Eonwe, the standard VHS version is 2hrs and 11mins, which is eleven minutes shorter than the most common DVD version. The stinky 93-minute version was pretty much for broadcast TV only, although you can look at it (for curiousity’s sake) on the 3-disc DVD box set that Criterion put out.
More specific details at Rotten Tomatoes.
This is one of my all time favorite movies. Has anyone else ever heard that it’s supposed to be an alternate reality movie about the Germans having won WWII? I was told that once but I can’t find any collaborating evidence.
I think what I really love about the movie is how everyone is so used to this world. Most of the characters accept it and even Sam is still a part of it.
Take the scene in the restaurant, explosions rock the building, but the staff just put a screen up and everyone goes on eating.
When the food is delivered, all they get it a bowl full of goo with a picture of what they’re supposed to be eating. Sam bites into his and says, “This isn’t well done” (correct me if I got the steak order wrong, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the film.
When I first saw the “Love Conquers All” version on TV, long ago, I was not aware that there was another version of Brazil. I remember my brother and I discussing the confusing ending–in particular, what the heck happened to Robert DeNiro.
Somewhere along the line, I learned that there was another version of the film, with a completely different ending, but for many years had no opportunity to see it. When I did finally see it, it came as rather a shock when Michael Palin stuck his head into the “happy ending.”
I love the Criterion DVD set, for the comparision of the two versions and the controversy behind the change (I wish someone would do this for Bladerunner and Dune). One thing… the IMDB link to alternate versions doesn’t seem to be working, so I can’t check. Isn’t there another alternate to Gilliam’s ending, where, at the very end, just before fadeout, the walls of the torture chamber become blue skies? This is not on the DVD, but I know I’ve seen this.
The original U.S. theatrical version begins and ends with clouds. The European version did not.
This link works fine for me:
http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0088846
Thank you. I got a “document contains no data” message when I tried it this morning.
Amethyst had to go watch the movie again! So that’s what I did last night. It’s been a while since i’ve watched it.
Sorry Robot Arm … but I was watching it with a guy who has already passed the Brazil test.
I’ve decided I now need to re-watch the Fisher King. I notice some similar imagery between the two movies such as the giant knight type fellow battling the hero. From my recollection of Fisher King, the style of the knight was very similar and I want to confirm this. I might also have to rent 12 monkeys and watch it as well - I forget what the imagery was like.
I wonder what kind of dreams Gilliam has at night … and are they dreams or nightmares!
oooohhh! I just went to imdb and saw that a new Gilliam movie is in pre-production … the Brothers Grimm. The cast includes Jonathan Pryce (Sam Lawry in Brazil) and Robin Williams. It is to be released in 2004!
He’s also supposedly working on Good Omens (due in 2003), described as a light hearted fantasy about the armageddon where the antichrist comes to earth as a baby but gets switched at birth.
“I actually started this film with that idea of ‘can one make
a film where the happy ending is a man going insane?’”
– Terry Gilliam
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/movies/brazil-faq/
This is great faq that explain the production problems Gilliam had, the idiotic “Love conquers all” (IMHO) version of the movie and it also has lots of trivia (what is written on all the various signs in the movie, what was cut out, etc)
“Because I dislike being quoted I lie almost constantly when talking about my work.”
– Terry Gilliam
At first glance this FAQ looks very interesting and I’ll be poring over it when I have more time. Ultimately, though, the film has to speak for itself.
I’ve seen this movie and I liked it but… there’s more than one version??? I remember Tuttle getting swallowed by paper so does that mean that I saw the “Love Conquers All” version? I also remember the scene with the shared desk - hilarious! Which, in your opinions, is the best version and how likely is it that I’ll be able to find that version at the local Blockbuster? (I suspect it’s unlikely.)
Hooray! A perfect project for Gilliam. I can’t wait to see how he renders the evil-mojo-producing-sigils/motorways, which for some reason is the strongest image I retain from the book. I always think about that whenever I see unhappy people in rush-hour traffic.
This production is “stalled”. The IMDB entry doesn’t even list any cast members.
They all have the paper vs. Tuttle scene, which shows how assinine the LCA version is. In all other versions, this is part of an elaborate fantasy sequence, but in LCA we’re supposed to think the escape is real. So how exactly does a man end up getting eaten by newspapers?
(You could argue that this is a deliberate tip-off that it’s all in Sam’s head, but I don’t want to give them that much credit.)
If you saw the movie on TV, you might have seen the LCA version. If it ended with Sam alone in the chair, it was one of the theatrical cuts. If you saw the movie on DVD or VHS, you saw either the director’s final cut or one of the theatrical versions, all of which are good.
The European version is better than the U.S. version, which omits a great sequence between Sam’s “bagging” and his final meeting with Jack.
The final cut includes a few shots and lines of dialogue that were in the U.S. version but not the European version. These are nice to see, but not essential.
Doesn’t anyone like my link to the IMDB “alternate versions” page? 
The Criterion Brazil is my number-one favorite DVD. An absolute wealth of material, and of course the endlessly fascinating comparison between the three versions of the film. I’ve only watched the “Love Conquers All” cut once, though, because I find it physically painful. The cutaways to the cheap computer screen combined with awkward echoing voiceover make me want to weep.
Brothers Grimm is a go, for now at least. Good Omens, however, is currently dead.
After years of nagging me, my best friend finally sat me down and made me see it.
Dayum.
It’s now one of my top 5 favorite films. There’s so many layers to it you could spend hours just dissecting them all. Two things struck me-- how the whole “terrorist” theme is jarringly similar recent history, and how so completely and comedically self-involved everybody is such that they fail to notice what’s going on around them. Except for Jill and Harry anyway, who comes off as the only truly compassionate people in the film.
Okay, I think I saw the LCA version then. I rented it. I saw the paper vs. Tuttle scene as a visual pun about a person’s life getting lost in the paperwork of a bureaucracy. It seemed strange that the story line suddenly changed to such abstract symbolism at that point and it wasn’t my favorite part of the film but I really liked the film in spite of it.
I absolutely adore Brazil, and I find it even more horrifyingly relevant in John Ashcroft’s America. One thing has always bugged me. . .
. . . what is the significance of the old drunk leering over the scene of Sam and Jill’s getaway in the truck? Does it have some symbolic meaning thas has heretofore escaped me? For some reason, it reminds me of the bit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the knights exclaim joyously on seeing Camelot and one of the servants (played by Gilliam) says, “It’s only a model.”
It’s even more similar to the IRA bombing campaign that lasted from the mid-seventies to the early eighties. 
I also noticed the similarities between Brazil and The Fisher King. In fact, there’s a movie poster for Brazil in the video rental store.
I think the biggest comparison could be the basic plots. Brazil is a story about a man slowly retreating into his fantasies. The Fisher King is about a man pulling himself out of his fantasies.
ARGH! Am I the only one here who has seen “Time Bandits”? If you want to talk about going into fantasy…