To say that my wife and I were blown away by the final (or "final" :) ) cut of Ridley Scott's masterwork would be an understatement. Starting with the cleaned-up Ladd Company logo, which seems to form in 3D right before your eyes it's so crystalline, it looks, and sounds, just awesome. I'd never seen a film at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall (the fest's temporary home as Alice Tully Hall is renovated) before yesterday, when we saw two, Ira Sachs' underrated, understated noir-ish comedy MARRIED LIFE (with terrific Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson) in the afternoon, followed by BR last night. We were in the balcony and were not disappointed; the screen is huge, with good sightline, and the sound clearly separated even way up in the rafters (presumably Alice Tully, which has been in need of more expansive audio gear, will follow suit).

"A hundred little changes" have been made to accompany this definitive version, according to the restoration producer Charles De Lauzirika, supplementing the macro additions and deletions made in 1992. Joanna Cassidy's digitized participation in her own death scene is the most notable, and it's done seamlessly, as is the revoicing of the whole, strangely out-of-sync Abdul Ben Hassan sequence by Benjamin Ford, Harrison's son. Also, the climactic dove release, under clear blue sky in the past, now unfolds in a properly matching background, and assorted crewmembers caught by the camera have been removed. It all plays more smoothly than the 1992 release, with the unicorn sequence and the ending now entirely organic to the picture, and every image with magnificent, tactile textures.

The new cut plays New York's Ziegfeld starting this Friday and is a must-see there, or at other theaters it may turn up at. It comes out on DVD Dec. 18, individually or as part of a collection, so you can see the film's evolution version to version. (The DVD of the 92 release is now pretty much a coaster, or a piece of chipped heirloom china that you keep for nostalgia but never again display. All I need is the 82 International cut and this one, but WB is really going the extra mile for cultists.)

Is this the title that will get me to go hi-def? Maybe, but you owe it to yourself to see it in a theater if possible.

Yes, the "final cut," until they can present it holographically in your brain. Thanks for the report.

You've been watching CINEMA EATS ITSELF. Good night.

I wonder: would it have been possible to put this out as an IMAX presentation?

Surely it's a film worthy of such a thing?

I mean, in scrambling to find out what playdates in Canada might be scheduled.....I'm seeing films like the upcoming I AM LEGEND getting the IMAX treatment. Why not something this special?

Ah, dreams.....

My fondest memory of this movie (NOT!) is when it first opened at the local theater, it was playing as a double feature with TRON. My father took me to see the Disney film, and was curious about it's co-feature. I wasn't intersted in staying for it, so, home we went. D'oh!

Regrets....

I think that most of the scope ratio films that are getting the IMAX treatment are films shot in Super 35, which allow a degree of "opening up" to accomodate the dimensions of the film stock. Whereas BLADE RUNNER is true anamorphic scope, and I don't believe it's possible to blow it up.

Also, I don't know how its being presented in NY, but in L.A., it's a digital-only presentation, so I don't think there are going to be any film prints struck for this reissue.

The only IMAX blow-up I've seen was SPIDERMAN 2, which was "letterboxed" within the IMAX frame at the proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio. So, it stretched the full width of the enormous screen, but had black at the top and bottom.

The practice of either cropping or "opening up" Super-35 films for their IMAX blow-ups seems to have become a thing of the past, thankfully, having only been applied to the initial few IMAX blow-ups. I think everything from the MATRIX sequels on have been OAR. And, at least one true 'Scope film has been given the IMAX conversion treatment- BATMAN BEGINS- so there's nothing technically stopping WB from giving BLADE RUNNER the IMAX treatment should they chose to do so. Given that the 35mm negatives were scanned and restored at 4K for this new version- and the 65mm effects elements were scanned at a whopping 8K- I'd think it would be pretty damned impressive if the final 4K file was converted to IMAX. An extended IMAX run of BLADE RUNNER would probably make some really nice coin, if you ask me.

Vincent

So, how is this doing at the Ziegfeld? I'm going with friends Sunday night at 7:00 and we're wondering if we should get tickets in advance. Has it been selling out or coming close? It's a cavernous auditorium, I know, but the movie's only there for a week. (And as some of you here know, coordinating the schedules of young, single New Yorkers makes herding cats look easy, so I'd prefer not to botch this attempt.)

