The original script for BLADE RUNNER was written by Hampton Fancher in 1980. Ridley Scott and Francher had a disagreement, so Scott brought in David Peoples, whose rewrite of Hampton's original was the first to get Philip K. Dick's approval.
I've posted below first the original Hampton scenes of Deckard and Batty's final struggle and Batty's death, and then Peoples' rewrite of it. Quite different. They're not too long, but a good example of different style and approach to action.
Hampton Francher:
INT. TENTH FLOOR APARTMENT #2 - NIGHT
Provocation accomplished. Batty smiles and walks lei-
surely towards the door. Deckard's terrified scream
and the SOUND of GLASS CRASHING stop him. Batty speeds
up and moves into the room.
The window pane is splattered, curtains sucked out,
bellowing in the wind.
BATTY
Crap.
He walks up to the window. Deckard comes away from the
wall, inching up behind him, laser in both hands, aimed
at the base of Batty's skull. Batty starts to lean
over, but even before his eyes see the pavement, he
knows. He spins...
Deckard FIRES again. This one goes home. Batty falls
like he was poleaxed, hits the floor dead weight.
Deckard starts to tremble. His arms go limp as his
head tilts back and he closes his eyes. He can breathe
again.
On the floor, Batty's hand is crawling toward Deckard's
ankle.
With the unsuspected abruptness of a man slipping on a
banana peel, Deckard comes down. Face knotted in hor-
ror, he EMPTIES THE LASER in Batty's body -- but the
hand holds on. With a screech of frustration he drops
the laser and like an animal claws at Batty's dead
fingers -- but the fingers are welded shut.
Deckard starts to crawl, pulling Batty behind him. He
struggled through the door and stumbles to his feet.
INT. TENTH FLOOR HALL - NIGHT
Deckard plunges down the corridor dragging Batty along.
He falls, gets to one foot, falls again and crawls the
last couple feet to the stairwell.
INT. TENTH FLOOR STAIRWELL - NIGHT
Groaning, he tugs and pulls, hauls and heaves Batty's
body to the edge of the landing. He pauses for breath,
then lays back, wedging his feet against Batty's shoul-
ders and pushes. Inch by inch the body goes over the
edge. Then all at once it drops. But the hand holds
and the weight of the body takes Deckard with it. As
Deckard slides over the edge, he grabs hold of the
railing.
Deckard's hanging three hundred feet over the basement
floor, supporting himself and Batty's corpse -- almost
four hundred pounds of stress on his fingers.
With his free foot he chops away at Batty's hand, try-
ing to break it loose. But it's not working. Deckard's
fingers are starting to slip.
His face is a mask of agony as he wedges his heel over
Batty's thumb. With the help of gravity and everything
he's got in his right leg to push with, he pushes. The
thumb breaks loose. Batty falls.
The SOUND OF HIS BODY HITTING BELOW sounds good, but
Deckard doesn't notice. He's in an awkward position.
He must reverse the way he's facing to pull himself up.
He lets go with his right hand and crosses it over the
left. Then turns the left around so he's got an over-
hand grip.
Like a man doing his last pull-up... the one that can't
be done, Deckard pulls himself up, throws a foot over
the edge and grapples and heaves and wiggled himself
onto the cold solid steel of the stairwell landing.
And lies there, body jerking spasmodically, slowly
clenching and unclenching his cramped hand, but it's
his burning cheek against the cool metal he's most aware
of.
Dizzy, hot, lungs on fire, he stands -- and putting one
foot in front of the other, Deckard descends the stairs.
EXT. SEBASTIAN'S BUILDING - DAWN
Slowly the door pushes open and Deckard comes out into
the morning. The sun isn't yet risen, but the sky has
begun to pale. It's a brooding gray stew of a dawn not
very pretty, but even though he can't show it, Deckard
is glad to see it.
For a moment he tilts his head back and takes some
breath, then walks across the courtyard towards the
street, so dead on his feet he hasn't the energy to
fall.
Deckard slumps into the shelter of his car. Then col-
lapses on the front seat.
David Peoples:
INT. CLOSET - NIGHT
Two hundred objects (pigeons) burst out of the room into
Deckard's face as he runs into the closed off room.
BATTY
Now where are you going?
Deckard climbs out the window, as Batty watches.
EXT. ROOF - WINDOW LEDGE - NIGHT
Deckard slowly eases himself around the window ledge
and edges his way around to a cornice.
Batty appears at another window, as Deckard scrambles
up the cornice and on to the roof, wind and rain hindering
his climb.
EXT ROOF - NIGHT
Wind and rain. Deckard dashes onto the roof and looks
frantically over his shoulder. Batty isn't in sight yet.
