Deleted/alternate scenes.......

TheIrishGrover

I don't know what put it into my head but I got to thinking about deleted/alternate scenes and how they can impact a movie. I have two in particular in mind.

The first was Boromir's deleted scene in Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCyxRu3Ihv4

While a lot of footage for Rings was shot with no intention of being shown in cinema - was shot solely for home release, this scene was originally intended for the cinema but was deleted for time/because a new character was introduced.

I think it's a shame that this scene was deleted, it's one of my favourite in all the movies. You got to see the love and respect Boromir and Faramir had for each other. You see the look of doubt and fear in Boromir's eyes. Doubting his own strength to resist. And it totally changes Faramir's subsequent use of the line "A chance for Farimir, Captain of Gondor to show his quality"


The other may be a spoiler as it references the end of "I am Legend"

While the film had its flaws (A poor final 3rd, poor VFX for the running zombies - although the closeups are remarkable), the film was not without merit. However the end was changed after poor test audience opinion. Below is the original ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPSk30qzgFs

while the reunification of the zombie leader and the woman is a little maudlin and a little heavy handed the fact that Will Smith's character was their legend/bad guy was a nice twist. They were at the point where they were building a society and he was the bogeyman kidnapping their loved ones and torturing them and killing them (Nice framing of their images on the was beside him as he cowers). Instead we have him taking out a grenade and blowing them all up. 'Murica

So do you have a favourite deleted/alternate scene? If so, why? Just maybe use spoilers for alternate endings like where we find out that Charles Foster Kane wasn't actually dead

w/s/p/c/

I can't link it as I am in work, but there are a few alternative endings to the film 28 days later, these are on the DVD extras.

The one that sticks out is that Cillian Murphy's character Jim doesn't survive after being shot, I think they ran this with test audiences and it didn't go down too well was considered too bleak.

Harry Palmr

If I recall a scene in Alien was scrapped for "pacing reasons", it would have shown those crew members who had been attacked actually still alive and being used as incubators as so completing the cycle of the alien. Not sure if it was actually shot.

Obviously the ending of Blade Runner is the best known alternate ending surely?

gimli2112

I am Legend was a fantastic book primarily because of the ending. I can't remember anything about the end of the movie other than feeling bewildered.

o1s1n

Harry Palmr wrote: »

If I recall a scene in Alien was scrapped for "pacing reasons", it would have shown those crew members who had been attacked actually still alive and being used as incubators as so completing the cycle of the alien. Not sure if it was actually shot.

There's a deleted scene in Alien that shows just that very moment alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MCoefVgW9w

p to the e

w/s/p/c/ wrote: »

I can't link it as I am in work, but there are a few alternative endings to the film 28 days later, these are on the DVD extras.

The one that sticks out is that Cillian Murphy's character Jim doesn't survive after being shot, I think they ran this with test audiences and it didn't go down too well was considered too bleak.

The only ending I've ever seen is where he doesn't live. They set it up like he did but then cuts back and he's actually dead. Kind of like "The Descent".

The weirdest alternative ending I've seen is probably Terminator 2

Kenpo

I've always enjoyed the extra scene's shot for the TV release of the original Halloween (shot while they were making Halloween 2).

Penn

Can't find it on Youtube but the full Bruce & Natasha bedroom scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron. It's only really a few added sentences at the end, but it makes the scene so much better, gives greater context to how they act later in the film, properly ties into other themes throughout the film (particularly whether the Avengers are monsters due to their pasts), and is so well written and acted. Real shame it didn't make the final cut of the film.

Hurrache

Large amounts of Event Horizon have been cut, never to be found again, apart from these unpolished ones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK1debnXYlA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuWOUpml0AA

So much of that movie was cut due to them been deemed too gory or disturbing, leading to apparently fainting and upset test audience members. The makers had brought in porn actors and people with missing limbs for some of the scenes. After the edits, the footage decayed in storage and is no longer recoverable, hence no directors cut, which the director himself would have been the better version had he more time.

Some of the story is here
http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/event-horizon/50122/exploring-the-deleted-footage-from-event-horizon

Decuc500

Harry Palmr wrote: »

If I recall a scene in Alien was scrapped for "pacing reasons", it would have shown those crew members who had been attacked actually still alive and being used as incubators as so completing the cycle of the alien. Not sure if it was actually shot.

