Origins: Blade Runner

Subject: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Slag
Date: 22 Jun 06 - 12:37 AM

I thuroughly enjoyed the score for this movie and the lovelorn sax solo was just haunting. In the original, it played off the end as Harrison Ford and Sean Young made their escape. I don't know the title or performer. Anyone?

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: mrdux
Date: 22 Jun 06 - 12:54 AM

The solo was by British sax player Dick Morrissey. Score by Vangelis.

michael

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 22 Jun 06 - 05:49 PM

The novel was "Do androids dream of electric sheep" by Philip K. Dick.
In the novel Rick Deckerd? was a bounty hunter. The term Blade Runner used in the movie was credited to another Sci-fi author (Alan E Norse, I think).
Quack!!
Geoff the Duck. (we can remember it for you wholesale)

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 23 Jun 06 - 05:34 PM

"Too bad she won't live..... But then again, who does."

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Peace
Date: 24 Jun 06 - 02:32 AM

Parenthetically, the genius of Vangelis was first recognized (I think) for his music to the movie, "Chariots of Fire".

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Helen
Date: 24 Jun 06 - 06:19 PM

One of my favourite songs - a couple of decades ago - was by Jon & Vangelis from their Friends of Mr Cairo album, called I'll Find My Way Home.

Blade Runner is probably my No. 1 favourite movie. I've got the original release and the director's cut versions.

I've read the Philip K. Dick book too, and I like them both equally although they are different.   Ridley Scott stated in the credits that the film was inspired by PKD's book so each of them have a different "take" on the conceptual & philosophical idea. So by reading the book and seeing the movie the whole experience gets deeper. IMHO.

And then there is the atmosphere of the place built up through scenery and lighting and cinematography. And the actors. And of course the music. A total cinematographic experience. Not a common thing in movies...well, not commonly bringing together all of the elements so well. Again, IMHO.

Helen

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Slag
Date: 25 Jun 06 - 09:39 PM

Great imput. Thanks for the music cred. Yes, Vangelis did do the "Chariots of Fire". That movie about a true story of a Christian missionery to China and the lead actor is a case of irony and tradgedy. PKD is one of my favorite Sci Fi / Paranoid Fiction writer's. No movie has really done him justice yet but some have come close, Blade Runner one of them. But Blade Runner stands on it's own as a great work of art. There was an old movie about a guy being chased by an old semi rig through the Central California coastal range. Dennis Weaver was the lead actor. I don't remember the name of the flick off the top of my head but it was inspired by a PKD short. It has a lot of the paranoid flavor of PKD. Two great novels of his, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said   and Ubik would be great as movies.

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 25 Jun 06 - 09:47 PM

The movie was called "Duel"... it was Made-For-TV

One of the few things that Steven Spew-burg has put his hands to that didn't blow chunks.....

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jun 06 - 03:20 AM

Wasn't "Duel" a Richard Matheson adaption od his own short story or novella?

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Jun 06 - 11:11 AM

Yes... Matheson wrote the movie adaptation as well as the original story

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Slag
Date: 26 Jun 06 - 12:40 PM

Apparently I was misinformed!! Nonetheless it certainly had that flavor where life and circumstances seem to come at you with a malevalent intent born of some inhuman intelligence.

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Jun 06 - 01:04 PM

Inhuman? It's not like there wasn't a guy behind the wheel of the semi in Duel.....

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Slag
Date: 26 Jun 06 - 07:35 PM

You never see the guy. You don't know what motivates him. No face. No name. He might just as well be a part of the MACHINE he drives. I mean "Arnold had more personality as the Terminator in T1 than this non-character had. Yes, inhuman!

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: M.Ted
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 01:38 AM

Phil K, Dick is one of my favorite writers of any kind--and, though he never profitted much from it, there have been about ten movies based on his stuff, not counting the ones, like "The Truman Show" that lifted PKD concepts.

He also said one of my favorite things, to wit "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." I have always found it to be true.

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Grab
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 08:22 AM

DeckArd...

Don't bother buying the "Bladerunner 2" book. It tries to take the Bladerunner film and then tie in characters from the PKD story. Doesn't really work (like most "sequels" written by someone who didn't write the original).

Re the "inspired by", it's also worth remember that Ridley Scott's take on it was different to PKD's. The book makes it clear that Deckard isn't a replicant. In the film though, we never quite know - and Scott is on record as saying that the closing frame of the director's cut (the paper unicorn) indicates that Deckard *is* a replicant. Forget the original film with the voice-over and the grafted-on happy ending - that sucks.

For my money, Minority Report was a very close second to Bladerunner - the visuals aren't quite as good, but I think the plot is better. Similarly, it manages to take the central concept of the original book (precogs, the majority voting system for crime prediction, and the combination of precognition with free will), throw away the original plot as un-film-worthy, and replace it with a plot that's actually better. It really deserved better marketing than just another summer blockbuster - I think it easily rates a place in the sci-fi "top 10 ever".

Graham.

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 27 Jun 06 - 10:34 AM

Play the Bladrunner RPG for PC.... It's a great blend of what is best of both the movie and book

"Scott is on record as saying"
Actually, what Scott is on record saying is that HE thinks it's MUCH more interesting if Deckard is a replicant, but that even in his own movie it was left vague....

"Minority Report.... rates a place in the sci-fi "top 10 ever"
You need to get out more often....

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Slag
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 03:52 AM

Well the original question concerned the sax solo and that really worked with love interest. I believe the question "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" and "can an AI fall in love?" are the same question and the central theme of the movie. The little cadre of replicants obviously had emotional connections and were on a desparte quest to continue their existence which is the hallmark of all LIVING things. The Rutger Hauer character and the Daryl Hannah (?sp) character seemed to have something that appraoched love.

I'd place this movie in my top 3. For it's day The Forbidden Planet is a standout and truly reflective of the genre at the time. The Body Snatchers (1955) was a great blend of Horror and SF and a work that stands alone. Just about all the the other stuff Hollywood tried to pass off under the banner of SF was pure crap, rubber suits and all. Not until 2001: A Space Odessy, was there another true SF film. THX 1138 was an interesting step in the right direction whereas, by way of contrast, Logan's Run in roughly the same time period, sucked. Lucas finally got it right and showed Hollywood the way but even so it took the industry a while to really catch on that SF and Horror are two distinct genrae. And the thing that Lucas really did right was to let the science fiction, the science speculation serve as the backdrop for the story. You can't showcase the gizmos and gadgets. Their reality and function must be assumed and taken for granted by the players. And then you come to the music which can really sell the whole deal or wreck it. The score for 2001 was superb as was Star Wars' score. And that brings me back to Blade Runner. The music was a 5th dimension that helped put it all together.

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: s6k
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 07:07 AM

you can get the soundtrack, and all the tracks except 2 are brilliant, great to chill out to.

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 05:21 PM

If you get the soundtrack, make sure you get the one that goes with the 'directors cut' (I think it's dated 1994)

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 06:51 PM

Vangelis also did the opening theme of Cosmos, the 13 part PBS series narrated by Carl Sagan.

"Duel." One of the best, most suspenseful "man versus monster" movies ever made. Even moreso because the "monster" is totally believable. And possible.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Origins: Blade Runner
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Jun 06 - 07:06 PM

A similar sort of movie to Duel was the one with the long scene about the 2 helicopters, someone here DID tell me thr name, but I forget...