I love Blade Runner, but this is one movie that somehow has never seemed to be truly finished! 

Lots of films change significantly before release during the editing process, but Blade Runner is an example of the relatively recent habit of film-makers going back and tinkering with their movie after release. Steven Spielberg started something with the Close Encounters Special Edition, after which we have been ‘treated’ to George Lucas’ CGI-enhanced Star Wars and Francis Ford Coppola’s bum-numbingly long Apocalypse Now: Redux. 

Similarly, Ridley Scott has gone back to the editing suite with Blade Runner on several occasions, to the point that it is easy to lose track of which is the supposedly ‘definitive’ cut. I remember sitting in the cinema when the movie came out and being blown away by the film’s bold vision. That experience has, for me at least, not been enhanced subsequently by all the re-edits and the whole “is Deckard also a replicant” discussions these have provoked. 

I may be in the minority here, but I actually prefer the original theatrical version (the one with Harrison Ford’s laconic hard-boiled voiceover – recorded reluctantly and without any enthusiasm apparently – and the ‘happy’ ending), which is now hard to find after all the Special/Ultimate/FInal Cut editions that have been released on DVD. 

At the top is the French ‘grande’ poster from the original release, which I sold awhile back. I do also have the Spanish version above. As much as I love the movie, frankly I’m not a huge fan of this design (I much prefer the US one-sheet), so this poster is available to buy here.