CREATIVE FORCES: HARRISON FORD AND RIDLEY SCOTT- TOGETHER FOR "DANGEROUS DAYS" MAKING "BLADE RUNNER"

The super 2007 re-release poster art by John Alvin for the seminal 1980's sci-fi classic BLADE RUNNER, with superb performances from Harrison Ford, Sean Young and Rutger Hauer. Images: WARNER BROS.

Never has there been a more distinctive and mature film to have caught the public's imagination years after its original release than the dark, disturbing and visionarily haunting Future Noir of Ridley Scott's seminal sci-fi thriller BLADE RUNNER, set in Earth's not too distant 2019, and starring Harrison Ford in one of his career best performances as the weary Humanoid Replicant hunter, Rick Deckard, forced out of retirement for one last savage assignment, taking on the fearsomely statuesque, but ultimately more human than his pursuers, leader of his fugitive group, Roy Batty.

Living in a dangerous world, Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard pursues his prey in the streets of a future Los Angeles.

With its superb, often elusive to grab hold of main characters, intelligent script and complex investigation into morality and humanity, and boasting some of the most stunning production design ever seen, the film, ultimately based very loosely on the highly charged and imaginative author Philip K. Dick's acclaimed best seller DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, was a huge flop on its original theatrical release, as general cinema viewers of the time, used to seeing a more heroic Harrison Ford, weren't quite sure what to make of him as the film's central lead (in a role that was more emotionally subdued and complex, which also, at times, made him physically vulnerable to attack from the bad guys (only a year before said audiences had seen and cheered him on as the ultimate screen action hero against the Nazis, Indiana Jones, in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK)-though fortunately in the years to follow, his performance in BLADE RUNNER would eventually go on to be, quite rightly, regarded highly as one of his most nuanced performances ever) or the off-beat and sometimes grim visual tone of the film, a highly detailed and evocative look at a future Los Angeles even more multi-cultural, commercially decadent and violent than anything quite seen before, from a commercials director turned movie-maker at the very top of his creative game, whose visuals would inspire generations of sci-fi, glossy films, TV, photography, commercials and promos for a long time to come...

In his most iconic role yet, acclaimed Dutch actor Rutger Hauer as the Replicant leader, Roy Batty.

Love in a cold climate. Deckard makes his advances on Rachel (Sean Young)

Despite its aforementioned poor performance at the time in America, the blockbuster that was not a blockbuster was, thankfully, a critical success in Europe, enjoyed by a more appreciative and sophisticated audience. In the years that followed, American film-goers and critics would finally re-evaluate and regard it more, too, as it found new life and bigger success, further inspiring critics and film-makers everywhere- and making it a huge hit in film school/universities around the world!- on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray release; now even more so as it celebrates its thirtieth anniversary next year.

2007 Re-release Trailer: Blade Runner Trailer 2007 "The Final Cut"‬‏ - YouTube

Bloodied and beaten, Deckard advances on Roy Batty in this posed promotional image.

As mysterious and intriguing as the movie itself, both then and currently, would be its actual behind the scenes filming-with a shoot plagued with clashing studio and producing heads, changing concepts and screenplays, union rows, and, even more controversially, the central conflict of the lead star and its director over the ultimate direction of the Deckard character-was he Human or a Replicant?-that drove an almighty wedge between the pair and their working relationship, and which would lead to frosty words from both camps about each other and the project for many years to come. These many accompanying myths and legends of its making have been the subject of several weighty book tomes and documentaries before, but writer and film maker Charles de Lauzirika would go on to put together the ultimate documentary of its kind on the film in all areas of its conception, from its adaptation to shooting, to ultimate release and beyond, with DANGEROUS DAYS: MAKING BLADE RUNNER, which pretty much features contributions from the majority of the films cast and crew (including Ridley Scott and a rare talk about the project from Harrison Ford, who, for years, pretty much disowned the final controversial release, but seems slightly more acclimatised to it with the passage of time!). Backed up with additional great behind the scenes filming from 1981, screen tests and deleted scene moments, if you're in the UK, and you've never seen it before on its original DVD and Blu-ray release, this brilliant documentary is well worth catching late night on the BBC 2 channel tomorrow, especially alongside the preceding screening of the final (so far) "Ultimate Director's Cut" of the film from 2007 by Ridley Scott. The future may not be so bright in his land of fire fuelled skies, spinners, Replicants and off-world colonies, but we can appreciate the incredible beauty and enduring legacy that remains with BLADE RUNNER to this very day...

DANGEROUS DAYS Trailer: Blade Runner Final Cut - 25th Anniversary, movie (video) trailer preview and review‬‏ - YouTube

All cinematic versions of BLADE RUNNER are available in a special Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Box Set from WARNER BROTHERS DVD.