# Movies that could stand a little more editing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750 "2003-07-20T15:49:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/21 "2003-07-21T05:39:19Z")
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Cut out most of the podracing scenes, and most of the “cute” Anakin scenes. Oh, and Jar Jar Binks comedy relief. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/22 "2003-07-21T07:43:40Z")
I can’t remember any specifics, but _Lord of the Rings :The Two Towers_, could have stood some heavy editing. Parts of it seemed to drag on, and on, and were pretty pointless. Especially the scenes with the talking trees, and the final battle. Those needed to be edited down. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/23 "2003-07-21T11:16:15Z")
The Sound of Music. Could you cut out all the bits where people aren’t singing? (I know many people would prefer the opposite, but that’s just cruel.) Cabaret would definitely benefit from losing all the non-singing, and you could do the same with Guys and Dolls. Musicals tend to be way too long, have incredibly stupid plots, and often feature people who are far better singers than actors. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/24 "2003-07-21T11:39:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by refusal \* > \*\*The Sound of Music. Could you cut out all the bits where people aren’t singing? (I know many people would prefer the opposite, but that’s just cruel.) Cabaret would definitely benefit from losing all the non-singing, and you could do the same with Guys and Dolls. Musicals tend to be way too long, have incredibly stupid plots, and often feature people who are far better singers than actors. \*\* I read where a Korean theater owner DID remove the songs from _The Sound of Music_ because the movie was too long! In that vein, _Xanadu_ could use that treatment as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/25 "2003-07-21T13:33:44Z")
**The Shadow** suffered from a major storytelling flaw, in which the main character’s background was told at the start of the movie, when it should have been told in flashback about three-quarters of the way through. Or maybe not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/26 "2003-07-21T13:50:06Z")
The Incredible Hulk could have done with some more editing. Could have cut a good twenty minutes out of it and not miss a thing. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/27 "2003-07-21T16:22:01Z")
Pearl Harbor- the entire love story thing. Citizen Kane- everything between the uttering of “Rosebud” and the scene where we finally see what Rosebud was. I know we’re all supposed to genuflect as we watch it, but the truth is it hasn’t aged well. Pirates of the Caribbean - 90% of the swordfighting. You’ve seen one film swordfight, you’ve seen them all. The Deer Hunter- the entire wedding scene Apocalypse Now Redux- the scene where the Colonel is trying to get his surfboard back, the Playboy bunnies in the helicopter, the bedroom scene with Martin Sheen in the French colony. Turns out the original editing for Apocalypse Now wasn’t so bad after all. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/28 "2003-07-21T18:11:08Z")
If you edit Dungeons and Dragons to eliminate all references to actual game mechanics, it may have been merely an execrable movie, rather than the worst movie ever made. ---
**Author:** ![haardvark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@haardvark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/haardvark)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/29 "2003-07-21T18:36:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FisherQueen \* > \*\*I think that ‘Meet Joe Black’ would have been a decent movie if someone could take out about 30 minutes of meaningful pauses. \*\* plus, think about all the money they wasted on CGI effects making Claire Forlani’s eyes look HUGE and _damp_. You know, like a dairy cow. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/30 "2003-07-21T18:47:37Z")
South Park BL&U - For “Kyle’s Mom remix”, Eric should’ve simply ignored Kyle’s protests and gone right into the song (sheesh, it’s not like this is a big challenge for him). Also, when Sheila appeared, she should’ve cleare her throat or grabbed his shoulder or something and ended it right there. As it is, this one dragged on just a bit too long. Also, Blame Canada should’ve been excised completely, as it was nothing but horrible joke fodder. Titanic - Cut out Caledon Hockley, Rose Bukater, and Jack Dawson, cut out all that pointless present-day footage as well, and have whole the movie be about a tremendous cross-section of society going on a voyage and trying to survive a nightmare together. Do that and maybe it actually _deserves_ its Oscars. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/31 "2003-07-21T22:45:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rocketeer \* > \*\ ***The Shadow** suffered from a major storytelling flaw, in which the main character’s background was told at the start of the movie, when it should have been told in flashback about three-quarters of the way through. Or maybe not at all. \*\* Here here! I wondered if I was the only one who had that reaction. I wish I had a rewritable DVD version of that movie just so I could edit the first ten minutes into a flashback to be placed later in the film. This would mean the movie would start with the sequence of the Shadow confronting the bad guys on the bridge, which was _great_ and perfectly captured the “feel” of the old Shadow stories. I would also excise some of the smarmy one-liners, like “Next time you get to be on top.” Uuuugh. Lamont Cranston might say that, but as _the Shadow_ he would never say it. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Sublight_\*\* > I’d edit out the Jesus scenes from the Heston version of Ben Hur. His presence adds nothing to the story of the conflict between Ben Hur and Massala, and the scenes are just clumsily done. He’s like the mynah bird in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons: Bugs and the villain will be creating high-speed havoc when suddenly the mynah bird enters and everyone freezes in place watching him slowly lope across the screen. > > Either that, or leave the scenes in but add the “mynah bird” music whenever JC is doing his thing: Doop, doop, dooo-do, Doop-doop, Do-dee-doooo-do…\*\* I disagree about the Jesus scenes in **Ben Hur**. I love those scenes, and while I understand how they could be seen as irrelevant, I’ve always seen them as more of a “framing device” – i.e. Christ recurring at pivotal points throughout the story, affecting Ben Hur in a different way every time He appears. A very powerful story device, I think. Although I admit the Mynah bird idea is funny. Now I’ll never be able to see it without thinking of that. Thanks a lot, Sublight! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/32 "2003-07-21T23:18:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SnugTheJoiner \* > > 1. EYES WIDE SHUT. Remember the scene about 3/4 of the way through where Tom comes home and finds Nicole in bed with the mask he wore at the orgy beside her? If they had ended the film RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT, it might have been . . . well . . . passable. But just barely. Jebus Krest, what _was_ with that movie? And if we’re editing **Eyes Wide Shut,** toss out those digitally-imposed “spectators” at the orgy. I want my hedonism uncensored, dammit! 😉 > [@](#): > > 1. THE IRON GIANT: The epilogue where it turns out that the Giant isn’t really dead after all feels tacked-on and just sort of cheapens the whole story for me. I’d keep it, but make it a bit more ambiguous and shorter. Maybe ending it when the loose screw rolls off into the fields. ---
**Author:** ![Cholo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cholo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cholo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750/33 "2003-07-22T11:16:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mudshark \* > \*\*I can’t remember any specifics, but _Lord of the Rings :The Two Towers_, could have stood some heavy editing. Parts of it seemed to drag on, and on, and were pretty pointless. Especially the scenes with the talking trees, and the final battle. Those needed to be edited down. \*\* Personally, I’m looking forward to the Director’s cut. I want my extra 40 minutes! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-stand-a-little-more-editing/189750.md?page=1)