I wasn't going to say anything about this picture because there are currently more than thirty reviews here so what could I possibly add? But none of the reviews seem to mention what I find to be perhaps the funniest (inadvertently funny, that is) scene in the 1980s movie catalog. I have to set this up properly. It's towards the end of the picture, during the climactic fight at the river's edge. Dr. Coldyron, the tough-as-nails scientific project director (who has been fired but is still on the job) for the Dallas Police Department (well known for their expertise in robotics) is trying to comfort Sonya, the damsel-in-distress who has been fleeing ROTOR (the murderous robotic cop who has absolutely no capacity for emotion but nonetheless is constantly getting really angry) while Professor Steele, the brilliant scientist who is built like Jesse Ventura and who sports the ugliest haircut imaginable (aptly described by many as a skunk mullet) distracts ROTOR. The camera is focused on Coldyron and Sonya while ROTOR and Steele fight some distance behind them. What Coldyron is trying to say to Sonya is, translated, "Stay right here and be quiet, we have the situation well in hand" but he mumbles so much and the sound is so bad it comes out like "Stay here...we have the situation mumble something." Whatever the exact words, his comment is meant to be reassuring: everything is going according to plan. However, fully visible behind them, ROTOR is engaged in beating the living snot out of Professor Steele. I'm sorry, I cannot even write about it without cracking up. I find it hard to believe that having the hormone-challenged Doctor Steele (her title changes from time to time) get the daylights kicked out of her is an official part of the plan. But that's par for the course with R.O.T.O.R. Since I'm here anyway, a few other points about this wonderful picture. a) Shoeboogie gets no acting credit, but I know I've seen this actor in a similar role somewhere else. It's driving me crazy. b) It must be tough being a Dallas cop. Wherever ROTOR goes (remember he looks just like a human police officer) some hick wants to fight him. Usually for no reason at all. c) Can you believe Sonya and her boyfriend, the dead speeder, were planning on getting married? They are on screen as a couple for maybe five minutes and have etched themselves permanently in my memory as the most detestable couple I've ever seen, in movies and in life. I could go on forever, but I want to get back and watch that fight scene again while the movie is loaded in the DVD player. "Don't worry, Sonya, just stay here and relax, we have the situation well in hand..."
Review of R.O.T.O.R.
