Product Details

• Actors: Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, Arthur Hill, Yul Brynner, John P. Ryan
• Directors: Richard T. Heffron
• Writers: George Schenck, Mayo Simon
• Producers: James T. Aubrey, Paul Lazarus III, Samuel Z. Arkoff
• Format: PAL
• Language: English
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005NI96
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,295 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Sorely Underrated Follow-Up, May 7, 2004

By	Joshua Chipman (Shelby, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Futureworld [VHS] (VHS Tape)

No sequel can be fairly measured against its predecessor, in my opinion. And 'Futureworld' is no exception. While it lacks Michael Crichton's pen - known for deftly interweaving between sci-fi and suspense - 'Futureworld' actually goes so far as to expand upon the original story, which is something few sequels, even good ones, have been able to do. While the production values do seem to indicate the studio was willing to crap this one out as a TV movie if they thought it wouldn't float their boat at the box office, there's still plenty of shock value to enjoy in 'Futureworld', even if its plot does tend to veer now and then into slightly-cartoonish realms...and even then, the film isn't afraid to remind its viewer that it's not to be taken too seriously.
The plot is as follows: it's been a couple of years since the original film's theme-park disaster - a situation not helped by the dirt dug up by investigative reporter Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda, smug and cocky as Han Solo, only in corduroys and specs) - but Delos is back up and running, better than ever, and the world entire is coming en masse through the new park's gates. But still, the Delos suits regale to Browning's media peers, attendance isn't quite as record-shattering as they'd like...so they invite a wary Browning and his ex-girlfriend, ambitious TV reporter Tracy Ballard (Blythe Danner, who gives as good as she gets with a flair worthy of Lois Lane), to see for themselves that Delos has truly become the Eden it was meant to be.
Alas, with this new Eden there turns out to be a new snake lurking as well...namely, suspicious goings-on within the underground command centers of the park. Surrounding this is a bizarre tapestry of puzzle pieces - a runaway Delos worker shot dead in Browning's arms; an all-too-real nightmare of red-garbed figures carting off guests in their sleep and performing Byzantine examinations; a reclusive mechanic (Stuart Margolin in a likeable performance) who's seen more than he probably should have; and before it's all over, the horrible secret of the new Delos revealed. It's no 'Soylent Green', but then that's probably a good thing.
If 'Westworld' dealt with the dangers of relying upon corporated technology for pleasure, then 'Futureworld' is about what happens when said corporated technology threatens to overtake entire societies. While this isn't exactly prescient to the competitiveness of today's theme-park industry, it does allude to the rat-a-tat-a-tat attitude that defined much of the industry in the early 1990s (when Universal Studios moved in on Disney World and lit the fuse on a full-blown theme-park war).
Apart from all this, the movie does have some other nifty touches: an opening sequence which winks at the original with a clip from a game show of a future Delos guest receiving his vacation package from real-life game show host Allen Ludden; the new 'Futureworld' themed area with one of the neatest (if slightly low-budget) arcades ever seen; constant innuendo involving 'sex-model' robots; and, of course, a cameo by none other than Yul Brynner, once more garbed in black as the Gunslinger - only this time the tin man with the gunbelt seems to have gotten a heart, demonstrated in an erotic dream sequence where he rescues Danner's character from some more of those red-hooded fiends.
'Futureworld' may not resemble 'Westworld' too much, but that probably works to its advantage in the end, opting to take the somewhat-hackneyed 'robots-run-amok' premise in a new direction. It's worth a look.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Fonda's Finest, January 23, 2006

By	Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Futureworld [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The more I see of Peter Fonda's 70s films the more I'm beginning to feel that he had a more interesting career than either his father or his sister during that decade. In FUTUREWORLD he's a seasoned print journalist who's constantly comparing his prowess with the superficial nose for news displayed by his adorable ex-girlfriend "Socks," played with elan by a game Blythe Danner. The two of them clash often and frequently during the first half of the movie, but then like HIS GIRL FRIDAY they decide to lie down with the lambs and from then on their chemistry grows by leaps and bounds. One needs the other's talents, and Fonda and Danner fully inhabit the characters of Tracy ("Socks") and Chuck. They go to FUTUREWORLD on an all expense paid business trip to drum up publicity for the 1.5 billion dollar dream vacation resort, which had died a death in the wake of the WESTWORLD debacle. It seems that world leaders are arriving in droves to escape earthly problems, and Peter Fonda begins to suspect that, just like roach motel, you can Czech in to FUTUREWORLD but you can't Czech out.

Some have said that the production values of FUTUREWORLD betray a poverty of MGM resources. I think on the contrary it looks more expen$ive than WESTWORLD. It can't have been cheap to hire Yul Brynner to do that strange dream tango. Someone told me that they probably only had Brynner's services for one weekend, or else he died in the middle of filming because otherwise, why not give him a bigger part? It would have been awesome if he had come out at the end, as the gunslinger, to kill all the robots who wanted (spoilers ahead) to replace all the world leaders with Delos-friendly hybrids.

The acting was great all the way through, and the love story between the Stuart Margolin character and his friend, robot Clark (named after Clark Kent, the "man of steel") was heartbreaking, worthy of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. It's rare to find a good gay love story in the middle of a 1970s sci fi actioner, but here you go, if it had teeth it would bite you.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BAD TAPE FROM GOODTIMES, January 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Futureworld [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The VHS tape I received from two different vendors was very bad in both cases. This tape from Goodtimes appears to be about a third generation copy. The label on the tape just has a place to write in the movie name instead of being preprinted like the better movies I have received. The picture quality is grainy with sparkles around the edges and a flatness to peoples faces.

I tried a different vendor who said theirs was from Warner Home Video, but when the tape came it was also a Goodtimes video. Now I will be eating the shipping charges to send it back.

I suggest that everyone avoid anything made by Goodtimes and that .......... and any other vendors avoid them, too.