Sometimes when I watch the deleted scenes from a movie they are either so important or so character defining that I’m surprised that they were ever cut. A few examples:
The Godfather- the deleted scenes include a talk between Vito and the recently-returned-from-WW2 Michael about the latter’s plans and the father’s frustration that he went to war in the first place which is very important to understanding their later relationship. The deleted scene in which Sonny tells his mother that her husband has been shot (and she remains chillingly calm- she’s been through this before) then can’t bring himself to sit in his father’s office chair adds little to the plot but much to the family character. In GF2, the scene in which Young Vito first meets Tessio and when the extended scenes with Don Fanucci (the original godfather from Vito’s younger days) add quite a bit as well.
Harold & Maude- I’ve never seen the deleted scenes, but in the theatrical trailer for the movie (the only extra on the DVD) there is a scene of Harold & Maude making out in her train-car/house that is not in the movie (though presumably occurs before Harold’s “bubble blowing” scene). This one should have been left in to see exactly what happened twixt the carnival and the “morning-after” scenes.
About a Boy- there’s a major character development scene twixt Marcus & Ellie and a major humor scene of Hugh Grant shopping for baby supplies that add much and wouldn’t have added too much time.
SecondHand Lions- there’s an entire prolonged alternate ending sequence involving modern day Walter’s wife & sons and a “Return of the Sheik” scene that’s priceless. (Did anybody else notice that there was a major time discrepancy in that movie, btw? The epilogue- in which the uncles are dead from crashing their airplane- is clearly modern day, yet in modern day Walter, who is played by a 30 something actor, would be pushing 60 and his uncles would be about 110. There’s also an amazingly important cut scene in which you learn that
Garth (Michael Caine) has been requesting the calls from the salesmen that he and his brother shoot at
and there are lots of flashback scenes and scenes from young Walter’s imagination that are great.
What are some scenes/endings you’d have left alone?
What? I just watched the DVD to SecondHand Lions a little while ago but never saw the deleted scenes. And I always watch deleted scenes. Why didn’t I do that with this DVD? I’m so confused. Now I’ll have to go back and rent the DVD again so I can see these. They certainly sound interesting.
Yes, I noticed what you noticed about the epilogue of SH Lions. Interesting.
The first deleted scene that comes to mind is the one with “The Three Wise Men” at the alternative ending to “Training Day.” I wouldn’t have minded if that had been left in.
Two science-fiction blockbusters really needed the parts that were cut out.
I consider the director’s cut of Terminator 2 to be the real version. The fact that they altered the ending to that stupid closing shot so that they could make room for Rise of the Machines was unforgiveable, and they cut out a great scene of John and Sara Conner debating the dangers of getting help from the robot.
And given the stuff they left in, I was amazed they cut out all the stuff about Padmé’s political career, politics, and family in Attack of the Clones. I can think of a dozen scenes I’d have rather seen go.
There have been tons of scenes cut from FOTR and TTT that would have been nice to have added back, but only one that I can think of from TTT that I honestly can’t imagine why it was cut. IMO, it was a critical piece of plot exposition, in which Gandalf is discussing Frodo’s quest with Aragorn and he comments that it hasn’t occurred to Sauron that instead of trying to fight him with the Ring, Frodo’s going to destroy it instead. This is a key plot point, and one that isn’t made at all clear without that scene.
In Singin’ in the Rain, there is a deleted scene where Debbie Reynolds reveals she’s been starstruck in love with the Gene Kelly character and she sings “You Are My Lucky Star.” It was cut for length, but it makes the final scene of the film much better, since Kelly starts singing that song to her.
Spoiler request: I haven’t seen the director’s cut. What was the original ending, please?
I totally agree on The Abyss- the extra footage almost made it a completely different movie.
