Brian W.

Examples of obvious overdubbing in films

I mean English language films where a line here and there is overdubbed, but the line they originally spoke was clearly different than what is dubbed in.

I can think of two examples, from two of the great films:

In Citizen Kane, in the projection room, the newspaperman says, "How is he [Kane] any different from Ford, or Hearst for that matter? Or John Doe?" That's not what his lips are saying. The original line was clearly something a bit different. I wonder what it was, and if it was changed because it was a line about William Randolph Hearst.

And in Gone With the Wind, there are at least two lines that were obviously changed in dubbing. On Rhett's line, "Do you think you can parade through the Yankee army with a sick woman, a baby, and a simple-minded darky?" it appears from his lip movements that the original line was "simple-minded n**er."

And when Rhett and Scarlett are on the boat on their honeymoon, Rhett says, "Then you can tell everyone to go to the devil, as you've always wanted to," and Scarlett replies, "But you were the main one I wanted to go to the devil." It appears her original line was either "But you were the main one I wanted to tell that to," or "you were the main one I wanted to go to hell"... which would mean Rhett's line was dubbed over, too.

There must be some other examples of films where dialogue was changed in post production, often because of the Production Code, and the voice doesn't quite match up with the lips.

Mark_vdH

In Dr Strangelove, Major Kong actually says (referring to the survival kit):



But because of John F. Kennedy's assassination (because of which the movie was delayed by a few months), "Dallas" was changed to "Vegas". You can clearly see him say "Dallas" though.

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JonZ

2 that come to mind for me:

The Doors at Andy Worhols place"Jim, remember California?" "Uh no not really"

Malcolm X The scene where Malcolms leaveing a auditorium and says "See you next week" and you hear "Ill be there" But no one is standing there. Theres also a "I damn sure aint Satan" that sound overdubbed.

Alex Spindler

Speed - Dennis Hopper tells Sir Keanu Reeves, "You be back real fast"

When I first saw this, I was going to put forward Andie McDowell's entire performance in Greystoke.

I've also see tons of oblique or over the shoulder dialogue exchanges where they've clearly redubbed the other actor (significant sections of Basic does this).

Jim Meeks

How about Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Indy and Elsa come to the castle to look for Dr. Jones, Sr.

Indy claims to be of Scottish nobility on a visit to peruse the tapestries.

The butler's line in the movie is "We have many tapestries, but if you are a Scottish lord, I am Mickey Mouse." The lips aren't even close, and the voice in the dub seems a little off as well.

Bill Williams

In Last Crusade the "Mickey Mouse" is dubbed over the actor's original voicing of the line where he says, "...then I am Jesse Owens!"

In the extended version of Superman, one of the Army officers says, "Someone's trying to destroy Metropolis!" But if you look at his lips carefully, you can clearly make out him actually saying, "Someone's trying to destroy New York!"

Also throughout Superman, it's obvious that Christopher Reeve dubbed over Jeff East's lines for the teenage Clark Kent. Yet if you look at the extended version of the film, the restored footage has East's own voice for the restored scenes of teenage Clark.

\"I have in my heart what it takes to run with the big dogs in this life, and nobody can say otherwise.\"

\"Attention all personnel. Tonight\'s movie is a holdover from last week and will be shown right after supper, which is also a holdover from last week.\"

Matthew Marino

Why are there so many in the Last Crusade? The first one I thought of was from that movie. River Phoenix clearly isn't saying "Holy Smokes" in the beginning on top of the train.

chung_sotheby

I still think the most obvious case of overdubbing I have ever seen is where there is no dialogue spoken. What I mean by this is the infamous "Nose Whistle" by Arnold Schwartzenegger in Predator, when he points to Apollo Creed or The Body Ventura to pick up the latina chick, and a distinct and sharp "whistle" sounds out from Arnold without his lips moving. Pretty hilarious, and they still haven't fixed it after all these years.

Shawn_KE

How about where there was supposed to be lines.

In Xmen where Jean is reading Wolverines mind. His lips move, but there is no dialog.

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Jefferson Morris

How come no one has mentioned the first one that came to my mind?

Blade Runner, when Deckard interrogates the snake salesman. It's pretty blatant on the big screen.

Rumor has it that this may be fixed in some future edition of the film (which may or may not ever make it to DVD, but we've got other long-standing threads on that subject), but I'm not sure if that's just fanboy wish-listing.

--Jefferson Morris

P.S. Galaxy Quest also comes to mind. Sigourney Weaver pretty clearly says "F*ck that!" but the line was softened. I think you hear "Forget that!" or something similar.

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