RoboCop

Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 film is set in Detroit but looks like Dallas, whose City Hall stands in for the OCP exterior; the finale plays out in an abandoned Pittsburgh steel mill. Verhoeven says the mill changed the scene: its walls looked like castle walls, and the shot of RoboCop walking on water, never scripted, was handed to him by the location. He calls the film a Christ story: a hero killed at the midpoint, brought back, walking on water at the end. That explains the quiet of the finale. The suit is Rob Bottin’s work, about twenty five pounds. Peter Weller spent four months with mime coach Moni Yakim building a movement language for it. ED-209 was not made one way: Phil Tippett built a seven foot droid worked by puppeteers and a miniature for stop motion. The MPAA gave the film an X and the studio resubmitted until it got an R; sources disagree on how many times. Producer Jon Davison said the cuts made the violence more realistic, which disturbed some viewers more. A good fit if you want the released cut understood as the MPAA shortened one, and want the close shots the unrated version restores to Murphy’s killing. Not for anyone reading ED-209’s lurching stop motion walk as a technical failure.