The film most improved by a director's/extended cut?
 

The title should read: "The film", not the "best"

There's a bunch, The Abyss, Leon, T2, The Star Wars trilogy (maybe), Godfather Saga, The Exorcist, E.T., AN Redux, JFK, Army of Darkness, Superman.
For my money, it's easily The Abyss. The entire meaning and tone change during the SE. It adds so much depth to an already good film. The extended cut takes a good thriller into a great sci-fi/thriller.

I voted other for Aliens. I never watched the laserdisc version so the DVD was my first chance to see all the added footage and damn if it isn't impressive. It's truly a different and better movie with the new sections IMHO.

BLADERUNNER
ROBOCOP
DAS BOOT
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

The Abyss is #2 on my list...with Leon being #3.

#1 would be Dances with Wolves. I loved that extra hour they put in for the extended cut. I'll never watch the 3 hour version again.

Since the U.S. cut of <i>Leon</i> was one of the best action films I'd seen, I'd rather use the term "enhanced" to describe the inclusion of the 20+ minutes of footage. The addition turned it into a much more complete film that explored the relationship between Leon & Matilda, made the film even grittier (the Russian Roulette scene was amazing) and answered a lot of questions that I had been wondering about in the original cut. We won't be seeing movies like this made any more.

The same feelings go for the director's cut of <i>Aliens</i> which was a close call for second place. Again while the theatrical cut was leaner and cut right to the chase, this version gave us a little history of what was going on with the colonists, and added some excellent "coolness" points to an already kick-ass flick with those remote sentry guns!

I had to vote for The Abyss. I remember seeing this in the theater many moons ago and thinking "This was a pretty good movie, but there is something missing." I didn't know what it was. I didn't even know that there was extra footage, but I could tell that something was missing. Years later I saw the Director's Cut (I believe on Sci-Fi the first time), and exclaimed "That's what was missing! The whole damn explanation and half of the plot!"
<P>Aliens -- While the deleted scenes do give more of the backstory and some great character depth, I really feel that you can tell that they were cut for a very good reason: pacing. I finally saw the DC and felt really awkward when the deleted scenes appeared. They are fantastic, don't get me wrong; but they are very forced and do not fit well into the flow of the movie.
<P>Exorcist -- Again, the scenes were good, some of them downright horrifying, but they seemed excruciatingly placed sometimes throwing off the whole pace of the film.
<P>Dances With Wolves -- One of my favorite movies of all time, and yet I have not seen this legendary 4 hour cut! Come on DVD!
<P>Blade Runner -- I for one actually like the Decker narration, it gives the film more of the feel of a 20's crime flick.
<P>Star Wars -- Bah. All you have to say here is "Greedo does what?!"

The Abyss. The director's cut is a completely different movie.

Star Wars: The Special Edition

I was always unconfortable rooting for a cold blooded murderer (Han Solo), but now that Greedo shoots first I can enjoy the movie and share it with my kids.

got to be blade runner

Another vote for "The Abyss". While not really falling under director's cut, but having been introduced to "Nausicaa" in the heavily mutilated US version called "Warriors of the Wind" the uncut version makes so much better sense.

Also I like the complete 311 minute version of Bertolluci's "1900". The international version of "Little Buddha" is also better than the slight shortened US version.

Ridley Scott's "1492 - Conquest of Paradise" is more violent and has more footage than the US edition.

"Brain Damage" - thought I would never see the notorious "bl*w j*b" scene

"Toxic Avenger" - longer than the US unrated version. the deleted scenes seen in the supplements section of the Tromo DVD is actually placed directly in the movie.

Dario Argento's 120 min version "Deep Red" and the 107 minute cut of "Opera"

"Stop Making Sense" - the out-of-print Japanese laserdisc edition has the extra songs: "Big Business/I Zimbra" and "Cities" in the actual movie, not like the DVD where they are in the Supplementary section.

The 107 minute version of Peter Jackson "Braindead"

Movies on my wait list to see in their original unedited form:
"Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Director's Cut"
"Cinema Paradiso"
"Melana"
"The Devils"
"The Frighteners"
"Soldier Blue"

Other: I'll take the theatrical cuts for all films mentioned that i have seen both versions (Godfather Saga, Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions, Apocalypse Now Redux). Don't get me wrong, it was interesting to see the extended cuts, but the additions didn't really add anything to the movies, except runtime.

Where's the twikoff/none of the above choice?

Extended cuts are suck.

This isn't in the other forum so I doubt those rules apply.

BTW, no offense, but, have you seen the Extended cut of The Abyss? I don't see how anyone could make such a generalization about these versions unless they just have some kind of negative attitude towards life or society in general.

The extended version of The Abyss alters the meaning of the film... it's truly outstanding IMHO. The director's cut of Aliens is interesting in that you get to see what life was like on the planet before the Aliens attacked.

The Abyss Extended version is a masterpiece. The ending on the theatrical cut is so abrupt.

I like both cuts of <b>Aliens</b> and <b>Apocalypse Now</b>

Where the f*** is BLADE RUNNER??!!??

It's not on the list, but I'd have to say Almost Famous.

Dune will be it!

I like some of the extension of Apocalypse Now, but some of it did seem to drag on without making it better. I like T2 (the intermediate cut I guess) as well. Leon and The Abyss would probably be my vote for the best, although I haven't seen all the mentioned directors cuts.

Dave

I agree with you Dave99, "Apocalypse Now Redux" did kind of drag and embarassingly I fell asleep during some of the restored footage, specifically during the French Colonist segment.

I have to go with Possesion.

It got butchered in the US.

AP:Redux

I loved the French plantation scenes and it just continues to flow brilliantly in my opinion.

I really liked the extra scenes in Leon.

The Abyss is a good choice but inri222 has a real point with Once Upon A Time in America.

As everyone knows, the original Director's Cut was 227 minutes but the studio not only cut out more than a third of it but destroyed the back-and-forth in time structure and put what was left in chronological order, completely destroying the film for its initial U.S. release (the subsequent Director's Cut release came too late to save the film financially at the time in spite of great reviews; hardly anyone except my wife and I went to see it in the theater; it had to find its audience later on video).

Since the original theatrical release of OUATIA was worse than the theatrical release of The Abyss and the Director's Cut of OUATIA was far better than the Director's Cut of The Abyss (not to take anything away from The Abyss as the Director's Cut is terrific but OUATIA is one of the greatest movies ever made, IMO).

So Once Upon A Time in America is, I think, the best answer to the poll.

I agree.