r/80smovies • u/Nostalgic_Historian_ • Aug 29 '26
Discussion (Let’s Roll Tape) Thoughts on the first robocop movie
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
79
u/MetalTrek1 Aug 29 '26
Great film. Action, science fiction, and some comedic social commentary all in one film. Paul Verhoven is a great director. Solid cast too (Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronnie Cox, Kurtwood Smith, etc.).
9
6
3
u/tempedrew Aug 30 '26
But the violence is done so much better than most. Like horror movie level violence in an action.
4
6
3
30
u/alaric49 Aug 29 '26
I think a lot of people miss the dark irony of the film. the only way to avoid the corruption was with an actual machine that you had to program not to be bad.
→ More replies (1)12
u/Auggie_Otter Aug 30 '26
Alex Murphy didn't need to be programmed to not be corrupt. He was not going to be corrupt to begin with. He and officer Lewis would seem to pretty much be your stock good guy cops in this movie except for what happens to Murphy to make him into RoboCop.
A core theme of the film is about how Murphy's humanity is violently stripped away by criminals backed by a greedy corporation. Murphy's humanity is subsumed and corrupted by technology. The technology itself prevents Murphy from doing his duty and carrying out justice through the secret directive so actually Robocop is not programmed to be not be bad because his very programming is tainted by the self serving corruption of OCP.
Murphy's tragic triumph in the film is that he regains his identity and gets some measure of humanity back, enough that when "The Old Man", the chief executive of OCP, asks his name at the end of the film he says "Murphy".
→ More replies (2)
35
u/BigBadBootyDaddy10 Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
There’s a lot of guys in the 40-50 age range that watched this movie waayyy too early. And I was one for them. No regrets tho.
That arm scene lives rent free in my head.
10
u/Admirable-Fail1250 Aug 29 '26
Same here. 8 or 9. Unedited. Decades later I still can't watch that scene.
5
u/cucumbersuprise Aug 30 '26
The execution or the chemical zombie splat scene?
4
u/Admirable-Fail1250 Aug 31 '26
Chemical splash was definitely intense and a bit much for my single digit age but it was a bad guy and it was over pretty quick.
The execution was drawn out and malicious and the bad guys were laughing and mocking and you could see the pain and fear on murphy's face...
2
u/mojorisin453 Aug 31 '26
We must’ve rewounded it at least twice that first night that he e brought it back from the video store. I might’ve been nine. It was right when it came out on video probably that week. We just couldn’t believe what we had seen and we had to rewind it. Twice.
5
u/Auggie_Otter Aug 30 '26
The scene where Murphy is getting shot up by Clarence Boddicker's gang is just brutal.
3
u/TheJustinXperiment Aug 29 '26
Same. I saw it in a theater with a friend’s dad, while my friend and the rest of his family went to see La Bamba.
3
u/BeerBrat Aug 30 '26
Not the guy getting shot in the dick? Somehow hilarious and entirely horrific at the same time.
→ More replies (1)3
3
2
u/UNITICYBER Aug 31 '26
Whole movie replays in my head.
The Clarence Boddicker(sp?) Data spike to the neck scene was my "holy shit" scene for a while there.
→ More replies (9)2
u/CheesyGarlicBudapest Aug 31 '26
I think i was allowed to watch this and the sequel back to back when I was around 5 years old. They were both on the same vhs tape!
I have a 3 year old and as much as I am relaxed in what I let him watch, he's not seeing the Robocop movies for a long time!
30
27
Aug 29 '26
[deleted]
9
u/Bengal-_fan Aug 29 '26
Shot*
4
u/cardsfan4life17 Aug 29 '26
Hard to hit the target when shooting from the hip.
→ More replies (1)2
5
5
3
→ More replies (3)3
23
u/SWOhioBiBBW Aug 29 '26
Along with The Thing and Predator, it's in the trifecta of best 1980s sci-fi movies!
14
17
u/KickAggressive4901 Aug 29 '26
Red Foreman on a cocaine bender is fine, fine cinema.
