All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants, and Blade Runners

by Rutger Hauer, Patrick Quinlan

He came to mainstream prominence as a machine more human than his creators in Blade Runner, terrified us as a hitchhiker bent on his own death and the death of anyone who got in his way in The Hitcher, and unforgettably portrayed a lonely king roaming the night as a wolf and pining for the love of a hawk during the day in Ladyhawke.

Rutger Hauer has dazzled audiences for years with his creepy, inspiring, and villainous portrayals of everyone from a cold-blooded terrorist in Nighthawks to a blind martial arts master in Blind Fury, but his movie career was nothing compared to his real-life adventures of riding horses, sword fighting, and leaving home at fifteen to scrub decks on a freighter and explore the world.

From poverty to working with a traveling theater troupe to his breakout European performance in Turkish Delight and working with legendary directors such as Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop and Basic Instinct) and Ridley Scott (Alien and Gladiator), Hauer has collected All Those Moments here.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Film, Media Tie In, Memoir, Autobiography, Biography Memoir

254 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

Rutger Hauer was a Dutch actor, writer, AIDS awareness activist and environmentalist.

Reviews

[Mariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long time ago I was younger than I am now and I had a certain talent for remembering actors. The two may or may not be mutually inclusive. I came home from some place (probably school) and my mom was waiting for me. Some stupid thing was on the tv. "Help me, Mariel! We can't remember who this actor is. It is driving me nuts!" One look was all it took for me (I was me, after all). The pale blonde hair that is the wet dream of any casting director for the Aryan brotherhood. European accent that is the stiffy of any director worth his salt with a sci fi movie dream under his many notched belt. Bette Davis eyes. The bemused malice that begins with the eyes and downturns to the mouth corners. Smile upside down! The peeping toms with ego dreams to turn their way (coughs Sting cough) cry out his name during sex. "That's Rutger Hauer." I probably said it in French. Something bleu. (If only for this I am good for something.) I also probably said "That's Lothos from Buffy the Vampire Slayer." (before there was the awesomer than anything ever tv show). My mom would have known him from that. We saw it at the dollar theatre a few times the summer before middle school started. That movie is awesome! A precedence was set and I must keep it real for Rutger Hauer. It's Rutger Hauer!

Some dude named Patrick Quinlan is billed as coauthor. I don't think this is one of those strictly ghost written affairs. There are journal entries (not the best part of the book by a long shot). My guess is that Hauer dictated to Quinlan and he put stuff down in what he thought was the true Hauerian way. My idea of the Rutger Hauer way is a bit different. Of course, I'm not normal and I would have liked more of just making shit up. The look on his face after he delivered a punchline the Hauer way. Something creepy and having fun at you don't know who's expense. The thing is that Hauer sitting down via Quinlan isn't really a true blue raconteur. There are moments but not quite. There are a lot of boring parts too.

I liked that he delivers whoppers like how he stalked his first wife when her parents separated them (they were Swiss? Or Swedish? I've already forgotten. It's an S country). He knocks her up and they get married. Then she goes nuts and almost kills the baby! Rutger writes about the baby girl and her own children in the way that seems like a Christmas card every year relationship. I like the feel of "Oh, I stalked her..." like it wasn't a big deal. It's what he says in the beginning of the book (and several more times) about not having confidence but not feeling conflicted on which decisions to make. He just does it. It's probably what makes him a good actor. If an actor is thinking of how good it will look if they can cry at this part it's not any good (not that I KNOW what they are thinking. I'm crazy like that I think I can tell what wheels are turning in people's minds when I look at them). It's good for a punch line to just say creepy shit like stalking and almost baby killing. It's more vapid to sound "I see them whenever I can". One is small talk and the other is mystery. Why bring it up at all? And I wasn't at all interested in who he married or what kids he might have had. It wasn't his acting thoughtfulness without thinking. Acting while not thinking about it. Sensing without thinking about it. I'm amazed when anyone can do that. I guess I shouldn't expect to find that in a biography about movies. Still, it's why I like Hauer so much.