Call maybe the theater?*








* You want I should maybe affect the speech patterns of a nice old Jewish man all the time now? Oy. ;)

I thought you were doing Yoda. Or is that the same thing? I heard they CGI'd a bagel and lox into his hand in the rerelease of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

What, you want now I should get my information from somewhere other than the internets? Aahck...

"About half full," they say.

I hear ya. I'm also struggling to get a group of friends together for one night. Fortunately, the Ziegfeld is actually showing Blade Runner through the 18th. I'd say its more of a question of how early you get there to grab the best seats, as I don't think they've revived their reserved seating policy.

BLADE RUNNER at The Ziegfeld

According to Box Office Mojo, BR had the highest per screen average last weekend making a total of $95k on just 2 screens. Hopefully Warner Bros. will decide to go wider with this after all so those of us in the sticks can see it on the big screen as well.

I hope so. We have some beautiful digital theaters out here and there. Though not having quite the screen width as the Zeigfield.

I know some people who have never seen this in a theater and could only imagine what it was like seeing it in 70mm, when it first came out. The new cut sounds stunning.

Saw the "final cut" of BLADE RUNNER today at the Ziegfeld in NYC and was pretty much blown away. Unlike Lucas, Scott has not "re-imagined" his classic- most of the changes are very small, subtle continuity fixes- for example, Bryant now says "two of them got fried" instead of "one of them got fried", thus fixing an error that has plagued BLADE RUNNER since its original release since we only ever see four replicants on Earth, not five...

Anyway, the film has a lot of little continuity fixes like this, and some very subtle additions to existing effects shots. That is, the original, Doug Trumball physical miniature effects shots are all intact, but they've added the most minor little things to make the shots more "alive", like in some shots with matte paintings, there is now visible traffic way in the distance. This gives those shots newfound depth and life that was missing from earlier versions.

All in all, this plays pretty close to the 1992 "Director's Cut", albeit cleaned up and polished in a way that was impossible back then. We now have the correct "unicorn vision", which had to be re-created from the only existing out-take that they could find back in 1992 when they didn't know where the trim negatives were, and we have the additional violence from the 1982 "International Cut" restored. We also have one entirely replaced line of dialogue- instead of Batty saying, "I want more like, fucker!" to Tyrell, the line is now a much more resonant one- "I want more life, father!" This is the line that is also in the infamous "workprint", and after having seen the "final cut" projected, I agree 100% with this change.

Ridley's ultimate masterpiece is now the truly complete, cohesive film that it always should have been. If you have a chance to see this projected, DO IT. You will not regret it, whereas if you let the chance to see this on a big, BIG screen pass you by, you more certainly will.

Vincent

On the last day of the Ziegfeld's screening of Blade Runner, I want to echo all the excited praise here and more so. Even after all the hype, I was blown away. The intense clarity of the digital presentation had me awed and geeking out the whole time, finding hidden details in shots that I hadn't ever noticed before for the past 20 plus years of BR tubing and screenings. For example, those big swirly pillars at the entrance to the Bradbury building have colorful yet faded murals (or posters of some kind) on them.

I believe I made a mildly sarcastic or suspicious comment or two around here about Joanna Cassidy's participation in fixing the stunt woman bit. Well, I gotta send a lot of thanks and praise her way. That scene is so much better now, so much sadder and painful. Her newly added bits of performance are PERFECTLY added to the stunt woman. Just a few scant seconds onscreen, but they make a big difference. The agony she shows just tears your heart out.

I guess I never saw the "International Cut" or haven't in ages, because the extra violence was a real shocker! Just about every big violent moment is nastier than it was in '92, or at least seems that way. There are some extra bits of dialog or replacement lines here and there. None of these changes got the usual eye-rolling "Aww why'd they hafta add that crap?" reaction I get at least once with even my favorite "director's cuts". On first viewing, all the changes felt artistically-valid. And this is coming from the guy who immediately wondered where the hell Sir Ridley put Ripley's grating "Yeah" during her steam-blasted conversation with Parker and Brett in the Quadrilogy's retooled Alien.

Wouldn't it be great if they released a special CD (perhaps a double) containing all the music used in the film? By that I mean both the Vangelis and all of the world music heard in the markets and clubs, plus a few atmospheric tracks for the Geisha Blimp, that creepy-ass MEE-OWWW sound, etc. I think there's an opportunity to improve on the Vangelis release, with its incongruous dialog inserts, and make a really immersive audio experience.

