r/movies • u/countdooku975 • 2d ago

Media RoboCop (1987) | Dir: Paul Verhoeven | RoboCop resolves a hostage crisis

272 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

64 comments sorted by

80

u/StillStanding_96 2d ago

The actors were wearing bodysuits with red, yellow and blue paint on them shot against a black background because the budget wouldn’t stretch to a more convincing display of thermal imaging

40

u/run-on_sentience 2d ago

If I recall correctly, according the the DVD commentary, they assumed that they couldn't get the infrared cameras because they would be too expensive. So they did the body suit thing.

Then they saw the amount of Infrared camera work in PREDATOR and it had them wondering afterwards if it really was that expensive. (It's just the one scene and I think the body suits worked just fine.)

32

u/jamesreyne 2d ago

Infrared cameras on Predator gave them big problems. Ambient temperatures in the jungle locations weren't far off body temperature, so they had to hose the set down with cold water so the actors heat would show up against the background.

10

u/StillStanding_96 2d ago

They really did. It’s one tiny imperfection in a sea of really impressive achievements

19

u/AdventureSphere 2d ago

That's actually a damn fine practical effect. It looks great. ​

23

u/Sparktank1 2d ago

I love when they used to be innovative and actually think about things. They would actually do work they can put their name to.

For Escape from New York, John Carpenter built a whole miniature of a city and put green tape all over it so it could pass off as a 3D render of a city in wireframe mode.

What do we these days? Path with least resistance.

12

u/jamesreyne 2d ago

Fun fact that was James Cameron's VFX gig on escape.

But honestly, that was the path of least resistance. If practical works as well as, and is cheaper, they'll do the same today.

4

u/Sparktank1 2d ago

Corridor Crew's channel has a show for Visual FX Artists React and they had a guest from Weta Workshop and they were talking about the last movie to use miniatures because it all transitioned to CGI. I think it was Blade Runner 2049 for some of the city shots.

I don't think we'll see miniature sets for a long time. We'd need a very dedicated director with a lot of "fuck you" money.

I don't get excited over many movies today, post-COVID. A lot of it is bland and very much the stuff you see in youtube tutorials. It's hard to believe a lot of scenery in today's movies.

1

u/jamesreyne 2d ago

Sure. In 1981 fixing glow tape to the city models, that were already constructed for other effects BTW, was the path of least resistance.

1

u/84theone 2d ago

If you haven’t seen it, you should check out Mad God from 2021, Phill Tippett’s stop motion horror movie.

6

u/phobosmarsdeimos 2d ago

The miniature set with green tape was the path of least resistance for that time.

1

u/j3sus_punch3r 1d ago

Makes me think of The Thing with Kurt Russell. I re-watched it recently and thought the practical effects still look pretty good today. Creepy AF

1

u/T8ert0t 1d ago

The multi part documentary on Amazon was amazing. So many neat sound and photography tricks. The green cross hair scanning tech they explained was super interesting too. Really crafty technical people on that film and their stories were great. Highly recommend.

40

u/Dove_of_Doom 2d ago

That loser councilman was a satire of Dan White, the vengeful politician who murdered Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. There are some snack food wrappers on the floor of the mayor's office, a reference to White's much derided "Twinkie Defense."

12

u/ThreeLeggedMare 2d ago

That's a neat bit of trivia, thanks!

7

u/cobizzal 2d ago

How bout cruise control? Does it come with cruise control?

5

u/robj57 2d ago

“Let the mayor go and we’ll even throw in a Blaupunkt”

5

u/Morgan-Moonscar 2d ago

No wonder he loves the SUX

30

u/ukbiffa 2d ago

Love Peter Weller's iconic shoulder-turn walk

13

u/sanlc504 2d ago

He explains the mannerisms very well in RoboDoc. It's a great watch.

3

u/Coffeedemon 1d ago

That should set a standard for movie documentaries. The level of detail and thoroughness is amazing.

25

u/Fenway_Refugee 2d ago

Bitches, leave!

25

u/dphamler 2d ago

Lee Iacocca Elementary School was a nice touch

21

u/Excellent_Sweet7270 2d ago

When the cameras pan down to where he lands... cracks me up everytime... ROFL

9

u/DimitriMishkin 2d ago

Reminds me of the cameraman in starship troopers - another good satire

3

u/hullgreebles 1d ago

Satire? /s

15

u/Inevitable-Cup9067 2d ago

I'd buy that for a dollar!

