WestWorld

Yul is cool.

And since I've been hearing people talking about "Yul-tide carols" and "Yul-logs" at this time of year, I decided that I'd enjoy watching a movie with Yul Brenner in it. I checked out "WestWorld" at the library, and talked Tanner into joining me to watch it. (That, in itself, is significant. Normally, he refuses to even acknowledge the existence of anything that predates "Rage Against the Machine", but he agreed to indulge his old man this one time, probably just out of Christmas spirit. Or out of guilt for not yet getting a job.)

I remember enjoying this movie when it first came out, from its catchy promo line "Where nothing can go WORNG!" to the snazzy black cowboy duds that Yul Brenner wore. I've always liked Richard Benjamin, and also remember liking James Brolin at the time (before I learned what a pinhead he actually is). I had forgotten that Dick Van Patten was the badass sheriff, though, and that Keanu Reeves played the Black Knight.

Just kidding. But don't you think Reeves would make a dandy robot? Perhaps this is an idea for the inevitable remake, ya think? "Like, totally slap leather, sidewinder-type dude."

Anyway, I was interested in seeing Tanner's reactions to a couple of different elements. One was whether the tension I felt when I saw this flick in the 70s was still evident to someone who had grown up with "Terminator", "Lord of the Rings", and those terrifying Teletubbies. The other was how dated it would appear to be, since it was set in the future, inside an amusement park based on the past.

From his reaction, I'd say the tension still works a bit (although not at the intensity level of say, an alien exploding from your chest) -- He didn't completely fall asleep during the movie. And regarding the fact that it was 70s vintage (and therefore tautologically lame), he said that the most noticable anachronisms were the poofy man-hair (and mustaches), the "future" computer lab with monochrome monitors and gigantic banks of randomly blinking lights and reel-to-reel tapes, and the directorial technique of leaving the camera in one place for more than half a second at a time.

But no matter how you analyze the changes in fashion and filmmaking styles, one thing remains clear. Yul Brenner could walk with his thumbs tucked into his belt better than anyone else. The dude shoulda won an Oscar for pure menacing attitude alone, but when you throw in that look of tortured robotic confusion he exhibits when Benjamin is standing in the torch's heat glow...well, it's an acting tour-de-force. He should have easily beaten Jack Lemon (who won for "Save the Tiger", even though that movie didn't have any tigers in it at all).

Anyway, the point is that while watching old movies may not be the very best way to do the male bonding thing between a 19-year-old cynic and his slightly older parental unit, a good robot-cowboy-gone-berserk movie is probably not a bad choice for a way to spend the afternoon together with your kid. I really enjoyed it!

The next question is: Do you think he'd agree to watch "The Wild Bunch" with me? I'll let you know. In the meantime, have a great day!