So, if you're near enough to catch this before it disappears, definitely consider it. It's a spectacular presentation and a really classy renovation to boot. What I saw today may have finally knocked Blade Runner up into my all-time favorites. I'm definitely gonna have to upgrade to High-Def because of it. And I'm pretty sure The Final Cut will be my preferred version from now on.

(Oh, and I totally agree about an IMAX version. Hell, yeah! It would look amazing and make a good chunk of change.)

I second Bill's call for a complete BLADE RUNNER CD score release - I'm sure I even heard a recent whisper to the effect that Vangelis was indeed dipping back into the vaults for a revamped CD edition to accompany THE FINAL CUT, but I dare say that's just the sound of the internet rumour machine working at full pelt.

Incidentally, there are a number of expanded BR CD editions out there, some bootlegs (of course) but at least one legit: the Japanese Deck Records special edition soundtrack, which presents an uninterrupted selection of 25-or-so music-and-effects cues as a single suite of music. There's no dialogue in this version and several cues that never made it into the "official" CD release (including one called "The Prodigal Son Returns" on a couple of the bootlegs, the fabulous accompaniment to Roy's visitation of his "father")...but you do have to contend with sound effects of rain, spinners passing from left-to-right, background crowd chatter and suchlike. It actually plays somewhat similarly to the CD for THE WICKER MAN, in that you are transported to an immersive aural environment that really surrounds you with authentic atmospherics - kind of like watching the film inside your own head during a dream, if that makes any kind of sense. (Except that the BR CD does not appear to have been sourced direct from the movie's optical tracks, unlike WICKER MAN - BR has been professionally remixed by the Japanese disc producers, presumably from Vangelis' original masters. Someone else might be able to confirm if this is Bullshit...Or Not.)

Still, if it's synthesized MEEEOWWWS and diegetic rarities you're after, look no further. It's apparently a mere $500 to pick up a copy second-hand, but there's a certain soundtrack blog which has posted the entire soundtrack to download. A thread over at DVD Maniacs will point you in the right direction (as I'm sure posting the info here would be against forum rules)...

I liked this new BLADE RUNNER but I didn't notice a single editing change except for a slightly longer unicorn dream. But there was one change that bugged me. Or was it a change? Can someone confirm or deny?

When Rutger Hauer visits Tyrell I always thought he said, "I want more life, f*cker." but in this version he's clearly saying "I want more life, father." I always loved the nasty, poetic profanity of the first version, but was that me? Has he always been saying "father"? Am I making up dirty words and inserting them into movies in my brain and it's not the world that'd full of cussing it's my head?

I understand Hauer's line has indeed been changed back to "father" (restoring it back to the way it originally ran in the Workprint?).

Hopefully, 99.9% of the "fixes" will be invisible - as that's the way they were intended to play. Wire removal, Joanna Cassidy's face, occasional dialogue tweaks, corrected Unicorn...if you know the film backwards, they're all welcome embellishments (rather than substantive changes). I can't wait to see the FINAL CUT myself (but have few hopes that the UK will enjoy a cinema revival outside London, if that)...

There are a couple of other small additions. After Deckard visits the Oriental woman on Animoid Row and she examines the snake scale for him, the shot of him walking away has been significantly extended, and as Deckard enters the throngs of people in the streets, there's a big crane shot then it dissolves to him walking on a different part of the street. Earlier edits of BLADE RUNNER cut directly from him walking away from the woman to him in that other part of town.

Also, after Deckard gets the info re: who bought the snake, a series of shots have been added of the outside of Taffy Lewis's, including the Geisha women dancing above the streets with hockey masks on.

And, of course, the extra violence from the "International Cut" has been restored.

Some shots have been shortened as well, since Ridley Scott had originally lengthened them back in 1982 to make room for the lines of voice-over. Some of these shots (such as Deckard's first close-up which originally had his "They don't advertise for killers in the newspaper..." bit of voice-over) really did seem to linger unnecessarily to me in the 1992 "Director's Cut", but Scott has trimmed the fat so now they work as stand-alone shots sans the voice-over. I don't think he dropped any shots entirely, he just went in and trimmed some here and there so the scenes flow better without the voice-overs.