There were lots of deleted scenes on the Secondhand Lions DVD I watched, though I think they may have been on the flip side. It included several “fantasy” scenes of Walter’s (a couple of them pretty funny), a lot more with the sheikh, and a much longer alternate ending in which (I’ll put a spoiler and you can decide whether to read it)
Walter’s two sons, named Garth and Hub for their great-uncles, are playing sheikh/Hub with toy swords and fake scars. The gang that the old brothers had a rumble with, now successful middle aged men, come to the funeral and the brothers last huge purchase, a luxury yacht, is “docked” in their pond. After the funeral Walter is explaining to his wife how it doesn’t really matter if Garth and Hub’s adventure stories were lies- they were fun and didn’t hurt anybody, yada yada, when a mile-long stretch limo pulls up. As the family looks on bewildered, several beautiful veiled ladies in harem outfits get out and walk towards the graves, and when they part you see the sheikh, ancient and in a wheelchair and hooked up to an oxygen tank (but still with his scar) smiling and come to pay his respects.
[spoiler]Terminator 2 had two test endings: the first, which they ultimately used, was a night-time shot of a dark road, shot from the front of a car. It had Sigourney Weaver saying more or less, “We don’t know if it worked. All we can do is wait and pray”. [Not at exact quote at all, just the general gist of it.]
The other ending was a scene of super-mom and Conner - now much older and a Senator, watching some kids (possibly his own). Future near-armageddon averted; world saved.
After doing the test reels before audiences and thinking about how much cash they may or may not have to pass up, they went with the first option.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Not only was the world peaceful, but John had help make it that way. He had gone into politics and argued for nuclear disarmamanent, becoming a sort of hero of peace.
The last scene has Sara Conner in the park from her nightmares, as an old women, watching children (her grandchildren?) swing on the swings. It was supposed to illustrate the “No fate but what we make” theme.
I liked it better. It could have been more nuanced, sure, but that travelling down the highway, tossing out even more cliched lines, comes in second for me on the list of “endings I never want to see in another movie” (right after “It was all just a dream”)[/spoiler]
I dunno, I found the original ending kind of dumb, if only for the fact that given today’s, or even yesterday’s, there’s no WAY John could’ve become a Senator with the rather large skeletons in his closet (i.e. his actions in the movie, like breaking his mother out of prison, the brutal murder of his stepparents, blowing up Cyberdyne, etc.). Sure, save the world, but Senator? Puh-leeze.
I gotta totally disagree on the shelved T2 ending. It blew. It was preachy, corny, tacked-on, and logically ludicrous. Sarah Conner would be on death row for conspiracy in the murders and attempted murders of dozens of police officers. And her son would barely have even a semblance of a normal life let alone a political career. I really liked how T3 played this out.
Plus Linda Hamilton’s age makeup looked really, really fake (as did the ever so clichéd, Jetsons’ cartoon-like, future LA skyscraper background).
The story was over. We didn’t need a, "…And they all lived happily ever after" which is all that was. It reminded me of the ending the studio forced Ridley Scott to use for Blade Runner.
Same goes for The Abyss. Although I love that film, again, the director’s cut is just too much the clichéd, wise aliens saying, “Eeeeeerth maaaaaaan baaaaaaad”. Some called the theatrical release confusing, I just think it was more subtle.
But Aliens is a different story. All the extra footage adds so much to the story. The only thing I would have left out was the scene of the foreshadowing of the queen by Hudson & Vasquez (the ‘ant hive’ dialog). Completely unnecessary and it spoils the surprise way more than Bishop simply saying, “It must be something we haven’t seen yet”.
BTW, all that footage was cut from Aliens just for running length. Even without it the theatrical version ran like 2hrs 20mins I think.
There were a couple of deleted scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean (or, rather, NOT in the film) that I think really should have been left in: they fleshed out the character of Commodore Norrington and made him a human man instead of just an enigmatic figure in a uniform.
One deleted scene from the ultimately-amazing UHF depicted a “promo” for one of U62’s TV shows. It had two men in tight spandex jumpsuits chasing each other around a table with fly swatters. The show was called “Those Darn Homos!” (with a Leave It To Beaver-esque attitude), which I thought was pretty damned funny for the late '80s.
There was a deleted scene from Kevin Smith’s Dogma that I thought was really powerful and important to the movie. The lead female (I don’t remember the name) is working in the women’s clinic and counselling a gal who doesn’t want to go on the pill because she doesn’t want to gain 5 pounds. :rolleyes: She tells the very disturbing story of her own abortion at the hands of a med student (with like one credit under his belt) and how because of it she can no longer have children.
