# Delete (Or Improve) A Scene From A Film To Make It Better **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2005, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336 "2005-03-26T08:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/41 "2005-03-28T19:25:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers could do without the silly “Aragorn’s fallen over a cliff” bit. Not to mention Sam’s awful “And folks in them stories, they had plenty o’ chances o’ turning back—but they didn’t!” speech at the end—the tritest, phoniest moment in any of the 3 films. ---
**Author:** ![longat24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@longat24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longat24)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/42 "2005-03-28T21:55:04Z")
Spoiler or no: The ring should have ended with her son saying “Why did you help her?” Maybe she could have looked out of her balcony seeing her neighbors watching the TV all seeing “the video”. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/43 "2005-03-28T22:27:43Z")
**Superman** : Remove the scene where Superman takes Lois flying and she recites the most painful, treacly, grade-school poetry I’ve ever heard. “You can fly! You belong in the sky!” :barf: **Full Metal Jacket** : Roll the credits after the final confrontation between Pyle and R. Lee Ermey. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/44 "2005-03-28T23:03:31Z")
> [@Mirror Image egamI rorriM](#): > > _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ That movie should have ended when Tommy was floating on the rolltop desk. The last scene with Penny complaining about the ring was just unneeded. I’d have to disagree. I think it makes a nice framing device with all of the kids strung together showing that the formerly free Everett has only really traded one chain gang for another. I’d cut the final musical tag in **The Ruling Class**. The screen should have gone to black right after Peter O’Toole says “Jack. I’m Jack.” That would have been truly chilling while the ending reprise of “The Varsity Drag” just completely takes the edge off of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/45 "2005-03-28T23:57:40Z")
The Humphrey Bogart version of The Maltese Falcon should not have had the opening prologue which discusses the Knights of Malta and gives the history of the Maltese Falcon, a gigantic spoiler if ever there was one. With it at the beginning of the movie, there is no mystery about what the bad guys are seeking; without the prologue there would be. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/46 "2005-03-29T03:03:39Z")
**Swordfish** : Everything after the opening monologue. Yes, I realize that would make the movie about 5 minutes long. **The Chronicles of Riddick** : Anything involving the Necromongers. The bounty hunting, prison escape scenes were great. The Space Messiah crap was not. It was like two separate movies were edited together into one big mess. I really like the Riddick character and I wanted to like this movie, but damn… ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/47 "2005-03-29T03:17:20Z")
Cutting out the messiah stuff would mean the monk would no longer sacrifice himself. ☹ That was a really poinyent scene. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Sakamoto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mr\_Sakamoto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Sakamoto)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/48 "2005-03-29T03:28:35Z")
Take out every scene involving an action-packed thrill ride of danger and despair that is followed by a cry of “LET’S DO THAT AGAIN!” ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/49 "2005-03-29T03:45:09Z")
> [@Jenny Haniver](#): > > **The Shawshank Redemption** should have ended a wee earlier: > > With the shot of the bus crossing the border while Morgan Freeman delivers his hope monologue in voiceover. Seeing Red and Dufresne meet up on the beach was overkill. I disagree. The film has a really muted color scheme all the way through. That final shot of the white sand and the bright blue water is really something after all the greys and browns. Plus Red and Dufrensne talk about the ocean in the film. It needs to end there. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/50 "2005-03-29T03:55:07Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers could do without the silly “Aragorn’s fallen over a cliff” bit. There are a lot of silly Aragorn scenes in the movie. He was my favourite character in the books, but “reluctant, tragic” hero he was not. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/51 "2005-03-29T04:18:23Z")
gone with the wind should have ended after the line “frankly, my dear, i don’t give a damn.” the flashback scenes to all of the references to tara were anticlimatic and rather silly ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/52 "2005-03-29T12:54:55Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#): > > This is a slight hijack, but upon a repeat viewing of Minority Report, I think the ending holds up if you watch it with the idea that everything after > > Tom Cruise gets put in the criminal ward is all in his mind…the jailer sets this up earlier by mentioning that the prisoners have active imaginations while they are in this condition. If you view it from that perspective pretty much everything after this point seems implausible at best. But it does put a different spin on things. I’ll grant that that’s possible, but still doesn’t really make much sense, to me at least. I’m going to have to re-read the story to comment on exactly why it made more sense than the film ending though. I just remember that it had something to do with… The pre-crime prediction being technically correct - John Anderton _does_ kill the equivalent of Max von Sydow’s character - but the circumstances show that he is not actually guilty of murder ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/53 "2005-03-29T13:03:52Z")