Vincent

I blogged about BLADE RUNNER this morning as a response to a few of my friends (and now, online acquaintances) who confess to finding the film boring or underwhelming. I'm tempted to repost the blog here, but it's long and I suspect that I've got a few facts wrong seeing as I hadn't seen the film in a few years. Well, as of this morning anyway. Although the "Final Cut" doesn't open in Baltimore until the 26th, I popped in the "Director's Cut" dvd this evening to refresh myself (and to once again get lost in a film that I've always loved).

Having said that, I received numerous responses to my blog when I reposted it on another web board taking me and the film to task for problems with the "Deckard is a replicant" storyline.

I may actually repost some of those comments here, but it goes a little something like this:

--The user as that if Deckard is a top-of-the-line replicant, why isn't he built better? Supposedly, he and Rachel would be of the same generation with Deckard being the more advanced model given his purpose of catching other replicants. So, why would he seem more mechanical and less human than Rachel?

He went on to say Deckard seems like he was always supposed to be human so as to contrast with the replicants who are "more human than human."

--I maintain that since Deckard is a replicant, the other replicants have a hard time killing him thus Deckard is stronger or at least more resilient than a human blade runner would be. This is why he can survive being chopped and throttled by Zhora and later survive every other damn whupping he receives from Leon, Pris and Roy.

The response was that it's strange that Deckard doesn't exhibit any enhanced strength.


--It was also pointed out that Deckard later has his fingers broken thus rendering his hand useless. Roy impales his own hand, but doesn't seem to have any problems using it.


None of those issues really ruin the film for me and although I buy into what is now Ridley Scott's official line on the movie's plot ("Deckard IS a replicant!"), I don't doubt that there are conceptual and continuity issues due to an early ambivalence as to what the story was going to me.

Mind you, I've never read "Future Noir," but I fully intend to. After blogging and discussing and watching BLADE RUNNER today (on top of my very real excitement at the idea of seeing the new cut), I realized that BLADE RUNNER really is a movie that's worth obsessing over.


ADDENDUM: Between watching TRANSFORMERS on Tuesday and BLADE RUNNER tonight, I've noticed that the LCD display on my Cyberhome 550 has suddenly grown dim. Other than that, everything seems fine with it, but I hope that this isn't indicative of larger problems looming (much like that chilly feeling we all get when our car starts acting quirky) seeing as I rely on the Cyberhome for a growing (although still small) chunk of my non-R1 library.

Couple things.

Do you mean the Cyberhome 500? I know not the 550.

Did you inadvertently dim the display by hitting the 'Display' button on your remote?

And finally, if it do indeed be heading the way of brokedom, don't worry. There's lots and lost of cheap players these days that can be hacked to Region-free. Just do a bit of research, and you'll find something.

I don't really buy the whole "Deckard as a replicant" thing myself, which as much as anything is Scott trying to get the unicorn back in the barn once the door was open. But I don't scoff at that interpretation, either.

Scott told me last year that a new, official soundtrack recording was in the works.

Heh, yeah. I mistyped. That was supposed to be 500.
:rolleyes:

I'll check the display issue when I get home. Again, it's not a big deal seeing as everything else works fine, but I do appreciate the feedback.

I see that Blade Runner has returned to the Ziegfeld by popular demand. And courtesy of The Digital Bits, here's a schedule for WB's expanded distribution:

10/26 - Seattle (Cinerama, Seattle - 35mm), Washington D.C. (Uptown, D.C. - 35mm), Portland (Cinema 21, Portland - 35mm), Salt Lake (Gateway Megaplex, SLC - Digital)

11/2 - Chicago (Music Box, Chicago - 35mm), Santa Barbara (Arlington, Santa Barbara - Digital), Baltimore (Landmark Harbor East, Baltimore - Digital)

11/9 - Boston (Coolidge Corner, Brookline - 35mm)

11/16 - Detroit (Main Art, Detroit - 35mm)

11/18 - Austin (Paramount, Austin - 35mm)

11/30 - San Francisco (Embarcadero, San Francisco - 35mm), Dallas (The Inwood, Dallas - 35mm), San Diego (Ken, San Diego - 35mm), Minneapolis (Uptown, Minneapolis - 35mm)

