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RoboCop

1987 film directed by Paul Verhoeven

RoboCop is a 1987 science fiction action film, directed by Paul Verhoeven. It features a dystopian near-future, set in Detroit, Michigan. Violent crime is out of control, and the city is in financial ruin. The city hires the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to operate the police department, in effect privatizing it. OCP is interested in rebuilding "Old Detroit" and replacing it with what they call "Delta City". Before this large construction project can begin, OCP wishes to end crime in the city, and creates RoboCop.

Part Man. Part Machine. All Cop.
Dead or alive, you're coming with me.
Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Come quietly or there will be trouble.
The future of law enforcement. taglines

Dialogue

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[Jones directs Kinney to threaten ED-209. Kinney points a gun at the robot, which immediately aims its weapons at him.]
ED-209: Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Jones: I think you'd better do what he says, Mr. Kinney.
[Alarmed, Kinney quickly tosses the gun away. ED-209 steps forward and growls menacingly.]
ED-209: You now have 15 seconds to comply. You are in direct violation of Penal Code 1.13, Section 9.
[Everyone in the room panics; Kinney tries to hide among them, but is pushed back into open range]
ED-209: You have 5 seconds to comply. 4. 3. 2. 1. I am now authorized to use physical force! [Violently shoots Kinney repeatedly until one of the technicians pulls the plug, shutting down ED-209]
Bob Morton: Somebody wanna call a goddamn paramedic?! Let's go, Johnson!
Donald Johnson: Did you pull the plug on this thing?
[As one of the staff members tries to touch Kinney]
Donald Johnson: Don't touch him. DON'T TOUCH HIM! [dialling the phone] He didn't hear it?!
The Old Man: [to Dick Jones] Dick, I'm very disappointed.
Dick Jones: I'm sure it's only a glitch. A temporary setback.
The Old Man: You call this a glitch?! We're scheduled to begin construction in six months. Your temporary setback could cost us 50 million dollars in interest payments alone!
[Clarence Boddicker and his crew are fleeing an armed robbery]
Clarence Boddicker: [opening up boxes of charred money] Shit! I don't believe it!
Bobby: What?
Clarence Boddicker: You! You burnt the fucking money!
Bobby: I had to blow the door! What do you want?
Clarence Boddicker: It's as good as marked, you asshole! [throws the money in Bobby's face] You stupid, stupid asshole! [Emil, the driver, pounds the dashboard]
Emil M. Antonowsky: CLARENCE!
Clarence Boddicker: What do you want?!
Emil M. Antonowsky: We've got a cop on our tail! [The gang members pump their shotguns. Leon Nash walks over to the back window, looks out and sees Murphy and Lewis's police car behind them]
Leon Nash: Move it! Bring it up!
Joe P. Cox: Move it!
Emil M. Antonowsky: Hey, hey! This crate ain't going to outrun a cop!
Clarence Boddicker: Slow down, then!
Emil M. Antonowsky: What, are you crazy, man?! [Boddicker strikes Emil with his fists]
Clarence Boddicker: Shut the fuck up and do it! Just do it!
[Cut to Murphy and Lewis in the cruiser]
Alex Murphy: Central, this is 1-5-4. We are in pursuit of 2-1-1 suspects. Request backup.
Dispatcher: Roger, 1-5-4. Back up is currently unavailable.
Alex Murphy: [to Lewis] Give me your piece. [He straps on his helmet and loads his and Lewis's pistols]
Dispatcher: Backup ETA, 15 minutes.
[Cut to the panel truck]
Clarence Boddicker: Bobby, get the door! Everybody load up!