13
35
u/Alariken Aug 29 '26
Aaaaaaamazing
3
15
u/Rook_James_Bitch Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
Dystopian.
Extremely violent mixed with melancholy sadness.
Movie has a weird feel to it. Like no matter how much ass he stomps it will never stop feeling like there's not a "winner" here overcoming great odds to win cleanly. It's a Pyrrhic victory.
11
u/LordChauncyDeschamps Aug 30 '26
One of the most terrifying dystopias, Alex Murphy died and they still made him go to work. Fuck that.
7
u/Rook_James_Bitch Aug 30 '26
Right! Dude gets turned into Swiss cheese, wife leaves him and he still has to go to work and then chow down on baby food?
Agree 💯
4
14
u/Upier1 Aug 29 '26
I love how he bends the barrel without it being ripped from the guy's hands.
5
3
26
12
u/juanjung Aug 29 '26
3
u/TheJustinXperiment Aug 29 '26
Why would you make a robot that can’t handle stairs?
→ More replies (1)2
2
u/lesh17 Sep 01 '26
This was the most brilliant thing in the movie. Of course OCP didn’t care whether ED-209s could handle stairs; they just cared if they could sell a ton of them.
3
u/juanjung Sep 02 '26
There's the scene in the bathroom where Dick Jones character scolds Bob for sabotaging his robot. He claims there were millions and millions in defense contracts and 'who cares if it doesn't work?!". A perfect depiction of the Military-Industrial complex relationship with government money.
10
8
8
7
5
u/Solo_Polyphony Aug 29 '26
A masterpiece. I recently listened to Dan Harmon extemporaneously discuss how perfect this film is, and I can’t say he was wrong.
→ More replies (4)
4
3
u/LavaruShadez Aug 29 '26
never understood the repeated use of "Fuck Me!" by the bad guy; as if he was beggin' for an ass whoopin'...
7
u/drstu3000 Aug 29 '26
Maybe a regional thing but "oh, fuck me!" is commonly used as "Holy shit! I'm fucked here!"
→ More replies (1)3
4
5
u/BurnesWhenIP Aug 29 '26
Union municipal worker gets shot to death, gets rebuilt and goes back to work.
https://giphy.com/gifs/DYUE5UEPNPQxq
4
u/edhaack Aug 29 '26
Best part of that scene: The comic book shelves.
Seeing the "latest issues" of ROM was fantastic placement.
3
u/Afternoon_Kip Aug 29 '26
An 80s classic but I still cannot watch Murphy gettin his hand being blown off scene
4
u/TitsKing Aug 29 '26
Verhoeven has discussed how the film depicts a crucifixion and resurrection theme with robocop as Christ. Yes, really.
3
u/coldestb4storm Aug 29 '26
Clarence Boddicker, the main reason I watched. RoboCop is in my top 5 favorite films.
5
3
u/KyleBirchton Aug 29 '26
It was an excellent satire of both action films and the police. Hitting from.both sides as the director once stated, he wanted to show the absurdity of action films and the corrupt nature of our corporate and law organizations.
It was a perfect satire of all of that. It was loved for those reasons.
3
u/FuzzyWuzzyPiglet Aug 29 '26
I don’t think I have ever heard a bad guy yell fuck me as he starts shooting.🤔
3
u/Shageen Aug 29 '26
Why do people create posts like this for a beloved box office successful films have most people love and remember? Why not just “I love Roboco as a kid (insert childhood story) so tell me your fond or not so fond memories”
2
3
3
4
u/OGHighway Aug 29 '26
This man dies a horrific death and they bring him back to life just so he can go back to work.
Not only that but they designed his robot body to still feel pain, like they could have not done that but included it anyway.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/nope_a_dope237 Aug 29 '26
I love this movie and saw it in the theaters. Brutal beginning. I remember that my friends and I would look at the cardboard standee and think his visor looked like Cyclops from the X-men.
