Almost Famous took a great film and made it even better. Troy and Kingdom of Heaven took two moderately entertaining but flawed films and made them top drawer, IMHO.

this treatment would certainly be deserved on Gangs of New York which originally was a four hour cut IIRC.

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy by far. I also thought that the directors cut of Daredevil wasn't bad either, I hated the theatrical version. The directors cut was pretty different and much better.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is my favorite, as the continuity problems finally got fixed, allowing me to fully enjoy the film.

Terminator 2 and Lord of the Rings are my least favorites, as IMHO T2's SE added very little to the release cut and ruined the film's momentum completely where as the Rings EE's gave me little desire to read the books where as the theatrical cuts did.

Almost Famous Bootleg Cut definitely made me appreciate the movie more. Kingdom Of Heaven DC was highly entertaining what otherwise was a boring theatrical version.

I have to agree with you...from a 2 to a 10...

I couldn't agree more. When i watched the director's cut, i was like "what the...". They should have used one or the other - not both scenes. It took me out of the movie since the two scenes were virtually the same, and yes, very redundant.

On a scale of what? I've only seen the theatrical cut of Daredevil, but I would find it impossible that the DC could bring it up to a 10/10???

I was very disappointed in the theatrical version but the DC made it one of my favorite superhero movies. A very marked improvement. It just made it flow coherently and made the film feel much fuller and satisfying.

That's also one of the best death scenes of the entire series... too bad it's featured in one of the worst films.

'Copland' was a significantly improved director's cut...

the added scenes really changed the film...

particularly, can't believe i'm posting this, it allowed Stallone to add some depth to his character... he was really good in that film...

both of the guys who mentioned it in this thread had it right...

While The Lord of the Rings has been mantioned, I'd like to single out The Two Towers. I felt it was the weakest of the three theatrical movies and benefitted the most from the Extended Edition.

My other favorites are Leon, Almost Famous, Kingdom of Heaven, Aliens.

I'll throw in Zodiac as a recent film given the Director's Cut treatment. I really enjoyed the "sound" montage used during the "Four Years Later" title.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (aka "Star Trek 1") in its "Director's Edition" cut is a perfect example of simply how better editing can improve a movie. (Although the redone Special Effects based on the original storyboards were nice, it was the better editing that actually made the most difference.)

A couple that haven't been mentioned yet are The Big Blue and Once Upon a Time in America. Both of those were butchered for the original theatrical release and if you have a DVD, it's almost certainly the original, longer version. The longer version of the original Wicker Man is also better, but there's a lot of DVD's of the short version out there.

It's very frustrating, but the original roadsow versions of It's a Mad Mad World and John Wayne's The Alamo are available on widescreen VHS but not on DVD (although both are almost certainly OOP by this time). The DVD of Mad Mad World has many of the deleted scenes as an extra, but not in their original locations in the movie, so it's tough to see how they fit in exactly. The DVD of the Alamo doesn't have any of the deleted scenes period.

I guess I'll throw in Kingdom of Heaven too. I saw it in the theater and though it was okay, but generally mediocre, and in many places hard to follow. I got the director's cut and I would easily put it down as one of my favourite movies so far this decade. I was completely wowed by it. It is a drastic improvement.

The Lord of the Rings EEs are all very good, and many of you have mentioned Two Towers (which I whole heartedly agree with), but my favourite of the trilogy really was Fellowship and the EE for that movie was also quite brilliant in its own rite.

Really, other than Blade Runner, those are the only EEs or Directors cuts that are different enough to really jump out at me.

sad but true ... now if only they could find the missing grue from Part II

oh I never knew that, let's hope the eventual Bluray will be the longer cut - I love that movie.

interesting little bit of film history, even though the US theatrical cut of Bertolucci's 1900 is only available on VHS (censored - by the MPAA and cut for theatrical exhibition), in trunscated form compared to the 311min version, the pacing and editing was radically altered to the point where Bertolucci prefers the changes to the film than to the longer cut of the film.

The Lord Of The Rings is my most obvious pick. I also agree with the people that stated Daredevil is better when altered a bit. I would never watch the first version after getting the DC version. While I enjoyed the DC of Fantastic Four I still would like to get the theatrical edition down the road. I thought the theatrical version, while somewhat short, was still one of the better superhero films I had seen in a long time.

Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III - comparing the R-rated cut to the unrated cut is a day to night comparison - the restored violence is integral not only to pacing but one of the killing's (the sledge hammer to the head) is taken so out of context by MPAA interference it undermines how truly vicious all the family members are.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 'House of Blue Leaves' scene in COLOR - nuff said (oh and the arm lopping off, and the stomach slitting ).

Daredevil
Aliens
Alien 3
Superman 2 Donner Cut
Fantastic Four
Close Encounters
T-2
does the original Japanease cut of Godzilla count?

Been mentioned before but heres another vote for LOTR

I have to say while the extended cut of Return of the King is generally good, notably the reinstation of the Mouth of Sauron of sequence, the movie still suffers from too many endings.

and as for Superman II (the Donnor cut) - the only scene that was a general 'what the f@%&?' was the toothpaste scene, if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

That was a killer in the theater when I was thinking I could hold it in...I finally had to bolt, but there was still plenty of wrap up time left even after that.


I agree with a lot of these choices. KOH is probably my favorite of them, followed by Almost Famous.

Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers.

Leon

I thought the best inclusion was the memorable scene in the book was when the orcs were devoured by the trees - which I had no idea Jackson HAD filmed - I think I really enjoyed the fact (and the film for that matter) that New Line did release the extended cut on the big screen and not exclusively on home video.