Alternate Versions of Movies for TV that You Remember

[dbuck]

I forgot about this one. In 1975 they filmed a ‘new’ prologue to open A Fistful of Dollars for its ABC movie of the week. Harry Dean Stanton and a body double for Eastwood were given over four minutes of screen time in an attempt to justify the morality or lack thereof in the film. It stuck around a few years in repeat showings and then disappeared. I was ten or eleven when it aired and I didn’t realize it wasn’t part of the original film.

 

[Keiko]

I forgot about this one. In 1975 they filmed a ‘new’ prologue to open A Fistful of Dollars for its ABC movie of the week. Harry Dean Stanton and a body double for Eastwood were given over four minutes of screen time in an attempt to justify the morality or lack thereof in the film. It stuck around a few years in repeat showings and then disappeared. I was ten or eleven when it aired and I didn’t realize it wasn’t part of the original film

That's pretty incredible, really cool. Better yet, a Youtube corroboration.

 

[p51]

How about the CBS TV version of "The Thing" which had a narrator? I saw it once and I hated it like that!
I also remember my local PBS station showing old Dr Who episodes in the 80s. "Underworld" had narration which explained that the Minyan ship was punching through the outer layers into an underground area, as if the audience wouldn't figure it out on their own. Thankfully, I never saw that again on subsequent showings elsewhere.

 

[Victor3]

Now that I’ve got kids, I miss TV edits. They love Holy Grail, but I cringe during the Castle Anthrax scene.
Airplane is another one that I haven’t shown them yet due to certain bouncy inclusions. Otherwise, the old Zucker Abrams Zucker humor would be right up their alley.

 

[Uridium]

 

[el toro]

I remember Repo Man, and later pulp fiction, on Tv, b/c they both dubbed over the word “f@&king” with “flippin’”.

 

[OzReturner]

Bruce's sign from Die Hard 3, changed to be a little more inclusive.

 

[blewis17]

Now that I’ve got kids, I miss TV edits. They love Holy Grail, but I cringe during the Castle Anthrax scene.
Airplane is another one that I haven’t shown them yet due to certain bouncy inclusions. Otherwise, the old Zucker Abrams Zucker humor would be right up their alley.

My parents loved the Peter Seller's "Pink Panther" films. There was flirtatious innuendo in the films but no overt content that you would be concerned about your child seeing, as I recall. But "The Trail of the Pink Panther" has a particularly naughty scene when Richard Mulligan (who plays Clouseau's father) owns a winery and has topless women smashing the grapes with their feet.

 

[drusselmeyer]

There was a whole battle about TV edits years ago with people selling edited versions of films. The DGA and studios didn't want people to know the secret of the IP rules.

The problem with the TV edits is the intellectual property loss when the shows are broadcast.

It is a pretty strange story and it ends with the loss of some public domain rights.

 

[bwayne64]

View attachment 1701348
Bruce's sign from Die Hard 3, changed to be a little more inclusive.

Yes this scene in the original cut, put me off this movie all together. I love the first two. But this was too Spike Lee for me. I won't go into the various ways I hated it. I would p#$$ off too many people, lol.

 

[drusselmeyer]

Blind Fury: Rutger Hauer's blind character catches a ticket vendor trying to cheat him is missing in versions other than the theatrical release.

Batman: the Joker (Nicholson) asks "does he get those wonderful toys?" The "Where" at the beginning of the sentence only appears in the commercials and not in the theatrical release. It is also missing from the VHS release.

 

[Treadwell]

I never heard "where" in any incarnation. Trailers, ads, nothing. Does it count as missing if it was never there in the first place?

 

[Gregatron]

View attachment 1701348
Bruce's sign from Die Hard 3, changed to be a little more inclusive.

I believe it’s the other way around—that’s the sign they filmed with, then they digitally altered it when putting the movie together. Because going on location with the version actually seen in the film…wouldn’t have gone well.

 

[Darth Lars]

Batman: the Joker (Nicholson) asks "does he get those wonderful toys?" The "Where" at the beginning of the sentence only appears in the commercials and not in the theatrical release. It is also missing from the VHS release.

I went looking for that commercial on Youtube and couldn't find it. The ones I found have it even shorter, with only "... those wonderful toys".

I remember the full line from when I first saw the movie in 1989, but it could have been my mind filling in what's missing. Also, I probably saw it with subtitles and a possibility could have been that those had it.

 

[drusselmeyer]

I forgot which commercial it was, but it may have been a fast food commercial that had the entire line.

 

[AJK001]

I remember hearing the whole line and since I saw it on broadcast TV it might have been a cut just for TV. They used to add back things that had been cut for the theatrical releases a lot back in the day.

 

[greenmachines]

I went looking for that commercial on Youtube and couldn't find it. The ones I found have it even shorter, with only "... those wonderful toys".

I remember the full line from when I first saw the movie in 1989, but it could have been my mind filling in what's missing. Also, I probably saw it with subtitles and a possibility could have been that those had it.

It is pretty common that the subtitles will have alternate text based on the script while at other times it comes from someone who just listened to the movie and typed it. Smaller tv stations used to post job announcements for typing subtitles. Having watched the full movie prior to cuts, they likely typed what they remembered.

 

[drusselmeyer]

Sometimes, the edited versions are actually better.

Angelheart was such a sick and twisted film that was improved by editing for television. The excessive detailed gorewas a distraction to the story and one of the few examples that I can think of in favor of tv editing.

 

[Mottrex]

Sometimes, the edited versions are actually better.

Angelheart was such a sick and twisted film that was improved by editing for television. The excessive detailed gorewas a distraction to the story and one of the few examples that I can think of in favor of tv editing.

The UK TV edit had so much taken out it...
You could have been watching an episode of Neighbours, it was just soooo dull and scenes cut I'm guessing to fit it into the schedule made it a right mess.

 

[Solo4114]

I've never seen it, but there's a version of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II that is presented in chronological order and which includes scenes from the novel that didn't make it into the theatrical or home video releases of either film.