The Thin Red Line
 

(All apologies if a thread has been established recently to discuss this topic, but I didn't find one)

This thread is kind of spurned from another thread discussing Terrence Malick's films. It got me to thinking today about TTRL and that Fox hasn't really done the film justice on dvd.

I'm pretty familiar with the history of the making of the picture and the editing of it. The fact that several lengths were previewed and or rumored; all longer than the theatrical cut.

That being said, wouldn't Fox hold sole discretion over what the product looks like, on dvd? Meaning, shouldn't they be able to put out a dvd release that includes the theatrical cut and one of the longer cuts? I realize that Mr. Malick held final cut over the film theatrically but does that still stand today, on home video?

Also, it's worth noting how bare bones the DVD release is, although it has been re-issued a couple of times with different sound mixes and including some of the Melanesian Chants, etc. But that's a far cry from a complete release.

Dear Fox, how about a release including the following:

-- Original Theatrical Cut
-- Rumored 4 Hour Cut (some rags I've read over the years say 6 Hours)
-- Theatrical Trailers
-- HBO First Look
-- Hans Zimmer's Sountrack (a small doc. about the recording of)

I agree.

I've often cited this title in the many 'which title would you like to see Criterion release...etc..etc..' threads of the past etc.
In addition to features you've mentioned, there is the 'orginal' 1964 film and a novel by James Jones with which to draw parallels/additional features etc....

I would love for Fox to re-issue this in a 2-disc set along with re-releasing the 2-disc of Patton, which is hard as hell to find.

The Thin Red Line is still one of the best looking dvds I have ever seen.

Malick had final cut on the film and has stated that he doesn't like to revisit his movies once he's done with them. Technically, Fox owns the film and could do whatever they want with it, but with Malick's finnicky personality he'd probably petition the Director's Guild to have his name removed from any new cut prepared without his involvement. I doubt Fox believes there's enough interest in the movie to justify another release at this point, much less one they'd have to slap an "Alan Smithee" credit on.

Unfortunately this will never happen due to legal reasons,glad I grabbed one off ebay.

I had that brand new from Best Buy at one time.. sold it. Probably should have held it and sold it later.

At the risk of threadjacking, can you elaborate on that at all?

I don't think Malick wants the stuff released, so there must be a reason. But can you imagine the audio-only supplement of Billy Bob Thornton's narration? Plus I'd like to see some of the cut Brody scenes. But I don't want the deleted scenes reintegrated into the picture, because it seems like it would throw it off from what Malick wanted.

Here's an interview with one of TLR's co-stars, Danny Hotch, about it's shenanigans:

DH: That was cool, because I got to play a Brooklyn soldier in the '40s. And I got to improvise a lot and do four really amazing scenes, but they all got cut out, along with 10 other actors, including the lead actor. The main character got cut out of the film.

Who played the lead character?

DH: Adrien Brody. Sony had, I guess, made the film originally. After they had made it—and it was obviously expensive, like $80 to $100 million—they ran out of money and had to sell the film, and they sold it to Fox. Fox decided to release it on Christmas Day, but they didn't want to release a five-and-a-half-hour film. So they cut three hours out. Basically, their rationale was, "Splice together all the scenes with the A-list actors that people will recognize." Because Woody Harrelson and George Clooney and John Travolta and all those folks, they really all just had cameos, and the story of the film in the 192-page script was focused on Adrien Brody and Tim Blake Nelson and Larry Romano and Ben Chaplin's characters. They all got extracted.

Do you think that the five-and-a-half-hour version will be released in any form? Perhaps on DVD?

DH: It won't be on DVD, and it'll never be seen, because Fox is not interested in art. But I shouldn't say just Fox. The entertainment industry is not interested in art. The entertainment industry is interested in what is the easiest packaging it can sell, en masse. That's about it. Even [Thin Red Line director] Terrence Malick was bamboozled, like many artists are, into making a film after not making films for 20 years, because he knew how full of s*** Hollywood was. But they promised him, "No, no, we're going to make an epic, and you can do what you want, because we're going to have a five-and-a-half-hour film." But between Sony and Fox, we lost three hours of the film. That happens all the time. I know countless actors who are cut out of countless films, and some of them were the best scenes. Ultimately, unless you're Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese, who are a couple of the only directors in the world with final cut, it's up to the producers.

The 2 disc edition of Patton seems to be selling very low on Ebay. There are a few sellers who have it listed with a buy it now around $10. I looked up the average sold price through the sell feature and it was listed at "average sold price: $4.05."

I think some of them are using the upc for the 2-disc and are actually selling the 1 disc. A few months ago, one seller had the auction with the 2-disc listed, but when I asked him about the dvd, he said it was the single disc release. $10 for a title that's been OOP for years seems too good to be true.

These people go by actual UPCs, they have more than one in stock-- for cheap:
http://www.wherehouse.com/movies/pro...jsp?id=1013231

Back on topic,

It might be neat to have TRL extended cut on DVD, but since we are dreaming to see a 5 1/2 hour cut of the movie, why not add the original 1964 version on there as an extra, too?

That's a nice interview, but it sounds more like a jaded participant than actual fact. I doubt that Malick was told (or actually believed) that he was going to be able to release a 5 1/2 hour cut into the theaters. A lot of movies start out with rough assembly cuts that are far longer than the finished version. And Malick is notorious for changing the story of the film in the editing room (just look at what happened with The New World). It would definitely be cool to see the longer cut, but I doubt it exists anymore, other than probably on a 3/4" tape and it would hardly be finished.

Yeah, but what's still fishy is how all the name actors stayed in the film, and all the (at that time) no-names were cut out.

[QUOTE]At the risk of threadjacking, can you elaborate on that at all?[QUOTE]

The 2 disc set contained an isolated score,that had problems with the rights.It was taken off of the single disc release.

I'd love a new DVD, but I just don't see it happening anytime. At least the version we have out now is really well done in terms of audio/video. The picture is very good, and the audio goes from very minimalistic to full on assault in a matter of seconds.

I actually just saw The New World a week or so ago, and I put this film back in my pile of movies I need to rewatch after getting into a Malick mood. I haven't seen it in quite some time, so it should be good to rewatch it again.

Not entirely true; Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Pullman, Gary Oldman, Viggo Mortensen, and Mickey Rourke were all cut out as well. Granted Viggo Mortensen wasn't a big name in 1998, but the rest definitely were. And Jim Caviezel was hardly known at all, and he essentially became the main character in the final version.

You might have an easier time finding the WW2 collection, which includes the 2-disc version of Patton...

Wasn't Martin Sheen also supposed to be involved in the original cut and was excised from the film as well?

What's crazy is that Malick could make an entirely different film just by editing the footage he never used.

Does Fox have a good relationship with Criterion? If so maybe they can get Malick to revist and if not Criterion can do it themselves

Yeah, Fox licensed Naked Lunch, Kagemusha, and 3 Women to Criterion, so such a thing wouldn't be entirely out of the question.

Others have mentioned they have replaced the 2-disc with the 1-disc in that set.

Still, I just took a chance. Ordered the set at DDD for $29. Hope the 2-disc is still in there.

I ordered the set from DDD during the last 20% off sale (December I think), and Patton was the 2 disc edition.

That's good to hear. I don't own any of the other movies in that set. Is the Special Edition version of Tora Tora Tora in the set?

Yes, it includes a commentary and 20-minute documentary.