12/7 - Denver (The Landmark @ Greenwood Village - Digital), Philadelphia (The Ritz 5, Philadelphia - 35mm)

12/25 - Boston (The Brattle, Cambridge - 35mm)

1/2/08 - Austin (The Paramount, Austin - 35mm)

1/4/08 - Nashville (The Belcourt, Nashville - 35mm)

1/18/08 - Durham (Carolina, Durham - 35mm)

2/1/08 - Columbus (Drexel Gateway, Columbus - 35mm)

2/15/08 - San Francisco (Castro, San Francisco - 35mm)

2/29/08 - Sacramento (Crest, Sacramento - 35mm)

I don't see Houston anywhere on the Bits' schedule, but it's been showing here (DLP, not 35mm) on a single multiplex screen since last week.

No Southeast dates at all? Jeez...

Looks like I'll have to make a visit to the local all DLP theater and see about getting them to play it.

I've seen this twice at the Cinerama here in Seattle, and it's gorgeous. The sound is fantastic too. Cinematic nirvana for this old fanboy. As the friend I saw it with on Sunday said, "This is now a nearly perfect movie."

I saw it last Sunday at the Cinerama myself and have to say that the sound was what really blew me away. Not that the visuals didn't, but perhaps I was more prepared for that.

Definitely worth the trip out.

Yeah, the sound design really struck me too. There's a point in the chase at the end where you hear the sound of flies swarming that I'd never heard before. Well, maybe they added it for this cut, I dunno. But the layers of sound and music seemed extraordinarily detailed this time around. The sound system at the Cinerama is terrific.

Caught this on the big screen myself last weekend and thought it was stunning. The thing is, I really, really don't like this movie but I do concede that it looks great and the music is terrific. So I figured they'd both benefit from being in a cinema, what with the big screen, powerful sound system and the digital projector that my local cinema was using. Indeed, it did look and sound better than ever (I think the Blade Runner-liking friend that I took has been won over by digital projection too) and I can honestly say that it's probably the most enjoyable time I've had watching a film I don't like. :D

Definitely needs to be seen like this - it's a shame that the cinema release was so limited. (It's been doing well at my local, but that appears to be the only cinema in the country that is showing it, so perhaps that explains it...)

As envious as I undoubtedly am of those of you who've seen THE FINAL CUT on the big screen, I do at least have the (significant) consolation of the new 5-disc special edition tin, which my thoughtful postman delivered today. Haven't had the chance to delve into much of it so far, but I can confirm it's a gorgeous package and without question the DVD event of the year for me.

All I've sampled so far is the deleted/alternate scenes montage on disc 4, and it was a real treat: a 45-minute mini-movie comprised of never-before seen sequences and/or alternate footage, all edited together into an all-new alternative-universe vesion of BLADE RUNNER (complete with "new" opening titles). What's really bizarre is how much additional Ford narration there is (and wow, is it awful!) - it's as if they were experimenting with playing the whole film with Deckard narration, dispensing with the tiresome need for dialogue or drama. Well, that's perhaps an overstatement...but it's undeniably peculiar to hear Ford gloomily synopsizing scenes that you know they actually filmed, as though the makers had toyed with the notion of a radio-only release. If you thought the theatrical cut voiceover was redundant, wait till you get a load of this...

With luck, I'll be able to dive into the epic "Dangerous Days" docu tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait.

Steve, I'm just curious - does the additional discs include closed-captioning or English subtitles? I would love to buy the big boxset, but if the new, new, new version of the movie is the only one with subtitles or captioning, I may just pass it on by.

The would assume it doesn't, but the studio has been very off-and-on lately with captioning/subtitling.

Dale, mine is the region 2 version so comes with around 25 different subtitle streams for various nationalities! I'm not at home right now to check if English is included, but will do so later and report back...

I can confirm that, in the region 2 edition at least, the "Dangerous Days" docu comes with optional English subtitles. Haven't checked the remaining discs yet, but it would seem logical to assume they followed the same pattern.

As for the docu itself...stunning. Three-and-a-half hours of sheer bliss. (Even Jerry Perenchio is interviewed, for heaven's sake.)

THE FINAL CUT for me this evening, I think...

Thanks for checking, Steve, I appreciate it. With at least the huge documentary captioned/subtitled, I may go ahead and get this now!

