is one of my prize possessions.That caused me to see this review:
 |
| Well, there's your problem... |
...and chortle.
"My Laserdisc player finally broke, and so I can no longer watch my beloved MGM/UA release of Casablanca. I bought the movie on BluRay, and it's in black and white!"
I know it's not an exact parallel but, dude, caveat emptor and do a little research, okay?
(I'm not one of those purist militant types that won't watch the theatrical release with Harrison Ford's hammy Sam Spade-esque narration; I'll take my Los Angeles 2019 pretty much however you want to put it on the screen in front of me.)
i like the hammy narration, but then i've always liked film noir.
ReplyDeleteI believe I own three different releases of Blade Runner.
ReplyDeleteand two of Princess bride.
Just in case I wear out the DVD/BluRay....
I'm also a fan of the narrated version.
ReplyDeleteBut I have no taste since I still like 80's music and Taurus firearms :)
I just like the idea of buying a more advanced version that isn't quite the same as the dying version. Seems to be in line with the general thrust of the movie.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only heathen who enjoyed the noir feel of the narration.
ReplyDeleteEhhh ... the director screwed up the original Dick novel anyway.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out Adam Savage's Bladerunner blaster collection on Tested.com.
ReplyDeleteKristophr,
ReplyDeleteWhereas I think the movie was a masterpiece of its genre and the movie-making art, while Dick's novel was a workmanlike but ultimately forgettable piece of genre fiction and not at all Dick's best work.
(If anything, the movie subverts the novel, since the only characters in the movie with anything like empathy or any other positive human emotions are the replicants... Well, and J.F. Sebastian...)
"What the hell is up with this copy of Brazil I just got? It went, like, several minutes past the real ending! Now I'm all depressed."
ReplyDeleteNot Dick's best work.
ReplyDeleteSo many of his stories are like the beginning of a better story that he didn't bother writing, but published the introduction anyways.
Sometimes when the mood hits I drink whisky from a glass with a heavy, square base as an homage to the movie.
ReplyDeleteThankfully I don't backwash blood into the glass.
I've always gotten a kick out of seeing the Bradbury building, and knowing, as most film geeks do, who walks through its doors daily now.
ReplyDeleteIf you didn't know, it's LAPD Internal Affairs HQ...
Matt
St Paul
@1077idaho
Blade Runner, one of my five favorite movies. I own all eleventy versions on DVD and Blu-Ray. I still like the narration because it was my "first time." I have a theory that no one saw Blade Runner in the theater, but it became a classic because it was released on VHS for $29 when all other tapes were $99. People bought it just to have a nice tape to show on their "recording" machine.
ReplyDeleteErin,
ReplyDelete"I'm glad I'm not the only heathen who enjoyed the noir feel of the narration."
Oh, I like it just fine; it was my favorite movie long before I ever saw the original version. I just like the sparse feel of the Final Cut.
(Incidentally, one situation in which I will always watch the version with the narration is late at night: The concentration required by the voice-over-less original is too hard to maintain if I'm at all tired, and I wind up nodding off... :o )
BatChain, the narrated version was my first too. On one of those giant laser disc players no less. Our local library would lend out the player and the discs. Quite the novelty in the early 80's.
ReplyDeleteAll this talk of the movie has me wondering if it's too intense to watch with my 7 year old boy. I'd say probably so.
I've asked my wife to look for a copy of "The Last Starfighter" to watch with him instead. I've been thinking of it lately because the ATV the security patrol drives around my employer's parking garage makes a sound that reminds me of Centauri's star car.
Great minds think alike--one of my favorites as well. Sean Young did a great job.
ReplyDeleteWow, other people brave enough to say they preferred the original theatrical version too?
ReplyDeleteIt's like I'm no longer alone in the world.
Like 'em both, each has it's charms! And thanks for the link, Tam!
ReplyDeleteWeird, sitting on my desk at this very second is a VHS copy of the theatrical release that I need to repair. Tape broke. I have several CD and laser disk versions but this is my only copy of the original release.
ReplyDeleteThe "film critic" for our local newspaper claims that he is unable to watch black-and-white movies, because his brain can't process them, or something.
ReplyDeleteKids, these days...
While I greatly prefer the non-narrated version, I often wonder if I would have got it as much if I hadn't seen the narrated version, first. I think this calls for a re-viewing.
ReplyDeleteJeff Cupp,
ReplyDeleteGet one of the 25th or 30th anniversary releases and it should have all the different versions, I think. I know the super deluxe boxed set I have does...
I liked the novel, dammit. But tastes differ, I 'spose.
ReplyDeleteI think the director just decided the replicants were the good guys.
The scene in the book where the replicant group pretending to be cops were trying to convince Deckard that he was a replicant who was being sent out to kill actual humans may have been too tough for the average movie goer to follow, I guess.
I bought the book a few months back. It's very different than the movie (DUH!) and very short.
ReplyDeleteThink of it as a 'one afternoon read'.
And I *still* see questions about "Why no widescreen version of the Wizard of Oz", and "Why are all the old black-and-white movies in mono".
As you say....kids....
I refuse to buy a copy of that movie that features unicorns.
ReplyDeletePeriod.
(And with Kristopher, I don't care what Scott decided - Deckard is categorically not a damn replicant.)
This reminds me that we are perilously close to 2019 and WHERE'S MY FLYING CAR DAMMIT!
ReplyDeleteSigivald,
ReplyDeleteDeckard is as human as Schrödinger's cat is alive. ;)
Kristophr,
I guess the above ambiguity would have been too hard to write in a novel. :D
"They don't advertise for killers in the newspaper. That's what Craigslist is for."
ReplyDeleteSo, are you all coming to Los Angeles in 2019 for the commemorative ceremony and party in which we get to churlishly point out that despite no real air pollution changes since 1980 Los Angeles is not the distopia depicted in the movie?
ReplyDelete