Cherry 2000

In the year 2017, the United States has fragmented into post-apocalyptic wastelands with a few civilized areas. An ongoing economic crisis has led to the recycling of aging 20th-century mechanical and technological equipment. Society has become both increasingly bureaucratic and hypersexualized, with actual human sexual encounters requiring contracts drawn up by lawyers prior to sexual activity. At the same time, robotic technology has produced female androids (more properly, Gynoids) as substitutes for wives.

Business executive Sam Treadwell (David Andrews) owns a Cherry 2000 model Gynoid as his wife. After she short circuits during sex on a wet kitchen floor, Sam is told by a repairman that she is damaged beyond repair, though her rare and valuable memory disk, which contains her entire personality, can be used in a new body if the same model can be found. A Gynoid dealer tells Sam that the Cherry 2000 model is no longer produced and that the only remaining ones are in a defunct warehouse in "Zone 7," a particularly dangerous, lawless area. With Cherry's memory disk stored in a device that plays back Cherry's voice, Treadwell hires Edith "E" Johnson (Melanie Griffith), a tough tracker, to guide him to the factory. They set off in Edith's heavily modified 1965 Ford Mustang.

Entering Zone 7, they encounter Lester (Tim Thomerson), a wasteland overlord with deranged subordinates. Edith and Sam take refuge in an underground reservoir occupied by Six-Fingered Jake (Ben Johnson), an elderly tracker who was Edith's mentor. When Lester's men attack, the three attempt to escape, but Treadwell is knocked unconscious and taken to a 1950s-styled motel/village. Ginger (Cameron Milzer), one of Lester's gang, reveals herself as Treadwell's ex-girlfriend, previously known as Elaine. Lester decides to induct Treadwell into the group, and Treadwell, believing that Edith and Jake are dead, goes along for a while. When he witnesses the group sadistically murdering a tracker, Treadwell decides to escape and runs into Edith and Jake, still quite alive. Jake, who had earlier led Treadwell to believe that the Cherry 2000 memory disk had been lost, still has it and gives it to Edith while he stays behind to draw off Lester's gang.

Treadwell, a veteran of earlier wars, shows that he is a capable fighter, and Edith begins to have feelings for him. Treadwell's own growing feelings toward Edith, though, are derailed when he hears Cherry's voice accidentally play on the audio device. Continuing to work their way to the Gynoid warehouse, they arrive at a brothel/gas station owned by Snappy Tom (Harry Carey, Jr.), a friend of Jake's, where a dilapidated Aeronca Champion light airplane is stored. Edith repairs the plane using parts from the Mustang. Jake catches up with the group and reminisces with Snappy Tom, but Snappy's live-in girlfriend (Jennnifer Mayo) betrays their location to Lester over the radio and shoots Jake in the back. Edith and Treadwell manage to escape in the plane.

Treadwell is almost ready to abandon the quest, but Edith is determined to complete her job as a tracker so Jake's death will not become meaningless. As they land, Zone 7 is revealed to be actually the abandoned ruins of Las Vegas and the Gynoid "warehouse" is actually a casino. Treadwell finally finds a functional Cherry 2000 model (Pamela Gidley) and activates her with the memory disk; however, being programmed only for home life and sex, the robot is incapable of adapting to the current dangerous situation when Lester and his gang attack.

In an extended battle, Treadwell, Edith, and Cherry climb aboard the airplane, but their combined weight prevents takeoff. Edith jumps out so that Treadwell and the robot can escape, but Treadwell realizes that Cherry cannot provide the human interaction that he and Edith have had and turns the plane around. Cherry, programmed to fulfill Treadwell's wishes, offers to bring him a Pepsi, so he sends her away as he and Edith fight off Lester's gang and take off in the plane. When Lester tries to lasso the plane, he gets caught in the rope and hangs himself from one of the ancient Las Vegas neon casino signs. Edith and Sam kiss as they fly away into the sunset.

• Melanie Griffith as Edith ("E") Johnson
• David Andrews as Sam Treadwell
• Tim Thomerson as Lester
• Pamela Gidley as Cherry 2000
• Harry Carey Jr. as Snappy Tom
• Jennifer Mayo as Randa, Snappy Tom's girlfriend
• Ben Johnson as Six-Fingered Jake
• Brion James as Stacy
• Marshall Bell as Bill
• Laurence Fishburne (as Larry Fishburne) as Glu Glu Lawyer
• Michael C. Gwynne as Slim
• Jack Thibeau as Stubby Man
• Robert Zdar as Chef
• Jennifer Balgobin as Glory Hole Clerk
• Cameron Milzer as Elaine/Ginger

Cherry 2000 is widely known for the original score composed by Basil Poledouris. The soundtrack album prepared for release at the time of the film was cancelled 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 1,500 copies, it became a highly valued collectible, one copy selling for $2,500 on eBay. 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.

