Director's Cuts

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Mostly, Directors Cuts are a good idea, but sometimes they ruin a film. My 3 favourite examples of ruined films are

Close Encounters Special Edition - where all the humour was removed and the mystery was lost at the end when we saw a particularly unimaginitive mothership interior.
Terminator 2 Director's Cut, which just has nasty unnecessary bits added that just slow down the film (BUT one great scene which should have been in the original when Sarah Connor is tempted to smash the Terminator's processor with a hammer)
The Exorcist - "The Version You've Never Seen" - and should never see in my opinion.
It seems that the studios sometimes just try to make a bit more money by releasing a slightly different version of a film and calling it a director's cut.
Sadly it seems that the original thetrical versions of Close Encounters and Terminator are not available on DVD. Thankfully the original version of The Exorcist is still available.

Examples of GOOD director's cuts are
Blade Runner, when all the ridiculous Studio interfering was removed
The Abyss, when it was realised that people WOULD be prepared to sit through nearly 3 hours of a compelling story rather than a version that was cut down so much that the story didn't make much sense.

The director's cut of Alien seemed to be a bit pointless - it had an extended scene that slowed down the action and yet was actually shorter than the original.

Anyone got any comments or examples?
 
Someone on AICN recently posted the sentence:

"...if you haven't seen the Director's Cut of Daredevil you haven't seen Daredevil."

Never a truer word was spoken. Rescues an otherwise thoroughly 'bleh' movie
 
Often the so called 'Directors Cuts' are nothing to do with the Director and are just extended versions where the studio have added a number of deleted scenes to extend the run time and enable a new DVD release to sell.

The public seem to have got it into their heaRAB that more is better. However, a true Director's Cut is just as likely to be shorted than the original as it is longer.

A good example of this is Alexander. I actually quite enjoyed the theatrical version (2h 47) although the editing was shocking. The Director's Cut on DVD has been totally re-edited and makes more sense, but is shorter than the original (2h 40). There is a third Final Cut version due to be released in May which will run to nearly 4 hours and is supposedly Stone's true vision of the film he made, including all of the homosexual story that was taken out because of objections from the Conservative US public, as well as other side-plots. I will get this but have my doubts if it will improve the film. Kingdom of Heaven seems to have had a similar treatment.

Apart from the formerly mentioned Bladerunner & The Abyss, some of my favorite Extended or Directors Cut versions are:
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Amadeus
Aliens (just for the sentry robot scene)
Apocolypse Now Redux - probably my favorite

Badly done or pointless versions (imho)
Star Wars Trilogy SEs - Ep IV is crying out for a complete re-edit. Time has not worn well on the pace of the film. A bit of tightening could do wonders. My opinion is either leave it alone, or go the whole hog. It's like spending thousanRAB giving your car a new paint job and lots of body kits, flash stereo etc... but not spending a penny on the mechanics.

Star Trek SEs - Same as above, really. It was nice to see The Motion Picture get spruced up with all new SFX, but again it's too slow and neeRAB tightening. I've not seen the others, but somehow doubt they'll be a great improvement on the originals.

It does seem to have become something of a standard practice now for the big Hollywood blockbusters to get the SE or DC treatment on DVD, but it's been a while since there was a really decent one.

Anyone got any thoughts on films that would benefit from this?
 
I think the DC of Terminator 2 is much better than the theatrical release, mainly because it develops the idea of the machine learning to be human. In T1 the terminator starts off looking human and becomes more machine-like as it is damaged. T2 is the reverse.

I didn't like the extra scene in which Sarah has a premonition in the form of a dream-visit from her boyfriend, but I don't think it really damages the film and it does help establish the "No Fate" line.

Aliens is an interesting case. Some extra scenes enhanced it - the sentry robots. Some were neutral to bad - Ripley learning about her daughter's death we really didn't need, and it did slow the already slow first half some more. Some were dreadful. I think seeing how the colony got infiltrated almost spoils the movie. It's much better when we are seeing it for the first time when the marines are, and we have no idea who Newt is, and can only guess what happened. It also reduces the enigma about Burke.

For me the film most improved is Fellowship of the Ring. Even though the DC is longer, it feels shorter, because it is better based and there is more character development. Unfortunately the later films in the series were not improved so much. By Return of the King, the director was just chucking in scenes because he thought the fans would like them, rather than following his own vision of what would serve the film best.

I've not seen the DC of Alien 3, but I'd like to as it's supposed to be a lot better.
 
Ironically 2 of your directors cuts are nothing of the kind.

Close Encounters directors cut was the original theatrical release.

But when Spielberg wanted studio help on another project they bribed him by asking him to film the additional scenes including the Mothership Interior,but he never wanted to,and never liked them which is why he removed them for the dvd release which is Spielbergs approved version combining what he likes from both releases.
The deleted scenes including the Mothership Interior are on the dvd as extras.

The Exorcist directors cut is ,once again ,the original theatrical release that was first available on dvd.

The reason the extended version is called "The version you've never seen" is because its not a directors cut.
If you listen to the commentary on the original version Friedkin explains why the spiderwalk sequence was never completed .
It was specially completed to produce the extended version,presumably a simply financial investment of which the director wanted a cut.
It could have easily been released without his say so.