I'm jealous of the making decisions and not thinking about it. I don't have confidence either. Rutger should come to my house and teach a seminar about that. It'll be in the style of his Guinness ads. Prez Obama will bring over some he bought in Ireland. "If it didn't exist you'd have to invent it." It was mildly amusing when Hauer (or was it Quinlan? I'll never know) quoted one of the Guinness ads in the book. I'd have used all of the lines if I wrote the book. Everyone would speak like one of those quasi arty advertisements. "If you keep an open mind, you'll discover dark secrets."

As a movie industry book I'd say it was a paler version of one of William Goldman's books (Adventures in the Screentrade is my favorite). No where near as good as City of Nets. Of course it is only his own movie experiences blah blah don't be unfair Mariel. I liked that he would come out and say that Michelle Pfieffer and Sly Stallone were tools (if I wrote the book I'd have made up some mean shit about Donald Sutherland just because I could). He has lots of nice things to say about Paul Verhooven, a man he owes a lot (his career start, for one. I loved the story about Hauer trying to surprise them with dangerous stunts on the set of his first big tv break. "Yes, kill yourself for the camera" said the glamour loving director. Something like that). I don't care about water girl (Pfieffer) or PV. Vaguely I appreciate a movie book that doesn't kiss ass (Goldman made a lot of enemies that way). Still, I can figure out that Hollywood is filled with dicks... I already know that no one knows what they are doing, the right time and place play a part in movie magic, actors sit around a lot, they don't work out more often than they do. Is it fair to expect Hauer's book to tell me what I don't already know? Some of the time it felt like "Let's get this out of the way." Hauer says that most of the time the way the writer wrote it is the way to go. This is after much horn tooting about his few line changes on Blade Runner. The obligatory bit about what an actor should do. Okay, so the actor's approach thing. I liked what Hauer had to say about that. Don't overthink it. I don't know if I agree with him that film isn't the actor's medium. If the stage is then what does that make the playwright? What they have is that no one can go in and edit them after the fact, or rely on that editing. What the film actors have is that tricky old test of time. John Malkovich has been pretty loud about preferring the theatre to film. I've only seen him on stage once. The rest of the time it has to be film. So Hauer's point was that it is the director and writer's story. A good actor can be good in a bad film and a mediocre one can be good in a great film. I think he's ignoring the emotional connect part that can come through subtext. If you are into subtlety and trying to mental mind read hell yeah a film is also an actor's medium. Why does anyone have to have all the say? The containment should be in the body and the freedom is what is around them. You gotta have both. A real person can be supplanted to some place new and not become someone changed overnight.

Some films are covered a lot and others are passed over like they didn't happen. Or he just didn't have anything to say about them. That disappointed me because some of my favorites were the passed over. The book was written before Hobo with a Shotgun so I can forgive the omission.

Blade Runner is Hauer's favorite. It is also my favorite of all of the films that Hauer has been in. The best part of All these Moments are the Blade Runner parts. He genuinely loves this movie and has things to say about it that aren't "Now let's go to the next part on the timeline." (Don't read this next part if you haven't seen Blade Runner. You should! It's wonderful.)
He's asked a lot about if he prefers the original theatrical version or the director's cut released ten years later. I'm with Hauer that the voice over was not needed (Harrison Ford's monotone was also annoying) and including an aerial shot from a different movie (The Shining) was freaking retarded. Was it a happy ending that Deckard ends up with Rachel, the replicant played by Shaun Young? Hauer thought she was a glorified blow up doll. I don't know if the intentions for which she was made define her. She didn't get the chance. It was stupid that the studio thought it was a happy ending to run off with her. She doesn't have long. It doesn't work because they couldn't have long enough to get to a place where a happy ending was possible. Can Deckard ever respect her as a person? I'd say no. Shouldn't the happy ending be for her as well as for Deckard? Yeah, that was dumb. The other change was an added dream sequence of Deckard's about a unicorn. Gaff does one of his origami figures of a unicorn afterwards. Does he know what Deckard is dreaming about because Deckard was programmed to see unicorns?

I never really understood this change- mostly because I didn't want to. I didn't really like it because if Deckard himself is a machine, then the whole story of a battle of wits and wills between man and machine dies for me. It is such a classic story to tell, and it is told here in a way that is compelling. To me, Blade Runner investigates what life and what being human are about- and the investigation is done by Roy rather than Deckard."