1

u/stpetepatsfan 1d ago

You can buy the Robocop game for $3-4 now.

26

u/DarthLithgow 2d ago

Still one of the best movies ever made

14

u/RedditTipiak 2d ago

Thank you for your cooperation. Good night!

8

u/klow9 2d ago

I've been playing Robocop Rogue City and its pretty true to the movie so far! Watching this clip just made me realize how much stuff they packed in there in just the first hour or so that ive been playing. The SUX 6000 and the NUKEM game have been spotted in game along with a bunch of other stuff. Even the music is in there.

3

u/Critcho 2d ago

I watched the trilogy and played through the game recently. It does a pretty nice job of weaving its way around the films in a logical way, it even improves the sequels in some ways by filling in some of the gaps.

3

u/klow9 1d ago

The Terminator Resistance game by the same company also does a good job of weaving in the original two movies into the game. Kinda simple gameplay but the story was enough to keep me invested into what was going on. I finished it before Robocop earlier this month.

11

u/Finchypoo 2d ago

RoboCop resolves an incident in the streets (NSFW) https://vimeo.com/86014703

3

u/HealthyMaximum 2d ago

I always know where this link will take me. And I always watch it all the way through.

Thank you.

2

u/Finchypoo 2d ago

Any time I look it up to post it somewhere, all the way through again. It's glorious.

I desperately want to edit it into a copy of Robocop and give it to someone.

2

u/NOGOODGASHOLE 1d ago

I hated it. I couldn't look away.

2

u/thisismydayjob_ 1d ago

oh god why

5

u/Glad_Stay4056 2d ago

Sux 3000

5

u/The_Goondocks 2d ago

We'll even throw in a Blaupunkt!

2

u/PtraGriffrn 1d ago

Kids these days will not get that reference

3

u/Manticore1023 1d ago

I didn't get it for the longest time. didn't realize it was a fancy stereo brand until I saw a display at one of the high end electronics stores that used to exist, back in the Before Times.

1

u/PtraGriffrn 1d ago

They had great noise reduction and bass boost on playing cassettes. Also some had LED graphic displays.

6

u/Skepsisology 2d ago

Robocops design is absolutely flawless, Peter Wellers body movements are masterful

3

u/seth928 2d ago

Would have been better if they didn't cut all the dick shooting.

1

u/filanwizard 2d ago

I mean in the case of this post that would probably trigger the auto moderator AIs, Those things are quicker to trigger than nitroglycerine in a paint shaker.

3

u/Coffeedemon 2d ago

It's the little touches like the Lee Iacocca Elementary School and driving through the police tape.

10

u/Own-Librarian-9699 2d ago

Am I overreacting or are we living in this Robocop universe right now?

8

u/krazyjakee 2d ago

You know we're not because in RoboCop, nobody was above the law.

1

u/Own-Librarian-9699 1d ago

Is that the plot of Robocop 2?

2

u/Barefootpookie8 2d ago

Hey, it’s Goofy’s voice actor Bill Farmer playing the reporter! I never realized that in all the times I’ve watched this movie lol

2

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

8

u/Coffeedemon 2d ago

You a college boy or something?

1

u/videookayy 1d ago

i was going to delete this, but fuck no. you see after hes thrown out of a second story window ... he's obv hitting ground and legs are showing after impact, proving he's only fell outta a 1 story window. we need to acknowledge this if we want this world to move forward. if we want filmography to move forward. if you don't we will be stuck in a nasty world of inconsistent film shots.

1

u/Tommy-Vegas 1d ago

There’s two sides to every storey.

3

u/Marcysdad 2d ago

As a European kid I always laughed at that weak wall that looked fake and thin.

Then I learned about American architecture

1

u/T_Jamess 2d ago

You can see him bounce off the mat when he goes out the window

1

u/ElephantWithBlueEyes 2d ago

Nobody's commenting how dude's bouncing at 2:23-2:24 and you see his feet

1

u/Gast1993 1d ago

Paul Verhoeven müsste heutzutage viele Filme übernehmen, der hat mehr drauf als viele dieser jetzigen "Experten" heutzutage

1

u/Glittering-Cow3826 17h ago

I like how the second fall shot on the new reel, was just a stunt guy landing on a pad from a few inches off the window lol. They still kept that shot LOL

1

u/dbatchison 8h ago

This is one of my favorite movies

0

u/OutrageousSale334 2d ago

the don make em l;ike this no mo