Status of GBU rumor?

[KC]

I recall once hearing a rumor that a rerelease of GBU was in the works, with the extra 14 minutes of footage that's on the DVD but was never in an English-language release. Since there's no English soundtrack, this was to be newly dubbed by Eastwood and Wallach, with another actor imitating Van Cleef. Does anyone recall the origin of this rumor, and has anyone heard anything about it lately?  

[shorty larsen]

Yes KC, I hace the GBU DVD with those extra 14 minutes. I have purchased it in France and the DVD has 6 or 7 extra scenes that were not included on the film release. It's a french DVD release I must say.

And there are some very interesting scenes, for example Lee van Cleef entering in a confederate fort, where all the soldiers were massacred, and Van Cleef is (obviously) completely indefferent to those soldiers. As always, an excelent music by Morricone for this scene.

You can find this DVD on www.amazon.fr if you want.

[KC]

Yes, shorty, those scenes are on the English-language Region One DVD too (released in 1998), but the dialogue is in Italian, and they're not part of the film, but presented as extras. How is it on the French DVD?

No, what I'm talking about is a rumor that these scenes would actually be redubbed into English by the original actors (except Van Cleef), or rather dubbed for the first time, because there was never an English language track for them. It would then be re-released to theaters before coming out on DVD.

[shorty larsen]

You're right.

The extra scenes are excatly that, "extra scenes", and they're not included in the movie. So you can't see the the real context of the scenes.

On the french DVD the extra scenes are in english.

[KC]

They're in English, not in Italian?   That's strange. What language is the rest of the film in?

[shorty larsen]

The DVD is a french one.

The movie is ONLY in french no other languages, no subtitles.

But the language of the extra scenes is english.

[visitor]

I'm shocked to hear they are in English as i have been repeatedly told that the deleted scenes were never dubbed into English. Supposedly the English language tracks were made after these scenes had been removed. Were the voices of the original actors or studio voices?

[cigar joe]

Yes that's the question are they already dubbed by Eastwood, Van Cleef, and Wallach. Come to think of it at what point was the original dubing done, and if done before editing how would anyone know at that time which prints would be which, hummm..... A question for the professor?

[visitor]

As far as I've read, the English dubbing was done   *after* the Italian release was trimmed-with Eastwood doing his in the USA. These scenes were *not* dubbed by Eastwood, Van Cleef or Wallach at that time.  The rumor was/is that Clint and Eli were going to dub the deleted scenes with a voice double doing LVC. (the voices of Eastwood and Wallach were going to be altered electronically to make them sound as they did 35 yeras ago.) I read on another board the Eli Wallach claimed to have finished his dubbing but this wasn't verified.

[KC]

This story now HAS been verified! The restored GBU is coming to New York in May, then to other major U.S. cities. After the theatrical premiere, AMC will premiere the restoration "uncut and without commercials (the first broadcast only)" on May 10.

Thanks to Garry Cowell for posting the link in this forum, in this thread.

I'm going to repeat the link here:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s745GBU.html

It's from the DVD Savant, who I think is a reliable source.

[Il Buono]

I don't really see the purpose of integrating the deleted scenes in the movie.  I know, it's cool to see unseen footage, but it has a reason why it's been DELETED.  I've seen those scenes, they are good, some of them are great, but they don't really fit in the general mood, atmosphere of GBU I think.  But hey, maybe I have to see the 'complete' version first.

[visitor]

some of those scenes were included in the initial showing of the film. They were edited out before dubbing into English.
the same thing happened with ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and DUCK YOU SUCKER and ONCE UPON...AMERICA.  Leone's last three films were butchered beyond recognotion by the studios that released them.

[Cusser]

Of the extra GBU scenes I've seen, I would cut out the  "six being the perfect number" dialog after Blondie kills one of angel Eyes' men.  I'd keep in the other scenes for sure, especially the desert scene and the scene leaving Father Ramirez' mission where the road is littered with dead soldiers and Tuco talks about the graveyard being in Texas.  And the Rebel hideout scene also shows wounded and maimed soldiers, bolstering anti-war idea.  Of course, I also would've had the note say "Adios, idiots" rather than "See you soon, idiots". But then again, I'm glad I never saw the trailer until after I'd seen the film in 1968 because too many trailers give away way too much, back then and now.

[cigar joe]

Well I'm close (about 100 miles) enough to try and see the Tribeca Film Festival showing, I checked the site but they are not ready to sell tickets yet nor do they have a schedule yet.

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.com/opencms/opencms/tff/

[Mannaja]

I would keep the "six being the perfect number" scene (I really love it!) and cut out the prolonged "Tuco taunts Blondie in the desert" scene; it gets tedious and overlong, I think. But keep in mind that these scenes all were in the original Italian version, which means it´s the way Leone wanted it. The only added scene (as far as I know at the moment) not appearing in the Italian version is the infamous "cavescene" where Tuco hires the gunmen to Kill Blondie. A little odd that Leone didn´t want that scene in the picture, in my opinion...