I thought that there were hints that Deckard is a machine without that scene. That he only starts to have feelings? He feels for Rachael and remorse for the replicant he shoots in the back. Replicants have to have the experience before they begin to feel human. Deckard doesn't know how old he is. The replicants do not know when they are made.

I agree with Hauer that Roy is more human than the humans in the story. But I feel that having Deckard also be a machine demonstrates how people feel like cogs in the machine, and only wake up some of the time. I didn't feel that the meaning of being human in this story was what you were made of. It was what you wanted, and the willingness to wake up. Deckard is a character that opens his eyes and shuts them back tight. The meaning is that there is a choice, and man or machine don't make the same choices.

I really liked reading about Hauer's theories. It was interesting to me that he saw himself as Roy. Like the photos that Deckard has of Roy doing the thinking position of Rodin's Thinker. How would Roy know about that, asks Hauer? It isn't Hauer doing the pose at all but a stunt double. Those times he thinks of it as not being Roy. Interesting. What is Roy? He's a machine. Roy's final line is (and where the title of this book comes from) "All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain". (Hauer says this was his line. He's quite proud of it.) He hiccups like a sob before "tears in rain". Hauer thinks that it was his programmer who wanted Roy to say that before he dies. How much was Roy? How much was Roy deviating from his course? I like that we don't know. I liked so very much the slow way (director Ridley Scott's idea) that Roy speaks. Like swimming upstream or fighting gravity in himself or something. Roy is alive because he doesn't shut his eyes by choice. I like it if the sob is rebelling against saying someone else's last words. Hauer thought the sob was also programmed. It's something new to think about a favorite movie. I really did like this part of the book. (I could really talk some Blade Runner so I'll stop now.)

Other favorites get cursory treatment. "Oh, it was nice to work with Jennifer Jason Leigh again" (JJL is awesome) for Flesh + Blood and The Hitcher. Both of these are Rutger Hauer film favorites of mine. He wrote more about freaking Ladyhawke! I don't care that C. Thomas Howell was scared of you! Who cares what that dip shit thought? Maybe it isn't fair of me to expect a paragraph or two about a movie to be as sinister thrilling as the film was? It could have been worse. He could have written about the shitty remake starring Sean Bean. Next to nothing about Inside the Third Reich! Just brushing over the Rutger classics. Do I have to come to their homes and say "That's Rutger Hauer! Pardon my French."? I could.

I was bored during the charity stuff (something about aids and starfish). Does that make me a bad person? Maybe the ghostwriter/helper guy wrote this part and Hauer wrote the rest?

I forgot to mention his skills with a sword. I'm sorry, Rutger! Rutger was into fencing as a youngster and could ride a horse. All wannabe actors lie about having these mad skills and Hauer really had them. I'm sure that other actors he worked with just HATED him for that. He also speaks every African language and most of the Asian ones (I'm lying. But wouldn't that be cool? He speaks the typical languages that an artistic European guy would know and some more because you have to be able to compete with other hot blonde Dutch guys in L.A.).

I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, I didn't like it when he brags about his directorial stuff just because it felt like when you go to a concert of some band that was famous years ago and the audience only wants to hear the old hits. Instead of playing the hits they play their NEW album in its entirety. That's what that part of the book felt like. But luckily the hits were awesome and most new people won't ever do anything that good. I still really like Rutger Hauer but I am the unfair sort of person that would prefer to make weird shit up.

I know what I'm forgetting! He had a conversation that took place with only their eyes with Billy Dee Williams. That's what I'm talking about! Also, one of his journal entries speaks "Wassup" and in lolcats. Noooooo! You are the classic cool that never goes out of style. You don't need to be ironically cool when you are both cool and ironically cool. Or maybe a befuddled granddad trying to relate to kids. I can't actually tell. I prefer my version of Hauer.

Spoilers for too hot for goodreads!



