You know how sometimes your memory of a film is better than the actual film? I don’t think anything fits this description better than the Morty Fineman retro-classic “The Foxy Chocolate Robot.” (For those who don’t know, Fineman and his company Fineman Films made movies that make Troma’s films look like big-budget spectaculars. Fineman’s heyday was in the 1970s, when “Foxy Chocolate Robot” was originally released.)
Like a lot of you, I was brought up on a lot of bad horror films hosted by cheesy horror movie hosts. This is where I first saw “The Foxy Chocolate Robot,” which was edited for television. You all know the plot, Fred Williamson portrays lonely genius, Dr. Melvin Franklin. When a grant committee rejects his latest proposal, Franklin vows to create a robot of destruction. But when the robot steps out of the chemical bath looking superfine and superfoxy, Doc’s vows turn to love. The unedited version has some gratuitous breast shots, but I found the lack of nudity in the TV version much more erotic, especially in scenes involving the chocolate vat.
Now that chemical bath scene does still holds up, but this long lost Fred Williamson classic should have remained lost. Yeah, emerging from a vat of liquid Nestle to become a one-woman killing machine is great in theory, but it just comes off as dumb today. Although, in the film’s defense, it is easy to see where James Cameron got his inspiration for the “Terminator” film series from this film. Cameron, though, threw out the ridiculous elements and improved on this simple concept. It’s funny now that the third “Terminator” film will feature a female killer robot, when the original idea was contained in this very picture made in 1976.
Save the good memories you have of “Foxy Chocolate Robot” and avoid it altogether. I wish I had not seen it. I had a much better film playing in my head all these years.
