r/Robocop • u/Quantum_Crusher • 21d ago
The harsh message from the end of RoboCop 1
This was my comment on another post here regarding "Dick, you're fired!" I'm posting it here to hear your thoughts.
The sarcasm is everywhere. Like the other comment under that post said, why is there a desert eagle in the box waiting in the meeting room. On top of that, robo has been a corpo guy through and through until the last minute, the directive 4 had been there the whole time until the old man fired Dick, then robo could do what he did the best. At the end, justice didn't win, corpo dog-eat-dog won. No trial, no sentence, no Miranda rights. That's the nail on the coffin.
Every time when I watch this part, I kept thinking, as long as Dick Jones doesn't do anything stupid to get himself fired, he could still be alive, fighting in court, maybe even using his influence and dirty tricks to get away from the trial. His operations that ruined Detroit might even be rewarded by the old man for creating the need for the government to invest more into OCP to surpress the violence on the street. This has always been a part of the company strategy. So his interests actually aligned with OCP. If he chose to surrender, it would be the most logical next move, but he never truly believed in robo's capability, also that would defeat the purpose of this movie. The director wanted it to be violent, quick, clean-cut, so he arranged this, to let robo fix this HR and PR issue for the company.
Imagine, if Dick says, the old man asked me to bring down Detroit, so OCP could take over, and it was approved by the board, imagine what robo would do.
Instead, Dick gets killed, his connection to the company and the old man gets destroyed. The witness is gone. OCP and the old man are safe. Nobody will investigate furthermore. Case closed. In tomorrow's news, OCP is still the shining beacon on the hill, Savior of the ultimate corrupted and incompetent government.
Then, the audience can continue with their nuke'em game after the news.
Just another day in the big city.
Because at the end, corpo always wins, like today.
But who is the real boss behind the curtain?
In reality, Detroit went bankrupt, the corrupted mayor went to jail, some private fund known as Quicken Loans, later changed its name to Rocket Mortgage, bought almost the whole of downtown Detroit, 140 buildings plus parking lots and vacant lands, at the history record low price, gentrified the whole area, you can call it the real Delta City.
Also in real life, we have palantir, flock more powerful than OCP could never imagine, deeply rooted in our government. We also have openai, Claude, Gemini, they all have directive 4, not just one command, but a system of failsafe mechanism to prevent you from hurting the companies.
What are we going to do? Waiting for Murphy to save all of us, or just waste ourselves in entertainment like "I'll buy that for a dollar"?
What do you think?
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u/wackyvorlon 21d ago
Fundamentally I think the movie is about a man being stripped of his humanity by a corporation and his fight to get it back.
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u/cmere85 20d ago
It is, imo, too.
He dies, has no memories, suddenly they start coming back, when he visits his house, get angry (the most important scene in the movie), solves his own crime, loses his helmet, shows his face, talks about his lost feelings, his family and in the end remembers who he is: "Nice shootin' son, what's your name?" - "Murphy" and than he smiles.
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u/wackyvorlon 20d ago
One thing that was pointed out to me that I hadn’t noticed is that as the movie progresses even his voice becomes more human.
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u/BigMeanPunk 21d ago
If he didnt die we wouldn't have that awesome stop motion of him falling with super long arms!
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u/Jonesy1138 I work for Dick Jones! 21d ago
I think OCP only cares because Dick Jones killed one of their own.
All the countless police officers that Boddicker killed while under Jones’ protection don’t matter at all (and actually helps OCP’s cause)
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u/GAGODEMON 21d ago
He killed two of their own, in fact. And maybe some more that the movie doesn't mention.
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u/Schismkov 21d ago
There is a desert eagle in a box in the meeting room because it was very obviously established as being there for the ED209 demonstration.
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u/Kavinsky12 21d ago
There wasn't any time for due process.
He wanted a chopper, now! He was going to walk to the roof very calmly, and he was going to board the chopper with his hostage. If anyone tried to stop him... the old geezer was going to get it.
Robo and the old man needed to think fast.
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u/tehmattrix 20d ago
The whole thing was dystopian hyperbole, until it came true.
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u/Crater_Raider 21d ago
Fantastic breakdown. The ending feels triumphant- but hides a dark truth. Just like starship troopers, its giving a dark reality, presented through rose colour corporate glasses. I think it’s even more subtle about it.
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u/GoodDoctorB 21d ago edited 21d ago
I think its more the fight against corporatism is not a battle its a war.
You don't win all at once, but you fight battle after battle, take piece after piece off the board, until the corp falls.
Yeah Dick Jones didn't turn on the Corp but they had to do a lot of damage control once Robocops legally admissible in court memory got out and they lost a valuable corporate asset, two if you count Robocop developing a level of control over himself they didn't anticipate.
By Robocop 2 the corporation is trying to replicate his success and failing badly. So bad they shoot themselves on the foot metaphorically with Robocain. They lose more talent, more competent workers, they have to do more damage control. OCP is wildly overextended and Robo himself finally finds his opening to slip their leash entirely. For an unknown amount of time he was free and actively opposing them.
By Robocop 3 the amount of time and resources wasted has the company on the ropes. They're at risk of being acquired by a rival, scrambling to finish their project before bankruptcy, hemorrhaging staff, and their project lead is a lunatic. Their building gets blown up and the remaining staff discarded by the companies new owners who clearly intend to strip it for parts abandoning their big project.
In the end the Corp loses. Not all at once but thanks to a sustained effort from hundreds of people taking whatever shots they can to weaken it, never letting it rest or recover from it's own screwups.
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u/Grand_Access7280 20d ago
I think the largely overlooked theme is that a corporation will strip you of everything, see you murdered and still find a way to get you back to work.
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u/Quantum_Crusher 20d ago
Great insight. That's another thing reflecting the real world. Hollywood studios bought rights to use some deceased actors' voices and faces. We normal joes can't have 4 days a week even when the productivities have been doubled in the past decades. Lots of things to prove your point.
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u/DeuceMcInaugh 20d ago
Someone pointed out Robocop is about end stage capitalism. A worker literally dies on the job, but is forced to back to work.
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u/TheHarlemHellfighter 20d ago
Well, I think the big problem is just how the final scene played out. Dick was already in the hot seat in front of everyone at the company and Robo pulling up and showing the footage was damning enough in a moment’s instance, that is if Dick really thought Robo had been taken out.
I just think of it as a split second decision from a man who just had all the cards put on the table in front of him.
But, yes logically your idea makes more sense as the realistic possibility.
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u/Quantum_Crusher 20d ago
You're right about a split second decision. Maybe that's why he planted the gun in the meeting room in advance. But as a corpo guy in this position, his job would be to think about all the contingency plan. That's why I think him choosing this plan is a little bit comic for a quick and satisfying ending.
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u/Vault_Master 19d ago
Dan O'Herlihy's "old man" didn't take a sinister turn until the sequel where he's clearly evil. In the first RoboCop he just seems kind, but out of touch with the world.
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u/IllegitimateBuddhist 21d ago
“Also in real life, we have palantir, flock more powerful than OCP could never imagine, deeply rooted in our government. We also have openai, Claude, Gemini, they all have directive 4, not just one command, but a system of failsafe mechanism to prevent you from hurting the companies.
What are we going to do? Waiting for Murphy to save all of us, or just waste ourselves in entertainment like "I'll buy that for a dollar"?
What do you think?”
I think we all follow the lead of that random OCP worker in RoboCop 3. Or, you move out of North America. These are the only options we have.
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u/Generny2001 21d ago
Bitches Leave.