoot September 17 2019 10 Gifts For Fans Of RoboCop Screen Rant Archived from the original on September 23 2019 Retrieved February 1 2021 Saathoff Evan December 2 2014 Book Review RoboCop The Definitive History Birth Movies Death Archived from the original on December 1 2020 Retrieved February 1 2021 Lussier Germain October 20 2014 See RoboCop Behind the Scenes Photos From New Official Book Film Archived from the original on June 13 2017 Retrieved February 1 2021 Colburn Randall November 30 2017 The Enduring Appeal Of RoboCop For Game Boy s Sad Shimmering Theme Song The A V Club Archived from the original on June 9 2020 Retrieved January 15 2021 Clark Krystal February 10 2014 Man Vs Machine Why 1987 s RoboCop Was Awesome Then And Is Iconic Now Syfy Archived from the original on November 11 2020 Retrieved January 31 2021 Robertson 2008 pp 219 220 Riseman Abraham February 9 2017 30 Years Later RoboCop Is More Relevant Than Ever Vulture Archived from the original on December 25 2020 Retrieved February 1 2021 a b Leary John Patrick June 2 2014 Austerity Economics Is Like A Kick In The Groin Guernica Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved January 31 2021 Leader 1996 pp 27 29 a b c Landon 1987 p 20 Bradley 2008 p 16 Bradley 2008 p 17 Zizek 1992 p 22 Joy Oliver July 25 2013 RoboCop Creator Detroit Shows The Film s Fictional Future Is Upon Us Detroit Free Press Archived from the original on November 11 2020 Retrieved January 31 2020 a b c The 25 Greatest Action Films Ever Entertainment Weekly Archived from the original on February 21 2009 Retrieved January 29 2021 Ebert Roger November 5 1993 RoboCop 3 RogerEbert com Archived from the original on March 16 2016 Retrieved January 8 2021 Niderost 1987d p 36 Tobias Scott June 1 2020 Total Recall at 30 A Thrilling Reminder Of Paul Verhoeven At His Best The Guardian Archived from the original on September 29 2021 Retrieved November 6 2021 Gilchrist Todd June 28 2012 Why RoboCop Total Recall Villain Ronny Cox Hates Remakes Those Films Hold Up Pretty Damn Well The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on March 1 2017 Retrieved December 3 2020 Blaine Lucas November 20 2020 RoboCop Needs A New Video Game Comic Book Resources Archived from the original on January 4 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 Wold Scott et al June 17 2021 The 100 Greatest Movie Robots Of All Time Paste Archived from the original on December 2 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Fillani Alessandro May 7 2020 Mortal Kombat 11 s Next DLC Character Is RoboCop Reprised By Original Actor Peter Weller GameSpot Archived from the original on November 22 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Tatum Jasmine January 31 2014 Promo The Trailer Breakdown of the New RoboCop Complex Archived from the original on June 6 2014 Retrieved February 6 2022 Knight Rosie November 7 2017 9 Perfect Practical Effects Moments From The Films Of Paul Verhoeven Nerdist Archived from the original on November 4 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Sciretta Peter April 24 2014 Cool Stuff Hot Toys RoboCop ED 209 Sixth Scale Figure Film Archived from the original on February 6 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 Orbesen James February 20 2014 The RoboCop Rule When Remakes Have More Killing But Less Gore The Atlantic Archived from the original on January 24 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Blaine Lucas July 15 2021 Four Things RoboCop Rogue City Can Do To Please Fans Comic Book Resources Archived from the original on February 6 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 McCormick Colin July 20 2021 Yippee Ki Yay 10 Best Action Movie Catchphrases Of All Time Ranked Screen Rant Archived from the original on July 30 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Chacksfield Marc March 15 2021 30 Action Hero One liners The Best Action Hero Quotes ShortList Archived from the original on January 10 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 Child Ben July 9 2012 Has