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Heroes land on Tatooine after Hyperdrive is burnt out. Meet Anakin in the junk shop. Qui Gon attempts to brainwash the shop owner into selling cheap. It works. They go straight on to Coruscant, minus Anakin, who they pick up later after Qui Gon mentions to Yoda a child strong in the force. Hours of tedium and pointless pod-racing skipped. Or alternatively, they could just go straight to ending credits after the opening text scroll. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/54 "2005-03-29T14:25:44Z")
I’ll pick the two obvious ones: _A.I._ should have ended at the ‘obvious’ point, before throwing in all the alien crap. _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ should have the Mickey Rooney scenes yanked. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/55 "2005-03-29T16:08:34Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > _A.I._ should have ended at the ‘obvious’ point, before throwing in all the alien crap. I could live with the multiple endings, if they’d just eliminated the jarringly loud and annoying Dr. Know scene. Or at least toned it down. ---
**Author:** ![parkov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71e660/32.png) [@parkov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parkov)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/56 "2005-03-29T16:38:01Z")
The ultimate example of a scene that should have been cut is the psychologist’s exposition at the end of Hitchcock’s **Psycho**. Roger Ebert [agrees](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981206/REVIEWS08/401010353/1023). > [@](#): > > For thoughtful viewers, however, an equal surprise is still waiting. That is the mystery of why Hitchcock marred the ending of a masterpiece with a sequence that is grotesquely out of place. After the murders have been solved, there is an inexplicable scene during which a long-winded psychiatrist (Simon Oakland) lectures the assembled survivors on the causes of Norman’s psychopathic behavior. This is an anticlimax taken almost to the point of parody. > > If I were bold enough to reedit Hitchcock’s film, I would include only the doctor’s first explanation of Norman’s dual personality: “Norman Bates no longer exists. He only half existed to begin with. And now, the other half has taken over, probably for all time.” Then I would cut out everything else the psychiatrist says, and cut to the shots of Norman wrapped in the blanket while his mother’s voice speaks (“It’s sad when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son…”). Those edits, I submit, would have made “Psycho” very nearly perfect. I have never encountered a single convincing defense of the psychiatric blather; Truffaut tactfully avoids it in his famous interview. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/57 "2005-03-29T16:52:11Z")
> [@Legolamb](#): > > I’ll grant that that’s possible, but still doesn’t really make much sense, to me at least. I’m going to have to re-read the story to comment on exactly why it made more sense than the film ending though. I just remember that it had something to do with… > > The pre-crime prediction being technically correct - John Anderton _does_ kill the equivalent of Max von Sydow’s character - but the circumstances show that he is not actually guilty of murder The difference between the short story and the movie is the entire point of the main characters life. In the movie he is really all about his son’s death and made pre-crime to prevent future murders. Also, his own happiness and the happiness of the pre-cogs is ultimately more important than preventing murders. In the short story you have none of that background story for the Tom Crusie character or the pre-cogs. It is set after some terrible war and there are wastelands. The Max Von Sydow character wants to end pre-crime so he makes the false prediction happen. He will use this to bring down the government and place himself in power. The Tom Cruise character figures out his game and kills him. He isn’t executed but but he is sent off world to live on a colony. It will be a hard life but pre-crime is still in business. So in the short story the individual is less important than society. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/58 "2005-03-29T17:41:41Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > I’ll pick the two obvious ones: > > _A.I._ should have ended at the ‘obvious’ point, before throwing in all the alien crap. They weren’t aliens. They are robots and the ending makes sense if you think of **A.I.** as a robot fairy tale with a happy ending. The bookending scenes at the start and end of **The Green Mile** should have been done away with. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/59 "2005-03-29T19:30:51Z")
The ending of _Bedrooms & Hallways_ bugs me. Leo and Sally should not have hooked up. It did set up Darren’s great final line; but I still choose to believe they just fell asleep on the couch rather than actually doing it. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336/60 "2005-03-29T20:34:20Z")
As long as we’re editing Hitchcock, in _The Man Who Knew Too Much_ (remake), I would remove all instances of Doris Day singing “Que Sera, Sera”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delete-or-improve-a-scene-from-a-film-to-make-it-better/296336.md?page=4)