The summer of ‘82… January 1, 2007
Posted by ghostof82 in : Film General , trackbackI read an interesting review of the HD-DVD of DUNE over Christmas, by Joshua Zyber over at Dvdtalk, in which he confessed that DUNE was his favorite movie. Now I’ve never heard of anyone admitting to that film being their favourite before, but it did set me thinking about what makes our favorite films the objects of our obsession.
I’ll be honest. It’s probably a predictable and boring choice now, but BLADE RUNNER is my favourite film, and it’s why my blog has the title it has. BLADE RUNNER is a popular film nowadays, always in top-ten lists of sci-fi films in magazines and books, but it must be remembered that back when BLADE RUNNER was first released, it died at the box-office and disappeared. It was nothing, it was like the best-kept secret. Nobody saw it. Few films ever failed at the box-office as BLADE RUNNER did- something like $28 million worldwide.
I was 16 back in 1982, bit of a sci-fi geek, entering sixth-form, an avid devourer of genre books and comics. I loved STAR WARS, all that stuff. I went to my local ABC cinema in September when BLADE RUNNER opened, knowing very little about the film other than it starred Harrison Ford and was directed by Ridley Scott. For once I had managed to avoid much info about the film, so I went in with a clear head, few expectations.
The film blew me away. I remember the music of Vangelis during the titles, heavy synths, dark and threatening. It seemed an usual way to begin a summer sci-fi adventure. Then with a Vangelis crash like thunder my jaw dropped at the opening vista of the cityscape, refinery towers belching fire like some futuristic image of hell on Earth. Here was a vision of the future like nothing before it - BLADE RUNNER looked and sounded like nothing I had ever seen. It’s impossible now to describe to people what power the film had back then, it has been so copied and mimicked that it’s look has almost become a genre in itself. But my love of BLADE RUNNER is really about more than the visuals, the effects. There is a poety to the film beyond its famous production design. No doubt I shall return to waxing lyrical about my favourite film in future blogging, but for now, here’s an observation…
It’s no secret that the making of the film was troubled. Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott fell out, Ford and Sean Young never got on, the crew got pissed off at Scott, the producers even fired Scott at one point. Vangelis was so furious trying to create his hand-made music to a constantly changing, re-edited film that he withdrew the soundtrack release so late in the day it was still advertised at the end of the film’s credits. But Harrison Ford’s performance is one of his finest. The friction between Ford and Young in their love scene is a tangible thing. The crew created a film that looked like no other. The producers had to back off from firing Scott because they realised no-one else could finish it. Vangelis created a soundtrack that still sounds fresh and unique and created a belated soundtrack album ten years late. All the angst and frustration and loathing between actors, crew, director and producers created a bold and magnificent film.
So BLADE RUNNER. Sure, it’s not the finest film ever made, but hell, I love it with a passion. It’s the one film I can return to time and again. There is no CGI, the cast aren’t all beautiful twenty-somethings, the film isn’t edited so fast it makes you dizzy, it isn’t a remake or based on a tv show. Everytime I revisit 2019 it’s like the summer of 1982, and everything is new again.
Comments»
Loved these memoirs. But why no mention of Douglas Trumbull, arguably the best and most imaginative special-effects man of all time?
Stargazer
Douglas Trumbull, oh yes, what a magician. Some of the effects work that he designed in BLADE RUNNER still boggles the mind. I am always amazed at what the effects work in BLADE RUNNER achieved in an age without cgi. Trumbull was a magician of photographic alchemy, using light and chemicals to produce wonders on celluloid. Modern effects films with cgi-driven spectacles are impressive, no doubt, but little has ever equalled the beauty of the old photographic effects processes in films like BLADE RUNNER. It’s like comparing the original STAR WARS trilogy and the later prequels- there’s a magic to matte paintings that were painted by hand on glass, on miniatures crafted by hand… a computer box of tricks just isn’t the same. I shall discuss this in a later blog, which is why I hesitated to mention Trumbull in my blog above. He certainly hadn’t slipped my mind, I assure you - and neither did the late Jordan Cronenweith, whose photography ensures every frame of BLADE RUNNER is a work of art in itself. Thanks for the kind comments.