Regarding T2.
If you get the tin special edition on R1 only ,not only does it contain the theatrical edition,it contains the extended version and a third version that includes the 2 major scenes deleted by Cameron,and all 3 versions are available via seamless branching.
IIRC there is no seamless branching on the R2 edition and the deleted scenes are not possible to watch within the film on R2 either.
The subsequent releases of the film have all been inferior to the second R1 release .
 
Thanks for all that! I'll check out the Close Encounters DVD. Thanks for the corrections - I suppose when saying "director's cut" I mean also to include re-releases, extended versions, etc. that are somehow different from the theatrical versions we're familiar with. The Close Encounters version I was referring to is the "Special Edition", which I seem to remember was hastily released by (Columbia?) to give them a blockbuster after the failure of Spielberg's "1941". This is the only version of CE3K that I've ever seen in DVD shops.
 
I think the Aliens special edition is one where the longer cut IS better. It feels more epic and in line with Alien when the scenes are included. I think it IS important to see the colonists and to see Ripley told about her daughter. The latter scene is good because it makes Burke seem even more slimey.

In the Terminator 2 special edition some of the scenes are unnecessary (like John teaching the Terminator how to smile) but the rest are generally good. The dream sequence where Michael Biehn returns from the first movie is good because it makes Sarah seem less cold and you get more understanding of why she's doing what she's doing. Again it makes T2 more epic-feeling.
 
I think most directors cuts are a bit unnecessary really, and I end up preferring the original release. Although there haven't been many DCs of my favourite films though (only Donnie Darko that I can think of, and in that case the original was better anyway)...
 
I believe that Sigourney Weaver originally didn't want to do a sequel to 'Alien' until she saw Cameron's script which included all the elements regarding her daughter - the Special Edition appeased her to some extent when the theatrical release removed these elements.

T2 Special Edition brings back plot points that were lost which I believe the movie neeRAB to make sense.
eg.
The T1000 shows signs that it has been damaged by accidentally attaching itself to various metal objects - this explains why he is walking so slow at the end of the movie.
 
Agree with you on Aliens, but the stuff I didn't like in T2 DC were the little extra scenes showing the nastiness of the T1000 - the killing of the dog, etc. I think it was unnecessary and detracted from the film rather than added to it.
 
the DC of Star Trek II (released on DVD) is better than the original and restores, long deleted scenes at last.
Aliens i have seen in both versions and i prefer the DC, though with T2 i have only watched in the DC version. i have never watched the theatrical version, was it ever released on video ?
 
I think the Directors cut Walter Hill's 1979 cult classic The Warriors is awfull, at the begining theres about five mintues of cartoon about a Greek War and trying to draw similarities to the movie. Then on certain scenes they use Cartoon Imaging which makes it look rather silly. On this basis the original should have never been tampered with. A classic gang film set in Ney York City.
I just feel that the DC was totally unecessary and somthing Paramount wanted to do for financial gain.
 
it would be better if the studios wouldn't call of these "Directors Cuts" unless it is something the director did.. then things would be clearer

they have done this with some Sam Pechinoah films and i've no idea if i'm watching what he wanted or if they have been done years after he died just to make for another re-release
 
I hate the way they release crappy, unimproved versions of older films on DVD then magically announce a "Special Expensive Edition" a few months later.
 
Yes,the version with the Mothership Interior was marketed as "the special edition" but its never been on dvd.

The version available is the "collectors edition" and the back cover blurb does refer to it as a "directors cut",but only because Spielberg prepared it for dvd release .
The disliked special edition had pretty much replaced the original version on tv and video distribution and before dvd Spielberg wanted to put it back the way he liked it so he made a combo from both releases ,but the Mothership Interior was always going to be taken out as he never wanted to spoil the ending that way.
 
IIRC Cameron is quoted as saying the only reason that Aliens was shorter was because studio execs felt the film too long.
Remember when he made Aliens he still did not have much clout so he was forced to toe the line
 
That is what they tend to do.

They wont re-release a film as a "directors cut" if the director has not given their approval.

However,where things sometimes get confusing is when something like The Exorcist gets done.

The director is involved and approves the new edit,but he still remains happy with his original theatrical version.

But why should he allow the movie company to tamper with the film and re-release it to make more money?
Its common sense for them to get involved as they not only get paid for their trouble ,but they can control what happens to their creation
 
Peckinpah stuff is usually very violent.

Could be that his finished edit was cut by the MPAA before release and the missing bits are only now being restored.

Alternatively they may be working from scripts or other unknown materials that indicate the film was altered by censors or studio execs before release
 
I checked out the DVD versions of Close Encounters available. It seems that the original theatrical release doesn't exist on DVD. This is a shame, because the comedy moments that were cut out in the special and collectors editions provided some light relief to the scenes of Neary's descent into obsessive madness. I think that without these scenes it gets a bit heavy! Anyway, I ordered the "collector's edition" from Amazon market place dirt cheap - looking forward to enjoying it, heavy parts and all.
 
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