Rivero

I'm thinking of buying this movie, saw it once years ago and liked it, but I'm not sure whether to buy the recent Director's Expanded Edition or not. I saw one copy of the original DVD at a nearby Walmart the other day, I'm wondering what version fans of the movie here think I should buy. Thanks in advance!

Vegas9203

Big fan of the movie here. I saw the original one first, and have to say I prefer that one. There are a couple of interesting bits of Nathaniel's personality missing from the DE.

SunMonkey

Personally, I hate the expanded edition's longer ending, but probably only because I loved the theatrical version so much. But, the original ending is far better.

I also was unaware that there was any version other than the director's edition out on DVD.

Groucho

It's not really an expanded edition, it's actually shorter than the theatrical. The main difference is that Mann cut out most of the anacronisms, such as Hawkeyes "action hero" quips.

Vegas9203

Right, but IMO, he went too far leaving Hawkeye much less colorful. I wouldn't really call them anachronisms since it's not like he was using 21st century speech. Specifically, cutting out the scene in the fort where they are arguing over letting the settlers leave was a mistake.


Also, I didn't know there was anything available on DVD besides the DE.

Giles

Magua's (Wes Studi) death in the theatrical cut is gorier than the DC editions.

jessecrx

I also heard that the music was changed during some scenes.

I bought it for a friend thinking he would love it since he was a big fan of the VHS version.....well, he said he hated it and kindly asked if he could exchange it for some other title

had I known I would have bought him something else

Saxofonix

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104691/alternateversions

Vegas9203

From IMDB:
Hawkeye's statement to Major Heyward in the Fort, "Someday you and I are going to have a serious disagreement," has been removed.
At night in the burial ground, Hawkeye's line about his father saying "Do not try to understand them, and do not make them try to understand you, for they are a breed apart and make no sense," and Cora's response later have been deleted.

These were two great lines that I think the DVD left out for the worse.

Doughboy

I think the theatrical cut is available on DVD in other regions. Unfortunately, I love the score for this film and I refuse to watch it with PAL speedup. Maybe if there's a R3 or R2(Japan) release in the future, I'll pick that one up.

Groucho

Yes, they also took out the jarring "New Age" crap song that completely took me out of the movie when it was slapped into the theatrical version.

Ginwen

I guess the "expanded", although I've never watched them back-to-back.

When I saw it at the movies, I thought it was pretty good, but not great; when I watched the DVD, I thought it was great. So, based on that, I prefer the cut on the DVD.

chanster

I kinda admit, I liked the song in that scene.

Last of the Mohicans is awesome..love this movie.

balancer

yeah, I like the song too... that part just doesn't seem right without it.

TREX1993

For those interested, the song was performed by Clannad (the group Enya started out in way back when...three of the members are her siblings).

Having watched the movie so many times at the theater and on VHS (let's here it for widescreen-only VHS releases!), for me to watch the Expanded Edition without the song it seems weird and takes me out of the film. Kind of a "where did that go?" moment. I had the same response when watching the new Breakfast Club DVD, with all of the song inserts that weren't present on earlier TV/video presentations.