In October of 2010 I was as sick as a lost dog at the homeless shelter that Hauer would put a photograph of in the empty frame of the prostitute's (heart of gold! You know it!) home his Hobo with a Shotgun stays in. So I had a comfort rewatching of The Tenth Kingdom. I predicted the hot or not thread on the IMDB to its last post. I'm a born Hauerian!

Blame this review on Guinness. Not guilty.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rutger Hauer has led a pretty entertaining life. Before becoming famous in the film world he had various jobs, including time with the merchant navy where he spent his first week being constantly sea sick. Here he tells of his life & his love for acting. The book is written in a very simple (& in some ways almost child like) style. To cover all the films Rutger Hauer has appeared in you would need a whole library, rather than just one book. Although two of my favourite Hauer roles, in Fatherland & Split Second, are missing here there is some good coverage of his main appearances. He spends quite a few chapters on his time as replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner, but that's hardly surprising as it is his own personal favourite role & I'm glad to say one of mine too. This is an informative & easy read & it reminds me that I think it's time to watch Blade Runner yet again.

[Jason Brown (Toastx2) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants and Blade Runners”, Rutger Hauer’s autobiography, was a damned enjoyable book.

It is no masterwork, but neither will fans be disappointed.

Hauer himself has always been a favored actor of mine. I was a big fan of many of his films when I was growing up, LadyHawke and Blade Runner being two on the forefront. Rutger always plays fantastic characters, but off screen, I never heard mention of him. As such, he has always been kind of an elusive celebrity. He never really made “A-list” ranking, but he was never B either. He is that temper-mental in between that the celeb rags and news organizations rarely pay attention to.

This book touches on his life, pre-Hollywood. The first few chapters detail his life as a child and teen, his wayward actor-parents, and his indecisive career. The depth of his history is kept minimal, covering most of his early years in a matter of a third of the book. I was left a bit wanting, feeling that i knew him better as a person, but only being allowed to see the private side that he had carefully dictated as “valid”.

Later chapters cover individual films he worked on and how he influenced the characters played, making them into the classic persona’s many of us know. Key/memorable elements that drive these movies were often brainstormed between himself and the directors, to a surprising degree this seems to have held true. A fine example would be the title of this book, taken from poetry spoken by Batty in Blade Runner.

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

“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” Said poetry would never have been included were it not for his input. He added this to the final scene, on the fly as he fleshed out his character on camera the last day of filming.

This book is not for everyone. People who have no real interest in Hauer or his filmography will not find some lusty industry secrets here to chit-chat in hushed voices about. It just is not that kind of memoir.

On the flip side, fans of his work, will find this very enjoyable time spent. The detailed look into his film history, combined with some background on his past, really shines a light on Hauer’s skill and love for the work.

Co-authored by crime-thriller writer Patrick Quinlan, the ebb and flow of this memoir was very comfortable.

--
xpost RawBlurb.com

[Kristine Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, along with millions of others I'm sure, was shocked and saddened at the news that came out on Wednesday about the unexpected passing of Mr. Hauer. My first exposure to Rutger was most probably Ladyhawke when I was a young woman. I found myself absolutely riveted by the stunning man sitting atop this massive black horse clad all in black with a magnificent hawk sitting on his arm. I became an instant fan from then until now. Not everything he was in would be classified as quality cinema, by any means, but he sure stood out from the crowd in anything he did. As a tribute to him, I picked up his autobiography via Interlibrary Loan last week to find out a little more about the man who gave me hours of escape and entertainment. I only wish this was a little longer or had another edition come out with some updates about his works after Batman Begins. I had no idea he had his own foundation dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness. Yet another thing to admire about this man. This book was a lightning fast read filled with lots of little tidbits of trivia related to his body of work over the years, even thought it was too short in my opinion. What a loss to the cinematic community. I will miss seeing any new performances by Rutger, but will have to revisit all of his classic performances sometime soon. Rest In Peace Mr. Hauer. You will be missed by your fans the world over.

