Future Cop
(1976)
Director: Jud Taylor
Cast: Ernest Borgnine, John Amos, Michael Shannon
It's more
often than not interesting to look at any aspect of society and see
where it is now compared to how it was in the past. Some things make
little to no change over the years, such as the fact that Canadian
filmmakers have been relentless in making one boring and rotten film
after another for decades. But there have certainly been other aspects
of society that have changed, for better or worse, over the years. One
such aspect is with law enforcement. The way the law has been enforced,
and how criminals have reacted to changes in law enforcement, has been
very interesting. Certainly, some changes have a kind of sad air around
them. For example, for many years, the police in England did not carry
guns at all, even priding themselves on that. But eventually, when
police officers in England started to get injured or killed by
gun-wielding criminals, the policy was changed. Another example is with
prisons. In the United States, prisons have become so overcrowded that
the rate of new prisons being built can't quite keep up with the
demand. But there are also some positive developments when it comes to
law enforcement. When the science of fingerprints was developed, it
resulted in the identification of many criminals. Another positive
development with the war on crime was when DNA technology was brought
in. This too resulted in the capture and conviction of many criminals.
But equally interesting is the fact that many criminals know about such
modern day crime fighting tools, and make an attempt to foil the
police. Ted Kaczynski, better known as The Unabomber, picked up strands
of hairs he found in public washrooms, and put them in his bombs in an
effort to foil his pursuers.
It is equally interesting, when it comes to law
enforcement, to ponder just what new crime fighting tools will be
developed in the future. As you no doubt know, many writers of books,
television shows, and movies have tackled this idea. There is one
specific futuristic crime fighting idea that has come up from time to
time that I would like to talk about, and that is the idea of a robot
working with the police. To a degree, that is already happening, such
as with remote guided robots used to diffuse bombs. What I am really
talking about are robots with artificial intelligence who work side by
side to capture criminals ranging from burglars to murderers. It is an
intriguing idea, enough that I can understand why so many writers have
used the concept. But I know that the day that robots aid the police in
the manner that I described two sentences ago is a long, long, way off
from happening - if ever. One reason is that very high quality artificial
intelligence is
still quite a few years away from happening, despite the many advances
in computer technology that happen every year. And once that happens, I
can see it would take a very long time to program the artificial
intelligence to do something like law enforcement. Even if that is
accomplished, there comes the question as to how the law enforcement
robot would make its way around. Making a human-like robot walk or run
is much more difficult than you might think; the present day examples I
have seen of this can only manage to make the robot move around very
slowly. And using wheels or any other method of transportation would
severely limit where the robot could move around; it couldn't exactly
go up stairs, for example.
While the idea of a robot law enforcer is definitely not
practical in this day and age, I don't want to be a wet blanket and say
that it's a silly idea not worth pondering about. I am perfectly
willing to accept a fictional story about a robot law enforcer, as long
as it's done with intelligence. And it has been done before in
the
past. For example, several years ago there was a futuristic television
show called Almost Human
about the partnership of a human cop and an android that I thought was
pretty good. It was intelligent, had some intriguing ideas, and the two
leads had great chemistry. Unfortunately, since it aired on the FOX
network - a network that has (for the most part) just half-heartedly supported science fiction
shows at best - it got cancelled after its first and only season. Anyway, it
was not the first TV show to have this concept. In 1976, there was the
short-lived television show Future
Cop. Still being bummed after Almost
Human's
cancellation, I decided to take a look at the feature length pilot of
the older show to see if it had the same magic. The setting of the
movie is in Los Angeles, in the faraway future year of... uh... 1976.
At the beginning of the movie, we meet two policemen who are partners,
Joe Cleaver (Ernest Borgnine, A Bullet For Sandoval)
and Bill Bundy (John Amos, The Beastmaster).
At the same time, the Synthetronics company has just completed building
and testing of a new prototype. What they have they have named Haven
(Michael Shannon, Sheena:
Queen Of The Jungle).
Haven is an android fully versed in police procedures and has crime
fighting and solving abilities a human police officer would kill for.
He is still a little green when it comes to determining human slang and
quirks, something that makes police commissioner Forman (John Larch, Miracle
Of The White Stallions)
a little wary. But Forman decides he'll give Haven a single eight-hour
shift to see how he does in the field. Forman then assigns Haven to
accompany Cleaver - without telling Cleaver that Haven is an android.
Naturally, it doesn't take long for Cleaver to determine that
something's seriously up with Haven. In fact, Haven starts to have some
other unplanned encounters and interactions that threaten to reveal his
secret. Will Haven succeed or fail?
You might be wondering if I approached Future Cop
with the expectation of seeing a lot of material that might have been
passable in 1976, but today would seem dated and laughable. Well, to a
degree I did... but at the same time I realized that many brand-new
television shows seen today will probably be seen as dated and
laughable in the year 2023. Anyway, the best way to sum up how Future Cop
comes across with its technology and general production values is to
say that if you've watched any episode of a Hollywood police TV show
from the mid 1970s, and watched any episode of a Hollywood science
fiction TV show from the same period, you'll almost certainly know what
to expect here. In other words, the various Los Angeles outdoor
locations look quite drab and unspectacular, along with the coffee
shops and other "real" indoor locations. Needless to say, the interiors
shot on sets on soundstages are even worse, having a phony and
unnatural feeling to them, the worst being the Synthetronics locations.
The "high tech" equipment in these locations comes across as being
randomly placed from whatever the prop department was able to get their
hands on, from magnetic tape devices to black and white monitors. To be
fair, the dated look and feel of this pilot movie didn't bother me too
much, since as I said earlier I was prepared for it. But what did
bother me about the technology showcased in the movie was that it
didn't go into too much detail about it. For example, it is revealed at
one point in the movie that Haven has the ability to open padlocks
without a key. But from what we see, he just holds the padlock in his
hand for several seconds, and then it all of a sudden opens. Not only
do we not get to properly see how this is done, we are not even given a
basic verbal explanation as to how Haven is doing this.
Haven often comes across as a mysterious bit of
technology. In one scene, he's shown drinking a cup of coffee. Does he
process the coffee for energy or other purposes, or does he have to
dump it whole later? We never know. In fact, we don't even get an idea
of what is working inside of him, save for one scene where his chest is
exposed and reveals something akin to an ordinary green circuit board.
When it comes to displaying Haven's thought processes, things are
somewhat better. We get to see that while Haven knows the police rule
book right to the letter, his understanding of basic human behavior
still needs a lot of work. His mistakes don't come from stupidity, just
from a lack of human interaction. Even when he slips up, he does come
across in a sympathetic manner, and a big reason for this is the
performance by actor Michael Shannon in the role. He doesn't make Haven
sound too robotic, but at the same time he gives his words a slight
touch that makes Haven a little puzzling for those who don't know his
secret. Also, even though Haven is a machine without a soul, Shannon
somehow manages the difficult task of making his character sympathetic.
Part of that comes from the fact that he has good chemistry with his
co-star Borgnine. Borgnine does seem to be going on autopilot when he's
alone or paired up with another actor. But when he's together with
Shannon, there are some definite sparks that are ignited. Both of their
characters have different backgrounds and different ways of doing
things. But the attitude by both actors gives their characters a lot of
respect for each other. You sense that, flaws and all, they are a good
human and a good robot. Viewers will like these two police officers,
and hope that they will learn to fully get along and survive any
dangers they encounter together.
The chemistry by both actors makes up for some flaws in
the writing in their characters. We learn almost nothing about the
background of the veteran Cleaver, and there's very little insight as
to how Haven feels about his situation or what he encounters. (There's
an interesting moment when he encounters a car compactor that should
have been expanded on.) Also, some decisions by various characters
probably came across just as naive as they do today, like the fact that
Cleaver isn't told that Haven is a robot before they start their first
shift. The flaws that I've mentioned to this point actually weren't
much of a deal breaker compared to the main problem I had with Future Cop.
What prevented me from mostly enjoying the movie was the lackadaisical
direction by Jud Taylor. If he had put some definite enthusiasm in the
movie, I think there would be a chance I would have labelled the movie
as cheesy, dated, but goofy fun. But instead, the movie plods along
very slowly in every way you can think of. The action sequences (car
chases, shootouts) are without any energy or creativity, as if Taylor
was just content to just point towards the action without doing
anything else to punch them up. The various injections of comic relief,
while thankfully not being too jokey in nature, are performed without
any apparent passion. When Haven is threatened with "death" a couple of
times, each time there is very little feeling of concern or panic by
any of the other characters. It's all capped with a very low-key ending
that didn't promise that the subsequent (and short-lived) television
series that was to follow would be any better. But since I am stuck
with the DVDs that include the six episodes (and follow-up movie!) that
followed this pilot movie, I guess I will have to get my money's worth
and watch them eventually.
(Posted May 18, 2023)
Check for availability on Amazon (DVD)
-
-
Check
for availability on Amazon for Ernest Borgnine's autobiography (Book)
See also: The Bang Bang Kid,
Running Delilah, Terminal Justice
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