I saw that scene in a version of Alien shown on television a long time ago. Probably the first time I saw the film.

Any other version of the film I saw since then didn't have that scene in it and I finally saw it again as a deleted scene on a dvd, to prove to myself that I hadn't imagined it.

Harry Palmr

Event Horizon seems to have become a missing film in it's entirety! Can't recall it's last TV showing.

Hurrache

It was on not too long ago on one of the satellite channels. It comes and goes on Netflix too regularly enough. I think it's actually on at midnight tonight on Sky Cinema.

Harry Palmr

Ah just off terrestrial then.

Rodin

To leave out the scene of the Witchking confronting Gandalf in the cinematic release of The Return Of The King was scandalous.

Rodin

The Dark Knight Rises should have cut the final scene to stop when Alfred looks up and smiles.

No need to show Bale/Hathaway together.

o1s1n

Hurrache wrote: »

Large amounts of Event Horizon have been cut, never to be found again, apart from these unpolished ones

Funnily enough I was going to mention that one in my post.

I put a long post about that over on the IMDB forums years ago before they were deleted. There was a lengthy discussion about the possibility of uncut copies floating around on VHS.

My cousin's friend's mam was a censor and had a VHS copy of the test screening for work purposes - my cousin watched this tape with his friend and kept going on to me about how insanely gory it was. (we were only kids at the time, probably 11 or 12)

He convinced my dad to rent it out one evening from the video shop to finally show me the full horror of it and he was really confused and he kept saying how loads of it was missing from the version he'd originally seen. Was telling me about all these extra gory scenes that weren't in the standard release.

I thought he was just having me on and completely forgot about it until years later when I read that huge chunks of the film had been cut and was considered lost footage. It got particularly freakly when someone on IMDB was describing some of the missing scenes and they were exactly what my cousin had been telling me about.

So his friend's mam must have had a screener copy with all the cut lost footage. I actually tried at the time to see if we could contact him on the off chance that it was still about the house but no luck

Harry Palmr

Someone somewhere will have a tape copy of the 2 hour edit.

o1s1n

The director W.S Anderson apparently found an uncut copy on VHS a couple of years ago and discussed it at a con, but nothing ever came of it unfortunately

pleas advice

the (directors cut) ending of The Butterfly Effect which gives meaning to the whole film was changed for some reason, I'd say people who hated the film mustn't have seen the full version of it.

Gwynplaine

Rodin wrote: »

The Dark Knight Rises should have cut the final scene to stop when Alfred looks up and smiles.

No need to show Bale/Hathaway together.

But it had to be sponfed to the type of people who watched in on a tablet, while watching Coronation Street on the telly, and playing Candy Crush on the phone, with the sun shining in the window.

CastorTroy

The Descent had the ending changed for the American audience then the sequel was based on that.

And as a fan of The Warriors, it annoys me I can't get a complete edition of the film.
So far I've seen 5 different edits:
VHS is the same as the DVD release with "Noweher to Run" replaced by a different song
DVD version is the most common version
Original version I saw on BBC2 I think had a scene before the opening credits.
Version I saw on Sky Movies which was edited, removing some language and violence, but included longer scenes in parts.
Director's Cut which inserted comic page scene openers.

HandsomeBob

Rodin wrote: »

The Dark Knight Rises should have cut the final scene to stop when Alfred looks up and smiles.

No need to show Bale/Hathaway together.

Would have been too Inceptioney. I think the ending was the best we could have hoped for. Even as a die hard fan of the trilogy who wanted Bruce to die, I had a massive smile on my face when the camera panned to him and Selina. It made me realise just how invested I was in the character.

Sometimes we just don't know what's best for a character until it's laid out.

Kiith

The directors cut of Payback was like an entirely different movie. The studio had forced massive changes to the movie, so the director completely removed himself from it. Eventually, he got to release the version he wanted, which removed Kris Kristofferson and huge portions of the movie.

Only reason i ever found this out was when rewatching it, and not having a bloody clue what was happening.

wezzopalooza

With the season that's in it, Another example of studio interference changing a film considerably was in the case of William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist 3, or "Legion" as it was originally titled (actually, all the sequels have had troubled productions.)