Steve,
Are the galleries included in the supplements disc? There was no mention in the UK press release. Apart from those, the specs seemed identical but I'm hoping it's an omission in the press release and not an omission on the disc. I switched my order from the US version to the UK release because of the earlier release date and the more compact size. Shame R1 buyers were forced to get the overpriced box to get all 5 discs unlike in other regions. I love fancy packaging as much as the next person but I'm running out of space in my attic (where I've dumped my MATRIX display box, velvet HITCHCOCK box and outsized LOR sets etc), much less my actual living space.

Victor

Will have to check this evening - when perusing disc 4 over the weekend, I did notice something about the film's various poster designs so not sure if that's a featurette or a gallery...

Just to be clear: what exactly should be on the disc re: galleries?

The UK press release doesn't specify the inclusion of:

-Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Cover Gallery (Images)
-The Art of Blade Runner (Image Galleries)
-Unit Photography Gallery

Victor


PS: That 45min montage of alternate/new footage sounds terrific. I need to dig out my Sammon tome on the production but I had already dismissed the workprint as a curiosity with little difference to the original released cuts. I trust that the montage consists of mostly unique footage. Regardless, I'm expecting the "Final Cut" to be both definitive and my preferred version once I get to see it. Everything else is just gravy!

Victor

Sir Ridley (how weird is it to type that?) provides solo commentary on THE FINAL CUT, which I devoured last night. Great conversationalist as ever - barely more than 5 seconds of dead air in the whole thing. The only "flaw" (hardly a fair word) with Rid's chat-track is that much of the info is also covered within the 3 1/2 hour documentary, but that's inevitable.

As for THE FINAL CUT: Wow. (I really need to expand my vocabulary.) This will be, for many, the definitive BR - it has the additional gore, the correct unicorn footage, amazingly spruced-up picture, sound and visual FX, corrected gaffes (no wires on the spinners, Joanna Cassidy now crashes through the plate-glass windows rather than a stunt-woman in a bad wig, and that infamous final dove shot now blends in seamlessly with the surrounding material)...it's as near perfect as any movie with this kind of chequered history has a right to be. Care and subtlety were clearly the order of the day, even down to the miniscule but significant dialogue tweaks; Hauer's "I want more life, father" has far more resonance than the needlessly vulgar expletive we're used to from earlier versions (he said, adjusting his lace cuffs and peering at the screen through ormolu lorgnette).

My only caveat with Scott's editorial choices this (final) time around - and there had to be a whinge in there somewhere - is the slight alteration he has made to the '92 Director's Cut version of the Unicorn dream sequence. I have no complaint with the unicorn footage itself being changed (it's now the correct '82 Scott-approved version, rather than outtakes as used in the '92 revisit) - it's the shots of Deckard leading up to it that made me cry "hey!" Where in the '92 version, Deckard slumbering at the piano tiredly shaking his head dissolves to the dream-unicorn simultaneously tossing its mane (a bit of editorial serendipity noted explicitly by editor Tery Rawlings in the Dangerous Days doc), the Final Cut omits this poetical symmetry and cuts instead from a medium shot of Deckard at the piano to a "new" extreme close-up of Deckard, eyes wide open, as he "sees" the unicorn gallop past (still shaking its head, an action no longer echoed by the dreamer himself). I'm not sure I'm altogether happy with the replacement shot, although presumably Scott had his reasons for doing so (the change passes unremarked in the commentary, sadly). Still, the '92 version is available too, so no great loss; it's just something that will take a bit of getting used to... (Someone, somewhere, will be editing together their own favourite version of BR even as I type, I'm quite sure. This 5-disc set is in some ways like having access to a huge BR vault containing every scrap of celluloid that ran through Jordan Cronenweth's cameras, to use as you see fit.)

Haven't got time to check out any more BR stuff tonight but will probably focus my attention on the legendary Workprint cut next...

PS: Victor, I only just saw your reply this morning so will try to look for those galleries later on tonight.

That's an interesting point about the changes in how Deckard is presented in the unicorn scene. Now it's a daydream rather than a dream. Before I guess it was the answer to the question, 'Do androids dream of electric sheep?'

I'll have to get my ears syringed because I never thought he said anything else but "father" in the '92 Director's cut. Maybe I misheard because "father" was the most obvious and appropriate word in the context of the scene and that's borne out by the FINAL CUT.

Victor