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WestWorld Gunslinger

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The WestWorld Gunslinger is the antagonist in the 1973 film, Westworld.

Westworld is a futuristic theme park where paying guests can pretend to be gunslingers in an artificial Wild West populated by androids. After paying a sizable entrance fee, Blane and Martin are determined to unwind by hitting the saloons and shooting off their guns. But, when the system goes haywire and Blane is killed in a duel with a robotic gunslinger, Martin's escapist fantasy suddenly takes on a grim reality.

Appearance

The WestWorld Gunslinger is dressed in black with a black cowboy hat, Right-handed gunbelt with a 6 shot revolver and cowboy boots. Appearing completely human until a malfunction reveals his robotic inners when his face dislodges.

Powers and Abilities

The WestWorld Gunslingers possess the following powers and abilities:

  • Aiming and shooting precision
  • Robotic strength and stamina
  • Unwavering pursit of its quarry
  • Mechanically impervious to fire

Fate

The WestWorld Gunslinger is difficult to kill. Martin blinds it with an acid attack, then burns its shell. The seriously damaged gunslinger still continues its assault on Martin until it eventually succumbs to the damages Martin inflicted.

Trivia

  • Director John Carpenter based the "indestructable" nature of his killer Michael Myers in Halloween (1978) on Yul Brynner's character in this film. Similarly, Arnold Schwarzenegger used Brynner's performance as the basis of his performance in The Terminator (1984).
  • The robot that Yul Brynner portrays is an homage/spoof of his character Chris from The Magnificent Seven (1960) and wears the same costume.
  • Delos theme park charges $1,000 per day. Adjusted for inflation, this comes out to $6,161.42 in 2021.
  • During a shootout scene a piece of wadding from a blank cartridge struck Yul Brynner in the eye, scratching his cornea and leaving him unable to wear his light reflecting contacts without his injured eye turning red and tearing up, so shooting had to be maneuvered to allow time for his eye to heal.
  • The western set was used in Blazing Saddles (1974).
  • Michael Crichton would later use the similar plot line about an amusement park that goes horribly wrong and the attractions malfunctioning for his novel "Jurassic Park", which would become the hit film Jurassic Park (1993) 20 years later.
  • The first movie to use CGI.
  • Yul Brynner's character is known as The Gunslinger. Interestingly, the word "gunslinger" was only created in the 1950s and has no connection to the old West.
  • Included among the American Film Institute's 2001 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies.
  • When the Gunslinger robot is splashed in the face with acid, Yul Brynner's face was coated with an oil-based makeup mixed with ground Alka-Seltzer. A splash of water then produced the fizzing effect.
  • The park recreates three ages in history: Roman Empire, Middle Ages and the Wild West. It's a nod to movies about gladiators, knights and cowboys all made at the beginning of cinema. The later Warner Bros.-HBO TV series Westworld (2016) would expand the size of the overall Delos Park, and add additional "World"s to the original Michael Crichton story universe
  • Westworld was the first in a media franchise. It was followed by a sequel, Futureworld (1976), and a short-lived television series, Beyond Westworld (1980). A television series based on the film debuted in 2016 on HBO.

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