Thursday, March 16, 2023

Blade Runner, 1982

I watched Blade Runner and heard Harrison Ford's monotonous monologue during an afternoon matinee in the Colony theatre across the street from the Hudson’s Bay store in downtown Winnipeg, MB. Dan was there, wearing cowboy boots. He was going to be a prison guard, and I had recently done good deeds at the Headingley Jail. We yacked about this and sat together in the middle of the cinema. He had read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? At that point the closest I’d been to a PKD novel was in a Coles bookstore in Unicity Mall. That was okay — Dan said he would tell me all about it during the movie. 

Turns out that besides the Voight-Kampff Test there was precious little to say. The director veered sharply from the novel, as was the norm. 

One guy behind us tittered as Priss pounded the floor and died. I later told my mother about this. She shook her head and said, “Some guys just don’t know how to respond.” 

I'm relieved to hear it. You see, I've 
bought a pair of cycling shorts...

Links: In two parts I review Denis Villeneuve's movie sequel Blade Runner 2049this is my commentary on PKD's extraordinary empathy; I still think A Scanner Darkly is the best PKD on film; this is my commentary commentary for A Scanner Darkly and Crumb; in 2015 Leonard Nimoy died — this is my commentary on the difference between him and  Harrison Ford; and this is the Wiki for Blade Runner 1982

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