[Matthew W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love it, but legendary Dutch actor Rutger Hauer tells very little about himself and his career in his all-too-brief autobiography. For example, he does not even really touch his relationship with auteur Paul Verhoeven, who he made some of his greatest films with. Hauer also worked with the greatest Belgian filmmaker of all-time, André Delvaux, but neither he or the film they worked on together, WOMAN IN A TWILIGHT GARDEN (1979) aka WOMAN BETWEEN WOLF AND DOG, gets a single mention. Thankfully, Hauer does dedicate a small chapter to his work with Italian auteur Ermanno Olmi on THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY DRINKER (1988). Of course, as the book's title hints, BLADE RUNNER (1982), is (rather rightly) extensively discussed. Unfortunately, this book was also was released many years before Hauer died and ends with his work on Christopher Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS (2005).

[Norbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, five star is a little bit too much - but I can't give 4 and an half.

Witty, ironic (and self-ironic), onest, interesting.

[Kamas Kirian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice, light autobiography from one of my favorite actors. It's not very in depth, but it's still quite interesting. I had forgotten that Blade Runner bombed in the theater on first release. I was just a kid and didn't get to see it until it was on VHS. I do have the comic books though.

For all the cheesy films he did, he always played his character to perfection. That was what drew me to his films. I may not have seen many of them at the cineplex, but I sought them out on VHS and later DVD, and now BluRay.

He didn't talk much about his costars. Just brief comments and anecdotes for the most part. I would have liked to know more about his relationships with a few of them. I always thought he and Meg Foster played well against each other.

Some parts of his life I had never suspected before. Being a deckhand and seeing the world as a teenager was a surprise. His ability with languages is something I envy. It's not something I have a knack for. And living in that little farmhouse seems like a real throwback to another age (like my grandparent's age) compared to what most of us are used to today.

The eBook was formatted well with no obvious spelling/grammar mistakes. There are no images in the eBook version, which I didn't know until I got to the very end and it mentioned it. Now I'm curious as to what the images are in the Dead Tree Book versions.

[Sergey Selyutin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as it was with Blade Runners, Deer Hunters & Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies by Michael Deeley, these were only the pages related to the "Blade Runner" that interested me. Hauer writes clearly and lucidly (it might be that his collaborator reshaped numerous interviews with Hauer into a book form for it is very easy to imagine Hauer sitting in a cafe spinning tales). Just as I like his performance in the movie, I find his interpretation of Roy Batty (and other replicants) to be excessively mechanistic. Still, Hauer is very pleasant to read, whether you agree or disagree with him.
Definitely recommended to all BR and/or Rutger Hauer fans.

[Geoffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast and informative read creates an engaging portrait of a talented actor and genuinely kind human being. The initial chapters deals with his early upbringing, before settling into a format where each chapter covers a film he was in - mostly dealing with the 80s. After 1989’s Blind Fury, there is a mention of Surviving the Game, but most of his life from 1990 to his blockbuster return in 2005’s Batman Begins is sadly ignored. There is then a portion of the book detailing his AIDS/HIV organization, The Starfish Association, which his proceeds from the book went to, before finishing with some insightful diary excerpts.

Fun anecdotes abound, but beyond his interactions with other celebrities, Hauer frequently walks the reader through his artistic process, which provides a great sense of depth.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual writing rating: 3 stars
My enjoyment: 5 stars
Hence the 4-star rating.

