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“Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.”


“All those moments . . . will be lost in time . . . like tears  . . .  in rain.”

Rutger Hauer Blade Runner and the Tears in the Rain Speech: Blade Runner is widely considered one of the most influential films of all time. Ridley Scott’s 1982 vision of Earth in 2019 remains one of the most groundbreaking visual depictions of a near-future—one that today’s films still attempt to recreate. But, that film’s finest moment comes near the end, when dying replicant Roy Batty, played by Rutger Hauer, delivers what is known as the “Tears in the Rain Monologue.”

It was this scene specifically that defined Hauer’s career for decades afterward. Hauer, who died on July 19 at the age of 75, went on to have a long, legendary career that included dozens of film and television roles.

Today, he remains best known for the “Tears in the Rain Monologue.”

Here’s the most iconic piece of it, which Hauer delivers in the pouring rain with a searing intensity:

I’ve seen things, you people wouldn’t believe, hmm … Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion … I’ve watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate … All those moments, will be lost in time like tears in rain.

What’s most incredible is that the poetry of this speech was written by Hauer himself. There was originally a longer version of the speech in the script, but Hauer rewrote and improvised a shorter, more beautiful version. It’s a stunning moment—one that captures man and machine, life and death in an elegant, concise way.

As he later explained in an interview with Radio Times, Hauer kept two lines about attack ships and C-beams and wrote the rest himself, including the beautiful tears in the rain moment:

It was Hauer’s final addition to the script – the “tears in rain” line – that really sealed the speech’s status; on the day of filming itself, crew members allegedly applauded and cried when the scene was completed.

“For the end line I was hoping to come up with one line where Roy because he understands he has very little time, expresses one bit of the DNA of life that he’s felt,” Hauer says. “How much he liked it. Only one life.”

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • KCK January 13, 2022, 5:27 PM

    Twice in the same number of years my governor has attempted to make me feel unsafe in my domicile because: I’m a regular citizen. One: red flag laws, and two is quarantine camps.

    However, I refuse to live in fear. He can kiss my American ass.

  • Lance de Boyle January 13, 2022, 5:38 PM

    He felt it.

  • Rob Muir January 13, 2022, 6:49 PM

    Amazing speech that reinforces the humanity in the replicant. I watched a documentary (or maybe a DVD extra) about BR where Hauer discusses the preparation for the scene and he was pretty modest about his restructuring of the script for this scene. The writing, acting, direction, music, effects, and editing were all top-notch in this masterpiece.

    • Teresa Pittman January 17, 2022, 11:52 AM

      he deserved an oscar for that speech alone. Great performance.

  • gwbnyc January 13, 2022, 6:57 PM

    “tears in rain” has stayed with me.

  • DeNihilist January 13, 2022, 8:52 PM

    Greatest movie scene ever filmed. As mentioned above, it has also stayed with me in my life.

    • gwbnyc January 13, 2022, 10:04 PM

      and just three words.

      the book “do androids dream of electric sheep” is worth a read, the film is way north if it.

      the bladerunner crew coat given was to absolutely die for.

  • tim January 14, 2022, 5:14 AM

    Sean Young also rocked in that iconic movie –
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdB8LTi_gb0

    • Mike Austin January 14, 2022, 6:20 AM

      True, but the scene is still…odd. Deckard knows that Rachael is a machine. But then, he might be as well.

      • tim January 14, 2022, 8:45 AM

        Machine or not, you wouldn’t…? I’m a yes.

  • Aggie January 14, 2022, 7:19 AM

    One of the best actor-created scene scripts of all times.

  • John the River January 14, 2022, 7:25 AM

    Glad that the technology to create Androids/Replicants doesn’t actually exist.
    Because the government wouldn’t be hiring killers to destroy androids that can be programmed with the memories and thoughts that they approve of.
    They’d be sending out killers for the rest of us, ‘Normal’, deplorable humans. The ones that are resisting the programming that they insist that we accept.
    They’d love to replace us with Replicants.

    • Mike Austin January 14, 2022, 7:44 AM

      Certainly the government would like something like that, a “replicant”—android, cyborg or some escapee from Boston Dynamics—that could track down and destroy all “enemies of the state”. But in a matter of days such machines would be hacked and turned around. Anything engineered can be reverse engineered.

