The directors cut of *Kingdom of Heaven *adds a lot more detail to the characters, changes motivations etc - it even restores a character entirely which then makes the actions of another major character make sense.
OTOH the DC cut of The Last of the Mohicans adds mostly fluff, makes Hawkeye come across in several scenes as a right asshole and removes the Clannad song (I will find you) from the pursuit montage
About the only good addition is a scene set during the night battle for Fort William Henry when Duncan gets to show his chops as an officer and leads an assault on the French sappers to disrupt their trenching.
Really? It’s been awhile, but my memory is that TTT and ROTK integrated the scenes well, while some of the FOTR seemed a little tacked on. Maybe still an improvement, but not as necessary. The main one I remember is Arwen leaving to depart Middle Earth, then sike!/psych! I’ll go back to Rivendell. It seemed very pointless.
Yes, 4 films out of it: original, DC with extra live scenes, the Black Freighter animated standalone movie, and UC = DC with BF scenes inserted.
The original is the director’s version (or at least as much as the notoriously bad-at-budgeting Gilliam could get away with). The “studio meddling version” is the crappy one.
I usually prefer the director’s cuts, especially the Cameron films already mentioned, and Lord of the rings. The theatrical Hobbitses were too meh for me to care about finding the directors cuts just yet.
HOWEVER, my point I came here to make is that the directors cut of Amadeus is certainly way way worse. It totally alters Salierei’s character. Not to mention there is some bad acting in the extra scenes. However, we do see boobs briefly. But that doesn’t save it.
The theatrical release is one of my favorite movies, top 5 or 10 for sure. Director’s cut drops it way way down.
Except in the theatrical version he has to give up his powers before he can be with Lois, which makes sense (Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, you know), while in the Donner version he does it after, which makes no sense.
Also in the Donner version he erases Lois’ memory with the “go around the world really quickly to reverse time trick” a 2nd time*, which is the only thing that could be lamer than the amnesia kiss.
I don’t know if the original idea, if Donner hadn’t been let go, was to save this until the end of II, but if it was it was used more effectively for the end of I.
Oddly enough this is perhaps the sole positives of the director’s cut, less because of said boobs themselves but because it actually fleshes out a character motivation. To whit just why Mozart’s wife so venomously despises Salieri. In the original cut her hostility seems just a little off, but that restored scene actually explains why she has cause to dislike him so intensely.
In every other respect I agree with you. The theatrical cut is just a stronger, tighter work.
I’m not necessarily opposed to voiceovers in principle (despite the maxim Show-not-Tell), but Harrison Ford’s delivery of these lines has to be perhaps the worst voiceover acting I’ve ever heard in a motion picture. It’s execrable, and throws the tone of the film off completely. Whatever character insight is gained from the words is vastly overshadowed with the horrible way they’re conveyed.
Yeah, it was originally intended for Superman II, but the Salkinds were running out of money and ordered Donner to stop work on the second part and get the first movie finished. They didn’t know if Superman was going to be profitable as the whole production was going over budget and didn’t know if they would be able to finish the sequel. Lois wasn’t supposed to die in the earthquake, the first movie was supposed to end with one of the hijacked missiles (the one Superman diverted from New Jersey) exploding in space and releasing General Zod and company from the Phantom Zone. Instead, Lois died in the quake as an excuse for using the time travel idea.
In any case, restoring the footage with Brando more than makes up for any shortcomings. Also, removing the humorous scenes that were just in for humor’s sake tightened up the pacing, too.
Totally agree. It’s as if both Scott and Ford knew the idea of the voice over was a terrible note from some stupid suit who couldn’t follow the plot and they just churned it out and tagged it on just to shut him up. I have no idea if this is actually what happened, but that is certainly the feeling i get from it.
The director’s cut of Almost Famous added some scenes of a younger William Miller, in which he learns that he’s actually two years younger than his classmates (his mother having faked his age so that he could advance in school). I don’t know if it’s better, but I love that movie so much I was happy to sit through more scenes.
Also, I generally like the Director’s Cut better than the theatrical version. In fact, most times now I just automatically watch the DC than the TR. Later, if I do watch the TR, I find it unsatisfying, like watching a movie on TV that’s been edited for time and had all the cursing removed.
Will concur with most on LOTR trilogy, especially that the additions to The Two Towers were essential. Particularly the “Sons of the Stewart” scenes. I say this not just because anything that increases Faramir/David Wenham’s screentime makes me a very very happy woman but because those same added scenes flesh out Boromir’s motivations and explain Faramir’s brief interest in the Ring.
