RyoHazuki

What are some movies that were butchered by studios either for violence or other reasons. I mean films like Alien 3 or Crow: City of Angels or Brazil.

DonnachaOne

Highlander 2

... though one might argue there was no saving it anyway.

Giantrobo

DUNE (1984)

It was HORRIBLY edited and after having seen the extended versions I can see why people hated the theatrical release so much.

The Ex Version had way more detail.

greatjedi

The Abyss. The theatrical cut was good, but Cameron's cut is superior by far. It makes you wonder what the studio was even thinking.

caiman

Dead Alive

The R-rated cut is absolutely unwatchable.

The Nature Boy

I was really frustrated by "Blow". The darn movie just couldn't get a momentum for itself, it'd be on the way to developing something, and bang, were two years in the future. I sat in the theater just feeling this going on, and I knew that this was going to run two hours to the tick. You could just feel the whole process being rushed, and I feel like Demme had more to offer, considering the good parts of that film are really pretty good. My guess is the studio really began hacking it up, but did the old "Once Upon a Time in America" bit and made it seem longer with their shortening. The BLOW dvd does have a decent cross section of deleted scenes, but I think there's even more, and it would be a worthy tribute to a director who never had the chance to offer any more to put out whatever his cut of the film was. I think that would find more success on video than anything, and there is a decent cult following for the film.

Hiro11

Once Upon a Time in America
Johnny Mnemonic

audrey

Could not disagree more; while there are some nice little scenes here and there in the DC, the extending ending is hokey.

resinrats

The Buffy movie wasn't what Josh Whedon wanted. The studio turned it into cheesy crap. A few years ago, the comics adapeted the movie from the origional script and it was much better.

wendersfan

Greed
The Magnificent Ambersons
Rules Of the Game (which was subsequently restored)

Trigger

Freddy Got Fingered - the 2 hour cut was hilarious - the 88 minute theatrical release was lame.

audrey

Metropolis is definitely a contender.

NCMojo

Let me flip the topic around. The studio version of Blade Runner (which includes the Harrison Ford voice-over and the happy ending) is in my opinion far superior to the Director's Cut, which comes across as somewhat unemotional and confusing. So that was a case where the hack job by the studio resulted in a better movie.

Also slightly off-topic... often times when I watch deleted scenes (LOTR comes to mind), I think to myself, "Yeah... that scene is really really well done. Great cinematography, great acting. Yeah. I'm glad they cut that out of the movie." 95% of all editing jobs result in a story that is crisper and visually interesting than perhaps what the writer or the director "originally" intended. There are some great cut scenes from The Godfather... fun to watch? Sure. Should have been in the original movie? Probably not.

Numanoid

You're funny.


Or are you serious?


No, you couldn't be, what was I thinking?


Or are you?

chanster

The Abyss was greatly improved in the directors cut.

UAIOE

a 3rd for "The Abyss"

Sure it takes half a day to watch the movie, but its good.

CitizenKaneRBud

Not necessarily "butchered" by the studios, but I think if the studios gave full artistic freedom on these films, they would be much better. I'm talking about Gangs of New York and The Hulk. It's unfortunate that the studios aren't trusting americas great filmmakers these days.

Groucho

Hold on folks, watch the special features for The Abyss. Cameron explicitly states that the special edition is not the "director's cut." Indeed, BOTH versions are his cuts.

Now, admittedly he did have to cut down the theatrical release to deliver the time that he promised to the studio...but at least he was the one doing the cutting. And even he admits that both versions have their strengths and weaknesses.

resinrats

Ugg. The Hulk was too drawn out as it is. I wouldn't want Ang Lee to have more freedom to put in more human drama. Comic book movies aren't supposed to be long dramas. People go to see them to watch the superheroes run around. The Hulk wasn't in the movie nearly enough. I went to see the Hulk smashing stuff, not a bunch of people whine about family problems. I can watch a pure drama movie for that.

GmoneyOwnsYou

Vacation

Dr. DVD

While I loved the movie, LOTR:TTT seemed like it was missing significant story material at times. This feeling came after watching FOTR:EE and seeing just how much difference an extra thirty minutes can make. When I watched TTT, it just seemed some parts were cut short. Learning that the EE of said film will be almost an hour longer, I know that much was lost.

Good thing I will get to see it!!!


About the Buffy script, what was different in terms of what Whedon wanted to do and what actually made it to screen?

RichC2

I agree with TTT - just as something cool started happening, it jumped to another plot thread and "skipped ahead" on the old plot line when it finally returns.

Can't wait to see if the EE fixed that, what is is, 44 minutes of additional footage? That could work wonders.

Gdrlv

One of my favorite comedies. What was butchered about this film? I've never heard anything about studio tinkering with the movie...

Simpson Purist

The "Love Conquers All" version of Brazil.

TCG

Where did you see an extended cut of Alien 3?