NEW DIRECTORS CUT

[drinkanddestroy]

Scorsese and the Film Foundation are operating a scheme directly targeted toward the Leone board, where they will release "new extended directors cuts" of OUATIA, minute-by-minute added and restored every few years, to steal our money for years after the death of the eldest members. only I will see the full cut in 2078

now you are sounding like DJ.

Maybe I am naive, but I would hope that Martin Scorsese – if nobody else – actually does care about film preservation for its own sake and wouldn't hold out on new footage if he actually has it, just so that he could release more of it in a few years and make money again.

Scorsese did mention in an interview that (as we already know from STDWD) there are another 25 minutes or so that Leone intended should be in the film. Wasn't clear why they didn't add the whole 45 minutes in – do they not have those other 25 minutes (even in the crappy form that they have these 22 minutes) or are they holding out to sell a new BRD in a few years?
I would hope that they aren't holding out on us ... on the other hand, that option – bad as it is – is better than the other option, which is that they don't even have those other 25 minutes at all. I would hope/assume that those other 25 minutes are indeed around somewhere, in some crappy form.
Yeah, that's the ultimate dream, to get the full approx. 45 minutes that Leone wanted, the running time of approx. 4.5 hours

[dave jenkins]

Treat Williams mentions that Martin Sheen auditioned but didn't get a part whilst Mickey Rourke was around at the time complaining "I can’t even get a meeting!". He's full of praise for De Niro and gives an insight into Leone's way of working.

e.g. "Working with Sergio, who was so kind but also so rough. There was one actor, a guy you just couldn’t scare if you tried, he had to show fear at a moment. Sergio had the prop guy hand him a tommy gun and he screamed ‘Action’ and opened up the tommy gun. The actor was so startled. The shot worked."

I think the machine gun quote is actually from Forsythe.

Here's the Williams quote I most enjoyed:

“I have to tell you, that gasoline hose with which I’m being doused as the young version of my character is introduced: that hose had been very, very recently used…as a gasoline hose! As Cary Grant used to write in sections of his scripts, ‘N.A.R.’ ‘No Acting Required.’ Oh my goodness. It was just foul.”

Thanks very much for posting the link, Chris. I loved reading that article.

[drinkanddestroy]

I got the BRD ... I skipped around a little; eventually I'll watch the whole thing straight, but I assume that whoever is interested in a report already has whatever report they need from what's been written by those who have seen it ...

[dave jenkins]

Thanks, chris. The 2011 BD is, for now, the way to go. I'll stay pat.

[rot66]

If anyone wonders, like I did but bought it anyway, the new US Collector's Edition supposed to be region A does seem to be "All Region". At least if worked fine on my region B BR player.


Tor

[mike siegel]

I have it too now. Leone, the master of quality cinema - I have 243 Blu-ray's by now, only for three discs I have to adjust the color settings of my TV set, all three being Leone titles. How embarrassing.   

[Novecento]

Wow for a late adopter of the BD technology, you sure did amass quite a collection quickly!

I saw the one-disc edition in Barnes & Noble (book store) the other day for $13.99. I couldn't resist so bought a copy. Now it's just a question of finding the time to watch it.

[mike siegel]

Wow for a late adopter of the BD technology, you sure did amass quite a collection quickly!

I saw the one-disc edition in Barnes & Noble (book store) the other day for $13.99. I couldn't resist so bought a copy.

I supply a lot of labels worldwide with images, docs and booklets... that explains it I suppose .

I bought the 2-disc Blu-ray in Germany for €11.- the other day - I couldn't resist either with that price attached to it...
Next to KILLING FIELDS it is my favorite film of the 80s. The 'new' footage looks bad, that's true. I'm gonna
watch it once I suppose. I can't imagine the 'new' cut will have a tremendous impact on me since from a creative
film making point of view the European theatrical version is pretty much perfect. Also I'd rather would have seen addtitional
scenes of those early sequences (the boy gang & Jennifer). Anyway, the colors don't bother me much (since I adjust
my TV set to get rid of too much yellow), but cropped images I loath.

[drinkanddestroy]

I supply a lot of labels worldwide with images, docs and booklets... that explains it I suppose .

I bought the 2-disc Blu-ray in Germany for €11.- the other day - I couldn't resist either with that price attached to it...
Next to KILLING FIELDS it is my favorite film of the 80s. The 'new' footage looks bad, that's true. I'm gonna
watch it once I suppose. I can't imagine the 'new' cut will have a tremendous impact on me since from a creative
film making point of view the European theatrical version is pretty much perfect. Also I'd rather would have seen addtitional
scenes of those early sequences (the boy gang & Jennifer). Anyway, the colors don't bother me much (since I adjust
my TV set to get rid of too much yellow), but cropped images I loath.