Leon C. Nash: All right, let's go! Come on! [Everybody checks their weapons and aims them at the back doors]
Alex Murphy: OK!
Anne Lewis: All right. Go. [Murphy leans his head out the window, and the police car catches up to the panel truck]
Clarence Boddicker: NOW! [Bobby kicks open the back doors and the gang opens fire, only to notice the police car has vanished]
Leon C. Nash: What the fuck? Where did he go?!
Clarence Boddicker: Emil!
Emil M. Antonowsky: [looks out the passenger's window] Here! He's up here! [Murphy and Lewis are driving right next to the truck. Boddicker fires his shotgun out the window, and Murphy fires back]
Gang members: Jesus!
[The police car falls back behind the panel truck. Murphy continues shooting, until Bobby falls, hit in the legs]
Clarence Boddicker: Get him! [Nash rushes over to the back door and fires, bullets hitting the roof lights and cracking the windshield]
Bobby: Ah, shit, Clarence! My leg!
Clarence Boddicker: Leon! Pick him up!
[Murphy, outside, reloads his pistol. Inside, the gang members pull Bobby to his feet]
Clarence Boddicker: Can you fly, Bobby?
Bobby: Clarence, no! [The gang members heave Bobby out the doors and he lands on the police car's windshield. Lewis panics, and spins out]
[In the abandoned warehouse, Lewis catches Boddicker gang member Joe Cox urinating.]
Anne Lewis: Okay. Let's see those hands, nice and easy.
Joe Cox: Sure. Mind if I… zip this up?
[Lewis takes his eyes of him for a second; Cox punches Lewis off the catwalk]
[Emil reaches for a shotgun after Murphy kills his TV watching friend Dougy]
Alex Murphy: Go ahead and do it. Dead or alive, you're coming with me. [on radio] Lewis? Lewis? Lewis, I've got a situation here. [to Emil] Okay, tough guy, get up. Get up! Turn around. Spread your legs! That's right. [Murphy hoists Emil to his feet and turns him around]
[Lewis stumbles to her feet as she recovers from being pushed down by Joe Cox]
Alex Murphy: [on radio] Lewis, where are you? Are you all right? [Murphy is holding his pistol to the back of Emil's head] Put your hands on your head. Lewis? [He takes out his handcuffs, only to hear shotguns being pumped. He looks up and sees Steve Minh and Leon Nash standing at the top of two different staircases]
Leon C. Nash: Why don't you let us take over from here, Emil? [Emil spins, grabs Murphy's pistol and throws it in a container. Nash and Minh advance down the steps, shotguns trained on Murphy. As they approach, Emil grabs his own shotgun, pumps it, and puts the barrel to Murphy's neck]
Emil M. Antonowsky: Your ass is mine!
Clarence Boddicker: No! Not yet, it ain't.
[Boddicker enters the room, holding a shotgun in his hand]
Clarence Boddicker: Well what have we here? [He unbuckles Murphy's helmet and puts it on Emil] You a good cop, hotshot? [Emil chuckles] Well sure you are! [steps to Murphy's right side] Boy, you must be some kind of a...great cop, coming here all by yourself.
[Boddicker hits Murphy in the legs with the butt of his weapon]
Clarence Boddicker: Where's your partner? [kicks Murphy] Where's your partner?! [Joe Cox enters]
Joe P. Cox: Well, guys, the other one was upstairs. She was swe-e-e-e-e-e-t, oom, oom, oom! I took her out! [cackles]
[Boddicker kicks Murphy again and Cox pumps his shotgun]
Clarence Boddicker: I bet that really pisses you off. [a gang member chuckles] You probably don't think I'm a very nice guy, do ya?
Alex Murphy: Buddy, I think you're slime. [The gang members laugh loudly]
Clarence Boddicker: See, I got this problem. Cops don't like me. So I don't like cops. [aims his shotgun across Murphy] Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na...[shoots off Murphy's right hand] Well, give the man a hand!
