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RoboCop poster

RoboCop

year 1987decade 80sdirector Paul Verhoevengenre Science fiction / Action

102 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Peter Weller Alex Murphy / RoboCop
Nancy Allen Anne Lewis
Daniel O'Herlihy The Old Man
Ronny Cox Dick Jones
Kurtwood Smith Clarence Boddicker
Miguel Ferrer Bob Morton

RoboCop | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Kyle Brandt
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Producer credits not yet identified.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The ED-209 boardroom demonstration wins; the police-station arrival, Murphy execution, first-patrol television and rescues, Bob Morton apartment, cocaine factory, toxic-waste Emil, and ending are alternatives.

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:20Read transcript
  • Murphy arriving at the chaotic police station is an opening choice.
  • ED-209 killing Mr. Kinney in the boardroom is the declared number-one scene.
  • Clarence Boddicker’s warehouse pursuit and Murphy’s murder are considered despite the execution being hard to watch.
  • RoboCop’s first day includes the convenience-store arrest and shooting through the woman’s legs.
  • RoboCop returning to Murphy’s house supplies the human core but is also a pee-break candidate.
  • Bob Morton’s apartment combines cocaine, sex, and Clarence’s grenade attack.
  • The cocaine-factory shootout includes falling gunmen firing as they collapse.
  • Toxic-waste Emil and Dick Jones’s final death are late alternatives.
  • ED-209 wins even though RoboCop is absent from the scene.
  • The recurring dollar-buying television joke is treated as a central satirical catchphrase in RoboCop’s first-day sequence.
  • RoboCop ending the Mayor Gibson hostage crisis is another first-day scene candidate.
  • Clarence leaving a futuristic video disc behind prompts a question about whether its evidence could be recovered.

The most "year the movie came out" thing

Leza Gibbons wins Most 1987, ahead of stop-motion ED-209, street thugs, television-store windows, and falling backward from buildings.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:58Read transcript
  • ED-209’s stop-motion effects are charming and linked to Phil Tippett.
  • Over-the-top street thugs and watching banks of televisions through a store window are very 1980s.
  • Falling backward out of a building is another period image.
  • Leza Gibbons wins as a defining 1987 celebrity presence.

What’s Aged the Best?

The politics, dual villains, media satire, SUX commercial, Peter Weller’s committed suit performance, and a remarkable 1987 theater lineup age best.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:16Read transcript
  • The film’s future-crime and corporate-policing ideas are praised as unusually durable.
  • “Dead or alive, you are coming with me” works as a setup and callback.
  • Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones make the two-villain structure work.
  • The futuristic gas price and Media Break news format feel current.
  • The 6000 SUX commercial makes fun of bigger-is-better vehicles.
  • The name Dick and the pause before saying it are celebrated as period villain-writing.
  • Peter Weller endured heat, water loss, and a restrictive suit while insisting on being called Robo or Murphy.
  • A theater marquee with The Lost Boys, RoboCop, Predator, and Full Metal Jacket captures the strength of 1987.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

The movie being too short and its unexplored Murphy-family story are the weak links.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:32Read transcript
  • One panelist wants five or ten more minutes, including a deleted chase and cemetery visit.
  • The movie never establishes Murphy with his family before his death.
  • A scene where Murphy’s wife recognizes RoboCop at the station is proposed.
  • A competing theory says Murphy’s marriage may already have been bad, explaining how quickly his wife moved on.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The sequels and 2014 remake, police strikes, a WCW RoboCop tie-in, suit-production conflict, and Clarence Boddicker’s name age worst.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:03Read transcript
  • The sequels and 2014 remake are rejected because the original remains available.
  • A police strike is questioned because the panel says none has happened in America since the 1910s.
  • RoboCop joining Sting in WCW is mocked for the collapsing jail-set bars.
  • The suit conflict briefly led Verhoeven to fire Weller before rehiring him.
  • Clarence Boddicker is criticized as an implausible name for the character.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

ED-209 wins for its helpless reaction after falling down the stairs; Bob Morton is the human candidate.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:00Read transcript
  • Bob Morton is cited for dialing up his performance.
  • ED-209’s flailing and crying after falling down the stairs wins.
  • ED-209 is also interpreted as a Freudian projection of Dick Jones’s sexual insecurity.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

The final Dick Jones puppet fall nearly makes the movie choke away its technical achievement; Kyle Brandt as RoboCop is the other hot take.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:36Read transcript
  • The Dick Jones puppet fall is called a terrible last-second special effect.
  • The fall is compared unfavorably with Hans Gruber’s fall one year later.
  • Kyle Brandt is proposed as an especially plausible alternate RoboCop.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Ray Wise wins over Paul McCrane; Alan Graff receives a background-actor salute.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:17Read transcript
  • Paul McCrane is identified as toxic-waste Emil.
  • Ray Wise wins after being mistaken for the actor who played Sosa in Scarface.
  • Alan Graff is praised as a recurring background presence in many movies.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Craig argues RoboCop is slow, inflexible, easy to escape, and only about an 82 in Madden terms.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:55Read transcript
  • RoboCop has one handgun, moves slowly, and is never shown running.
  • Running around a corner or climbing stairs is proposed as an easy escape.

Apex Mountain

Peter Weller, Detroit’s early-1990s sports era, Ronnie Cox, and Miguel Ferrer receive apex support; other candidates are rejected or debated.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:43Read transcript
  • Leza Gibbons’s seven-year daytime show is proposed as her apex.
  • Peter Weller is declared at his apex in RoboCop.
  • Basic Instinct is preferred for Paul Verhoeven.
  • Ronnie Cox is placed at his apex with RoboCop and Beverly Hills Cop II in the same year.
  • Miguel Ferrer is treated as probably at his apex as Bob Morton.
  • That ’70s Show is preferred for Kurtwood Smith.
  • Blade Runner beats RoboCop for futuristic cop movies.
  • Murphy’s execution prompts an explicit unranked list of hard-to-watch scenes from Casino, the slow-motion wartime stabbing, True Romance, Misery, American History X, Irreversible, Reservoir Dogs, and Man on Fire.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

More sequels and remakes are rejected; a video game is the preferred extension.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:44Read transcript
  • A Murphy prequel and an all-Black remake are briefly considered.
  • The preferred extension is a video game, a format that already produced many RoboCop games.

Is This Movie Better With…?

The imagined Gus Johnson call of RoboCop’s alley rescue wins over Mike Breen and Peter Schrager alternatives.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:39:53Read transcript
  • Gus Johnson is chosen to call RoboCop shooting through the woman’s legs.
  • Mike Breen is imagined calling the boardroom barrage.
  • Peter Schrager is imagined defending the robot after talking to Dick Jones.

Just One Oscar

Sound effects is the choice, matching the film’s stated Oscar win.

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:50Read transcript
  • The panel selects sound effects and notes that the film won for sound.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

You can kill someone but cannot take their humanity; weapons demonstrations should use blanks.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:44:50Read transcript
  • The return of Murphy’s humanity supplies the first lesson.
  • The robot disaster supplies the practical lesson to use blanks during demonstrations.

Who Won the Movie?

Paul Verhoeven wins; the villains’ personalities and the movie’s satire reinforce the choice.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:46:45Read transcript
  • Paul Verhoeven is the immediate winner for the film’s bloody, satirical direction.
  • The closing response praises the film for hiding its message inside cheesy 80s science fiction.
  • The villains are praised as more vivid and genuinely terrible than the restrained leads.
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Paul Verhoeven
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Paul Verhoeven