Cherry 2000
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Cherry 2000 is a 1987 science fiction cult film starring Melanie Griffith and David Andrews.
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Plot summary
In 2017, business executive Sam Treadwell's (David Andrews) beloved 'perfect sex machine', the "Cherry 2000" android (Pamela Gidley) [technically the Cherry is a gynoid rather than an android], short circuits during a torrid embrace amid the soap suds on his kitchen floor. He searches for a replacement, enlisting E. (Edith) Johnson (Melanie Griffith), a tough tracker who guides him into the interior of America's post-apocalyptic wasteland to an abandoned manufacturing plant, where he hopes to find a replacement to house Cherry's memory chip. During this journey, Treadwell and E. Johnson fend off the attacks of Lester (Tim Thomerson), a hostile, homicidal yet somewhat mentally balanced wasteland overlord and his violent subordinates (who oddly dress as if they are caught between a city life and a tropical vacation). Lester violently objects to Trackers trespassing within the wasteland, especially Zone 7, his personal region which he enforces with lethal severity. As Treadwell and Johnson journey together, a mutual attraction grows, and Treadwell learns the hard way that the perfect woman is made of real flesh and blood.
Over the years, this films has attracted a fan cult following. It is available on DVD.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Melanie Griffith | E. (Edith) Johnson |
| David Andrews | Sam Treadwell |
| Tim Thomerson | Lester |
| Pamela Gidley | Cherry 2000 |
| Harry Carey, Jr. | Snappy Tom |
| Ben Johnson | Six-Fingered Jake |
| Brion James | Stacy |
| Marshall Bell | Bill |
| Laurence Fishburne | Glu Glu Lawyer |
| Jennifer Balgobin | Glory Hole Hotel Clerk |
Soundtrack
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 cancelled due to the film being shelved for a few years instead of receiving a theatrical release. Thankfully, 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 a whopping $2500.00 on eBay, the most ever paid for a copy of a film soundtrack CD. However, for being such a touted collectors' item, the packaging for this limited edition CD (despite the beautiful cover art by Matthew Joseph Peak) was surprisingly riddled with typos. 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. Ironically, this new pressing was a very poor selling CD.
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 Hoover Dam.
- Scenes involving the Sky Ranch were filmed at the Beehive group camping area in 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.
Vehicle Trivia
The three wheel vehicle that Sam Treadwell drives to meet the tracker was a commercially produced Trihawk that was built in the USA between 1983 and 1985, although only about 100 were made.
