June 25 is the fortieth anniversary of the initial release of
Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER. Given that it is forty years old
there will likely be SPOILERS! BLADE RUNNER is notorious for the
number of versions of it. I will be discussing the first one I saw
(the U.S. theatrical version). There is also an international
theatrical version, a U.S. television version, the "Director's
Cut", and the "Final Cut".

The film has been connected with Warner Brothers, which is
interesting because Warner Brothers does not have a real history of
major science fiction movies (THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, THEM!
and SOYLENT GREEN are probably the best known).

Due to an actors' strike during pre-production, Ridley Scott and
his art department had a long time to develop the look of this film
and they worked wonders--the art direction is exquisite. Scott and
his cinematographer Jordan Cronenworth go overboard in trying to
capture the film noir texture of this world. (Everything except
the final scenes take place at night, which allows for very
dramatic lighting effects, but makes one wonder exactly how much
time has passed and whether the earth has stopped rotating.)

Scott also gives us a truly multi-ethnic, polyglot future with many
different cultures blending into each other. But he also seems to
revel in unpleasant images--viewer be warned.

Rutger Hauer's make-up resembles a well-known illustration from
Olaf Stapledon's ODD JOHN. (The film THIS ISLAND EARTH borrowed
the same makeup look for its aliens.)

Deckard seems to find that every clue leads him to the next
location, which just coincidentally leads to the clue after that,
much as in MOONRAKER.

One thing which always bothered me was the twisting of Deckard's
neck, which as shown would break his neck. Perhaps this is the
basis of the belief that Deckard is a replicant.

Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_runner>

--
Mark R. Leeper

Mark Leeper wrote:
> June 25 is the fortieth anniversary of the initial release of
> Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER. Given that it is forty years old
> there will likely be SPOILERS! BLADE RUNNER is notorious for the
> number of versions of it. I will be discussing the first one I saw
> (the U.S. theatrical version). There is also an international
> theatrical version, a U.S. television version, the "Director's
> Cut", and the "Final Cut".

No mention of the Vangelis score?
Similar to the versions of the movie, at the year of its release the only album available was an orchestra performing the music. In 1994, Vangelis released a CD of his recordings which his liner notes said he couldn't do before. I see on the 25th anniversary they released a three-CD set, pairing this with one of more unreleased music and one of further inspiration Vangelis took from the film. I know I bought several "snippet" releases of other soundtracks around this time; news of the five-DVD release of the movie must have blocked this from my sight.

> The film has been connected with Warner Brothers, which is
> interesting because Warner Brothers does not have a real history of
> major science fiction movies (THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, THEM!
> and SOYLENT GREEN are probably the best known).

I thought BLADE RUNNER was made by Orion Pictures. I see it was a mistake, probably prompted by a similarity in their fonts.
BLADE RUNNER was produced by the Ladd Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. This arrangement had contemporaries in OUTLAND, LOOKER, the animated fantasy TWICE UPON A TIME, and the space historical drama THE RIGHT STUFF.

I mentioned elsewhere a "THE THING In Character" podcast series. The same folks are in the midst of doing a "BLADE RUNNER In Character" series.
https://neozaz.com/category/podcasts/bric/
I don't find them as close a fit with the tone of this material as they were with THE THING or MAD MAX, but interesting takes.

--
-Jack

I love Blade Runner but there is one giant logic hole that you really have to suspend to fully enjoy it. That is: Why the bleep didn't Tyrel put trackers and id marks in/on their product?