RoboCop Remake Malfunctioned By Rebuilding ED 209 The Guardian Archived from the original on April 10 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Draven Derek July 29 2021 RoboCop The 15 Funniest Quotes From The 1987 Film Screen Rant Archived from the original on February 2 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 McFarland Kevin March 5 2012 Family Guy Burning Down The Bayit The A V Club Archived from the original on February 6 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 Fowler Matt August 6 2015 Top 10 It s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Episodes IGN Archived from the original on May 25 2016 Retrieved February 6 2022 Red Dwarf IV The Chaos Continues On DVD In February BBC News January 9 2004 Archived from the original on December 3 2018 Retrieved February 6 2022 Longo Chris October 30 2019 South Park Ranking The Best Halloween Episodes Den of Geek Archived from the original on April 29 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Stubbs Dan February 5 2021 The Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror XXXI Recap Toy Story Parodied The Simpsons Go CGI And Homer Is An Anti masker NME Archived from the original on February 6 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 Harrison Mark September 5 2014 15 Hidden Gems From The Last 15 Years Of The Simpsons Den of Geek Archived from the original on September 9 2020 Retrieved February 6 2022 Sheppard Rob October 30 2017 Why The Hot Shots Movies Are the Last Great Spoofs Den of Geek Archived from the original on February 25 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Reisman Abraham March 28 2018 Here Are All the References In Ready Player One Vulture Archived from the original on January 3 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 Spector Warren December 6 2000 Postmortem Ion Storm s Deus Ex Game Developer Archived from the original on January 11 2022 Retrieved February 6 2022 Misra Ria February 12 2014 Was Deus Ex Human Revolution A Re Imagining Of RoboCop Gizmodo Archived from the original on July 13 2021 Retrieved February 6 2022 Gill Patrick March 27 2020 7 Unlikely Inspirations For Doom Eternal Polygon Archived from the original on April 18 2020 Retrieved February 1 2021 Yin Poole Wesley May 6 2020 Mortal Kombat 11 Is Getting Story DLC And Three New Playable Characters Including RoboCop Eurogamer Archived from the original on May 28 2020 Retrieved January 31 2021 Rossen Jake February 22 2017 An Oral History Of Nintendo s Power Glove Mental Floss Archived from the original on December 1 2020 Retrieved February 1 2021 Weiss Josh February 21 2019 RoboCop Is KFC s New Colonel And He ll Kill You If You Ask About The Secret Recipe Syfy Archived from the original on November 8 2020 Retrieved February 4 2021 Stanley T L March 16 2020 RoboCop A Ninja Turtle And A Transformer Are All Back In Action To Sell Insurance Adweek Archived from the original on March 22 2020 Retrieved February 1 2021 Miska Brad July 18 2019 RoboDoc The Creation Of RoboCop Sneak Peek Recounts The Death Of Murphy Video Bloody Disgusting Archived from the original on November 26 2020 Retrieved January 15 2021 Miska Brad July 18 2017 Peter Weller Refused To Partake In This Awesome RoboCop Documentary Bloody Disgusting Archived from the original on May 11 2020 Retrieved January 15 2021 Pirrello Phil August 28 2023 RoboDoc The Creation Of RoboCop Sneak Peek Celebrates The Amazing Special Effects Team Exclusive Collider Archived from the original on August 28 2023 Retrieved February 1 2021 Suebsaeng Asawin August 29 2013 Behind The Saga To Bring A Giant RoboCop Statue To Detroit Mother Jones Archived from the original on August 5 2020 Retrieved January 31 2021 Hinds Julie January 14 2020 Detroit s RoboCopStatue A Magnificent Obsession For 9 Years Now Is Nearly Done Detroit Free Press Archived from the original on December 9 2020 Retrieved January 31 2021 Hertzfeld Laura April 4 2012 Detroit Getting RoboCop Statue Entertainment Weekly Archived from the original on December 6 2020 Retrieved January 29 2021 Rubin Neal January 21 2022 Detroit s RoboCop Has Been Moved And He s Almost Ready For His Close Up The Detroit News Archived from the original on January 22 2022 Retrieved February 23 2022 Burgin Michael November 13 2018 The 100 Best Sci Fi Movies Of All Time Paste Archived from the original on April 30 2020 Retrieved October 1 2020 Top 100 Sci Fi Movies IGN Archived from the original on October 21 2020 Retrieved October 1 2020 Fischer Russ The 50 Greatest Sci Fi Films Of All Time Thrillist Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved January 29 2021 Travis Ben White James May 27 2020 The 50 Greatest Sci Fi Movies Empire Archived from the original on July 27 2020 Retrieved October 1 2020 Shepherd Jack 2020 The 30 Best Sci fi Movies Of All Time GamesRadar Archived from the original on September 25 2020 Retrieved October 1 2020 150 Essential Sci Fi Movies To Watch Now Rotten Tomatoes Archived from the original on September 26 2020 Retrieved October 1 2020 Anders Charlie Jane October 19 2015 50 Brilliant Science Fiction Movies That Everyone Should See At Least Once io9 Archived from the original on January 26 2021 Retrieved February 1 2021 a b Rothkopf Joshua Huddleston Tom April 5 2019 The 101 Best Action Movies Ever Made Time Out Archived from the original on April 18 2020 Retrieved June 22 2020 a b The 60 Best Action Movies Empire October 1 2016 Archived from the original on November 23 2018 Retrieved June 22 2020 The 80 Greatest Movies Of The 80s Consequence of Sound July 2 2019 Archived from the original on October 7 2020 Retrieved October 7 2020 Chacksfield Marc September 9 2020 Best 80s Movies The Greatest Films Of The 1980s ShortList Archived from the original on July 5 2019 Retrieved October 7 2020 de Semlyen Phil Nugent John Thrower Emma White James Williams Owen Jolin Dan May 11 2016 The 80 Best 80s Movies 39 1 Empire Archived from the original on July 6 2019 Retrieved October 7 2020 Barone Matt Gallagher Brendan Topscher Greg Serafino Jason Wood Jennifer Monroe Justin Scarano Ross Aquino Tara February 16 2018 The 50 Best 80s Movies Complex Archived from the original on February 3 2021 Retrieved January 29 2021 Pirrello Phil March 8 2019 The Best 80s Sci Fi Movies Collider Archived from the original on January 13 2020 Retrieved February 1 2021 Banks Alec 2020 68 Classic 80s Movies Every Highsnobiety Reader Should See Highsnobiety Archived from the original on October 7 2020 Retrieved October 7 2020 RoboCop 1987 Rotten Tomatoes Archived from the original on January 30 2021 Retrieved November 15 2023 nbsp 200 Essential Movies To Watch Now Rotten Tomatoes Archived from the original on December 16 2019 Retrieved January 29 2021 200 Essential Movies To Watch Now Rotten Tomatoes Archived from the original on January 29 2021 Retrieved January 29 2021 RoboCop 1987 Metacritic Archived from the original on January 30 2021 Retrieved February 9 2021 The Best 1 000 Movies Ever Made The New York Times April 29 2003 Archived from the original on July 22 2016 Retrieved May 22 2010 The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time Empire October 3 2008 Archived from the original on November 6 2016 Retrieved May 2 2020 Knight Rosie January 8 2019 Captain Marvel Directors On How The Original RoboCop Inspired Their Film Nerdist com Archived from the original on January 31 2019 Retrieved February 1 2021 Newby Richard June 2 2018 How Upgrade Stands On The Shoulders Of RoboCop The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on January 25 2021 Retrieved February 1 2021 RoboCop The Criterion Collection Archived from the original on February 6 2021 Retrieved April 20 2021 Fowler Matt April 18 2020 James Gunn Recommends 54 Action Movies To Cure The Quarantine Blues IGN Archived from the original on June 17 2020 Retrieved June 17 2020 Goldberg 1988 pp 25 72 First Off Los Angeles Times August 7 1987 Archived from the original on January 1 2021 Retrieved January 1 2021 Klady Leonard November 1 1987 Sequels A Follow Up Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on