Welcome to Blood City (1977)

A group of strangers find themselves dumped into a desolate countryside with cards in their pockets logging the murders they’ve committed and a canteen of water between them.

Then they’re marched into the nearby Old West town of Blood City by Sheriff Friendlander (Jack Palance), who explains this different sort of settlement.

In it, newcomers can be claimed as slaves by citizens and have to serve that role for one year before becoming citizen’s themselves.

Or they can kill a citizen and take that person’s place in society.

Michael Lewis (Keir Dullea) has no intention of becoming anyone’s slave, even though being a slave offers a year of protection in a town where folks climb the social ladder by adding notches to their six-guns.

Pretty Martine (Hollis McLaren) cringes at thoughts of the upcoming Choosing. An overweight galoot named Gellor plans to claim her to be his pretty plaything.

Turns out, everyone in Blood City is part of an Old West simulation, designed to find out which men are suited to become squad leaders and kill masters for the state in a futuristic war that’s under way.

Katherine (Samantha Eggar), one of the scientists, thinks Lewis would make a perfect military man. Perhaps a perfect lover too.

So she inserts herself into the game as a gun-toting saloon girl in order to help him survive.

Review:

A crudely made variant on 1973’s “Westworld” and starring Keir Dullea, who gained fame as astronaut Dave Bowman in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

He does a decent job as the upstart citizen, Jack Palance plays it mostly straight. And Hollis McLaren is certainly a sympathetic character as the young girl who’s already been raped once, faces a possible future serving Gellor’s sexual desires and looks to Dullea’s character for salvation from that fate.

But the role of Katherine defies logic. She’s one of the scientists, yet can insert herself into this make-believe world whenever she wants?

Unlike “Westworld,” this film did not spawn a sequel.

Directed by:
Peter Sasdy

Cast:
Jack Palance … Sheriff Friendlander
Keir Dullea … Michael Lewis
Samantha Eggar … Katherine
Barry Morse … Supervisor
Hollis McLaren … Martine
Chris Wiggins … Gellor
Henry Ramer … Chumley
Allan Royal … Peter
John Evans … Lyle
Ken James … Flint
Larry Reynolds … Bates
Jack Creley … Webb
Alan Crofoot … Sarge
Gary Reineke … Harry
Chuck Shamata … Ricardo

Runtime: 96min.

aka: Blood City

Memorable lines:

Sheriff Friendlander: “This is Blood City, and we do things a little different around here.”

Sheriff Feindlander: “Girl like her in a town like this could cause an awful lot of trouble for a man like me. Better off locked up.”
Martine: “Is that the law?”
Friendlander: “No ma’am. It’s just common sense.”

Friendlander: “What do you think of our little town?”
Lewis: “It’s not a bad place. But I’d sure as hell hate to die here.”

Gellor, taking a bath prior to ‘The Choosing’: “Ya want a girl to appreciate ya, it’s best not to stink too bad.”
Bodyguard: “A girl don’t appreciate ya, ya come alongside her head once or twice. You’ll see how darn fast she appreciates ya.”
Gellor: “Boy, what you know about girls ya could stick up your nose and you’d still have plenty of room to breathe.”
Bodyguard: “Well, I know this much about women, you can’t treat ’em too bad. But you can treat ’em too good.”

Gellor: “Life’s cheap in Blood City.”

Katherine: “There must be at least 20 men in that camp. You going to take them all by yourself?”
Lewis: “I’m not after 20 men. Just one girl.”

Lewis: “Would you shoot a man in the back?”
Friendlander: “I’ll tell you the truth. I’d shoot a man in the back. I’d shoot him in the front. I’d shoot him in the side. I’d shoot him in God’s house if I took a mind to.”