The best most improved by a director's/extended cut?
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.
Last edited by TCG; 04-21-02 at 01:55 PM.
#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.
The same feelings go for the director's cut of Aliens 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!
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.
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.
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!
Blade Runner -- I for one actually like the Decker narration, it gives the film more of the feel of a 20's crime flick.
Star Wars -- Bah. All you have to say here is "Greedo does what?!"
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.
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"
Last edited by Giles; 04-16-02 at 03:01 PM.
Where's the twikoff/none of the above choice?
Extended cuts are suck.
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.
Dave
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.