I agree that having a cropped image is unforgivable, but I wonder  – and this is complete speculation, I am just asking – if it may have to do with the slight difference in aspect ratio of the movie and HDTV's:  HDTV's are 1.78:1, while the movie is very-slightly0wider 1.85:1 Since they are very close, the studio perhaps decided that rather than having tiny black bars on top and bottom, they'll just show a little less on the sides.... or possibly show a little more on top and bottom. So one version chose one way and another version chose another, and pretty soon you get these discrepancies with one version having more information in the frame om one side, and another version having more on another, etc.. When there is a huge difference (e.g. 1.33:1 or 2.35:1) then they'll just have the fat black bars on the sides or the top/bottom. But if they decide it's just a minor difference between 1.78:1 and 1.85:1, they get stupid and decide that a minor cropping won't hurt anybody.
Again, this is just a guess; I really don't know anything about it.

Then again, different versions of DVD/BRD's often have different amounts of information in the frame, even when I don't think there is any discrepancy in aspect ratio - even for old movies which are all in one of the 4:3 aspect ratios; I presume that the various BRD versions are all the same aspect ratio, but still various versions have different amounts of information in the frame. There are many examples, but here are two: look at beaver's screencap comparisons for the two BRD versions of:
 Double Indemnity http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_reviews_63/double_indemnity_blu-ray.htm
 Casablanca http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews56/casablanca_blu-ray.htm
the two BRD versions clearly have different information in the frame  – often, one version can have more info on top/bottom, while another version can have more on one side or the other – and it is really maddening for a serious film fan. Even if it's just a tiny portion of the frame and you wouldn't notice it without scrutinizing screencap comparisons ... it's just maddening for a purist to know that one version is cropped

[Novecento]

... Next to KILLING FIELDS it is my favorite film of the 80s...

Tlaking of Roland Joffe, here's the trailer for his extremely delayed latest project:

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

[Novecento]

So here’s my take on the extra footage.

Noodles chats with cemetery director
Not strictly necessary. However, Noodles’ noting of the license plate ties in with the car explosion below. Perhaps the cutting of this scene partially explains the cutting of the below scene whose excision is otherwise a real loss to the picture.

Gang in water / car explosion
Absolutely essential. The whole thing is shot and edited beautifully with a wonderful visual transition between the two time periods. Furthermore the introduction of the garbage truck helps with storyline continuity by linking with the end of the film. This should never have been cut.

Noodles chats with chauffeur
Not necessary.

Noodles meets Eve at Moe's place / Deborah in station cafe
The beginning introducing Eve is essential for the storyline; the end with Deborah drinking in the cafe is essential for stylistic continuity and is a really beautiful little shot; the sex scene in the middle is unnecessary. After Noodles gets up to leave Moe’s speakeasy with Eve and asks if he can call her Deborah, there should have been a cut directly to Deborah in the cafe. This would have tied together the two of them drinking their sorrows away (Noodles at the bar, Deborah in the cafe) with Noodles’ mention of Deborah allowing a verbal link to accompany the visual. Unfortunately the sex scene between Noodles and Eve between these two scenes does not allow for this continuity.

Deborah as Cleopatra
Not necessary

Elderly O’Donnell meets with Bailey/Max
Not necessary

[dave jenkins]

Elderly O’Donnell meets with Bailey/Max
Not necessary

It actually hurts the picture, it's so boring. It extends the time we spend in Bailey's study (not the most interesting place) and thus diminishes Noodles eventual arrival. It also gives us more time to study the defects in Woods' makeup. The confrontation between Bailey and Noodles is the more interesting exchange anyway; we need to get to it as soon as we can.

[PowerRR]

Yeah the extended cut sucks. Waste of $25. It's like spending money to watch an ugly, yellow piece of shit with 22 minutes of even shittier shit.

[stanton]

But that O'Donnel does not resurface towards the end of the film was always one of my minor complaints. It made the character too redundant, and it felt wrong. Without this last scene it would have been better not to show him on the 68 time level.

But then I haven't watched the scene itself so far.

[drinkanddestroy]

But that O'Donnel does not resurface towards the end of the film was always one of my minor complaints. It made the character too redundant, and it felt wrong. Without this last scene it would have been better not to show him on the 68 time level.

But then I haven't watched the scene itself so far.

whether or not they had restored that scene with O'Donnell in Bailey's study, it was absolutely necessary for that 229MV to show the scene of O'Donnell in 1968 on the tv in Fat Moe's. That tv report is the first indication (and I believe the only indication, until Noodles mentions it to Deborah in her dressing room at the end) that Noodles's return has something to do with this probe into Bailey and the union-pension-fund scandal. (This is especially true in the 229MV, which cut out the scene of the elderly Noodles seeing the car at the cemetery and then seeing the same car blow up at Bailey's mansion). If they hadn't shown that tv report, then I believe there would be no mention of Bailey until Noodles talks to Deborah in her dressing room at the end. That would - in my humble, respectful, polite opinion - make zero sense.