Giles

Reading several different thread subjects made me raise some doubts and observations on the pros and cons of 'Director Cuts' of certain films. Two that came to mind were "Alien" and "Cinema Paradiso" where the shorter theatrical cuts of the film are better in my opinion, and in the instance of "Cinema Paradiso" radically altered the film's characterizations and outcome.

What, if any, (directors cut) of film, seem inferior to their theatrical version?

PixyJunket

My girlfriend says the DVD of Blues Brothers is crap cause it doesn't have the theatrical version, which she says is much better.

sundog

Though I don't think so, many consider the director's cut of Blade Runner to be inferior to the original.

Giles

let's hope this is rectified with the eventual release of the 'new' director's cut.

This film is marred by multiple version floating around.

- the R-rated US Theatrical cut
- European unrated cut
- work in print cut
- so called director's cut

sundog

I have only one request involving a new version:

MORE JOE TURKEL!!!!!



You bring up a good point about multiple versions floating about. I've read about how Orson Welles would recut his later films depending on where they were shown. My head was swimming after learning of the different cuts of The Trial and such. How do you get a definitive version? It's near impossible from my understanding.

Giles

the only three things I could think of would be a trusting studio that won't tinker with the film after the director's final cut has been made, no pre-release preview cuts, and any material that some censor board wouldn't have a problem with. Of course this is all hypothetical.

SFranke

I second that notion regarding the Blues Brothers.

MrN

The DC of both Apocalypse Now and Amadeus are both flawed. Both include some scenes that are interesting but mostly they hurt the pacing and are redundant.

dremo

I think that the DC/Bootleg of Army of Darkness was not as good as the US theatrical cut. I wasn't a fan of the origianal ending and the "Good, bad, I'm the one with the gun." line was changed.

Groucho

A lot of so-called "Director's Cuts" are little more than the original film with the deleted scenes clumsily edited back in.

Andalusia

I'll second the pick for "Apocalypse Now". If there was one movie that didn't need to be longer...

Crocker Jarmen

I prefer the theatrical Dawn of the Dead to the 'director's cut'. I thought the additions to the beginning were unnecessary and slowed things down.

Ghery

I didn't like the Director's Cut of Dances with Wolves as much as the theatrical version.

Star Wars Guy

Obviously I haven't looked into this very much and I've held off buying AOD (still have the VHS copy), but what else have they changed? That's one of my favorite lines in the movie!

bjh_18

I think it's unfair to go after the Director's Cut of "Alien" because it's really not a director's cut, and Scott even says so on the dvd. The studio just wanted a different cut so they could make more money.

divemaster

I think the theatrical (or "international") cut of My Sassy Girl is better than the director's cut. The extra scenes in the DC drag it down and don't add much to the story.

RocShemp

It's not really a director's cut. Sam Rami says so in the audio commentary (at least on the original "limited" pressing that included two discs). It's basically the rough cut re-assembled. When the studio demanded the film be made shorter and a "happy" ending be added instead, Sam took the opportunity to fix scenes he wasn't too happy with (thus replacing "I'm not that good" with the far superior "Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun."). The extended scene with Ash and Evil Ash's first interaction was pretty good and so was the restored footage with the mini Ashes that really helped the continuity. The original ending was so absurd it works but the theatrical ending is a lot more fun and fits with Ash's transformation throughout the series from coward to cliche spewing action hero.

PalmerJoss

The one that pops immediately to mind is the DC of Basic Instinct. There was no point to it other than adding 30 seconds of Sharon Stone and Jeanne Tripplehorn's T&A.

QuiGonJosh

Alien Directors Cut just didnt seem right at all...the whole pace and feel of the movie was thrown off...thank yoda the Theatrical is on the Quad set...

Supermallet

That's a better reason for a director's cut than most films.

As for Dawn of the Dead, the longer version labeled the director's cut was actually a workprint that Romero took to Cannes. The theatrical cut is his preferred cut.

Jay G.

A DVDTalk thread, and nobody has dissed Star Wars yet?

Peep

Having been to about 40 or so test screenings in the past 5 years, I've definately noticed a couple of things:

The pacing is often very bad in the original cuts.

The originla cuts are often a little more raw - with many movies removies any scenes with a trace of controversy.

The music in the original cuts is often very bad and derivative.

DRG

I hate the 'Big Wheel' scene in James Cameron's director's cut of Aliens, but I'm okay with the rest of the new scenes.

angryyoungman

I'll add a third vote to that--I thought some of it was fascinating, but it seemed to take away from the film a bit.

I notice there seems to be a common theme among the complaints about the director's cuts that have been mentioned: pacing. I think one DC that does the opposite (quickens the pace of a movie that was otherwise very plodding and slow-moving) is the DC DVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

I think that "unrated cuts", R-rated cuts and other such alternate versions that aren't necessarily director's cuts are more of a concern than ill-conceived DCs.

Matthew Chmiel

The 2003 Director's Cut of Alien is actually a minute shorter than the original theatrical cut. But like others, I do prefer the the theatrical cut over the director's cut.

With Dawn of the Dead, I prefer the theatrical cut, but I did like the fact the director's cut had more gore. Similar to Battle Royale and the special edition. I hate the extra scenes, but I did like how it has more gore and a few "flubs" were corrected.

With Army of Darkness, I prefer the "extended cut" if not for the darker ending and extended sequences; but there's a few things I like more in the theatrical cut ("Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.")

The unrated edition of American Wedding and it's additions really weren't that substantial (similar to the first two Pie films and their unrated editions). While I did like the extra things with Stiffler (especially when he yells at the hotel desk clerk), the way the "bachelor party" is edited in the unrated edition does not flow well at all and feels like a DVD extra placed right in the middle of the movie.