Nothing deep in this book. Just listening to a long-time actor tell about movies he's been in. I really liked this book a lot!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Rutger Hauer. I've had a bit of a crush on him since I saw Ladyhawke when I was young. It's a bit of a shame that he has not been given more better quality roles, he's a talented actor. So this was pretty interesting for me to read. You get his childhood up to the middle '00's. There were some great little stories about his more major roles and I learned enough to put put some others in my Netflix queue that I had yet to see. I think my favorite was the end, where he includes some excerpts from hi s journal.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Rutger and was happy to read this book and learn some things I didn't know about his life and career. He has been very underrated as an actor. He has played many types of roles from bad guys to romantic leads and has always done a great job. Also
a very handsome man.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve liked Rutger Hauer for ages but didn’t find out he’d written this until a fortnight ago (when I saw (on Facebook) a mention of his relationship with Sylvester Stallone) and I immediately picked up a copy. Published in 2007, it is an autobiography but a lot of the details are very sketchy - of his childhood he mentions a close relationship with his younger sister Machteld and that his parents were both actors (a situation made difficult in postwar Netherlands, which necessitated them leaving the children for months at a time, which Hauer cannot understand) - but gives more details in his year at sea when he was 15. Following a brief marriage - and the birth of his daughter - he then, in 1968, meets Ineke, the love of his life and it’s clear that he absolutely adores her. With this stability in his life, his acting career begins to take off (his working relationship with Paul Verhoeven is key) and following several well-received Dutch films, he ventures abroad, making “Nighthawks” (he and Stalllone locked horns as the latter over-rode the director on the film) and more. He spends the most time - and goes into the most depth - with the chapters on “Blade Runner”, an experience he clearly enjoyed, both in terms of the acting and his relationship with Ridley Scott and his insights into the process of making it are excellent (especially that he came up with the “All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain”). His film choices after this are a bit uneven but he makes the most of the situation and his self-deprecating humour carries him through situations well. In 2000, making an unremarkable film on the Turks and Caicos Islands, he was shocked by the AIDs/HIV situation there and set up The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association, a non-profit organisation which attempts to lighten the lives of those afflicted. The penultimate chapter deals with this and talks about some of the things they do and it seems a very worthy cause, whilst the book closes with a sampling of his private diaries, which are humorous, touching and pleasantly philosophical. The book itself is told in a light, breezy style, as if you were sitting down having a chat with him and Hauer comes across very well - loyal to his beloved wife and friends, intelligent and funny, aware of how lucky he is but also willing to work hard - and I liked him even more by the time I was finished reading. Although I’d have liked a bit more detail, this is a very good book about a very decent man and I would highly recommend it.

[Beth Kostecki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is quick, lightweight reading for fans of Rutger Hauer and/or his movies. It's by no means comprehensive, and the movies he covers seem rather hit-and-miss. He of course talks about Blade Runner and Batman Begins, but also about some of his more obscure films that many won't have seen. I enjoyed the stories about his beginnings in theater work, but I was really hoping to hear much more about his work with Paul Verhoeven. (Movies like Spetters get only a brief mention, while others like Keetje Tippel, which reunited him with his Turkish Delight co-star, are not even to be found.) If you're looking for personal anecdotes you'll be disappointed. He gives some cursory glimpses of his childhood and young-adulthood, but other than brief appearances of his second wife (no mention of his first wife or daughter), everything else is career talk. I did find it mildly annoying that he claims to have come up with most of the good ideas in his movies and roles, something that many other actors have been guilty of as well. I tend to find such claims less credible when the writer seems to be the only one having these great ideas.

[Jorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Rutger's, largely due to his memorable performances as Roy Batty in Blade Runner and John Ryder in The Hitcher.

In this breezily written memoir, Rutger shares some great stories — some inspiring, some flat-out hilarious. A portrait emerges of an actor who seems to approach every role, no matter how large or small, with a great deal of concentration and forethought.

Rutger dedicates several chapters to the making of Blade Runner, and the insight into his thought process while developing his character helped unveil new layers of meaning for me. This surprised me, since I've watched Blade Runner probably at least 100 times and I'd figured I'd learned everything I was capable of learning from it.

[Jerry Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lite autobiography from Mr. Hauer. The early part of the book does a great job of documenting his early years and he naturally devotes a good amount of pages to his pinnacle role in Blade Runner. Unfortunately, he glosses over other films he worked on. I was hoping he would give details on working with the late Sam Peckinpah on The Osterman Weekend, but all we get is a one sentence mention of reuniting with an Osterman co-star a few year later on another film. Overall this is a good read about (and by) an actor who briefly hit the upper echelon of Hollywood in the 1980s, but has moved on to smaller character roles (Sin City, Batman Begins) lately.

[Tracy Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rutger Hauer was, and still is, one of my favorite on screen actors. Some of his movies do not do him justice, others launched him high. This book is written with a very conversational and informal tone, so it is not a literary piece, but he had such an interesting life and was a far more thoughtful and creative person than you would have ever thought. Proceeds of this book go to his foundation for AIDS so I feel good about that, too. Rest in Peace, Mr. Hauer. Thanks for everything.

