By Owen Quinn photos orion Pictures
ience’s minds as a classic.
So, you know the first Robocop. It was a violent movie directed by Paul Verhoeven but it was rightly violent. delta City is overrun with crime and mad gangs.
Indeed, one of the worst was the gang run by Clarence Boddicker. Don’t let the name Clarence fool you. This is one badass played brilliantly by Kurt Brocksmith. This gang knew no bounds having killed over thirty one police officers. Emil was part of this gang, usually the driver and one of the participants in the brutal torture and murder of Alex Murphy, Peter Weller.
As Robocop, no one counted on Alex retaining memories and despite Boddicker’s best attempts, the final showdown was going to be brutal and all bets were off. But the most memorable death came for Emil. It is the one everyone remembers because it was so damned brilliant. I bet Emil wished he was in Toxic Avenger given how his fate played out.
Robocop tackles Boddicker’s gang and they split up to take the cyborg down. Emil takes the van and has seemingly trapped Robocop in his crosshairs. Robocop fires his weapon into the windshield and steps out of the way. The van smashes into a vat of toxic waste.
The back doors open under the deluge of waste, carrying Emil along with it.
It is gross. His body is melted with the waste. His face is melted as his fingers hang like sausages. he lets out the most inhuman howl, letting us know that he has swallowed it too. He collides with one of his gang members who yells in horror. Emil lets out a pitiful “Help me!”
We get a closeup of his face. His bottom lip is hanging and his right is under melted skin.
Boddicker is in a car chase with Robocop’s partner, Anne Lewis. Limbs deforming as he moves, Emil steps out in front of the car, seeking help. His body is steaming with acid, melting as he walks. Now, we are expecting a normal body hit by a car and thrown to the side of the road. However, this is Paul Verhoeven and he makes the audience freak out.
On impact, Emil shatters into bloody liquid with only his head bouncing off the bonnet off the car before Boddicker crashes.
This is what makes this death so memorable to audiences because it is so unexpected. Exploding into liquid was a stroke of genius rather than the usual going over the top of the car. Paul McCrane’s performance is perfect and horrific. You feel no sympathy for him after the sadistic nature of their murder of Murphy. If karma ever came a knocking, then Emil certainly got both barrels of it. Emil even got his very own reaction action figure.
The special effects are flawless here with no CGI at the time, it was all practical effects. I have to say the whole thing is flawless. We know they would have a standing sack of liquid for the final smash, but it is so well done, I can’t see the seams at all. Credit has to be given to Paul McCrane for those prosthetics and performance. He went on to be a most unlikeable surgeon in ER who lost his arm in a helicopter accident before being finally killed by a falling helicopter. Many said his character deserved that too because he was so nasty. he would appear in many roles, one of which sparked the Scully cancer storyline. He played a medic Leonard Betts, a genetic mutant that could see cancer, feed on it and regenerate himself. This came in handy when he was decapitated in the opening scene. Betts was a s gross looking as Emil did when he bathed in toxic waste.
But this death will remain forever in movie as a classic.
Photo copyright Fox X Files Leonard Betts
The Time Warriors and Beyond 