It’s sort of alluded to or inferred at other parts that something like this happened, but it really sort of defines the character and her choices and beliefs. I guess you could say the subject matter is a bit graphic, but compared to the end of the movie? Pfffft!
[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
But Aliens is a different story. All the extra footage adds so much to the story.
[QUOTE]
I agree for the most part, but I’m glad they decided to axe the bit with Newt and her family finding the downed ship. It just seems so jeering, and kinda brings me out of the full story. I like the more subtle way it plays out in the actual theatrical release. The betrayal having to be realized instead of just handed to the audience. I really wished they had kept in the bit where she learns about her daughter…that was a great bit of characterization that really should have stayed.
As for me, there was a lot in Alien3 that I felt should have stayed. Watching the director’s cut of that, it was the same film, but completely fleshed out. Still, if anything, I wished they would have left in the bit where they actually captured the thing, only to have the crazy guy set it lose. It was just a great little plot addition that really had no reason to go.
I wish they left the extended “Little People” bit in Army of Darkness. It helps explain what he slips on and why his face is all covered with soot, even though it’s not really that important to the plot. Other than that, though, every other deleted scene was taken out with good reason in my mind.
I wish they would have left in Marla’s line in Fight Club after her first night of crazed sex with Tyler. “I haven’t been fucked like that since grade school” was funny, but not nearly as jarring and in character as “Tyler, I wanna have your abortion.” Classy!
And I prefer the original ending to Night of the Creeps. At least, I think it’s the original ending. The copy my local video store has ends with the dog showing up and a little leech jumping out and attacking the main actress. The ending I originally saw a loooooong time ago on television had the detectives chard corpse walking through the street, then collapsing right outside of a cemetary as the little leeches jump out and go scurrying off. Much cooler, in my mind.
T2 the original ending blew. The highway thing wasn’t the greatest but the future playground? It was totally out of place in the series. Look at the first movie the ending is ambiguous and downbeat. The second did enough damage by making Arnie the good guy. I also think people saying they did it just for sequel potential are stretching a bit. It’s not like it was a series known for pumping out fast and dirty sequels like Friday on Elm St part 5.
As for Aliens as El Elvis Rojo says the base footage was pretty stupid. It was so much more atmospheric having them land at an empty base with the audience having no prior knowledge of what went on.
The Two Towers was a much better film with the added footage. Before it was a movie about a battle. After it’s a movie with a battle in it. Big difference.
Pulp Fiction there’s an extended conversation between Butch and the cab driver that helps you understand Butch much better. On the original version he just looks like an asshole that killed another boxer and didn’t care.
I thought the deleted scenes from Donnie Darko would have really been great in that movie. Man, I love that flick. But there is this whole extra storyline with the teacher that totally goes by the wayside. Shame. There was an additional scene with the girlfriend, too, that got cut, I think for “pacing reasons”, but DD wasn’t a movie that seemed especially keen on pacing in the first place…
I just saw the DVD of A Mighty Wind and there were two scenes I’d have left in:
-Michael McLean at the press party talking to the old Blues man (played by the great character actor Bill Cobbs) who is correcting him on every point he makes about blues music
-in what was obviously shot to be included in a Mitch & Mickey montage, there was a scene of Mitch & Mickey appearing as “Jack & Judy”, two murdering folk singers on a Dragnet or Mannix style show in the late 1960s. Catherine O’Hara as Mickey gave a fantastically bad performance (not unlike the cameos on Laugh-In or other shows by singers/politicians with no sense of dramatic timing) that it should have been kept in for one of the greatest laughs in the movie.
They didn’t show the original ending for Mitch’s character but they mentioned it in the commentary:
Mitch is discussing “the kiss” at the concert and how it meant more to Mickey than it did to him and he wants to resume his life because his creative juices are churning again. As he’s saying this he’s in a garden pruning roses and when he comes to a perfect one he calmly begins eating its petals, at which time two orderlies come to take him away and you see he is at a mental hospital. (Also cut from the movie is that he has worked at a florist’s shop in Canada for the past 20 years.