[Lillie Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book - read first as e book, but bought the hardback for the pictures and read it twice !!
I love Rutger - he has done everything, been everywhere and has done so much for his STARFISH Assoc. and will continue to do more !!!

[Swee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really glad finally read this memoir, Rutger is a legend may he rest in peace

[Michael Lent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Timely read given Hauer's recent passing. Enjoyable but episodic and brief. Hauer becomes very Dutch when he glosses over many traumatic details that presumably were his motivation for the great acting he sometimes exhibited. For example, his parents essentially abandoned him in the early years of his life, moving to Indonesia to pursue acting careers while leaving Rutger in the care of his sister who was only a few years older than him. Also, early in his 20s, Hauer has a short, tempestuous relationship with a chaotic Swiss woman that results in a daughter that he didn't anticipate. The relationship with the woman and the daughter are covered in about a page and then never mentioned again.

Hauer spends many pages expressing his love for his wife, Ineke, but I really couldn't understand how this became the anchor and great love of his life. Mostly, these details are told rather than shown. For example, he never mentions that the couple never had children (this is, after all, an autobiography) and readers are left to surmise that given the lack of nurturing in Hauer's childhood, he remained a restless man child throughout his life with his toys-for-boys motorcycles, RVs and 18-wheeler motor homes and possibly caretaker wife. The career-defining portrayal of Roy Batty in Bladerunner, a replicant with a four-year life cycle who is part killing machine, child and poet.

Hauer spends a lot of time discussing scene stealing scenes as a character actor in big films and larger roles in small films. I came away thinking that Hauer's career wasn't everything that it could have been but was still impressive enough to warrant a bigger retrospective of his life and work.

[Turk Finnery · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the autobiography of the late Rutger Hauer, who played my favorite character in my favorite movie. I was inspired to read this after reading the completely off-the-wall interview with him at the end of Future Noir by Paul M. Sammon. If you like Blade Runner - if you REALLY like Blade Runner - that's the book you probably want to read, but this one isn't bad. It very briefly touches on many of the movies he made prior to writing this, and gives you a look into the life of an actor. I had no idea that he was pretty much the most famous actor in his native country, the Netherlands, even before coming to Hollywood. Apparently, he was in a lot of films that were more popular in Europe and never really made it over to the States, so I'll have to check some of them out sometime. He talks a little bit about what it's like to work with people like Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan, but he doesn't really get into the gory details about Blade Runner, which is what I was hoping for. This was a movie set that was supposedly fraught with constant tension and conflict, but Rutger seems to have avoided most of the off-screen drama, or maybe he just wasn't comfortable talking about that kind of stuff. Oh well. In any case, he gave us an unforgettable performance, some of which was unscripted and improvised by the man himself. What he personally brought to the table in Blade Runner was significant, and he undoubtedly left his mark on movie history. Rest in peace, Rutger.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an interesting man he was. We don't know actors, really. Just what we see in the characters they play or news, etc. Rutger Hauer was nothing like I imagined. But he was an incredible man who had a great sense of adventure and love for life.
In this, he starts with his birth in Nazi occupied Holland. He follows his childhood and the many, many struggles his family faced and, in turn, he faced until he started making money from his movies.
He highlights some of his movies and a bit about them and what happened. Through those stories, he relates a bit more personal stories and struggles.
Sadly, for me, "Wanted Dead or Alive" was not one of those movies. But that was really the only downside of the book.
It had a different "feel" to it, the voice of the book, but I attributed this to his culture. But since I don't know for sure, I can't say much.
Rutger was on the move. His home remained in Holland and he traveled the world. Constantly on the go and busy yet somehow he seemed to take time for the small things. He was a great observer in life and people. He did not discuss much about his home life once the movies hit, but it felt like that even with the money he wasn't "Hollywood." It seemed like he stayed grounded. I could be entirely wrong but that is what I got from him.