[The gang members laugh. Murphy clutches his bleeding right stump with his left hand]
Clarence Boddicker: He's all yours. [Murphy stands up and attempts to limp away]
Emil M. Antonowsky: All right, look out! Turn around! [to Murphy] Hey, pretty boy! Hey, over here! [Murphy turns around and Emil fires his shotgun, Murphy's entire arm comes off. Murphy screams as the gang proceeds to empty their shotguns into him]
Joe P. Cox: I'm out of ammo.
[Boddicker casually lights a cigarette]
Emil M. Antonowsky: Hey Clarence, he's still alive. [Murphy screams in agony]
Joe P. Cox: [in singsong voice] Does it hurt? Does it hurt? [The gang members laugh]
[Boddicker walks over and produces a pistol]
Clarence Boddicker: Okay, fun's over. [shoots Murphy in the face; Murphy drops dead] Okay, let's get out of here.
Joe P. Cox: Good night, sweet prince! [laughs as he and the gang depart]
[The RoboCop team wheels their equipment into the station as a drunk talks to the desk sergeant.]
Prisoner: I-I'm what you call a repeat offender. I repeat, I will offend again! I get my orders from a higher source.
Sergeant Warren Reed: Shut up, asshole.
[Staring at the not-yet-revealed-to-the-audience RoboCop.]
Bob Morton: You're going to be a bad motherfucker!
[Morton tests his new creation.]
Bob Morton: What are your prime directives?
RoboCop: Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law.
[Bob Morton is washing his hands in an OCP bathroom when Dick Jones shows up behind him]
Dick Jones: Congratulations, Bob. I remember when I was a young executive at this company. We used to call the old man funny names. "Iron Butt", "Boner", once I even called him... "asshole". But there was always respect. I always knew where the line was drawn. And you just stepped over it, buddy-boy. You've insulted me. And you've insulted this company with that bastard creation of yours. I had a guaranteed military sale with ED-209. Renovation program. Spare parts for 25 years. Who cares if it worked or not?
Bob Morton: The old man thought it was pretty important... Dick.
Dick Jones: You know... he's a sweet old man. And he means well. But he's not gonna live forever. And I'm number two around here. Pretty simple math, huh, Bob? You just... fucked with the wrong guy!
Bob Morton: You're out of your fucking mind!
Dick Jones: You better pray... that that unholy monster of yours doesn't screw up. I'm cashing you out, Bob Morton.
[Repeated line from a TV program.]
Bixby Snyder: I'd buy that for a dollar!
[RoboCop calmly bashes a violent convenience-store robber, then turns to the proprietors.]
RoboCop: Thank you for your cooperation. Good night.
[RoboCop stops a rape attempt by firing through the woman's dress into the testicles of one rapist, then turns to the other.]
RoboCop: Your move, creep.
[Former city councilman Ron Miller is holding the mayor hostage. The negotiator is trying to stall him as RoboCop makes his way up]
Lt. Hedgecock: [on megaphone] Okay, Miller. Don't hurt the mayor; we'll give you what you want.
Ron Miller: First, don't fuck with me! I'm a desperate man! And second, I want some fresh coffee. And third, I want a recount! And no matter how it turns out, I want my old job back!
Lt. Hedgecock: Okay.
Ron Miller: And I want a bigger office! And I want a new car! And I want the city to pay for it all!
Lt. Hedgecock: What kind of car, Miller?
Ron Miller: Something with reclining leather seats, that goes really fast, and gets really shitty gas mileage!
Lt. Hedgecock: How about the, uh, 6000 SUX?
