The RoboCop scene that led a film critic to complain to the projectionist isn’t what you’d expect

Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 film “RoboCop” is one of the most violent films, riddled with bullets, neck stabs, genital shooting, entry wounds, thug mutations and CEO murders ever made. Although it was framed as a critique of the Reagan administration’s crass ultracapitalism, it still works well today, functioning as a commentary on unchecked corporate malfeasance and the ever-increasing militarization of the police. It was initially billed as a standard sci-fi/action film, but over the years it has proven to be one of the most important films of its decade. It took the zany Dutch filmmaker behind “Showgirls” to expose the horrors of American violence.

Even back then, critics leaned into the satirical elements of “RoboCop,” and few backed away from its copious violence. The Washington Post reviewer loved its “funny underpinnings,” happy to see a yes-man in business get shot. Roger Ebert also noted that the shooting scene was supposed to be – and actually was – quite funny. He gave “RoboCop” three stars, observing that there was “also sharp social satire, as Robocop takes on some of the attributes and some of the popular supporters of a Bernhard Goetz.” (Goetz was a notorious and active vigilante shortly before “RoboCop” hit theaters.)

So there has been little moral criticism of “RoboCop,” at least from American film critics. There was, however, one critic who once insisted that the screening of the film be stopped midway through because she found it too surprising. Specifically, it seems that one of the Los Angeles Times critics, probably Sheila Benson (who was an editor when “RoboCop” was released in theaters), was thrown a little off balance by some false advertising in the film. As Esquire’s 2014 oral history of “RoboCop” recounts, she thought a reel of the wrong movie was being shown when a stop-motion animated dinosaur suddenly appeared on screen.

One of the most striking features of “RoboCop” are the fake TV commercials that periodically appear throughout. The film is set in a dystopia where gleefully absurd advertisements continue to occur while corporate violence and crime run rampant, including advertisements for a world-destroying board game called “Nuke ‘Em” and a rudimentary sedan amusingly referred to as the 6000 SUX. In particular, the commercial for the 6000 SUX is a retro sci-fi commercial featuring a stop-motion dinosaur rampaging through the streets of Detroit. The dinosaur was brought to life by legendary animator and special effects guru Phil Tippett.

According to Verhoeven, the dinosaur was so different from the rest of “RoboCop” that it confused one critic. Verhoeven liked the television commercials in particular because they were very jarring to the central action of the film. It appears, however, that they were too shocking for at least one person. As he recounted:

“In fact, the TV commercial that begins with footage of a plasticine dinosaur really surprised the Los Angeles Times film critic. She complained to the projectionist that he had put in a reel of the wrong movie. The critic had already seen two-thirds of the movie, so she knew what those kinds of harsh cuts would look like. But it was so shocking, that it still made her think she was watching the wrong movie!”

Remember, back when films were projected on celluloid, projectionists either had to construct several 20-minute reels on a gigantic stage or, in some cases, run them reel-to-reel, switching from one projector to the next every 20 minutes or so. It is possible for an inattentive projectionist to mix up the reels. So the reviewer in question went to the booth to complain. But no, it turned out that “RoboCop” was just wonderfully weird.