[Midnight Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always shocked when my favorite artists, be they actors, writers, musicians, or painters, don't list MY favorite examples of their work as their own. I grew up absolutely LOVING Rutger Hauer, and my 3 favorite films, in order of importance, are 1. The Hitcher, 2. Flesh and Blood, and 3. Blood of Heroes. I grew up loving him for being the bad guy that you secretly hope will catch you.....or a conflicted sort of good guy with a past. True, his portrayal of replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner is classic and beautiful.....I'm not arguing that......but he barely even mentioned Flesh and Blood, and I feel like his performance was every bit as good in that! Overall, Rutger seems like a very sweet and loving, easygoing type of man who has done a fantastic job of making the roles he's taken his own. I was fascinated by his description of how he prepares for his roles, and how he pares them down to fit his acting style; he is a master of nonverbal dialogue and, while I knew that, it's interesting to read how he had to make it happen. Plus, he told off Sylvester Stallone during the filming of his first US film (after Stallone had done Rocky). Rutger--you'll always be the best as far as I'm concerned!!!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining book about Rutger's life and career in the movie business.

I enjoyed reading the book and learning about Rutger's life, family, travels, and movies. I wish more movies were discussed more depth than they were.

Rutger calls "Blade Runner" the best role he ever had. He spends the most time talking about this movie. Some movies that don't get a mention or only a passing mention are Wedlock, A Breed Apart, Hostile Waters, The Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon, Wanted: Dead or Alive and The Osterman Weekend. I expected more on some of these films and a few others stories from some of the lower budget films he has been in.

Also missing is any mention of The Tenth Kingdom and Merlin mini-series that Rutget did.

I wish the book was longer and had more interesting stories about making movies.

Despite those issues, I enjoyed the book a lot as I am a big fan of Rutger Hauer's work.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curious about the actor who partially improvised one of the most iconic monologues in movies, "Tears in the Rain.." I decided to look up his bio. Turns out that, as cliche as it sounds, Rutger Hauer did come from simple beginnings in a rural farm setting.

I enjoyed reading about his adventures before the entertainment industry, which goes to prove the adage that you bring your life experiences to your craft. Of course, there are the other obligatory moments of breakout roles and misadventures along the way as well as his foundation work.

What struck me was the grounded nature of this actor despite living a somewhat extraordinary life. In some ways that may be a lesson in itself - that simply rolling with whatever happens and appreciating them for what they are is enough to bring about the exceptional.

[Rutger De Putte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had trouble reading this. It didn’t pull me in as it was rather ad hoc writing. I share his name and country and was probably named like this due to him being famous at the time. The book gives a glimpse in his persona but is more a view on what happened in his personal life and movies.

I checked rutgerhauer.org to see what happened to the starfish foundation (or whatever it was called). Sadly that site has been taken over by gambling ads. I did read that his wive would preserve it but apparently she did not. The association was Italian and the domain and all other legacy of it I tracked to a Dutch village close where he lived, but it seems that it all fade away and has been archived. Still makes me feel sad.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't know about this autobiography until recently, when I read the revised and updated version of Future Noir. Rutger Hauer always struck me as an interesting man, a man unlike most film star types. My instinct was confirmed on reading All Those Moments. He has indeed led a life different from the norm and tells the story well, with the assistance of Patrick Quinlan.

Well worth reading.

Ray Smillie

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rutger's story is an incredible read! A self-made man, he learned to act because he loved doing it; and once he found his way never looked back. The memoir reads easily as he uses simple, everyday language - no big words or grandiose phrasings. He's a gifted and engaging storyteller and a man who enjoyed making a positive difference. It's an optimistic look at a life well-lived, and life in general!

[Jeff Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've only seen maybe 5 or 6 Rutger Hauer movies, but I've always been fascinated by him. This memoir provided a lot of context and insight. He had an amazing life. His writing is far from superb. I wonder if he wrote some of it in Dutch, then translated it. Or maybe he just has a different way of expressing himself than I'm used to.
He has some great thoughts on life and movies. He lived a life unlike anyone else, and I enjoyed reading about it. It didn't blow me away, but I had a good time.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provided a lot of extra insight into Rutger Hauer the actor and a little bit of the man himself.I learned a lot more about Blade Runner and Ladyhawke than I knew before now.
This came off as a translation, but well done
The book covers his acting from childhood to just past Batman Begins.
There is also a great chapter on his work on aids awareness.
Plus excerpts from his journal.