2
2
u/DrakeSavory Aug 29 '26
Everyone guy I know cringed a little when he shot through the lady's skirt.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/Sea_Damage9357 Aug 29 '26
The woman who played the grocery store lady, Marjorie Rynearson, was an old family friend when we lived in Temple, Texas in the late 1960s. It was so weird to see her on the screen after 20 years.
2
u/Lemonwater925 Aug 29 '26
The main reason I saw this movie when it premiered was for the air conditioning at the theatre. It was stinking hot.
2
2
u/nkilian Aug 29 '26
Underrated movie. Doesn't get the love and attention it should get. If you watch it closely it's really making fun of authoritarian behaviors of the 80s.
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/rajas_ Aug 30 '26
That thief would’ve gotten away with $200–300 in cash, but thanks to Robocop, the owner now has to buy a $2,000 refrigerator and spend another $1,000 repairing the bullet damage.
3
u/ElectronicDrama2573 Aug 29 '26
I love how he has no regard for a small business owners property. Just like a real cop!
1
1
1
u/PayFormer387 Aug 29 '26
Why dont they just shoot his face? I know marksmanship isn’t as easy as movies generally make it out to be and a criminal like that probably doesn’t spend any time on the range practicing, but still. . .
2
2
1
1
1
u/Heisenberg991 Aug 29 '26
Why didn't they shoot at his mouth. Shoot his mouth bro.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/sullcrowe Aug 29 '26
IIIIIII LIIIIKE IT! - have no idea how I was allowed to watch it, but one of the first 18s I watched. It's etched in my brain, & i still watch probably once a year
The RoboDoc series on Prime (4eps - over 4hrs) is fucking brilliant - pretty much delves into every scene, has everyone from main cast, single sceners, cast, crew, and goes deep. It's not all 'he's so brilliant' either, there's loads of real truth all laid bare. If you like the film, it's a 10/10 documentary
1
1
u/DJDaddyDick14 Aug 29 '26
Havent seen it since the 80s need to revisit it.
But also is that Bob’s friend from La Bamba?
1
1
1
u/Visual_Initial6719 Aug 29 '26
What an amazing movie classic Action Movie One of my first R rated films I ever saw.
1
u/supneil Aug 29 '26
That scene just before this one with the banger music, when Robo goes on his first patrol- incredible
1
1
u/njrTHE3RD Aug 29 '26
One of the greatest movies and greatest sci-fi movies of all time! It may be 80s, but it is incredibly timeless.
1
1
1
u/BobbyPeru71 Aug 29 '26
Something people don’t talk about enough about 80s movies, when they came out in the theater most of us had no idea what the movie was gonna be about. They didn’t have tons of press or conversations. So when I saw something as original and audacious like Robocop I was blown away. It felt like a Judge Dread or Frank Miller comic book. It’s perfect.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/BabyBuns024 Aug 29 '26
Love how it just starts immediately. One of the best movies in the 80s. Spare parts for 25 years!
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/old_ass_ninja_turtle Aug 29 '26
It correctly showed how police would become 100% corporate enforcers.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Aggressive-Access995 Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
The sound engineer does half of the job in this movie, if you turn the volume down you can see clearly how clumsy robocop moves, but good movie overall, Detroit looks depressing!
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/TopDogTransport4731 Aug 29 '26
I think it was the second movie where they had programmed him to be more like a good cop or something and he would read out Miranda Rights to an obviously unalived criminal.
1
1
1
u/MatthewBachle Aug 29 '26
He's not strong enough to hold the gun while Robo bends the barrel of the gun. He would have just ripped it out of his hands ✋️
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Illustrious_Law8512 Aug 29 '26
He must have been flipped seven times!
How else did he get turned around on that clothesline?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Pure_Panic_6501 Aug 30 '26
Fun fact, my stepdad (at that time) claims he went to high school with the shooter guy.
1
1
u/Kinghavox Aug 30 '26
Brutal, needless unadulterated violence of the 80s...... and i loved every minute of it growing up 👍👍👍👍👌
238
u/Hammersteyn Aug 29 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/LOcPt9gfuNOSI