Execs panicked when Blatty delivered a low key, quirky film that downplayed the horror/gore aspects and left things more ambiguous. Once they insisted that "Exorcist" had to be in the title then of course they wanted to shoehorn in an effects-heavy exorcism scene, where one previously didn't exist or fit into the story at all, completely changing the final third of the film.

Originally Brad Dourif was cast (miscast, imho) as Fr Karras, but execs also wanted a familiar face to link the movie to the original, so brought in Jason Miller to refilm Dourif's scenes, in a completely new set. After being told he was cut completely from the film, Dourif was then called back to partially reshoot scenes as Miller was having trouble memorising the long monologues due to the effects of alcoholism. What a mess! :eek::eek:

The original (rough) shoot footage was uncovered a few years ago and assembled into a patchwork approximation of Blatty's original cut, amounting to a hugely different final third of the movie. Unusually, I could kind of see where the execs were coming from, and some of the changes work for the better (the Miller/Dourif dual personality was a clever move, with Dourif in his element with his psycho killer role) As in the videos below, it's interesting to compare the 2 versions.

Tony EH

Harry Palmr wrote: »

If I recall a scene in Alien was scrapped for "pacing reasons", it would have shown those crew members who had been attacked actually still alive and being used as incubators as so completing the cycle of the alien. Not sure if it was actually shot.

Obviously the ending of Blade Runner is the best known alternate ending surely?

o1s1n wrote: »

There's a deleted scene in Alien that shows just that very moment alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MCoefVgW9w

As o1s1n says above, it was shot. It's in the "director's cut' of 'Alien', although Scott says that the theatrical version of the film is his cut.

I remember reading the Alan Dean Foster novel of 'Alien', after I saw the film and that scene is in the book. I was a bit bemused as to why it wasn't in the film. So, when that scene was added back in for the Blu, I was very pleased.

And while it may slow the pace - which doesn't bother me if the scene is good - I think it's a chilling insight to what happens to the Xneomorph's victims. It also, builds out the nature of the beast, in that it merely follows its internal programming. In other words, there's no queen in the vicinity, so it's merely doing what it does, because it's mindlessly following built in instincts.

That means that it's not afraid, it's not fighting for its life and its not fighting to eat. It does what it does, because it doesn't know anything else.

Tony EH

Hurrache wrote: »

So much of that movie was cut due to them been deemed too gory or disturbing, leading to apparently fainting and upset test audience members. The makers had brought in porn actors and people with missing limbs for some of the scenes. After the edits, the footage decayed in storage and is no longer recoverable, hence no directors cut, which the director himself would have been the better version had he more time.

That's a real shame. Always had a weird soft spot for that film. The best part being the brief "hell" scenes.

Would really have liked to seen that expanded.

But, this "too gory" nonsense plagued 90's movies. The MPAA and BBFC were draconian in their cuts and decisions. All the more remarkable and ridiculous when what we can see today, on television, is often more risquhe tepid output of 1990's cinema. I hated horror in the 90's. Such weak, milquetoast, crap for the most part and shite like 'Scream' for the rest.

Tony EH

CastorTroy wrote: »

And as a fan of The Warriors, it annoys me I can't get a complete edition of the film.
So far I've seen 5 different edits:
VHS is the same as the DVD release with "Noweher to Run" replaced by a different song
DVD version is the most common version
Original version I saw on BBC2 I think had a scene before the opening credits.
Version I saw on Sky Movies which was edited, removing some language and violence, but included longer scenes in parts.
Director's Cut which inserted comic page scene openers.

I saw 'The Warriors' many years ago as a kid on video. I thought it was kinda shite, but still sorta great in that weird 80's video type of way, if you follow me. So, I was happy when a friend of mine bought me the Blu. She said, however, that she had a look and hoped I didn't mind (I didn't), but feared that I was going to hate it. Why? says I. Cos they've put comics panels into the film. What? I said. Just watch it and you'll see what I mean, she replied.

So, I stuck it on, months later cos I forgot all about the thing, an lo and behold, 'The Warriors' now begins with some shite about Thermopylae or something all done in mock comic form, with panels that look like they were made last week in Photoshop and it's followed by other, completely unnecessary exposition panels throughout the film. I turned it off, bewildered as to why Walter Hill would sanction something like that.