He looks around desperately. The roof is a desert no
shelter. Deckard looks across at the next building.
Suddenly a rooftop door opens and Batty steps out.
Deckard looks back at the next building. Is it possible ?
A long jump. But what choice.
Decision time. Deckard decides to go. He runs directly
towards Batty, turns, pumping like crazy, going for the gap.
CUT TO
EXT. THE ROOF - LOW ANGLE - NIGHT
Lookïng up from way below, two buildings loom into the
dark with a gap between them and a tiny figure running
like hell and... jumping!
Deckard leaps across the gap, flies through the air...
almost makes it... catches a cornice on the second
building... hangs many stories up over the street and we:
CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF - NIGHT
Deckard hangs onto the cornice in the wind and rain.
One hand is almost useless, the other's strained to
the limit. He looks down. A long, long fall to the
ground.
Deckard looks behind him, over his shoulder.
He can see Batty twenty feet away on the edge of the
first roof, watching him.
Deckard is almost sobbing, holding on with everything
he's got as we:
CUT TO:
EXT. THE FIRST ROOF - NIGHT
Batty stands there watching Deckard hang.
Batty grins.
Then one of his hands cramps badly. He has to work the
fingers open with effort.
He looks at Deckard again.
Batty walks back five yards, sprints quickly, and
leaps as we:
CUT TO:
EXT. ROOF - LOW ANGLE - NIGHT
From below we see the tiny figure of Batty as he leaps
easily across the gap between the two looming skyscrapers
and we:
CUT TO:
EXT. SECOND ROOF - NIGHT
Deckard is hanging there as Batty lands not far from
Deckard's desperate hands.
Batty looks down at Deckard.
Batty grins and takes a seat only a couple of feet
from Deckard.
Deckard's bad hand lets go. He's hanging by one hand.
The street looms way below.
Deckard looks desperately into Batty's cold eyes.
Batty grins and shakes his head at the absurdity of it.
Deckard looks into that awful smile and sees no hope
there.
Batty glances down at his own hand. Spasms again.
Deckard's hand is going. He knows it's over now, he
bites the bullet of his anger. He glares at Batty as
his grip gives way.
DECKARD
Asshole!
Batty meets Deckard's angry eyes.
Deckard's hand continues to slip.
Batty is still looking at Deckard's rage, It moves the
warrior in him, you can see Batty change his opinion.
Too late! Deckard's hand goes.
Batty's hand is like lightning. He catches Deckard's
hand and holds Deckard.
Deckard is suspended above the awesome drop, not sure
why he's not falling. He opens his tightly closed eyes
and looks up.
He looks up into the stern warrior face of Batty, the
cold eyes!
Deckard hangs there and for a moment he has to consider
whether this is the continuation of a cruel game.
The Batty is hauling him up one-handed and with that
scary strength he has.
Deckard is pulled onto the roof where he lies on his
stomach gasping for breath, not moving, just feeling
something solid under him.
Batty looks at the man gasping next to him with the
cold eyes of a man looking at a fish. It is as though
Deckard is some species far below Batty on the evolu-
tionary scale.
Batty's hand cramps again.
Batty looks at it, almost with curiosity.
JUMP CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF (LATER)
Deckard is looking at Batty.
Batty is partly crumpled, frozen in an unnatural posi-
tion as though he had been writhing and stopped mid-
writhe. He looks back at Deckard with eyes full of
life and intensity.
They stare at each other for a long time in silence,
communicating something with their eyes... without
expression. Finally Batty breaks the silence.
BATTY
I've seen things...
(long pause)
seen things you little people
wouldn't believe... Attack ships
on fire off the shoulder of Orion
bright as magnesium... I rode on
the back decks of a blinker and
watched c-beams glitter in the dark
near the Tanhauser Gate.
(pause)
all those moments... they'll be gone.
Batty holds Deckard's eyes like a hypnotist.
CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF (A LITTLE LATER)
Batty is crumpled in a different position. It's light-
er now and Batty's eyes are staring into infinity...
almost lifelessly. A pigeon flutters down and perches
on his shoulder. Batty doesn't stir.
Deckard is watching motionless.
The pigeon flies off.
Batty doesn't move. Alive or dead?
CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF - DAWN
A more distant perspective. Deckard is a small figure
looking down at the dead body of Batty.
DECKARD (V.O.)
I watched him die all night. It
was a long, slow thing and he
fought it all the way. He never
whimpered and he never quit. He
took all the time he had... as
though he loved life very much...
every second of it... even the
pain. Then he was dead.