December 31 2020 Retrieved December 31 2020 Goldberg 1988 p 72 Renyolds Andrew May 21 2013 Looking back At RoboCop 2 Den of Geek Archived from the original on October 26 2020 Retrieved January 28 2021 RoboCop 2 Archived from the original on January 28 2021 Retrieved October 6 2021 Fabrikant Geraldine August 13 1990 The Media Business Orion Sees Its Financial Star Fade The New York Times Archived from the original on February 21 2017 Retrieved April 20 2021 Lambie Ryan September 26 2012 10 Remarkable Things About RoboCop 3 Den of Geek Archived from the original on November 12 2020 Retrieved January 28 2021 a b Kit Borys November 20 2019 Robocop Returns Lands Little Monsters Director Abe Forsythe Exclusive The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on November 20 2020 Retrieved January 28 2021 MGM To Get Orion Assets United Press International July 10 1997 Archived from the original on January 28 2021 Retrieved January 28 2021 Birrell Mark June 3 2020 5 Reasons Why RoboCop 2014 Isn t As Bad As People Say It Is amp 5 Reasons It Is Screen Rant Archived from the original on June 29 2020 Retrieved January 28 2021 Turney Drew September 1 2020 Screenwriter Ed Neumeier On Disguising Tougher Issues Behind Genre And RoboCop Returns Future Syfy Archived from the original on October 23 2020 Retrieved January 28 2021 Chilton Louis November 21 2019 New RoboCop Movie Will Be A Direct Sequel To The Original Radio Times Archived from the original on August 16 2021 Retrieved March 16 2022 Works cited edit Bates Dan December 1987a On Location With The Cast amp Crew of RoboCop Cinefantastique Vol 18 no 1 Forest Park Illinois Fourth Castle Micromedia pp 16 25 Retrieved January 20 2021 Bates Dan December 1987b The Making of RoboCop Cinefantastique Vol 18 no 1 Forest Park Illinois Fourth Castle Micromedia p 19 Retrieved January 20 2021 Bates Dan December 1987c The Making of ED 209 Cinefantastique Vol 18 no 1 Forest Park Illinois Fourth Castle Micromedia p 25 Retrieved January 20 2021 Bradley Dale September 2008 The Return Of The Repressed Cybersubjectivity In RoboCop PDF Invisible Culture An Electronic Journal for Visual Culture 10 Rochester New York University of Rochester Retrieved January 31 2021 Drake C V December 1987 Producer Jon Davison Cinefantastique Vol 18 no 1 Forest Park Illinois Fourth Castle Micromedia p 20 Retrieved January 20 2021 Goldberg Lee February 1988 RoboWriters Starlog No 127 United States Starlog Group Inc pp 22 25 72 Retrieved November 26 2020 King Peter B October 29 1986 Hollywood Turns To Monessen Steel Plant In Filming RoboCop The Pittsburgh Press p C6 Retrieved January 19 2021 Landon Brooks December 1987 A Cyberpunk Future Cinefantastique Vol 18 no 1 Forest Park Illinois Fourth Castle Micromedia p 22 Retrieved January 20 2021 Leader Darian 1996 Why Do Women Write More Letters Than They Post London Faber amp Faber pp 27 28 ISBN 978 0 571 17619 9 Niderost Eric April 1987a On The Beat With Robocop Starlog No 117 United States Starlog Group Inc pp 58 61 Retrieved January 15 2021 Niderost Eric August 1987 Robocop Rob Fangoria No 66 Atlanta Georgia Fangoria Publishing LLC pp 20 23 Archived from the original on May 21 2022 Retrieved January 14 2021 Niderost Eric August 1987c Peter Weller Code Name RoboCop Starlog No 121 United States Starlog Group Inc pp 45 48 Retrieved January 14 2021 Niderost Eric September 1987d War Remembrance and RoboCop Starlog No 122 United States Starlog Group Inc pp 36 39 Retrieved January 14 2021 Robertson Michael September 2008 Property And Privatisation In RoboCop International Journal of Law in Context 4 3 Cambridge England Cambridge University Press 217 235 doi 10 1017 S1744552308003029 S2CID 144031924 Sammon Paul M November 1987 Shooting RoboCop Cinefex No 32 United States ISSN 0198 1056 Archived from the original on March 4 2022 Retrieved January 23 2021 Volk Weiss Brian October 12 2021 RoboCop The Movies That Made Us Television production Season 3 Episode 4 a title, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.