Westworld (1973) 4K UHD Review

Arrow Video

Blu-ray Release: February 24, 2025

Video: 2.40:1/2160p (HDR10/Dolby Vision)/Color

Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 4.0, 2.0 stereo, and 1.0 mono

Subtitles: English SDH

Run Time: 88:48

Director: Michael Crichton

Welcome to Delos, the futuristic resort where, for $1,000 a day, wealthy vacationers can live out their wildest fantasies in hyper-realistic theme parks. In the Old West zone, friends Peter (Richard Benjamin) and John (James Brolin) saddle up for adventure, unaware that their dream holiday is about to turn into a nightmare. When a malfunction sends the park's android hosts off script, the Gunslinger (Yul Brynner) begins a relentless pursuit, obliterating the line between simulation and survival. (From Arrow’s official synopsis)

Michael Crichton, the forever king of high concept speculative airport fiction, made his directorial debut with the beloved science fiction pastiche Westworld (1973). Unlike the HBO series remake that followed, this version of the story puts thrills and entertainment value ahead of provocative existentialism, preventing Crichton from digging too deeply into the horrors of being a sentient machine. Instead, with what little time he has (this is a very short movie), he focuses on the psychology of Westworld’s human tourists, especially Richard Benjamin’s character, Peter, and his awkward, often childish attempts to reclaim his masculinity following an emasculating divorce. This aspect of the story has aged surprisingly well, despite Crichton’s hit & miss sense of humor.

I don’t know if I agree that Westworld was a particularly prescient film, simply because its ideas weren’t new to sci-fi storytelling. That said, science has, in some ways, begun to catch up to it. The real world embraced machine learning over autonomous robots, but that doesn’t really change the nature of the film’s warning against trusting potentially dangerous technology. In regards to anxiety surrounding modern day A.I. and large language models, we seem to have skipped from Westworld’s errant robots straight to the nuclear annihilation promised by James Cameron’s Terminator (1984), but it’s still funny to note that Delos scientists are unable to recreate human hands, drawing comparisons to contemporary A.I. slop.

Westworld’s actual quality is secondary to its influence on popular media. It led to an official sequel, Futureworld (1976), a short lived ABC series called Beyond Westworld (1980), and, as mentioned, a TV reboot ran for 4 seasons on HBO between 2016 and 2022. Crichton himself dusted off the concept for a 1990 book called Jurassic Park that blew up into its own ongoing blockbuster franchise. The Simpsons milked the film for dozens of jokes, including the Itchy & Scratchy Land episode (1994). The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise is a Chuck E. Cheese twist on the idea. Yul Brenner’s unstoppable robot killer was a partial basis for the title villain of the aforementioned Terminator franchise. The concept was spoofed in Anthony Spinelli’s porn comedy SexWorld (1978). And so on.

Video

Westworld was a perennial favorite on home video and television over the years. It was officially put out on American VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED), VHD, and released on DVD at least three times in 1998, 2000, and 2010. Warner Bros.’ stateside Blu-ray first hit in 2023. Surprisingly, there were few extras included with any digital release, leaving Arrow Video room to not only restore the film for UHD, but pack their collection with special features. Their 2.40:1, 2160p transfer is taken from a brand new 4K restoration of the original negative. I cannot get screencaps from a UHD and wasn’t sent a Blu-ray copy, so the images on this page are taken from the WB BD and only here for editorial purposes.

This is a somewhat less consistent presentation than expected, at least based on Arrow’s Andromeda Strain (1971) 4K. The upticks and downturns in graininess and sharpness appear authentic, though, in keeping with cinematographer Gene Polito’s mostly naturalistic photography. The more sci-fi-forward imagery of Delos’ inner workings with its cleaner production design, harder shadows, and lens flares looks especially nice. The Dolby Vision upgrade is mostly subtle, but does bump up the brightness of a couple of daylight shots (arguably too far in a couple of instances) and helps clear-up some of the darker images. The largely neutral palette is warmed up compared to previous releases, which were all borderline dingy.

Audio

Westworld is presented with a nice array of audio options, including the original 5.1 DVD remix, theatrical stereo, theatrical mono, and, for the first time, the alternate 4-Track Stereo mix, all in uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio sound. I opted to watch the bulk of the film in 4.0, only briefly comparing the track to the bassier, but more echoey 5.1 track and the thinner stereo and mono mixes. Dialogue is clean, action effects, like gunshots and explosions are punchy, and Fred Karlin’s score, which draws upon everything from TV westerns to Elmer Bernstein for its hokier moments before growing genuinely unnerving during the climax, gets a really nice stereo and surround channel boost on the 4.0 track.

Extras

• Commentary with Daniel Kremer – The filmmaker, archivist, author, and historian explores Westworld’s production, its legacy, Crichton’s career and the careers of the cast & crew, the original script and concept, Karlin’s score, and various influences.

• Cowboy Dreams (11:42, HD) – Westworld star Richard Benjamin is interviewed here by Ed Wood (1994) and The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) screenwriter Larry Karaszewski. The discussion surrounds Benjamin’s early career, screen persona, and the making of Westworld.

• At Home on the Range (17:04, HD) – Co-star James Brolin chats about his early life and love of westerns, working with Crichton and the cast, personally training horses, and shooting his death scene.

• HollyWorld: Producing Westworld (34:17, HD) – In one of the set’s longest interviews, producer Paul N. Lazarus III breaks down his role on the film, his relationship with Crichton, casting, taking studio abuse (so that first-time Crichton didn’t have to), Futureworld, and the HBO series.

• Sex, Death, and Androids (13:13, HD) – Film scholar and author of 1000 Women In Horror, 1895-2018 (BearManor Media, 2020) Alexandra Heller-Nicholas explores the film’s concepts and ties to regressive modern nostalgia, its gender politics, and similarities to Michael Winner’s Death Wish (1974).

• On Location with Westworld (9:08, HD) – An original 1973 EPK featurette.

• Beyond Westworld (49:39, HD) – The complete 1980 pilot for the spinoff TV series. In total, there were five episodes made before the series was canceled and filming stopped on a planned sixth episode. 

• Theatrical Trailer (3:08)

• Image Gallery

The images on this page are taken from the older WB Blu-ray – NOT the new 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.