'Demolition Man' at 30
Peripheral factoids and unexpected ways that the 1993 sci-fi actioner lives on
On October 8, 1993, I left a small West Virginian movie theater with a question I have yet to get answered, 30 years later: “How were the three seashell used?”
I’m referring, of course, to a key scene in the film Demolition Man, in which Sylvester Stallone's John Spartan is surprised to learn that, in the future, people don't use toilet paper. Instead, Sandra Bullock and Rob Schneider tell him, people are supposed to use the shells. And while it’s a funny enough Rip Van Winkle moment for Spartan, I still have yet to form any kind of theory that makes sense out of their usage—even as I watched it for the first time in three decades this week.
Anyway, that’s not exactly the focus of this edition of Power Action! My goal here is to really celebrate this weird, still-pretty good actioner’s birthday with a roundup of factoids about everything surrounding Demolition Man, rather than inside the film itself. So, “Simon Says” let’s get to it:
Back to the seashells real quick: The makers of the 2020 action role-playing video game Cyberpunk 2077 are such big fans of the film that they integrated the shells into the bathroom inside of the game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t illuminate anything about their usage:
That’s small potatoes compared to what the film inspired within professional basketball shortly after it was released: Dennis Rodman loved Wesley Snipes’ blonde Simon Phoenix haircut so much that he dyed his own hair. Thus, one of the most iconic looks of 1990s NBA was born.
The film had a less positive influence on its director, Marco Brambilla. This is the only feature film on the resume of the fine artist and filmmaker, who abandoned the studio-controlled environment of Hollywood for museums and galleries. Fun fact: He was recommended for the job by David Fincher, a fellow high-profile commercial director at the time.
For a while, if you ate at one of the Stallone-backed Planet Hollywood restaurant locations, you might have caught a glimpse of one of the real John Spartan frozen models used in the film. Recently, one of the models appeared in an unexpected location:
Since they came out within months of each other, Demolition Man is often remembered as simply being better than the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led Last Action Hero. According to reports, Mattel was so bummed by LAH’s lack of success that it didn’t try too hard on the Demolition Man figures and that’s why the latter’s repainted molds are taken directly from a He-Man line. This is why you see an H on the belt of this particular John Spartan figure and the same armor piece:
Demolition Man had a game adaption on Genesis, SNES, and Sega CD, and it was pretty well received, actually. For a quick taste, see a speedrunner best the game in just over 11 minutes:
That wasn’t the only game based off of the film, though. Reach deep into your arcade memories, and you might recall the pinball Demolition Man game. You might remember its gun-handle flippers or its best feature: the "Cryo-Claw," a feature that can get you a variety of modes, from Super Jets to Capture Simon. Refurbished machines run $7,500, these days. Sandra Bullock famously didn’t receive one as a wrap gift, unlike her male co-stars. Come on, guys: Even Benjamin Bratt got one. (Her character also didn’t get a figure.)
In one of the weirder marketing ploys, MTV's promotion for the film (hosted by Dan Cortese) centered on actual demolitions, culminating in this building being leveled in Louisville.