rec.arts.movies.past-films

On Sep 2, 8:02 pm, le...@ wrote:
> I saw the original theatrical release when it came out and then the
> first director's cut when it was released theatrically some time in
> the 1990s (I don't recall exactly when). I liked the original better
> and I really don't care to see yet another director's cut of this.
> It's an interesting film, but more from a design standpoint than
> anything else. The basic plot is interesting, but the movie doesn't do
> enough with it. The actors aren't quite right for it. Something's a
> little off. I have to admit I'm not crazy about Ford in this or Hannah
> or Hauer or Sean Young. The other supporting actors (Brion James,
> Joanna Cassidy, Edward James Olmos, et al) were fine, I guess, but it
> needed a stronger sensibility in the core role and Ford is just too
> vacuous for me. And Hauer is just too...European?...for the part. I
> probably wouldn't have had a problem with Hauer if he'd a stronger
> lead actor to play off. Ford is fine when the role is not that deep,
> like Indiana Jones or the doctor in THE FUGITIVE, but a film like
> BLADE RUNNER needed a stronger central presence, a little more
> gravitas. Ford didn't have that back in 1982. He was still Han Solo in
> the popular imagination at that point.


I don't quite agree with you about Ford. I thought he was fine. I
look upon Deckard as being like the protagonist of "I am a Camera" or
Dashiel Hammett's nameless "The Continental Op". He doesn't have to
be a strong character in his own right.

Dave in Toronto