Ron Miller: Yeah! Okay, sure! What about cruise control? Does it come with cruise control?
Lt. Hedgecock: Hey, no problem, Miller. Let the mayor go, we'll even throw in a Blaupunkt. [beat]
Ron Miller: [angrily] Lieutenant, don't jerk me off! When people jerk me off, I kill them! You wanna see?! [Walks over to the mayor] Get up. Get up, your honor. Get up. Get up! Your public wants to see you. [He pulls the mayor to the window and puts his submachine gun to his head] Nobody ever takes me seriously! Well, get serious now, and kiss the mayor's ass goodbye!
[RoboCop punches through the wall behind Miller, grabs him and pulls him backwards, his gun firing wildly into the ceiling. RoboCop then spins Miller and punches him out a glass window where he falls to the pavement]
Reporter: Robo, excuse me, Robo! Any special message for all the kids watching at home?
RoboCop: Stay out of trouble.
RoboCop: Excuse me, I have to go. Somewhere, there is a crime happening.
[RoboCop confronts Antonowsky, holding up a gas station.]
RoboCop: Drop it! Dead or alive, you're coming with me.
Emil Antonowsky: I know you. You're dead! We killed you! We killed you!
[Clarence enters Bob Morton's house, draws a gun on him and brings him into his living room, where he notices two women are sitting down.]
Clarence Boddiker: Bitches, leave!
[Boddicker meets with Sal in the latter's drug factory.]
Clarence Boddicker: I dunno, I dunno, maybe I'm just not making myself clear. I don't want to fuck with you, Sal, but I've got the connections, I've got the sales organization, I got the muscle to shove enough of this factory so far up your stupid wop ass, that you'll shit snow for a year!
Sal: Frankie, blow this cocksucker's head off.
[Sal's men pull weapons on Boddicker and his crew, who draw their own weapons.]
Clarence Boddicker: Ooh, guns, guns, guns! Come on, Sal! The Tigers are playing... [slaps the table] tonight! I never miss a game.
[Then Sal jesters his men to lower their guns]
Sal: [chuckles] Just kidding.
. . .
[RoboCop bashes his way into the factory.]
RoboCop: Come quietly or there will be trouble.
Steve Minh: Aww, fuck you!
[RoboCop enters Dick Jones's office to arrest him.]
Dick Jones: You know, I usually don't see anybody without an appointment, but in your case, I'll make an exception.
RoboCop: You are under arrest.
Dick Jones: Oh? On what charge?
RoboCop: Aiding and abetting a known felon.
Dick Jones: Sounds like I'm in a lot of trouble. [holds out hands, as if preparing to be cuffed] You'd better take me in!
RoboCop: I will.
[But before he can do so, "Directive 4" interferes with RoboCop's attempt to arrest Jones]
Dick Jones: What's the matter, officer? I'll tell you what's the matter. It's a little insurance policy called "Directive 4". My little contribution to your psychological profile. Any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in shutdown. What did you think? That you were an ordinary police officer? You're our product. And we can't very well have our products turning against us, can we?
[Writhing, Robocop briefly manages to hold up his gun]
Dick Jones: Ah. Still a little fight left in you. Maybe you'd like to meet a friend of mine?
[Jones picks up and activates a remote; ED-209 enters the room]
Dick Jones: I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake.
Clarence Boddicker: Hey, Dickey-boy, how's tricks?
Dick Jones: That thing is still alive.
Clarence Boddicker: I don't know what you're talking about.
Dick Jones: The police officer who arrested you, the one you spilled your guts to.
Clarence Boddicker: Hey, take a look at my face, Dick! He was trying to kill me!
