There have been so many "versions" and "cuts" when it comes to what is arguably the greatest of all sci-fi movies, Blade Runner, that it's hard to know where to begin. What you do know is that then original ending - which used archive footage from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, would you believe? - was met with much controversy, given that nobody seemed all that keen on it. No surprise, of course, given that it didn't suit the tone of the movie at all. So the "original" ending of Blade Runner had Deckard (Harrison Ford) and replicant Rachel driving off into the sunset in a sequence that was very non-Blade Runner. The problem here, of course, is that it skirted around the fact that our hero was a replicant and not a human being, when in fact the movie makes a lot more sense when you concede that Deckard is all machine. Ultimately, then, it felt tacked on, and reeked of studio interference.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
