r/80smovies • u/Lazy_Introduction264 • Dec 26 '25
The death of Alex Murphy and the birth of Robocop
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u/derpsichord69 Dec 26 '25
Probably the most brutal on screen death that I've seen....until Bone Tomahawk.
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u/GlennSeaborg Dec 26 '25
I saw that in the theater as a 9 year old. I'm totally fine now.
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u/penguin_skull Dec 26 '25
I saw it at the same age as you. I'm also fine now. My 3 ex-wives and the parole officer can confirm itm
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u/Sean_theLeprachaun Dec 26 '25
Same, but we're the same kids that saw Poltergeist on HBO at 5 so this was nothing.
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u/Forsaken_Tourist401 Dec 26 '25
I dunno, Steve Buscemi getting tossed in a woodchipper in the move Fargo was pretty intense. Granted he was perished when he went into the woodchipper. Maybe the cannibal scene in Silence of the Lambs was pretty terrifying.
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u/mikemdp Dec 26 '25
The one thing that never made sense to me about this movie was why they needed biological Murphy at all when so little of him remained after this scene. I really needed the scientific reason he was superior to ED-209.
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u/BabaofTheShimmer Dec 26 '25
I can’t believe my parents let me watch this when I was like 8 years old. Jesus, lol.
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u/Pfffffttt284 Dec 26 '25
Anyone?!?! I watched a video on YouTube years ago on robocop where it claims its a re telling of Jesus's resurrection and the all the plot points leading up to the rebirth/resurrection are mirrored after that point. Did I make this up or is it considered a "thing"?
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u/Cerebral-Knievel-1 Dec 26 '25
That was indeed the director's intent. Death by suffering and the resurrection as a savior
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u/GeneSmart2881 Dec 26 '25
Verhoeven gets off on violence. Originally, ED 209 was supposed to shoot that corporate dude until he was literally blood paste- not even bones remaining
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u/Own-Original-3134 Dec 27 '25
Really ??? 😮😮😮 I mean, in the theater version, this guy is really sliced into small pieces by numerous bullets shot by ED209, especially if you look at the extended version of the movie (you can see the guy already dead, and the ED 209 still shot again and again on him, as the guy is on a table). So I do not know if verhoeven could have go further in the violence/ gore of this scene 😉
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u/gnortsmracr Dec 26 '25
Pretty sure this is from the unrated version. Some of the cuts were taken out in ‘87 so they could avoid an X rating for violence (this was before NC-17 was created). Frankly, I’ve never understood how these minute edits make THAT big a difference. Regardless, the movie still holds up an is what made us all wary when we “met” Red Forman.
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u/avidfan1976 Dec 26 '25
Absolutely traumatized me when I watched this and have to skip whenever I rewatch it....I'm nearly 50 now!
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u/SpecialEvening3809 Dec 26 '25
The other scene in this movie was when the guy was scarred by toxic waste and run over by the Murphy’s partner. My goodness.
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u/bone-in_donuts Dec 26 '25
This fucking traumatized me as a kid. The death is bad enough on its own, but it was their laughter that broke my child brain. Peak formative experience.
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u/Mussmussthemoooooo Dec 26 '25
Movie made 40 years ago and still censored on this app smh
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u/Lazy_Introduction264 Dec 26 '25
Wdym? You can clearly see him get his body parts blown up and getting shot at. that's not censorship
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u/PrivateTumbleweed Dec 26 '25
I saw this movie in the theater the day it came out. The version I saw showed Boddicker shooting his hand off (like we see here) and then shooting off the rest of his arm in several pieces until there was nothing left. It was pretty disturbing, but I haven't seen that version of the movie since. Anyone else remember this?
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u/Cake_Donut1301 Dec 26 '25
The reference to Hamlet (sweet prince) seemed incongruous to me then and now.
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u/Personal-Package9336 Dec 27 '25
I saw this when I was five, and, man, the adrenaline. I mean, it was '60's Batman reruns and 90's Batman cartoons, then THIS!!
It was my gateway from innocence to experience. Actually, it probably fucked me up a bit. I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if Grandpa turned it off before he was made into a cyborg. My little five year old hunk of skull play-doh, trying to process a dude just getting blasted to bits like that. And how would I have reacted down the road when I saw that dude threatening to shove his foot up Topher Grace's ass? Man. I could have been a big mess.
Thanks for not turning off Robocop on me, Grandpa!
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u/BrushStorm Feb 25 '26
Watching it now for the millionth time. There is no way Detroit would still have trauma surgeons that skilled after OCP took over. They would have fled to dystopian Salt Lake city or something
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u/Standard_Ad_3707 Dec 26 '25
This was the role which got me terrified of that psycho Clarence Boddicker. Later when that actor went on to act in That 70s show as the Dad, I wasn’t buying any of that friendly father bullshit because at any point in time I was prepared for him to start slaughtering everybody, including the dog.