A fair number of DVD releases get billed as “director’s cut” with X more minutes of footage, but what are some films that have director’s cuts that are largely reedited – were a majority of the scenes feature different shot sequences and takes, perhaps?
The difference between the Blade Runner theatrical cut and the “Final Cut” version is pretty vast.
The former is much shorter, has voiceover narration throughout, and actually changes a few plot elements in order to make it a simpler narrative.
A few bits were actually reshot as well to fix small visual idiosyncracies. For the most part, though, I believe the footage is the same, relatively few alternate takes.
“Badder Santa” basically remixed “Bad Santa” with a lot of alternate takes that gives the whole thing a slightly darker tone. Both cuts are great, but I think I prefer the original.
I’ve heard that Ridley Scott’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven was vastly superior to the theatrical release from a story-telling perspective. Can’t say that I’ve seen his version, but the theatrical version was obviously edited poorly.
There’s also Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.
How about Touch of Evil, recut based on Orson Welles’ protest letter to the studio? I think Walter Murch recut it 40 years later after the studio took it away from Welles…
Apocalypse Now: It was so heavily edited prior to release because of political pressure brought to bear, and to shorten it, that it made almost no sense. Redux, with the restored footage, is about 4 hours long, but a much better film.
Once Upon a Time in America
Terry Gilliam’s Brazil is another good example and quite similar to Blade Runner in some ways. The original U.S. release was bad enough with its changes to the ending, but the television cut was a truly horrific butchery ( 142 minutes to 94 minutes and significantly changed the tone ). In this case Gilliam’s original cut is really the only one worth watching.
Oddly enough, I prefer the theatrical release on that one.
James L. Brooks recut I’ll Do Anything to change it from a musical – with production numbers and everything – to a straight drama. I believe the musical version has been lost.
Isn’t there a Sam fuller movie “Forty Guns” that at the end the bad guy is holding using Barbara Stanwyck as a shield and the good guy simply shoots him and her? The studio didn’t like that and made him add a final scene with Stanwyck having her arm in a sling to make it seem that she was only wounded. Never saw it, but that was in a Fuller biography on the extended version of “The Big Red One”.
Orson Welles had his ending for “The Magnificent ambersons” changed by the studi but his filmed versions have not survived.
I watched the original twice and just couldn’t make heads nor tails out of it. They left out too many linking scenes and I couldn’t make the leaps.
Perhaps I have not seen it, then. I am talking about a DVD or VHS version that is not the redux one. Perhaps there are other cuts?
ISTR that Fatal Attractionshot three different endings - one in which Glenn Close’s character commits suicide, but frames Michael Douglas’ character to make it look like murder (which is in some overseas versions,) one where Douglas’ character actually does kill Close’s character; and the one shown in the U.S., where Anne Archer’s character does the killing.
I have to disagree big-time with this. Apocalypse Now: Redux is a mess and vastly inferior to the original. Overly long, self-indulgent, and totally ruins the pace and atmosphere.
Some (most?) directors need to be kept from tinkering with their past work (see also walkie talkie guns).
Me too.
Thirded. But then, I think the movie goes downhill fast as soon as Marlon Brando appears.
Well, it fits the bill for the intent of this thread as being radically different from the theater release.
The recut of Alien 3 is pretty wildly different than the original.
This is undoubtedly the thread winner. They reshot a huge portioon of the film for the released version of Superman II. The Donner version is so different that they cobbled it back together and released it on DVD recently.