The Movie: Robocop (1987)
What Is It?: Paul
Verhoeven’s satire imagines a future in which the police department is
privatized and a dead cop gets a second lease on his law enforcement life with
the help of a freshly minted robot body. This movie has it all: pointed
criticisms of capitalism, a bunch of future “Twin Peaks” stars, and a recurring
gag in which everyone watches an idiotic, “Benny Hill”-esque TV show with the
classic capitalist catch-phrase “I’d buy that for a dollar!”
Why Today?: On
this day in 1938, Paul Verhoeven is born.