Dick Jones: He's a cyborg, you idiot! He recorded every word you said! His memories are admissable as evidence! You involved me! You're gonna have to kill it.
Clarence Boddicker: Well, listen, chief...your company built the fucking thing! Now I gotta deal with it?! I don't have time for this bullshit! [heads for the door]
Dick Jones: Suit yourself, Clarence. But Delta City begins construction in two months. That's two million workers living in trailers. That means drugs. Gambling. Prostitution. [Boddicker stops, backtracks into the room] Virgin territory for the man who knows how to open up new markets. One man could control it all, Clarence.
Clarence Boddicker: Well, I guess we're gonna be friends after all… Richard.
[Jones tosses Boddicker RoboCop's tracker.]
Dick Jones: Destroy it.
Clarence Boddicker: Gonna need some major firepower. You got access to military weaponry?
Dick Jones: We practically are the military.
Clarence Boddicker: Cobra Assault Cannon! State of the art "bang-bang"!
[Emil takes the launcher from Clarence and blows up a store with it]
Emil M. Antonowsky: I LIKE IT!
[Boddicker spears RoboCop with a sharp metal pole.]
Clarence Boddicker: Sayonara, RoboCop!
[RoboCop spears Boddicker's neck with his data spike.]
[Seriously wounded, Lewis and RoboCop look at each other across a muddy pit.]
Lewis: Murphy! I'm a mess!
RoboCop: They'll fix you. They fix everything.
[Robocop forces the doors open on a high level conference meeting of OCP senior personnel.]
Old Man: How can we help you, officer?
Robocop: Dick Jones is wanted for murder.
Dick Jones: This is absurd! That...thing...is a violent, mechanical psychopath!
Robocop: My program will not allow me to act against an officer of this company.
Old Man: These are serious charges. What is your evidence?
[Robocop moves toward the TV monitors, and plays back Dick Jones's statement.]
Dick Jones: [on recording] I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake; now it's time to erase that mistake.
[Robocop plays the recording repeatedly. Jones grabs the Old Man and uses him as a human shield while holding a gun to his head.]
Dick Jones: I want a chopper! Now! We will walk to the roof, very calmly! I will board the chopper with my hostage. Anybody tries to stop me, the old geezer gets it!
[Robocop aims his firearm in the general direction of Dick Jones, but makes no attempt to shoot him.]
The Old Man: Dick, you're fired!
[Directive 4 disappears from RoboCop's vision.]
RoboCop: Thank you.
[The Old Man elbows Jones in the stomach and gets away. RoboCop shoots Jones several times, eventually blowing him out a window.]
[Lt. Hedgecock and his team betrays Detroit Police and following Dick Jones' orders to destroy Robocop]
Kaplan:[shouts] Hey wait a second!
Manson:[furiously] He's a cop for god's sake!
Ramirez: Hedgecock you can't do that!
Lt. Hedgecock: We had orders to destroy it.
Manson: Ah shit!
Kaplan:[disgusted and walks off with Manson and the others] You're maniacs!
[Robocop escapes into parking level 3 and a police car stops in front of him]
Anne Lewis: [climbs out of her car to a damaged Robocop] Murphy! Murphy, it's me! Lewis. [Robocop lifts his arm to Lewis and helps him board on her car]
Lt. Hedgecock's man 1: [notices Anne Lewis and Robocop] Lieutenant! Level 3! He's on Level 3!
Lt. Hedgecock's man 2: Over here! [Anne Lewis boards her car]
Lt. Hedgecock: Open fire! [Anne Lewis drives her car as her former comrade and his men open fire]
[last lines]
Old Man: [to RoboCop] Nice shootin', son. What's your name?
RoboCop: [stops and turns around; to Old Man] Murphy. [warmly smiles and walks out]

