Main Cast: Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, Ben Johnson, Tim Thomerson, Harry Carey, Jr., Brion James
Release Year: 1987
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this arch sci-fi sex comedy-cum-action extravaganza, a hard-nosed female mercenary helps a hapless yuppie find a new body for his robot girlfriend in the post-industrial wasteland of the American Southwest. In the year 2017, what little remains of civilization feeds off the scrap heap of 20th century waste, while even casual sex has become a matter of regulations and contracts. Like many other members of the L.A. white-collar elite, Sam Treatwell (David Andrews) takes refuge in a quasi-marriage with his beloved sex robot, Cherry (Pamela Gidley). After a soft-focus, bubbly sexcapade short circuits Cherry's body, Sam considers replacing her, but the shoddy production values of modern robots make it obvious that the vintage appliance is irreplaceable. To put it simply, the guy's in love. The wistful romantic therefore heads out to The Zone, a forbidding no man's land, where he hopes to find a new "chassis" in which to insert Cherry's unique personality chip. To do so, he needs the help of a "tracker," and E. Johnson (Melanie Griffith) is just the woman for the job. The gun-toting, red-headed road warrior leads Sam through a dystopian desert landscape full of psychopaths and opportunists toward their final destination: an abandoned warehouse full of antique androids. Along the way, Sam learns what it's like to interact with a woman who has brains and a heart instead of a microchip. Filmed in 1986, Cherry 2000 didn't receive its limited theatrical release until 1988, the same year star Griffith received an Oscar nomination for her role in Working Girl. Griffith and director Steven de Jarnatt previously worked together on the pilot for the 1980s revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Ben Johnson, veteran of many a Hollywood Western, appears as E. Johnson's mentor, Six Finger Jake. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
Low production values can't dampen the quirky humor and interesting premise of this enjoyable B movie, which reimagines Blade Runner as a Roger Corman Western and casts Melanie Griffith in a kick-ass action role. Screenwriter Michael Almereyda, who would go on to pen Total Recall and both write and direct the quirky vampire flick Nadja, invests his near-future world with lots of well-imagined details that survive their translation into low-budget visuals. The film's two central premises -- that sex and the law will become ever more intertwined, and that technology will provide solace to those who can't get laid in the traditional sense -- might have seemed futuristic in the mid-'80s, but they just seem like common sense in the cold light of the 21st century. Cherry 2000's flip, cheeky approach to such ideas may lack the poetic melancholy of the best science fiction films, but that doesn't mean it isn't thoughtful in its own way. Of course, this is primarily a popcorn flick, and director Steven de Jarnatt stretches his budget admirably well; the action sequences are workaday but well-realized, while production designer John J. Moore gets a lot of mileage out of Mad Max-style grit and post-New Wave fashions. The whole thing would fall apart, though, if Griffith didn't make such an appealing heroine. With her Raggedy Ann 'do and fuss-free self-assurance, she updates her Body Double character with body armor and proto-Tank Girl sass. Co-star David Andrews, meanwhile, plays things convincingly straight, while old cowboy Ben Johnson has fun in an aw-shucks supporting role and Tim Thomerson hams it up as hapless maniac Lester. Despite the presence of pert Pamela Gidley in the title role, Cherry 2000 is remarkably lacking in T&A, strange for a movie about a sex robot, but further evidence for those who want to reclaim this as a quietly feminist fable. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Pam Gidley - Cherry 2000; Cameron Milzer - Ginger; Michael Gwynne - Slim; Jennifer Mayo - Randa; Marshall Bell - Bill; Jeff Levine - Marty; Howard Swain - Skeet; Jennifer Balgobin - Glory Hole Clerk; Annabel Brooks - Glu Glu Club Patron; Ray Favaro - Glu Glu Club Patron; Laurence Fishburne - Glu Glu Lawyer; Claude Earl Jones - Earl; Frances McCaffrey - Glu Glu Club Patron; Catherine Stewart; Robert Z'Dar - Chet; John Tarnoff - Lawyer; Jack Thibeau - Stubby Man; Sly Ali Smith - Bartender; Donny Evins - Donny; Katie Greene - Amy Meemur; Jenny Lester-McKeon - Robot at Slim's; Joan Riddell - Frazzied Woman
Credit
