Cherry 2000

Did You Know?

• Cherry 2000 was released on VHS in North America by Orion Home Video on November 17, 1988.
• A reviewer in Variety noted that the film had gone fast to video after the briefest of theatrical screenings.

Plot

By 2017, the United States had broken apart into a mix of dangerous wastelands and a few remaining civilized pockets. A long-running economic crisis meant people had to recycle old 20th-century machines and tech. Society had grown uncomfortable with real intimacy, yet also became hypersexualized and buried in red tape. Robots called gynoids were built to replace human wives. Sam Treadwell, a recycling executive, owned a Cherry 2000 gynoid as his wife. When she short-circuited during sex on a wet kitchen floor, a repairman told Sam she couldn’t be fixed, but her memory disk—holding her entire personality—could be put into a new body if he found the same model. A gynoid dealer said the Cherry 2000 was discontinued, and the only remaining units were in an abandoned warehouse in Zone 7, a lawless and dangerous area. Sam hired a tough tracker named Edith “E” Johnson to guide him there, and they drove off in her heavily modified 1965 Ford Mustang. Inside Zone 7, they ran into Lester, a wasteland overlord with crazy followers. Sam and Edith hid in an underground reservoir run by Six-Fingered Jake, an old tracker who had trained Edith. When Lester’s men attacked, Sam got knocked out and was taken to a motel styled like the 1950s. There, Ginger—one of Lester’s gang—turned out to be Sam’s ex-girlfriend Elaine. Lester wanted Sam to join the group, and Sam, thinking Edith and Jake were dead, went along. But after watching the gang murder a tracker for fun, Sam escaped and found Edith and Jake still alive. Jake, who had earlier pretended the memory disk was lost, gave it to Edith and stayed behind to distract Lester’s gang.

Location

The film's credits state that all shooting took place in Nevada. The van's plunge into an open pit occurred at Three Kids Mine, while the river crossing was filmed at Hoover Dam. Sky Ranch scenes were shot at the Beehive group camping area in Valley of Fire State Park. The first kiss between E and Sam happened in the upper Las Vegas Wash. Adobe Flats was filmed at Eldorado Valley Dry Lake Bed, and the town of Glory Hole was shot in Goldfield, Nevada. The casino doubling as an abandoned manufacturing plant with a rare Cherry 2000 gynoid was actually the Integratron building in Landers, California. The fortress-like building seen in the film is located in Commerce, California, on the site of a former tire factory that became the Citadel Outlet Mall.

Release

Completed in December 1985, Cherry 2000 was first slated by Orion Pictures for an August 15, 1986 release. That date was pushed back to March 1987, then September 1987. A May 1987 article noted the film had been on the shelf since the previous year, with a wry hope it would open by the 21st century. Newsday reported a September release, while a Palm Beach Post piece in October 1987 pointed to February 1988. Producer Edward R. Pressman admitted the mix of genres and themes baffled Orion’s promoters, causing repeated delays. He called the film a tough sell. Director Steve DeJarnatt added that viewers generally didn’t hate it, but described it as a soft film that left marketers unsure how to position it.

Reception

Critics have given Cherry 2000 a 38% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 21 reviews, averaging 4.24 out of 10. The site’s consensus notes that while the film has a certain low-budget charm, its silly plot and uneven performances often come across as unintentionally funny except for hardcore genre fans. Variety’s 1988 review praised Melanie Griffith as the film’s best feature, saying she elevates the material whenever she appears. The review also called the production quite lavish, with suitably rugged Nevada locations and praised John J. Moore’s production design as a major strength.