Saturday, December 04, 2004

SAVE US ALL FROM DIRECTOR'S CUTS

I'm trying to think of a single director's cut I liked better than the theatrical release. Oh, sure, I have the extended version of Return of the King on pre-order, too. But better than the original?

I bought the DVD of Conan the Barbarian, and it turned out to be some draggy-ass "additional material" cut where John Milius indulges all of his elegiac tendencies. It takes for-****ing-ever for Thulsa Doom to cut off Conan's mom's head. Lots of beauty shots of this and that. All to establish some epic tone.

The original booked.

I like the original Blade Runner better too. Sure, some of the v.o. is on the nose. But it's that kind of movie. The director's cut, which takes out the happy ending, loses the v.o. (rendering the movie murky if you don't already know what's going on) and adding some material that tells you Deckard's a replicant too -- nope, we didn't need it, thank you.

I hope you can still get the theatrical release on DVD. Ugh.

9:48 PM

4 Comments:

The court scene in Natural Born Killer, while taken off for good reasons, was totally worth seeing. Some cut scenes from Donnie Darko as well. And Director's cut is always a nice feature on a DVD well made.

By  Philippe-A., at 11:22 AM  

I want writers' cuts.

Terry Rossio or Ted Elliot explained what's wrong with the Director Uber Alles theory: directors are concerned with the moment, and writers are concerned with the story. If the director has more power, you leave the theatre with some memorable bits. If the writer has more power, you leave the theatre with a memorable tale.

By  Will Shetterly, at 8:26 PM  

And don't forget the director's cut of Apocalypse Now, which inserts an entire French movie (lots of food, wine, talking, and a beautiful woman taking off her clothes, with ambiance but no plot) in the middle of what had previously been one of the most tense and compelling "road stories" ever told.
Lisa

By  Anonymous, at 4:19 PM  

The original Blade Runner also contained the Replicant info on Deckard also, just had to pay closer attention.

By  Anonymous, at 5:59 PM  

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