Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop was a classic of 80s action cinema. So why won't the mayor of Detroit erect a statue in the law enforcer's honour...?
For a legion of movie geeks, 1987’s RoboCop is an action cinema classic, jam-packed with absurd violence, quotable lines (“I’d buy that for a dollar!”) and an iconic central character in the shape of its titular tin law enforcer.
Even the pair of meagre sequels and a poverty-stricken television series hasn’t sullied the memory of Paul Verhoeven’s lip-smackingly satirical film, and while there’s been talk, in recent years, of a reboot with Darren Aronofsky at the helm, the Reagan-era RoboCop remains an enduring favourite.
On Twitter, one user, known simply as @MT, made the not unreasonable suggestion that the city of Detroit (the setting for the movie’s unforgettably brutal antics) should erect a RoboCop statue in the law enforcer’s honour. After all, Philadelphia has a statue of Rocky…
Woking in Surrey has a gigantic Martian sculpture to commemorate HG Wells’ War Of The Worlds (which, incidentally, is quite spectacular)…
Stirling, Scotland had a 12-ton statue erected in remembrance of Mel Gibson’s iffy historical epic, Braveheart…
The Braveheart statue (which makes poor Mel look like one of the aliens out of Battlefield Earth screaming at a seagull) was so unpopular that it was removed in 2008, but we’ll gloss over that.
Anyway, we’d maintain that a statue to RoboCop would be a fitting tribute to its contribution to the cultural history of Detroit – after all, who can forget the moment where Robo walks away from an exploding petrol station, or the bit where he kills dozens of bad guys in a disused warehouse? Admittedly, much of the film was actually filmed in Dallas and Pennsylvania, but we’ll gloss over that, too.
Sadly, the mayor of Detroit has nipped any suggestions of a RoboCop statue in the bud. Responding to the idea on Twitter, Mayor Dave Bing said, “There are not any plans to erect a statue to Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.”
We recently contacted Mayor Bing with a further suggestion – that while a RoboCop statue was perhaps beyond the pale, maybe a monument to his hulking nemesis, ED-209, might be feasible. Sadly, we’ve yet to receive a reply.
More news on the RoboCop statue campaign as it develops.
Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.