Track listing (as printed on label):[3]

1. Prologue (1:02)
2. Lights On (1:49)
3. Main Title (1:55)
4. Lester (5:05)
5. Rauda (0:42)
6. Hooded Love (1:13)
7. The Barricades (1:50)
8. Magneto (4:18)
9. Drive to Gloryhole (1:23)
10. Thrashing of Sky Ranch (3:21)
11. Sam Flips (1:13)
12. Cherry Shorts Out (1:30)
13. Lester On The Move (0:36)
14. Drive (1:52)
15. Photograb (1:09)
16. Plane to Vegas (1:00)
17. <Missing from listing> (0:59)
18. Ambush in the Cave/Truck Fight (2:09)
19. Flashback (1:05) (An unlisted entry follows Flashback, time 0:54)
20. Lights Out (1:47) (Correct time is 1:52)
21. The End (0:35) (Correct time is 0:39)

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 in addition to rectifying the track listing, features an additional eight minutes of unreleased music, but it sold poorly.

Track listing:

1. Main Title (2:00)
2. Photograb (Alternate Mix) (1:13)
3. Cherry Shorts Out (1:34)
4. Lights On (Alternate Mix) (1:54)
5. Flashback #1/Drive to Gloryhole (1:28)
6. "E" Flips Sam (1:19)
7. The Barricades (1:54)
8. Flashback #2 (1:08)
9. Photograb (1:13)
10. Magneto (4:22)
11. Pipeline (:59)
12. Water Slide (1:04)
13. Jake's Jukebox (1:39)
14. Lights Out (1:29)
15. Moving (:40)
16. Thrashing of Sky Ranch (3:26)
17. Drive (1:59)
18. Hooded Love (1:18)
19. Ambush in the Cave/Truck Fight (2:15)
20. Lester Follows (:22)
21. Drop 'Em (:43)
22. Lester on the Move (:42)
23. Rauda (on) Mic (:45)
24. Jake Killed (:54)
25. Plane to Vegas (1:03)
26. Cherry Awakens (1:15)
27. Lights On (1:54)
28. End of Lester (5:04)
29. The End (:42)
30. Main Title (3:00)
31. P.C.H. (1:02)
32. First Score (2:15)
33. Lone Score (1:20)
34. Love Theme (1:39)
35. Chase (5:28)
36. Porsche Power/Drive My Car? (2:41)
37. Ann Buttons (1:15)
38. Payoff (3:27)
39. Showtime (4:17)
40. End Credits (3:04)
41. Movietone (Cherry 2000 Bonus Track) (:57)

Tracks 30–40 are from No Man's Land.

The Citadel building located in Commerce, California, was featured in the film.

According to the credits, the film was shot entirely in Nevada. The van plunging into an open pit was shot at Three Kids Mine. The river-crossing sequence was filmed at the Hoover Dam. Scenes at the Sky Ranch were filmed at the Beehive group camping area in the Valley of Fire State Park. E and Sam's first kiss was filmed in the upper reaches of the Las Vegas Wash. Adobe Flats was filmed at Eldorado Valley Dry Lake Bed. The town of Glory Hole was filmed in Goldfield, Nevada. The Integratron building in Landers, California, was used as the casino that was the "abandoned manufacturing plant" holding a rare copy of the outdated Cherry 2000 Gynoid at the end of the film. The fortress-like building featured in the film is in Commerce, California, at the location of a former tire factory, which was renovated and transformed into the Citadel Outlet Mall.

After its completion in December 1985,[2][4] Orion Pictures originally scheduled Cherry 2000 for a U.S. release on August 15, 1986.[5] Sometime later, the date was postponed to March 1987,[6] then September 1987.[7] The film ultimately premiered at the Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal in February 1988, before being released theatrically in Europe,[8] and finally on videocassette in Japan and North America in August and November of that year, respectively.[1] The film played in Canada for the first time during the Lost Episode Festival Toronto in August 2017. Producer Edward R. Pressman confessed that Cherry 2000's combination of genres, styles, and themes stumped promoters at Orion, resulting in its repeated shelving.[2]

There are several references to other films:

• The post-apocalyptic landscape dominated by biker gangs seems inspired by the Mad Max films.
• When Treadwell first seeks a replacement for his Gynoid "wife" at a sales location, he passes Gort, the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and Robbie, the robot from Forbidden Planet (1956).
• Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr. appeared together or separately in several of John Ford's Westerns.

The film was broadcast on Tele 5 as part of the programme format SchleFaZ in season 1.

• During the scene where Sam takes Cherry in to be repaired the clock in the background behind Sam shows 3:46 and then 3:47. Later after seeing the other available models, Sam returns to look at Cherry and you see the clock change from 3:46 to 3:47.

• List of American films of 1987

• Cherry 2000 at IMDb
• Cherry 2000 at AllMovie
• Cherry 2000 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Cherry 2000 at Turner Classic Movies