Re-edited films

Dr. Fell

Was just watching Kill Bill Vol 2 when a thought occurred to me. QT originally wanted to release Kill Bill as a single feature, but the Weinstein's thought it would be to risky in the modern market, thinking that they would recoup the considerable outlay easier with two separate releases. Will there ever be a Kill Bill Redux? The same goes for Gangs Of New York which was similarly butchered by the same producers. Another worth mentioning is Once upon a time in America which, according to Treat Williams makes no sense in its current form. Any others come to mind? Or films that could do with some trimming. I always thought Heavens Gate would work great if re-edited by someone like Tarrantino.

allanb49

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Edit

Sad Professor

My understanding is that the Weinsteins suggested splitting Kill Bill in two because they saw dollars signs and Tarantino jizzed his pants at thought of being able release two films instead of one. In fact, he actually added and extended numerous scenes in order to fill up screen-time. The film would have been much better as a single 2.5 hour film imo, but greed and ego took priority.

Tarantino has been teasing "The Whole Bloody Affair" with both parts of the film combined for several years now. I think it was screened in LA a while ago. He added in more scenes, an intermission and created a new anime sequences for it as well. However, Tarantino likes to play mind games with his fans by deliberately delaying home video releases, so it'll probably be several more years before he actually releases it on Blu-ray.

Re: Gangs of New York, Scorsese insists the finished film is his preferred cut. The Weinsteins obviously forced him to cut it down from 3+ hours, but there's nothing to suggest it was butchered. Scorsese doesn't believe in extended cuts so there's no chance of him going back to it. Compromise is just part of the filmmaking process as far as he's concerned.

And what's wrong with Once Upon a Time in America? The original US cut was butchered alright, but the current 229 minute cut on Blu-ray is Leone's cut. Although there was some talk about his family adding in another 40 minutes to make some money. Hopefully they'll leave it alone though.

As for films that need to be re-cut, how about Peter Jackson's King Kong remake. Get rid of all those endless cgi dinosaur sequences and spider sequences and other silly monster sh*t that add nothing to the story. I mean, the original is like 90 minutes long, what the f**k was Jackson was thinking?

bnt

I got to see The Magnificent Ambersons the other day - the film that Orson Welles made immediately after Citizen Kane. Welles finished the movie and handed over a first edit, then went to Brazil to shoot another film. The studio (RKO) didn't like it, so they edited it heavily and shot a completely new "happy" ending. All the footage that landed on the cutting room floor was later destroyed, so we'll never get to see the film as Welles intended.

However, I took a look at the original novel, and it has essentially the same happy ending as the film - so I'm not entirely convinced they were wrong to edit Welles' darker interpretation of the book. The novel isn't just a drama, it's a document of a changing society, but not heavy-handed in how it portrays that.

Dr. Fell

Sad Professor wrote: »

My understanding is that the Weinsteins suggested splitting Kill Bill in two because they saw dollars signs and Tarantino jizzed his pants at thought of being able release two films instead of one. In fact, he actually added and extended numerous scenes in order to fill up screen-time. The film would have been much better as a single 2.5 hour film imo, but greed and ego took priority.

Tarantino has been teasing "The Whole Bloody Affair" with both parts of the film combined for several years now. I think it was screened in LA a while ago. He added in more scenes, an intermission and created a new anime sequences for it as well. However, Tarantino likes to play mind games with his fans by deliberately delaying home video releases, so it'll probably be several more years before he actually releases it on Blu-ray.

Re: Gangs of New York, Scorsese insists the finished film is his preferred cut. The Weinsteins obviously forced him to cut it down from 3+ hours, but there's nothing to suggest it was butchered. Scorsese doesn't believe in extended cuts so there's no chance of him going back to it. Compromise is just part of the filmmaking process as far as he's concerned.

And what's wrong with Once Upon a Time in America? The original US cut was butchered alright, but the current 229 minute cut on Blu-ray is Leone's cut. Although there was some talk about his family adding in another 40 minutes to make some money. Hopefully they'll leave it alone though.

As for films that need to be re-cut, how about Peter Jackson's King Kong remake. Get rid of all those endless cgi dinosaur sequences and spider sequences and other silly monster sh*t that add nothing to the story. I mean, the original is like 90 minutes long, what the f**k was Jackson was thinking?

Seems I'm working with out dated info on OUATI America. 229 minutes? cant wait.

bonerm

Sad Professor wrote: »

As for films that need to be re-cut, how about Peter Jackson's King Kong remake. Get rid of all those endless cgi dinosaur sequences and spider sequences and other silly monster sh*t that add nothing to the story. I mean, the original is like 90 minutes long, what the f**k was Jackson was thinking?

I agree that the film becomes uneven during the island scenes and it did bother me a bit the first time I saw it. However upon rewatch I found myself actually getting something out of it.

On a slightly related topic, the funny thing is I don't really enjoy any of the famous stop-motion in the 1933 version. Not because it's primitive, but mainly because it's stupid and generally doesn't make any sense. It's just kind of "thrown in there". Also what were they thinking with Kongs face? By comparison the stuff in Jacksons version is more impressive (technically obviously but also in terms of fitting in with the geometry of the situation).

Conversely I love the acting scenes in the 1933 version (the stuff that's basically been forgotten about by the casual cinema fan) and found the acting scenes in Jacksons version to be the weak link (moreso than the dinosaurs).

Maybe someone could make a phantom edit of the 1933 version acting mixed with the 2005 verison visuals.

djkeogh

One that caught my attention awhile back was the directors cut of Payback which was released in 2006. I quite enjoyed the film as it was originally so was interested to see this which was tonally darker and just as good. It's always interesting to see these differences in artisitic impression between 2 directors.

Skerries

recently watched the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven and the difference is night and day compared to the original
they are practically 2 different films and why he didn't release this version i don't know
They explain the motivations behind some of the main characters and filled out some things that niggled at me as to why a blacksmith was suddenly able to lead a giant army

Aliens was also another great re-cut as we would have never seen the brilliant sentry guns scenes

David Lynch's Dune was re-cut for tv with longer scenes and others taken out but is a horrible mess, so much so that Lynch took his name off of it and it became an Allan Smithee film

Sad Professor

Skerries wrote: »

recently watched the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven and the difference is night and day compared to the original
they are practically 2 different films and why he didn't release this version i don't know

Yeah, the director's cut is so much better. Scott was under contract to deliver a 2hr20min film and didn't put up much of a fight. From watching the documentaries on the DVD I get the impression that many of those scenes were shot with the understanding that they probably wouldn't make the theatrical cut. The studio wasn't happy with the film and didn't know how to market it. For some bizarre reason they thought it was going to be an adventure movie instead of an historical epic.