Rollerball: R-Rated? (1 Viewer)

[Randall Dorr]

Wait, now I'm confused. Was your at the fact that my comment was off topic, or the fact that everyone knows Weinstein is evil and there's no reason to point it out?

 

[John Sturge]

They aren't releasing the PG-13 version of Rollerball? Ah man, the PG-13 version was so bad it was funny. Come to think of it my friend and I were the only ones laughing in the theater....

Better idea for this movie, destroy it.

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

They aren't releasing the PG-13 version of Rollerball? Ah man, the PG-13 version was so bad it was funny. Come to think of it my friend and I were the only ones laughing in the theater....

The night vision scene is in both versions of the film, so I'd bet a dollar that the "BOOING!" noise will be in the R version. If not, I'm going to be pissed.

 

[Randall Dorr]

your post looks like you're just trying to get you post count up

I've been a member of HTF for more than a year and THIS is only #78. If I was trying to get my count up, I'd have quite a few more than that.

To actually say something about the thread's subject:

I would almost certainly rent the R-rated version.

 

[Patrick G]

So are you saying Rebecca's nudity was blurred out in the PG-13 version or in the R-rated DVD version?

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

To actually say something about the thread's subject:

Hmmm, it's about damn time, but I'd still like to know why the hell you made a comment about Harvey Weinstein in a Rollerball thread when he has nothing to do with the film itself, MGM/UA or any of the film's cast or crew. There are other places on this forum where you could've posted that.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Hey! Do you think MGM will also release the SE of the ORIGINAL?

I mean, it's already out in the UK and australia. Anamorphic, commentaries...

The current Region 1 release has a director's commentary track. I haven't dug through my pile in awhile however to see if it was 16*9 enhanced. But if you like "special features" it has a swell themed menu!

(This is a joke, refrencing DVD's that offer menu's and RSDL construction as Special Features).

 

[Randall Dorr]

My original post is deleted. Happy?

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Quote:

Yes, maybe next time you will know better than to troll.

 

[Randall Dorr]

Yes, maybe next time you will know better than to troll.

I didn't realize I was trolling. I know HTF has higher standards than most forums, but I don't think that means we're never EVER allowed to post anything that doesn't relate to the subject 1000%.

 

[JohnS]

Rollerball SUCKED!
But I'm very curious about the R-rated version.
Looks like I'll have to rent it, to see if it improves in quality

 

[Anthony Thorne]

For what it's worth, I was the one who posted the original Harvey Weinstein reference, in the middle of a lengthy anecdote that tangentially relates to what we are discussing here - studios interfering with our favourite director's movies. Randall's one or two sentence response to my post hardly seemed likely to disrail the course of this thread, but that's just my opinion.

Give me a slow afternoon and I could probably pick out dozens of HTF threads that have, at one point or another, brushed up against other topics. Heck - some of the more frivolous HTF threads have, at times, featured more gags, smileys and one-liners than actual discussion. Of course, I'm getting off-topic myself here...

Powerful twits like Weinstein are directly responsible for the scissor-happy treatment that many interesting films seem to get nowadays, especially during their release in the States. It sucks that the only subtitled version of MALENA available to me is missing 10 minutes or more in comparison to the unsubtitled Italian disc. It sucks harder that Weinstein has probably got his mitts on other interesting films in the past, and will likely treat some important future titles in the same manner.

Of course, the real burning puzzle revolves around the fact that John McTiernan has elected to remake not one, but TWO films by Norman Jewison. After THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR and ROLLERBALL, what's next - MOONSTRUCK and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF?

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

For what it's worth, I was the one who posted the original Harvey Weinstein reference, in the middle of a lengthy anecdote that tangentially relates to what we are discussing here - studios interfering with our favourite director's movies.

MGM would've never had to go to the editing room if Rollerball hadn't sucked in the first place (even Harry Knowles said the R-rated cut wasn't that good). When the MGM execs saw John's first edit of the film, I'm sure they knew the film was going to bomb. Originally, the film would've been released as an R-rated film, but a new studio executive signed on and he put the film back to the editing room to get a PG-13 rating so the film could have some chance at making money. If the exec was smart, he would've just released it in the Summer of 2001 with the R-rating. The movie might've actually made some money, but it was delayed for almost a year and millions of dollars were spent to trying to polish up a turd. Sadly, that didn't help and what we were left with was an even hacked up version of a bad movie.
Now unlike Weinstein who edits movies to make them more "Americanized", MGM edited Rollerball (and Supernova two years before) cause in the end, they were just god-awful pieces of crap, and they wanted to make some money off them (Rollerball put MGM in the hole for over $70 million and Supernova put MGM in the hole for around $50 million, but the grosses of such films like Hannibal covered that hole ).
I'd love to see John's original edit of Rollerball, but I'm sure it's almost as bad as the PG-13 version.

 

[GregBarron]

Hey Matthew....How did you know about all these things being cut from the Theatrical version?

Greg

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Matt,

Points taken - I remember that Harry Knowles 'preview' of the original ROLLERBALL cut, and have to laugh at the thought of how MGM execs must have reacted when they read it.

 

[Chad R]

I would like to know how longer this cut of the film is. Does anybody know? The cut Harry Knowles saw (the R-rated cut before MGM went to go hack it up) was somewhere around two hours (110 - 120 minutes maybe?) and the PG-13 version clocked in around 96 minutes.

The promo info lists the running time as 1hr 40mins.

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Quote:

A lot of the news about the film being cut was around movie web sites last year with information on what was being cut and what not. And if you've seen the movie, you know where the edits are (as the editor did one hell of a piss poor job).

 

[Kevin Leonard]

Matthew Chmiel: Unofficial Moderator and Resident Expert on Rebecca Romijn's Deleted Nude Scenes.
I might pick this up as I do need more "It's a Saturday night" guilty pleasures in my collection...but we'll see what the reviews say.

 

[Robert George]

The MGM press kit arrived today (including a VHS screener I won't watch). The press release lists Rollerball as a "never-before-seen" R rated version with a running time of 99 minutes. The DVD screener will probably not show up for another 4-6 weeks (June 18th street).

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

Yes, maybe next time you will know better than to troll.

Slow down, Officer.

I've often wondered why film makers even bother to make an R rated film, only to hack it down to PG-13. Then I remember that the MPAA's definition of 'R' changes on a film by film basis.