Social Satire Ahead of its Time in ‘RoboCop’

Coolidge Corner Theatre presents the always-relevant classic on 35mm

“There’s no better way to steal money than free enterprise,” declares Emil (Paul McCrane), one of several career criminals who terrorize dystopian Detroit with corporate blessing in Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 film RoboCop, playing this weekend at Coolidge Corner Theatre. The irony of this statement is not only humorous, but it’s disarmingly prescient as a critique of corporate greed in Verhoeven’s prophetic social satire. That’s because RoboCop’s primary villains aren’t run-of-the-mill criminals; they’re morally bankrupt executives at Omni Consumer Products (OCP), the conglomerate funding Detroit’s police force.

OCP has its hands in a number of public industries that aren’t typically considered profitable — hospitals, prisons, police departments, etc. However, “Good business is where you find it,” as vice president and chief bad guy Dick Jones (Ronnie Cox) proclaims during a presentation to his executive team. Not so coincidentally, this is the exact same expression that Jones’s secret partner, crime boss Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), uses later while trying to broker a large scale drug deal.

Like most major corporations, OCP’s primary concern is profit and regard for its personnel is secondary, as seen by how it mismanages the police department and mistreats its employees. Verhoeven demonstrates this cavalier attitude with one of several satirical TV news reports, in which Jones responds to a wave of police fatalities by delivering the unsympathetic quip, “Every policeman knows when he joins the force that there are certain inherent risks that come with the territory. Ask any cop, he’ll tell ya, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, you better stay out of the kitchen.’”

The company’s callous concern for the bottom line creates the RoboCop program, where the unfortunate Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) is turned into a terrifying cyborg following a horrific execution. The program exists not to improve law enforcement and keep the streets of Detroit safe, but to keep construction on schedule for Delta City, its self-serving urban renewal project. OCP tries to sell Delta City as a utopian paradise with billboards that comically state, “The Future Has a Silver Lining,” but all the executives really care about is the millions of dollars the project will net. They’re willing to get the project underway at all costs, regardless of who they must hurt to make it happen.

What’s amazing about RoboCop is that it’s not just simply an indictment of big business. Verhoeven also skillfully skewers the always-on media culture that rose to prominence in the ’80s with news segments and fake commercials peppered throughout the film. His news program “Media Break” — “Give us three minutes and we’ll give you the world” — covers nuclear threats, war, and destruction much like modern newscasts do. Major issues like the accidental deaths of two U.S. presidents are quickly glossed over like incidental footnotes in the same way that certain events in other countries are given little attention in our news.

Many of the playful jabs that screenwriters Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner take at pop culture in these news clips and commercials, like the Star Wars peace platform and the 6000 SUX (a huge gas guzzling car), are tied to the era in which the movie was made. But truly what’s scary about RoboCop is how accurately it prophesied intrusive media in all places with its omnipresent television screens; commercials for medical devices with its ad for artificial hearts; and the expansion of greedy private business into public programs such as transportation, hospitals, and prisons with OCP.

Although RoboCop is nearly 30 years old, its scathing social satire is so ahead of its time that it’s actually more relevant today instead of less. Even if you don’t focus on these themes while watching (and who can blame you, they’re pretty disheartening), RoboCop’s commentary can be more casually absorbed as a send-up of dime-a-dozen ’80s actioners. The picture’s intense score, hilarious one-liners, and brutal over-the-top violence never disappoint.

ROBOCOP. COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, 290 HARVARD ST., BROOKLINE. FRI 5.6 and SAT 5.7. 11:59pm/NR/$11.25/35MM. COOLIDGE.ORG