16vmarc

What do people think of Blade Runner, and which version do they prefer?

tiggers

Fantastic film, a 'science fiction film noire'.

For me I'd take the Director's cut as I don't really go much on the voiceover in the original.

Both great though.

tiggers.

fitzscoob

loved the film, think the one i have watched is the directors cut.

Where harrison ford kills the last non-human, robot, clone type thing, rudgaer hass?? that his name lol.

Dont think I have ever seen the other ending.

Class film

16vmarc

Rutger Hauer

fitzscoob

Thanks for that lol, you know when you know the name, you can almost say it but for all the trying in the world, you just cant get the damn thing out

Neil Smalley

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

fitzscoob

Cant remember the ending properly.

Isnt it the one where they RH and HF are talking on the moon at a crash site, and HF finds out he is one of them?

16vmarc

Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott actually fell out over weather Deckard was a replicant or not, hence why HF never talks about it or appears in docs about it.

Just read too that they removed the voiceover as it contained confusing dialogue.

chrisowe

Isn't it about time they released a special edition of this on DVD ?

carl

What's it got to do with Harrison Ford? He just acts the part -- whatever the creative people decide he does.
PS: the book's got a good plot, but it's not that well written, IMHO

16vmarc

He played the part believing Deckard to be human, and has always insisted he was. Ridley said in an interview years later that he was a replicant. One of the original drafts states that he was human but the Directors Cut has added scenes that propose he was a replicant.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Hmm, I always thought it lost its power if you assume Deckard to be a replicant.

You have the human, who -in many respects- has lost his humanity and become a machine juxtaposed with the machines aspring to be human and struggling with humanity in the process.

Great film though. Amazing vision and a really moving end piece to camera. Apparently Rutger composed at the last minute and Ridley Scott let him run with it.

Also seem to recall reading that Harrison Ford and Sean Young REALLY disliked each other!!!

I'll go with the directors cut.

Best.

16vmarc

Yeah i think they said on the channel 4 doc that Rutger improvised that scene.

CC

Great film . Must admit if it weren't for the voice-over in the original release I wouldn't have had the slightest idea what was going on but then again I am stoopid .

albob

CC,
don't feel too bad - that was the whole point of the voice-over!
In pre-screening viewers complained that they had trouble understanding the plot - hence the 'helpful' voice-over.......

alan

PG

didnt like it.
That was a good few years ago so I may give it a go again.

richiewong

Superb line, voted director's cut

Ubik

I thought on the directors cut they made out that Deckard was a replicant.

The dream with the unicorn and the paper unicorn on the floor that he picks up. Plus Briant tells him theres six (can't remember the exact number) replicants to be tracked down and he only gets five (or one less if you follow me ). I always assumed that when he stepped out of the lift the police would finish the job off as he got out of the lift.

TBH I have mixed feelings about each version. I was never that keen on the marginally happy (original) ending.

I think it changes it somewhat. It makes the film a little darker, a bit grittier. The humans using him to kill what in effect are his brothers and sisters.

Its a very dark film that focuses on mortality. I don't watch it too often although its one of my favourates.

Its very very different from the book. And the book bladerunner II <- oh my lord do not bother. Alan Dean Foster (I think it was) should be hung drawn and quatered for that abomination. PKD is currently still spining in his grave!


Voted directors cut

Ubik

Its a long time since I saw the original version but at the end did it show Deckard driving across country as the voice over was on?

Neil Smalley

Yes.

Ends with the line something like
"tyrell said Rachel was special. No Insep date. I did'nt know how long we'd have together.. Who does..."

EddScott

Don't remember that happening?

In either film its not entirely clear if Deckard is a replicant but the directors cut implies as much through what the foreign looking cop says and that he gives Deckard a paper unicorn after he dreams a unicorn (the unicorn scene was later used in Legend btw).

I prefer the original as I felt the directors cut was missing something even though it add fuel the the Deckard replicant theory. Didn't know they'd fallen out over it but I remember Ridley Scott saying that he was a replicant a few years later. The original film does imply the replicant issue but only slightly which I think is better as it keeps you guessing.

edit - Rutger Huaer - how come he only really ever got to B movie status? great presence but never really seem to make it "big"

andrewdelvard

Who knows, maybe it was a choice thing.
As for the film, has it stood the test of time or what? The stylisation is so good, so original. There's only one or two scenes that, through contemporary, present day eyes, date the film to the 80s. I also think one its strengths is that the story is so good, so involved but happens to be set in a future where people are still scared of change and will go to all kinds of lengths to stop it. That inherent, irational, fear never changes no matter how advanced we may think we are. A great theme amongst many others in the film.
This film was made 22 years ago.Wow.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

I think it has to remain slightly ambiguous as to whether Deckard is a replicant or not -regardless of whether the director intended him to be one- for the story to work either way. The point is to raise the question of what is human, and -more specifically- what is humanity.

Didn't Ridley Scott say the big hint was when Deckard was washing and then turned to Rachel and you saw his eyes glow briefly in the dark, which is a characteristic of replicants?

Personally I couldn't see it clearly and much preferred to go with the notion that Deckard was a human acting without humanity, hence his reaction to the closing line (in the directors cut):

"it's too bad she won't live, but then again who does?"

Best wishes,

MACH1

CARL!What edition did you read? The Kevin J Anderson version, or the Phillip K Dick original?.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

The book was called "Do androids dream of electric sheep" wasn't it?

Best.

bashful

The (three?) 'sequels' were by K.W. Jeter, mentioned in PKD's writing as mate while he was alive. IMHO, they are sequels to the film, not the book.

There's lots of interesting stuff in the novel which didn't make it into the film, of course. I always think that PKD was a terrible writer who had absolutely first-class ideas to write about.

carl

The PKD original. Electric sheep on the roof of the building, the pseudoreligious stuff and all. As I said: plot was good, but I didn't get on with the writing style.

Jodster

They never filmed that drive out into the country but the studio wanted it, and the voice over, after previews left people confused at what they'd seen. The country drive was taken from the cutting room floor of The Shining.

The significance of the unicorn is that the fellow cop (bloke from Miami Vice) knew Deckard was a Replicant. Knew his programming. Knew he'd dreamed about unicorns.

It's in my top five movies. It's so heavy in atmosphere I'm genuinely breathless by the end. And Rutger could never top his performance in that.

And I'm still waiting for someone to market umbrellas with a neon strips in the shaft. How cool are they?!

Neil Smalley

Jodster

I saw them once in Great Yarmouth back in the early 90's