Today marks the 30th anniversary of the satirical sci-fi/action classic RoboCop so I wanted to pay tribute to one of my favourite characters from the first three films: Officer Anne Lewis played by Nancy Allen.
When we are first introduced to Officer Lewis she is beating the shit out of a suspect who is attacking her fellow officers. She’s not afraid to get her hands dirty and is tough as nails but she is still human and likeable. You believe that she is a cop who has to deal with the scum of the Earth every day so it’s amazing she’s as nice as she is.
I always thought that when she first meets Alex Murphy they have a bit of a spark but as he’s a married man then nothing ever happens between them and it doesn’t have to; they build a mutual respect for each other. Whenever tragedy strikes and Murphy is brutally killed by a group of criminals and brought back to life as the cyborg RoboCop, it’s Lewis who helps him remember who he was.
Her role was smaller in RoboCop 2 as Nancy Allen said in The History of RoboCop book that director Irvin Kirschner didn’t like her which is why she didn’t have as much to do.
Despite that, for the first three movies Lewis is always there to support Robo/Murphy against various adversaries until her tragic demise in part 3.
Someone has put together a fitting tribute to Officer Lewis which you check out below.
Happy 30th Birthday RoboCop!