(Yes, yes, I know, “I wouldn’t take it if it were lying the road,” yadda yadda book purists. Frankly I think having Faramir briefly tempted but reject it makes him stronger, not a saint–and it also makes the Ring more intimidating. As it is, considering the Ring is supposed to have power over all, we’ve got Sam, Aragorn, Gandalf and Galadriel all able to say “thanks but no thanks” to it. Apparently it’s not quite as impossible to resist as it’s made out to be! Who created the hype around this Ring, Don Draper?)
There were some interesting cut scenes in the Director’s version of Amadeus, but I agree that on the whole, Salieri’s character is weakened and the shorter film is better. I do recommend the Director’s Cut anyway, just for comparison.
Also essential Director’s Cut version: 1776. The restoration of the Cool, Considerate Men number justifies the invention of the DVD format all by itself. Also, the debate between Adams and Dickenson leading up to the brawl between the two is much longer and goes into more depth (Dickenson really was screwed by the regular release!), there’s a notable discussion between Caesar Rodney and Lyman Hall when the two are introduced, and we see a bit more of Blythe Danner’s sweet portrayal of Martha Jefferson.
But it’s Cool, Considerate Men that is so, so beautifully crafted, funny and well-written (and composed). A must-see.
I’m pretty sure there’s a commentary track on some version that say exactly that: that Ford, specifically, hated the voiceovers and deliberately gave the flattest, worst delivery he could get away with.
While I don’t mind cursing (note my mention of Natural Born Killers above) would Casablanca have been bettervhad Bogie told Bergman ‘Fuck that useless cocksucker you are married to and keep yo ass with me?’
I’ll second the 1776 cut – it also changes the opening sequence to what it was clearly originally supposed to be. And they added a brief scene in Congress that wasn’t in the film’s original release, too. But it’s the addition of the Cool Considerate Men number that really makes it worthwhile – I had seen the play on Broadway, and I missed that number. It was removed not for better flow or for time, but for political reasons – Richard Nixon and some friends objected to the condemnation of Conservatives the song implied.
I’ve recently acquired a copy of the Director’s cut of Amadeus, but haven’t watched it yet. The critics I’ve read preferred the Director’s Cut version. (I’ve seen the stage play more than once, but , especially in this case, the stage play and the movie are very different creatures. I can’t predict if I’;ll like it more or less than the original film version)
I remember there was an extra scene for Big Trouble in Little China, where Jack is driving the big rig after the final fight scene, and see a few leftover bad guys in a parked car, and proceeds to ram them. It didn’t really serve any purpose other than for Jack to do something he was actually good at, driving.
They’re not “Director’s cuts”, but they are different from the theatrical releases that sometimes show up on TV. These are versions that contain deleted scenes, and you have to wonder who put them in, and made the relevant decisions. People generally credit these to talentless hacks or gnomes simply throwing stuff in. Certainly there’s not much gained in some extra footage I saw added to John Carpenter’s The Thing that simply showed a guy walking around inside the Antarctic base. But I was delighted when I saw extra footage had been added to the film Creator on TV. It was a flashback to Dr. Wolper’s younger days, and depicts him at an amusement park riding a rollercoaster with his wife Lucy. It does add something to the film, since it shows what Harry lost, and why he wants to regain it. And it gave much more screen time to the actress playing Lucy – in the as-released version, she has only one very brief shot.
I also have some affection for the TV cut of David Lynch’s Dune, which uses some deleted scenes, and replaces some of the opening exposition with voice-overs running over sketches that try to explain the complicated politics of Frank Herbert’s universe. Lynch took his name off the TV release (which got, as a booby prize, the “Alan Smithee” director credit), and it clearly deviates from his vision. But the changes were clearly made by someone who knew and loved the novel, and it’s not hackwork.
I think some (many?) Director’s Cuts are better only after you’ve seen the original version. “Aliens” is a great example. The cuts made in editing make a lot of sense. They don’t add that much to the movie (on first viewing) and greatly increase the length. However, after watching the movie, and enjoying / loving the movie getting to see some extra footage that provide some extra depth is great. Again, with “Aliens” the scene where Ripley finds out about her daughter is wonderful, but wonderful only because I’ve already seen the movie and I’m ok with spending a little bit of extra time with a movie I already know I’m going to love. If I were showing somebody “Aliens” for the first time, it would be the theatrical cut.
but because those same added scenes flesh out Boromir’s motivations and explain Faramir’s brief interest in the Ring.