video replay:
Directors Cuts, Special Editions, and other marketing ploys
You can tell when it's a slow time for new movies. The studios start running those "if you've only seen it
once you must experience it again" ads. As if, somehow Babe becomes more thought provoking
the second or third time around. I do have vaigue memories of seeing Night of the Living Dead
about 4 times in one summer, and King of Hearts (a.k.a. The Cambridge Contagion)
about six times in two years, but this was because I kept dragging my friends to see them, (many of whom,
surprisingly enough are still my friends), but then that’s what friends and midnight movies are for.
Video however doesn't work this way. Once you buy a video, you can see it over and over again until you
know all the dialogue by heart and even your friends start hiding the tape concerned about your well being.
Everytime you put the tape in the video machine it's the same darn film. Or it was, until some clever devils
in Hollywood found ways to make old films new again.
Alternative versions of popular films are nothing new. Close Encounters of the Third Kind did
luke warm business in its initial release (actually, it was the major hit of that summer, but that's not good
enough for Mr. Spielberg). Next summer he released Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The
Special Edition. Several scenes were added including newly filmed footage of Richard Dreyfus inside
the big ship. Much of the silly or just plain boring scenes in the middle had been removed. (This version is
actually three minutes shorter than the original, down from 135 min. to 132.) This repackaging earned it
another summer at the box office, with many filmgoers paying to see it all over again. The Special
Edition is the version that came out on video, although when it was run on commercial TV it was
again reedited with many of the edited scenes restored and a new run time (after you nuke the commercials)
of 142 min.
It’s a common practice for network TV to have 125 to 130 minute films beefed up to 140 min. by mixing in
the leftovers best left on the cutting room floor, and these versions will often come out on video. Star
Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home are two examples.
Dune was reedited into a four hour mini-series, with it’s actual run time dragged out from 140
min. to 190, and prompting David Lynch to have his name removed from the credits. The "Allen Smithee"
version makes a bit more sense than the original, owing to longer narration, and more linear editing, which
is probably why Lynch hated it so much. This is an good example of why making a boring film longer
usually doesn’t help. Recently I saw this packaged with the original version as a very expensive laser disc
boxed set.
The Godfather Saga: A Novel for Television was probably the most ambitious attempt along
these lines combining The Godfather and Godfather II into one chronological
sequence, with the early scenes from Godfather II appearing first, and the addition of 15 or so
minutes of extra footage for a total of 386 min. It was released on home video as The Godfather: The
Complete Epic, 1902-1958, which restores scenes that had been deleted for television.
Another film which was reedited, although this time with the directors approval was James Cameron's
The Abyss. Originally released at 145 min., this special edition runs 172 min., fleshing out the
characters, and providing a more plausable rationalle for the motivation of the underwater critters than a
quite understandable facination with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. The highlight of this version is a giant
tidal wave sequence which was not completed in time for the original release. This version is only available
as a mega-priced laser disc, although it did show up on pay cable, where it will hopefully return. Similar
reediting was done to Aliens (from 137 to 154 min.) and to a lesser extent to Alien.
Blade Runner is one of those films where the studio did serious mahem to the original before it
was released. Some more violent scenes were deleted (however these were restored for the original video
release). A hokey film-noir style voice over by Harrison Ford was added, to assist the narritively
challenged. But, worst of all, a happy ending was shamelessly tacked on, in which Sean Young doesn't
really have to die in five years like everyone has been telling us, and the endless rain stops just a few miles
up the highway. Blade Runner: The Director's Cut was released a couple years ago to theaters
and soon afterwards on home video, corrects these sins and restores some other scenes including a strange
dream involving a unicorn. Also, the original soundtrack by Vangelis has only just recently been released.
Vangelis refused to release it originally (even though it’s mentioned in the closing credits) because he
wasn’t satisfied with it, and didn’t want to be pegged as a soundtrack artist (this was right after
Chariots of Fire.)
Highlander 2: The Quickening was a one star sequel to a three star sleeper about a race of
immortals who secretly live among us while engaged in a centuries long struggle in which the last one with
a head wins. The sequel unfortunately trashed most of the interesting premises of the original movie. The
immortals, end up as just another race of exiled aliens, hiding out from an evil empire which can't leave
well enough alone. Fans of the original film hated it. If you mention it on the Highlander Net Forum you
are quickly reminded that: "There can be only one." Then came Russell Mulcahy's Renegade
Version--Highlander 2: The Director's Cut, a title so long it barely fits on the box. All the
references to the immortals being from somewhere else is eliminated and 16 minutes of footage is restored.
It's still rather a silly mess, but you are assured that it's the silly mess originally intended by the producers
and director which is good enough for another half-a-star in my estimation.
Film restoration has returned lost footage to El Cid, Dr. Zhivago, and Spartacus, as
well as silent films like the original Thief of Bagdad and Ben Hur. Technicolor
restoration, while not increasing the length, has greatly improved the look of recently released versions of
The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Wizard of Oz. Director's cuts are available
for Wyatt Earp and Manhunter. This trend is bound to continue as more and more
directors and studios begin to reevaluate their work with an eye to the home video market, and the sort of
cosumer who buys videos like my brother buys baseball cards.