All the more awful when you consider that the print is fantastic looking too. I'm thinking of picking up the DVD for the proper film, but I don't know what the quality is like.

Now, I don't mind alternative versions of films floating about, so long as the originals are still available. I like the fact that I can watch the superior Director's cut of 'Aliens', or watch the original and better cut of 'Apocalypse Now', or 'The Big Red One'.

But I hate that I have to download a fan made version of 'Star Wars' in order to see the unfucked-with film, for example, because Lucas decided to try and erase it from existence. I fear that that is what Walter Hill is wishing to do here, as well, because there's no plans to release the real version of 'The Warriors' any time soon.

Sometimes it makes me happy that studios can exert a certain amount of control over films, because some directors are clowns when it comes to tinkering with beloved pictures and making them worse.

Subcomandante Marcos

There's a Ryan Reynolds movie called The Nines co-starring Melissa McCarthy and a very young Elle Fanning.
It's pretty weird, but the alternate ending makes more sense than the one they went with.

o1s1n

The cut scenes in Leon: The Professional are also great too. Was a real shame they were removed for the theatrical version, it really adds up to a lot of content.

Killinator

Kingdom of Heaven has so many cut/re-shot scenes that the director's cut is a completely different film. To the point that certain scenes or lines in the theatrical release refer or imply to scenes that were cut.
The directors cut is excellent, the theatrical feels like a movie edited by execs

mloc123

p to the e wrote: »

The weirdest alternative ending I've seen is probably Terminator 2

Wow, that is terrible

CastorTroy

Tony EH wrote: »

So, I stuck it on, months later cos I forgot all about the thing, an lo and behold, 'The Warriors' now begins with some shite about Thermopylae or something all done in mock comic form, with panels that look like they were made last week in Photoshop and it's followed by other, completely unnecessary exposition panels throughout the film. I turned it off, bewildered as to why Walter Hill would sanction something like that.

Yeah he used some crap about how he always viewed the movie like a comic. The dvd/bbc version is the best version but if could get the extra Sky Movies scenes added it would be great.

Killinator wrote: »

Kingdom of Heaven has so many cut/re-shot scenes that the director's cut is a completely different film. To the point that certain scenes or lines in the theatrical release refer or imply to scenes that were cut.
The directors cut is excellent, the theatrical feels like a movie edited by execs

I know people say the director's cut is a totally different film but this is my worst movie so I wouldn't give a longer version a chance.


Another famous cult (oxymoron, I know) example of a movie where footage has been lost and found and restored is Nightbreed. Have only seen the original myself many years ago, but there is a restored footage version called The Cabal Cut and later A Director's Cut

TheIrishGrover

Actually, looking at the last few excellent posts this got me thinking. The WORST "Directors Cut"/extended scenes I've seen ate in Cinema Paradiso.

Anyone who loves the original version do NOT watch the extended version.... Seriously.

For those curious, see below but be warned:

In the original, the director watches all the cut clips and thinks back on his first love and it's romantic, sweet and nostalgic.

In the extended version that all happens pretty much as usual, there may be some additions/expansions of some scenes but nothing really of note. The real change is that the film continues after he watches the movie.

In the extended version he leaves the cinema and soon notices a girl looking exactly like his first love when she was young. He then discovers that she is her daughter. They meet up and have a brief affair before going their separate ways.

For me this affair came off as a bit sordid (Why not have her husband be dead?) and it sullied the sweet nature of the movie and actually left a bad taste in my mouth.

Regarding The Dark Knight Rises? I had no real problem with the Bale/Hathaway/Caine scene. The worst bit for me was:

"Oh, you should go by your middle name, it's so much better: Robin"...... Uh........ Jebus..... We got it......


So yeah, as per the previous posts, as well as your favourite deleted/extended scenes what deleted/extended scenes made a movie bad/ did you think were a bad addition?

Interesting in the context of this discussion is Olive Stones Alexander. The first release was awful. Some parts unbearable, and considering such an amazing director it was hard to believe it got released in that form. Everything down to the music was a painful experience.
But then in 2007, "The Final Cut" was released where the movie was totally reworked into a 3 hour 45 min epic, that was a fantastic film. Of course you would probably need to be a hardcore Stone fan or greek history fan to revisit a film thats first cut was so bad, but the Final Cut was a real pleasure.

