Blade Runner is a 1982 American
sci-fi film, directed by
Ridley Scott and starring
Harrison Ford,
Rutger Hauer, and
Sean Young. The
screenplay, written by
Hampton Fancher and
David Peoples, is based loosely on the novel
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by
Philip K. Dick.
The film depicts a
dystopian
Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered beings called
replicants—visually indistinguishable from adult humans—are manufactured by the all-powerful Tyrell Corporation. As a result of a violent replicant uprising, their use on Earth is banned, and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous or menial work on Earth's
off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and "retired" by police assassins known as "blade runners". The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the semi-retired blade runner,
Rick Deckard, who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment.