Blade Runner (1982)

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Hampton Fancher (screenplay) and
David Webb Peoples (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 June 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A Futuristic Vision Perfected [2007 Final Cut]

Plot:

Deckard, a blade runner, has to track down and terminate 4 replicants who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to earth seeking their maker.

Plot Keywords:

Future | Police | Cyberpunk | Ledge | Murder

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Harrison Ford	...	Rick Deckard
Rutger Hauer	...	Roy Batty
Sean Young	...	Rachael
Edward James Olmos	...	Gaff
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Bryant
Daryl Hannah	...	Pris
William Sanderson	...	J.F. Sebastian
Brion James	...	Leon Kowalski
Joe Turkel	...	Dr. Eldon Tyrell
Joanna Cassidy	...	Zhora
James Hong	...	Hannibal Chew
Morgan Paull	...	Holden
Kevin Thompson	...	Bear
John Edward Allen	...	Kaiser
Hy Pyke	...	Taffey Lewis

Also Known As:

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (International: English title) (recut version)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and brief nudity (definitive cut); Rated R for violence. (1991 version)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English | German | Cantonese | Japanese | Hungarian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Italy:T | USA:R (Definitive Cut) | Germany:12 (re-rating) (2007) | Brazil:14 | West Germany:16 (f) | Portugal:M/12 | Ireland:15A | New Zealand:M | Denmark:15 (original rating) | Spain:13 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Ireland:15 | Israel:PG | Japan:R-15 (director's cut) | Netherlands:16 (director's cut) | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R | Norway:16 (original rating) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

2nd Street Tunnel, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Ladd Company, The

Trivia:

The first screenplay based on 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' was not written by Hampton Fancher as is often claimed, but by Robert Jaffe, whose company, Herb Jaffe Associates, had purchased the rights to the novel. According to author Philip K. Dick, Jaffe turned the novel into a comedy spoof, which Dick absolutely detested. Herb Jaffe Associates' option ran out in 1977, which is when Fancher became involved. Fancher had wanted to do an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch', but the deal fell through, and he turned to 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Deckard is talking to the snake vendor. You can see through the glass that each characters dialog does not match their mouth movements. This is true in all versions of the film, except the Workprint. Even in 2007 "Final Cut", the obviousness of the error has been reduced, but if you look closely, you can still see that the audio doesn't quite match the visual.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Female announcer over intercom: Next subject: Kowalski, Leon. Engineer, waste disposal. File section: New employee, six days.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Drillbit Taylor (2008)

Soundtrack:

LOVE THEME

The Last Great Noir

This is a film that is so deep, rich, and multi-layered, it may require more than one viewing to fully absorb the brilliance of what you've just seen. At first glance, it can be a bit slow. It's told in a classic film noir fashion, so this is to be expected. Director Ridley Scott seems to want to savor every shot, and an astute audience will be able to sense this.

Now, I say the film is told in a classic Noir style, but this can be misleading. There is no Humphrey Bogart in Blade Runner, snapping off brilliant one-liners once a second. Only hopeless people, in many ways victims of the merciless world of which they are all a part. Deckard is a typically downbeat protagonist, a hard-boiled cynical leading man with a weakness for heavy drinking. The plot is a mystery in name only, as the audience is allowed to know what Roy Batty, Pris and Leon are all up to before Deckard ever finds out. This only lends to the dread and inevitability of the film, lending further to its pervasive gloom. There is no final scene at the end where the bold detective puts all the pieces together and says "Ah-Ha!". Instead, we find Rick Deckard questioning his own existence and drinking away his constant doubts, all the while embroiled in a romantic relationship with someone he's sworn to kill.

Blade Runner requires audience participation, particularly in the Director's Cut, which is entirely devoid of some rather necessary exposition provided by the Original Cut's much-maligned voice-over. Certain facts will not be clear even at the end of the film, requiring personal interpretation in order to be appreciated fully. Other facts will be given away in much more subtle ways than in most modern cinema, such as through visual cues and tenuous dialogue.

Finally, visually, this movie is quite simply a science fiction triumph. It looks better than modern computer effects in every way that counts. Superimposed special effect objects don't give off that unnatural, clearly computer-generated "Lord of the Rings" sheen common in today's effects-driven blockbusters. This, of course, is because Blade Runner - while a gorgeous movie - is not effects driven in the least. Rather, it is a visually driven story that doesn't rely on special effects. This is an important distinction to make in today's Hollywood.

"Touch of Evil" really wasn't the last of the Great Film Noirs!