Telecaster58

Fatal Attraction has a much better ending than the one that ended up as the popular release.

Sad Professor

Deleted User wrote: »

Interesting in the context of this discussion is Olive Stones Alexander. The first release was awful. Some parts unbearable, and considering such an amazing director it was hard to believe it got released in that form. Everything down to the music was a painful experience.
But then in 2007, "The Final Cut" was released where the movie was totally reworked into a 3 hour 45 min epic, that was a fantastic film. Of course you would probably need to be a hardcore Stone fan or greek history fan to revisit a film thats first cut was so bad, but the Final Cut was a real pleasure.

I haven't seen it, but Stone says he prefers the 2012 "ultimate cut", which is a good bit shorter than the "final cut".

razorblunt

In the first Final Destination they had an ending where Devon Sawa's character sacrifices himself to save Ali Larter when the loose power wire is on the car. It then transpired she was pregnant with his kid, thereby ultimately beating death.
I liked that.

El Duda

Saux groce

El Duda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QizX5msl-G0

Saux groce

Skerries

on the DVD for True Romance there is a piece about Tarantino or Scott talking about the end of the movie where Tarantino wanted Worley to have died in the shootout and Alabama to go off cursing him out for not being the one for her
Scott filmed it and showed it to Tarantino who then admitted he was right and that it needed to be a romance
can't find the footage on Youtube

p to the e

CastorTroy wrote: »

Another famous cult (oxymoron, I know) example of a movie where footage has been lost and found and restored is Nightbreed. Have only seen the original myself many years ago, but there is a restored footage version called The Cabal Cut and later A Director's Cut

I saw a rough cut of this in the IFI a few years back. Basically, Nightbreed, at the behest of the studios, focussed more on Cronenberg's character which made it a lot different to the source novel 'Cabal'. If I remember correctly they found an old VHS down the back of Clive Barker's wardrobe or something like that which had a lot of the originally shot footage and would have made the film more closely align with the novel.

I haven't seen it since but I've heard it was remastered etc. but when I saw it you could clearly see when it cuts from a scene from the movie release to a bad quality VHS scene.

Goodshape

Tony EH wrote: »

As o1s1n says above, it was shot. It's in the "director's cut' of 'Alien', although Scott says that the theatrical version of the film is his cut.

I much prefer the theatrical cuts of Alien, Aliens, and Terminator 2.

All of those director's cut's have good and/or interesting scenes but the overall pacing and structure of the films suffer badly imho. Particularly Aliens with the early scenes of the colony going about their uninteresting daily lives.

Unfortunately nearly every cinematic re-release or television screening of those films tends to be the director's cut these days.

Tony EH

Goodshape wrote: »

I much prefer the theatrical cuts of Alien, Aliens, and Terminator 2.

All of those director's cut's have good and/or interesting scenes but the overall pacing and structure of the films suffer badly imho. Particularly Aliens with the early scenes of the colony going about their uninteresting daily lives.

Unfortunately nearly every cinematic re-release or television screening of those films tends to be the director's cut these days.

I've never really cared for 'Terminator 2', so they can add or subtract all they want from that film and I wouldn't care less.

'Alien' benefits from that new inserts for the reasons I've said. I also think that the extra scene with Lambert and Ripley is good too, as it expands on the catty nature of the women in the crew.

'Aliens', the "first director's cut" as it were, gains immensely, IMHO and also fleshes out Ripley's character to a larger degree and gives a wider dimension to the whole story.

BTW, I think there's an awful lot of guff spouted about "pace" in films. Pace can be adjusted continuously in films and if the story is good, it won't really matter. The pacing in 'Alien', regardless of what cut is watched, is all over the place anyway. It's terribly slow at the start, picks up, slows down, picks up again and ends on a gotcha moment in the shuttle.

'Jaws' is also weirdly paced and has a fast/slow/fast/slow/fast foot on the pedal.

But, both films are bona fide classics though and very entertaining. But, that's because the story, acting and direction in each are uniformly good.