      This kid is but one example:

      “A 19-year-old security researcher claims to have hacked remotely into more than 25 Tesla cars in 13 countries, saying in a series of tweets that he discovered a software flaw in the company’s systems…David Colombo, a self-described information technology specialist, tweeted Tuesday that the software flaw allows him to unlock doors and windows, start the cars without keys and disable their security systems…Colombo also claimed he can see if a driver is present in the car, turn on the vehicles’ stereo sound systems and flash their headlights.”

      And if hacking is unavailable, then simple rifles would work—just like they work against men.

  • James ONeil January 14, 2022, 8:31 AM

    Sadly though far too many people enjoy their slavery, sell their soul for the government dole.

    Even up here on top of the world, businesses and banks closed or services cut due to labor shortage.

    • Mike Austin January 14, 2022, 11:42 AM

      Aristotle wrote of “natural slaves”, people born into slavery who could never understand anything else. They came to be fond of their condition. John Calhoun said similar things about the black man, how he enjoys his slavery. This of course contradicts the misanthrope Rousseau’s idiot statement about “people born free but are everywhere in chains.”

      I have no idea if people are born naturally and inherently lovers of freedom; neither do I know if some people simply are more comfortable with servitude than freedom. Being free is like living in the light. Who, after experiencing it, would voluntarily return to the dark? Oddly, some would.

  • Jack Lawson January 14, 2022, 10:55 AM

    A movie much can be learned from…

    • Mike Austin January 14, 2022, 2:41 PM

      True. I’m watching it yet again. There are layers beyond layers beyond layers.

  • MarkP January 14, 2022, 4:29 PM

    Thank-you for sharing and using the clip from my YouTube channel – WW Movie Clips.

    Much appreciated.

    • MarkP January 14, 2022, 5:40 PM

      And I forgot to add the link to my channel:
      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5HgRxCsMBmMATeht46vmig

      This is a sole independent and non-monetary channel dedicated to movies, with a particular emphasis on the 20th century.

      Suggestions and feedback are most welcome.

      • Vanderleun January 14, 2022, 6:30 PM

        I applaud and recommend MarkP’s channel for very finely curated and produced film clips. Good taste too. Most clips are crisp and well clipped too. Subscribe and help a YouTuber out. It’s definitely the superior clip site.

        • MarkP January 14, 2022, 7:20 PM

          Thank-you very much for your kind words and recommendation Vanderleun.

          Again, much appreciated.

          I’d also like to add my channel is not for monetisation i.e. I’m not in it for making money but for sharing my love and enjoyment of movies with anyone who shares the same passion for 20th century films.

          • Mike Austin January 15, 2022, 12:12 AM

            Just subscribed. You have some cool clips. I could spend a long time there!

            • MarkP January 16, 2022, 5:01 PM

              Thanks Mike !

              I’d also like to add that I will be uploading at least 3 to 4 new clips per day to keep the channel fresh and appealing.

              All genres are included, whether it be drama, action, westerns, horror, science fiction. war, thrillers, epics, musicals and foreign language films.

              I already have scheduled 160 clips over the next month plus I have another 300 odd clips to be scheduled.

              I have over three thousand movies in my digital library so my ability to maintain this is easily sustainable.

              Requests are always respectably considered i.e. it meets my standards . . . mostly the movie would need to be released in the 20th century which is where I’m mostly specialising in.

              Again I’m an independent YouTube channel . . . it’s all done by myself for the sheer pleasure of sharing my love of movies NOT for money. I have the time as I’m recently retired, living here in Down Under (Melbourne, Australia).

            • MarkP January 16, 2022, 6:26 PM

              Thanks Mike . . . and thanks to all from here who have subscribed.

              I should also add I’ve found the posts here very good, hence I’ve booked the site.

              Note I’m from Down Under (Melbourne).

  • Vanderleun January 14, 2022, 6:33 PM

    Here’s an example from a fifty year old movie from the same clip site…

  • Nori January 14, 2022, 8:16 PM

    Roy Batty dug his thumbs into his creator’s eye sockets and slowly crushed his skull with his bare hands;punishment for the Android expiration date. Sic semper stultus;should be a warning to those who believe themselves godlike.
    Rutger Hauer gave Roy Batty precisely what he thought was dissolving in the rain,everlasting life.

    Thanks to MarkP and Mr V for the link to the clip site;what a treasure trove!

  • Christopher L Hunt January 16, 2022, 12:09 AM

    My brother wore Rutger Hauer’s wetsuit during the filming of Past Midnight. He was sprawled on the hood of a car in the Northwest rain, filming the same scene over and over, and started to shiver uncontrollably. Rutger Hauer gave him the wetsuit he was wearing under his costume so they could get the scene in the can.