EXT. ROOF - DAWN
The city is down there. Endless and gray in the first
light.
Deckard's at the edge of the roof.
I've posted below first the original Hampton scenes of Deckard and Batty's final struggle and Batty's death, and then Peoples' rewrite of it. Quite different. They're not too long, but a good example of different style and approach to action.
Hampton Francher:
INT. TENTH FLOOR APARTMENT #2 - NIGHT
Provocation accomplished. Batty smiles and walks lei-
surely towards the door. Deckard's terrified scream
and the SOUND of GLASS CRASHING stop him. Batty speeds
up and moves into the room.
The window pane is splattered, curtains sucked out,
bellowing in the wind.
BATTY
Crap.
He walks up to the window. Deckard comes away from the
wall, inching up behind him, laser in both hands, aimed
at the base of Batty's skull. Batty starts to lean
over, but even before his eyes see the pavement, he
knows. He spins...
Deckard FIRES again. This one goes home. Batty falls
like he was poleaxed, hits the floor dead weight.
Deckard starts to tremble. His arms go limp as his
head tilts back and he closes his eyes. He can breathe
again.
On the floor, Batty's hand is crawling toward Deckard's
ankle.
With the unsuspected abruptness of a man slipping on a
banana peel, Deckard comes down. Face knotted in hor-
ror, he EMPTIES THE LASER in Batty's body -- but the
hand holds on. With a screech of frustration he drops
the laser and like an animal claws at Batty's dead
fingers -- but the fingers are welded shut.
Deckard starts to crawl, pulling Batty behind him. He
struggled through the door and stumbles to his feet.
INT. TENTH FLOOR HALL - NIGHT
Deckard plunges down the corridor dragging Batty along.
He falls, gets to one foot, falls again and crawls the
last couple feet to the stairwell.
INT. TENTH FLOOR STAIRWELL - NIGHT
Groaning, he tugs and pulls, hauls and heaves Batty's
body to the edge of the landing. He pauses for breath,
then lays back, wedging his feet against Batty's shoul-
ders and pushes. Inch by inch the body goes over the
edge. Then all at once it drops. But the hand holds
and the weight of the body takes Deckard with it. As
Deckard slides over the edge, he grabs hold of the
railing.
Deckard's hanging three hundred feet over the basement
floor, supporting himself and Batty's corpse -- almost
four hundred pounds of stress on his fingers.
With his free foot he chops away at Batty's hand, try-
ing to break it loose. But it's not working. Deckard's
fingers are starting to slip.
His face is a mask of agony as he wedges his heel over
Batty's thumb. With the help of gravity and everything
he's got in his right leg to push with, he pushes. The
thumb breaks loose. Batty falls.
The SOUND OF HIS BODY HITTING BELOW sounds good, but
Deckard doesn't notice. He's in an awkward position.
He must reverse the way he's facing to pull himself up.
He lets go with his right hand and crosses it over the
left. Then turns the left around so he's got an over-
hand grip.
Like a man doing his last pull-up... the one that can't
be done, Deckard pulls himself up, throws a foot over
the edge and grapples and heaves and wiggled himself
onto the cold solid steel of the stairwell landing.
And lies there, body jerking spasmodically, slowly
clenching and unclenching his cramped hand, but it's
his burning cheek against the cool metal he's most aware
of.
Dizzy, hot, lungs on fire, he stands -- and putting one
foot in front of the other, Deckard descends the stairs.
EXT. SEBASTIAN'S BUILDING - DAWN
Slowly the door pushes open and Deckard comes out into
the morning. The sun isn't yet risen, but the sky has
begun to pale. It's a brooding gray stew of a dawn not
very pretty, but even though he can't show it, Deckard
is glad to see it.
For a moment he tilts his head back and takes some
breath, then walks across the courtyard towards the
street, so dead on his feet he hasn't the energy to
fall.
Deckard slumps into the shelter of his car. Then col-
lapses on the front seat.
David Peoples:
INT. CLOSET - NIGHT
Two hundred objects (pigeons) burst out of the room into
Deckard's face as he runs into the closed off room.
BATTY
Now where are you going?
Deckard climbs out the window, as Batty watches.
EXT. ROOF - WINDOW LEDGE - NIGHT
Deckard slowly eases himself around the window ledge
and edges his way around to a cornice.
Batty appears at another window, as Deckard scrambles
up the cornice and on to the roof, wind and rain hindering
his climb.
EXT ROOF - NIGHT
Wind and rain. Deckard dashes onto the roof and looks
frantically over his shoulder. Batty isn't in sight yet.
He looks around desperately. The roof is a desert no
shelter. Deckard looks across at the next building.
