It was also the first feature film to use digital image processing (see § below) to pixellate photography to simulate an android point of view.

The resort's worlds are populated with lifelike androids that are practically indistinguishable from human beings, each programmed in character for their historical environment.

For $1,000 per day, guests may indulge in any adventure with the android population of the park, including sexual encounters and simulated fights to the death.

After a night spent having sex with two android prostitutes, John is accosted by the same gunslinger Peter killed in the saloon the previous day.

The malfunctions become more serious when a robotic rattlesnake bites John and against its program, a female android refuses a guest's advances in Medieval World.

Peter and John, recovering from a drunken bar-room brawl, wake up in Westworld's brothel, unaware of the park's breakdown.

Peter flees to other areas of the park but finds only dead guests, damaged androids and a panicked technician attempting to escape Delos, who is soon killed by the Gunslinger.

Peter then sits on the dungeon steps, exhausted and shocked, as the memory of Delos' marketing slogan resonates: "Boy, have we got a vacation for you!"

Crichton made his debut as director with the television film, Pursuit) (1972), based on one of his novels, and wanted to direct a feature.

"[3] Crichton's agent introduced him to producer Paul N. Lazarus III; they became friends and decided to make a film together.

Crichton said MGM had a bad reputation among filmmakers; in recent years, directors as diverse as Robert Altman, Blake Edwards, Stanley Kubrick, Fred Zinneman and Sam Peckinpah had complained bitterly about their treatment there.

There were too many stories of unreasonable pressure, arbitrary script changes, inadequate post production, and cavalier recutting of the final film.

Crichton said he had no control over casting[3] and MGM originally would only make the film for under a million dollars but later increased this amount by $250,000.

[5] Crichton later wrote that "most of the situations in the film are cliches; they are incidents out of hundreds of old movies", so the scenes "should be shot as clichés.

A television commercial to open the film was added; because there was a writers' strike in Hollywood at the time, this was written by Steven Frankfurt, a New York advertising executive.

[18] Whitney Jr. digitally processed motion picture photography at Information International, Inc. to appear pixelized to portray the Gunslinger android's point of view.

[4] The approximately 2 minutes and 31 seconds' worth of cinegraphic block portraiture was accomplished by color-separating (three basic color separations plus black mask) each frame of source 70 mm film images, scanning each of these elements to convert into rectangular blocks, then adding basic color according to the tone values developed.

[21][22] The film was released on an experimental regional saturation basis[23] and grossed $2 million in its first week in 275 theatres in the Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland areas.

[27] Variety described the film as excellent, saying that it "combines solid entertainment, chilling topicality, and superbly intelligent serio-comic story values".

"[29] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a clever sci-fi fantasy ... with enough ingenuity and conviction to make it a successful diversion for those seeking novel rather than sophisticated entertainment.

"[30] Jean M. White of the Washington Post wrote that "Crichton spends too much time establishing his robot world and short-circuits suspense with long, arid stretches of Grade B Western.

The site's consensus states: "Yul Brynner gives a memorable performance as a robotic cowboy in this amusing sci-fi/western hybrid.

"[3] He believed that the film had been misunderstood as warning of the dangers of technology: "Everyone remembers the scene in Westworld where Yul Brynner is a robot that runs amok.

[40] The network aired a slightly longer version of the film than was shown in theaters or subsequently released on home video.

Some of the extra scenes that were added for the United States television version are:[citation needed] A sequel, Futureworld, was filmed in 1976, and produced by American International Pictures, and only distributed by MGM.

[43] Beginning in 2002, trade publications reported that a Westworld remake starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was in production, and would be written by Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines screenwriters Michael Ferris and John Bracanto.

[48] In August 2013, it was announced that HBO had ordered a pilot for a Westworld TV series, to be produced by J. J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan, and Jerry Weintraub.