Synopsis
The movie kicks off when a high-tech military robot, Number 5, is struck by lightning during a power demo, causing a tactical malfunction that accidentally gives him a soul. Intrigued by “input,” he wanders off-base and meets Stephanie, an animal lover who feeds him encyclopedias and TV commercials until he’s basically a walking, talking 80s pop-culture encyclopedia. The plot thickens when Number 5 realizes that “disassemble” is just a polite military word for death, leading to a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse as his nerdy creator, Newton Crosby, and a bunch of trigger-happy soldiers try to hunt him down. After learning about mortality by accidentally crushing a grasshopper, Number 5 uses his superior robotic brain to outsmart the Army in a climactic showdown, faking his own destruction with a clever decoy made of scrap metal. The film wraps up with the robot officially naming himself “Johnny 5” and escaping to a peaceful life in Montana.
Actors & Crew
- Ally Sheedy (Alexandra Elizabeth Sheedy) was born June 13, 1962. She made her feature film debut in Bad Boys (1983) and came to prominence as a member of the Brat Pack with roles in Oxford Blues (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), and Blue City (1986). She received three Saturn Award nominations for WarGames (1983), Fear (1990), and Man’s Best Friend (1993), and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for High Art (1998). She also appeared in Twice in a Lifetime (1985), Short Circuit (1986), Betsy’s Wedding (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), and Life During Wartime (2009). As of 2021, she has been a professor in the theater department at the City College of New York. She was 23 years old when she was in this film. She plays Stephanie.
- Steve Guttenberg (Steven Robert Guttenberg) was born August 24, 1958. He’s known for playing Carey Mahoney in the Police Academy films (1984–1987), and for Three Men and a Baby (1987) and its sequel, plus Diner (1982), Cocoon (1985), Short Circuit (1986), The Bedroom Window (1987), The Big Green (1995), and A Novel Romance (2011). On television he’s had recurring roles in Veronica Mars, Ballers, and The Goldbergs, and competed on season 6 of Dancing with the Stars. He was 27 years old when he was in this film. He plays Newton Crosby.
- Austin Pendleton (Austin Campbell Pendleton) was born March 27, 1940. He’s a prolific American character actor, playwright, and theatre director whose six-decade career includes Catch-22 (1970), What’s Up, Doc? (1972), The Front Page (1974), The Muppet Movie (1979), Short Circuit (1986), My Cousin Vinny (1992), Guarding Tess (1994), Amistad (1997), and A Beautiful Mind (2001). On Broadway he received a Tony nomination for directing the 1981 revival of The Little Foxes, plus Obie and Drama Desk Awards over his career. He was 46 years old when he was in this film. He plays Dr. Howard Marner.
- Directed by John Badham, who also plays an uncredited cameraman — the scene of Number 5 watching and imitating Saturday Night Fever is an inside joke, since Badham also directed that film. Written by S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock.
Budget & Shooting Locations
- Released: May 9, 1986
- Rated: PG
- Budget: $15 million — Number 5 was the most expensive part of the film, requiring several different versions built for different sequences, which let the production keep the rest of the budget lean
- Box Office: $40.7 million — debuted at No. 1, with a studio-reported opening weekend of $5.3 million, though independent sources suggested the real figure was closer to $4.5–$4.725 million
- Filmed primarily in and around Astoria, Oregon, with additional scenes in the Columbia River Gorge and the Beaverton area. Locations include Stephanie’s house (197 Hume Ave, Astoria), the Bonneville Dam, and the Astoria–Megler Bridge
Rewatch verdict and Cringe Meter
IMDb: 6.6/10 (70K ratings). Rotten Tomatoes: 62% Tomatometer (39 reviews) · 67% Popcornmeter (100,000+ ratings). Metascore: 50, “Mixed or Average” (12 critic reviews). User Score: 7.1, “Generally Favorable” (34 ratings).
At the 1987 Saturn Awards, Short Circuit was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film, John Badham was nominated for Best Director, and Syd Mead and Eric Allard were nominated for Best Special Effects. David Shire won the BMI Film Music Award for the score.