Suddenly a rooftop door opens and Batty steps out.
Deckard looks back at the next building. Is it possible ?
A long jump. But what choice.
Decision time. Deckard decides to go. He runs directly
towards Batty, turns, pumping like crazy, going for the gap.
CUT TO
EXT. THE ROOF - LOW ANGLE - NIGHT
Lookïng up from way below, two buildings loom into the
dark with a gap between them and a tiny figure running
like hell and... jumping!
Deckard leaps across the gap, flies through the air...
almost makes it... catches a cornice on the second
building... hangs many stories up over the street and we:
CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF - NIGHT
Deckard hangs onto the cornice in the wind and rain.
One hand is almost useless, the other's strained to
the limit. He looks down. A long, long fall to the
ground.
Deckard looks behind him, over his shoulder.
He can see Batty twenty feet away on the edge of the
first roof, watching him.
Deckard is almost sobbing, holding on with everything
he's got as we:
CUT TO:
EXT. THE FIRST ROOF - NIGHT
Batty stands there watching Deckard hang.
Batty grins.
Then one of his hands cramps badly. He has to work the
fingers open with effort.
He looks at Deckard again.
Batty walks back five yards, sprints quickly, and
leaps as we:
CUT TO:
EXT. ROOF - LOW ANGLE - NIGHT
From below we see the tiny figure of Batty as he leaps
easily across the gap between the two looming skyscrapers
and we:
CUT TO:
EXT. SECOND ROOF - NIGHT
Deckard is hanging there as Batty lands not far from
Deckard's desperate hands.
Batty looks down at Deckard.
Batty grins and takes a seat only a couple of feet
from Deckard.
Deckard's bad hand lets go. He's hanging by one hand.
The street looms way below.
Deckard looks desperately into Batty's cold eyes.
Batty grins and shakes his head at the absurdity of it.
Deckard looks into that awful smile and sees no hope
there.
Batty glances down at his own hand. Spasms again.
Deckard's hand is going. He knows it's over now, he
bites the bullet of his anger. He glares at Batty as
his grip gives way.
DECKARD
Asshole!
Batty meets Deckard's angry eyes.
Deckard's hand continues to slip.
Batty is still looking at Deckard's rage, It moves the
warrior in him, you can see Batty change his opinion.
Too late! Deckard's hand goes.
Batty's hand is like lightning. He catches Deckard's
hand and holds Deckard.
Deckard is suspended above the awesome drop, not sure
why he's not falling. He opens his tightly closed eyes
and looks up.
He looks up into the stern warrior face of Batty, the
cold eyes!
Deckard hangs there and for a moment he has to consider
whether this is the continuation of a cruel game.
The Batty is hauling him up one-handed and with that
scary strength he has.
Deckard is pulled onto the roof where he lies on his
stomach gasping for breath, not moving, just feeling
something solid under him.
Batty looks at the man gasping next to him with the
cold eyes of a man looking at a fish. It is as though
Deckard is some species far below Batty on the evolu-
tionary scale.
Batty's hand cramps again.
Batty looks at it, almost with curiosity.
JUMP CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF (LATER)
Deckard is looking at Batty.
Batty is partly crumpled, frozen in an unnatural posi-
tion as though he had been writhing and stopped mid-
writhe. He looks back at Deckard with eyes full of
life and intensity.
They stare at each other for a long time in silence,
communicating something with their eyes... without
expression. Finally Batty breaks the silence.
BATTY
I've seen things...
(long pause)
seen things you little people
wouldn't believe... Attack ships
on fire off the shoulder of Orion
bright as magnesium... I rode on
the back decks of a blinker and
watched c-beams glitter in the dark
near the Tanhauser Gate.
(pause)
all those moments... they'll be gone.
Batty holds Deckard's eyes like a hypnotist.
CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF (A LITTLE LATER)
Batty is crumpled in a different position. It's light-
er now and Batty's eyes are staring into infinity...
almost lifelessly. A pigeon flutters down and perches
on his shoulder. Batty doesn't stir.
Deckard is watching motionless.
The pigeon flies off.
Batty doesn't move. Alive or dead?
CUT TO:
EXT. THE SECOND ROOF - DAWN
A more distant perspective. Deckard is a small figure
looking down at the dead body of Batty.
DECKARD (V.O.)
I watched him die all night. It
was a long, slow thing and he
fought it all the way. He never
whimpered and he never quit. He
took all the time he had... as
though he loved life very much...
every second of it... even the
pain. Then he was dead.
EXT. ROOF - DAWN
The city is down there. Endless and gray in the first
light.
Deckard's at the edge of the roof.