Gary Holland - Boom Operator, Jane Jenkins - Casting, Caldecot "Cotty" Chubb - Co-producer, Edward R. Pressman - Co-producer, Elliot Schick - Co-producer, Julie Weiss - Costume Designer, Jerry Grandey - First Assistant Director, Steve De Jarnatt - Director, Duwayne Dunham - Editor, Edward M. Abroms - Editor, Lloyd Fonvielle - Executive Producer, Louis G. Friedman - Line Producer, Basil Poledouris - Composer (Music Score), Tom Villano - Musical Direction/Supervision, John J. Moore - Production Designer, Jacques Haitkin - Cinematographer, Jack Wallner - Cinematographer, Elliot Schick - Production Manager, Lloyd Fonvielle - Producer, Don Sanders - Sound Mixer, David A. Whittaker - Sound Editor, Gene Hartline - Stunts, Sasha Jenson - Stunts, Roy Jenson - Stunts, Thomas Rosales, Jr. - Stunts, John-Clay Scott - Stunts, Al Simon - Stunts, Charlie Croughwell - Stunts, Mike McGaughy - Stunts, Ben R. Scott - Stunts, Fred Smith - Stunts, Terry Jackson - Stunts, Kathleen O'Haco - Stunts, Danny Wong - Stunts, Brett Smrz - Stunts, Walt LaRue - Stunts, Anthony M. Jefferson - Stunts, John Michael Johnson - Stunts, Tracy Keehn - Stunts, Carol Rees - Stunts, Scott Sproule - Stunts, Kevin Swigert - Stunts, Arthur Brewer - Special Effects Supervisor, Lloyd Fonvielle - Screen Story, Michael Almereyda - Screenwriter, Lloyd Fonvielle - Screenwriter, Dawn Martin - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Randy Walters - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Josh Bleibtreu - First Assistant Camera, Greg Gardiner - Gaffer, Philly Melnick - Key Grip, Ellen Freund - Properties Master, Adrienne Hamalian-Mangine - Script Supervisor, Katterli A. Frauenfelder - Second Assistant Director, Jill Simpson - Casting Assistant, Isabella Van Soest - Costumes Supervisor, Martin A. Kline - Storyboard Artist, Anne Kuljian - Set Decorator, Chuck Wentworth - Pilot, Harry Hauss - Pilot
In 2017, business executive Sam Treadwell's (David Andrews) beloved "perfect sex machine," the "Cherry 2000" android (Pamela Gidley), short circuits during a torrid embrace amidst the soap suds on his kitchen floor. He searches for a replacement, enlisting Edith "E" Johnson (Melanie Griffith), a tough tracker who guides him into the wasteland interior of a post-apocalypticUnited States and to an abandoned manufacturing plant where he hopes to find a replacement robot. Standing in their way is Lester (Tim Thomerson), a chipper wasteland overlord and his deranged subordinates, who wear a combination of city and tropical clothing. While evading and fighting Lester's minions, Sam and Edith develop a mutual attraction. The pair manage to recover a new Cherry 2000 and install the previous model's memory chip, but Sam soon becomes disenchanted with Cherry's artificial personality. When Edith stays behind to cover Sam's escape, he abandons Cherry to return and rescue Edith.
Cherry 2000 is probably most widely known for the original score composed by Basil Poledouris. The soundtrack album prepared for release at the time of the film was canceled due to the film being shelved for a few years instead of receiving a theatrical release. Later, Varèse Sarabande decided to make it the debut release in their CD Club. Originally sold by mail-order for US$20 and at only 1500 copies, it became a highly valued collectible, one copy selling for $2,500 on eBay, the most ever paid for a copy of a film soundtrack CD.[citation needed] However, for being such a touted collectors' item, the packaging for this limited edition CD was riddled with typographical errors. The track list had the incorrect length printed for the last two tracks, and two tracks were missing from the track list entirely. In 2004, Prometheus Records acquired the rights to the score and made it available in a double package with another Poledouris score, No Man's Land. The Prometheus Records release was not a limited edition and, as well as rectifying the track listing, features an additional eight minutes of unreleased music; however, it sold poorly.
Location
According to the credits, the film was shot entirely in the state of Nevada. A scene with Sam and E. watching a van plunge into an open pit was shot at Three Kids Mine near the current location of Lake Las Vegas. The latter half of the crossing the river sequence was filmed at the Hoover Dam. Scenes involving the Sky Ranch were filmed at the Beehive group camping area in the Valley of Fire State Park near Overton, Nevada. E.'s and Sam's first kiss was filmed in the upper reaches of the Las Vegas Wash, several miles east of Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs. Adobe Flats was filmed at Eldorado Valley Dry Lake Bed outside of Boulder City, Nevada. The town of Glory Hole was filmed in Goldfield, Nevada.