Cast

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Taglines

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  • Part Man. Part Machine. All Cop.
  • The future of law enforcement.

About RoboCop

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It is very interesting if you read in the Gospels about Jesus being resurrected. He doesn’t say anything anymore. It is monosyllabic. But he, after resurrection, expresses himself monosyllabic with phrases of five or ten words. If you look at “Robocop,” that’s what he does. If you look at his eyes, you slowly start to see what he sees. Most things he says is, put down your weapon or whatever. At the end of the movie, because I was living in the United States, the metaphor is that he’s walking on water. In the front of the water there are the walls of an abandoned steel factory, where we shot. You can see the walls like the walls of Troy or Jerusalem. I put grit under the water so he could walk on water. To make him into an American Jesus, he turns to the bad guy and says, “I’m not going to arrest you anymore. I’m going to kill you.” That for me was the American Jesus. ~ Paul Verhoeven
  • Do you find Jesus in your films?
    “RoboCop” has a metaphor of Jesus. The reason I did it was because, for me, there were two metaphors. One is really Paradise Lost, which is when he comes to his house. He is already “RoboCop.” He doesn’t know who he is. He goes to his house and gets flashes of something wonderful that was there. His wife and his child, and the love of them. That’s lost paradise. He cannot touch, it but it was there. When I made it, this was important to me. It was the decision moment to me. I see this metaphor of Paradise Lost and standing at the Gates of Eden. The other metaphor, is that there is a resurrection. That is why he gets killed in an even more brutal way, because I felt that was a metaphor of crucifixion. Murphy gets killed and resurrects. He is dead and resurrected with another brain.
    It is very interesting if you read in the Gospels about Jesus being resurrected. He doesn’t say anything anymore. It is monosyllabic. But he, after resurrection, expresses himself monosyllabic with phrases of five or ten words. If you look at “Robocop,” that’s what he does. If you look at his eyes, you slowly start to see what he sees. Most things he says is, put down your weapon or whatever. At the end of the movie, because I was living in the United States, the metaphor is that he’s walking on water. In the front of the water there are the walls of an abandoned steel factory, where we shot. You can see the walls like the walls of Troy or Jerusalem. I put grit under the water so he could walk on water. To make him into an American Jesus, he turns to the bad guy and says, “I’m not going to arrest you anymore. I’m going to kill you.” That for me was the American Jesus.
  • It’s certainly the most challenging role I’ve ever done. To bring that alive, much of it is thanks to Moni Yakim [the head of the Movement Department at Juilliard], Moni Yakim, the writers [Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner], and Paul Verhoeven. That quadrant of people all infused to make that thing, and Rob Bottin, the makeup artist, and Stephan Dupuis, the guy who put on the prosthetics. I dunno, that was just… I knew I was making a good film. When I met Paul Verhoeven in a hotel room in New York, I knew that, because Paul was directing it, it was going to be great. I knew it was going to have something of a moral opera in it and that he was not going to miss the universal morality in this. He was not going to just make an action movie. And it’s a very funny movie and a brilliant sort of social commentary. When I met Verhoeven, I’d seen all his movies, and I just knew he’d be fantastic. And to be feeling the feelings I felt when I met him… I mean, he was intimidating, but I knew that, with his expertise, he’d be executing something non-ephemeral and awakening certain aspects of social morality that’ll last. That movie will be around forever, man.
  • I feel good about playing a robot in that I’m playing a human being who has been transformed into a cyborg. Aside from the action-adventure, the corruption, corporate machinery gone berserk and so on, the heart of all this is a morality tale. It’s like Beauty and the Beast, or the Tin Man of The Wizard of Oz. It’s a great little jewel of a human story.
    • Peter Weller, "Code Name: RoboCop" by Eric Niderost StarLog Magazine as quoted by Robocop Database
  • I worked with a mime for four months. We wanted to take a human being and transform him into a robot, walking in a suit in such a way that was stylized, attractive, yet computerized and the mechanical without being ‘mimelike.’ In essence, we wanted to have some humanity breathe through this robotic thing.
    • Peter Weller, "Code Name: RoboCop" by Eric Niderost StarLog Magazine as quoted by Robocop Database
  • The guys that shot me are part of the military-industrial complex. These ‘powers that be’ manage the police force and are also behind the cybernetic cop idea. They are also the people who are feeding the drug wars, so they can build more robots and fight the drug wars they themselves created! All these people are guilty-not only the people who shot me, but the people who made me, too. When they realize that Robo has found out the truth about them, they try to kill me.
    • Peter Weller, "Code Name: RoboCop" by Eric Niderost StarLog Magazine as quoted by Robocop Database
  • RoboCop, a futuristic story about a policeman shot to death and then revived after all parts of his body have been replaced by artificial substitutes, introduces a more tragic note: the hero who finds himself literally "between two deaths"—clinically dead and at the same time provided with a new, mechanical body—starts to remember fragments of his previous, "human" life and thus undergoes a process of resubjectivication, changing gradually back from pure incarnated drive to a being of desire. (...) [I]f there is a phenomenon that fully deserves to be called the "fundamental fantasy of contemporary mass culture," it is this fantasy of the return of the living dead: the fantasy of a person who does not want to stay dead but returns again and again to pose a threat to the living.
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  Encyclopedic article on RoboCop on Wikipedia

 
  Films     RoboCop  (1987) · RoboCop 2  (1990) · RoboCop 3  (1993) · RoboCop  (2014)  
  Television     Animated     RoboCop: The Animated Series  (1988) · RoboCop: Alpha Commando  (1998–1999)  
  Live‑action     RoboCop: The Series  (1994) · RoboCop: Prime Directives  (2001)  
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