TV Versions of Films that are Much Different from the Theatrical Versions (1 Viewer)

[CoreyII]

This is an interesting thread. What are the differences between the the theatrical version of Halloween II and the t.v. version?

 

[Matt Stone]

Here's what IMDB has listed for the TV Cut of Halloween 2:

In 2002 American Movie Classics aired the alternate version of Halloween II as part of their Monsterfest Film Festival. This was the first time since its broadcast back in 1984. Among changed/added footage:
Jimmy never does find Mrs. Alves' body, and it is only implied that she died. Also, Dr. Mixter's body is never found. It is only hinted at that he dies. Janet's death is completely wiped out, and she tells Karen that she is leaving the hospital, and she gets away. Also, for Jill's death, it never shows Michael stabbing her in the back, it just shows him raising her in the air, and dropping her. While she is lying on the ground you hear her grumble in pain hinting that she survived as well. The ending shows Jimmy walking around the hospital while Laurie and Loomis fight Michael. Then when the explosion occurs, Jimmy slips and hits his head. The ending shows him in the ambulance with Laurie and they drive off into the sunset. This version has now been shown in subsequent "MonsterFest" Film Festivals and is actually their most played film around Halloween.

 

[WillG]

There is actually a lot more to it that what the IMDB has. I have the tape of the T.V. version. I will try to get a more comprehensive list of differences on here later tonight.

 

[David_Blackwell]

Matt, I didn't misunderstand you. I know the workprint copies have bad audio/video quality. I'm just making a comment on how i liked the Producer's Cut. I would be happy if the Producer's Cut got a DVD Release because it deserves one.

 

[Damin J Toell]

It's not just me. Pretty much everyone was surprised when Anchor Bay discovered the scope negatives for those scenes in 1999. Until that time, it had been generally assumed that they were shot in 4x3. That's how they were presented on the Criterion LD, for example, as they best element they could find was the broadcast master. Here's how DVDReview's Production Diary for the 1999 AB DVD describes the find:

"But while digging even further through the materials, Bill [Lustig] also found the original negative reel of the scenes shot for the broadcast verion of the movie. “And you know what? They were shot in Cinemascope, too!” This was truly stunning news! While the film has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, so far belief always had it that the sequences John Carpenter shot later to add to the TV version of the film were shot in a flat aspect ratio."

I'm not the only one who was surprised (or even "stunned"!). It's kind of funny that now, five years out from Lustig's discovery, people forget (or are unaware of) the preceding 20 years in which it was assumed that Carpenter shot these scenes flat. It was very much a surprise when the find happened, and I still maintain that it was an odd move; it's surely a unique enough occurrence to deem as odd in my mind. 'Nuff said.

DJ

 

[Matt Stone]

I agree with you 100%.

Interesting post, Damin.

 

[WillG]

The film opens with the titles in front. The prologue showing the end of H1 now comes immediately after the main titles. In the prologue, the first time Loomis shoots Michael, you hear an audible scream from Laurie, but it seems like the voice might have been someone other than Jamie Lee Curtis. Also the way the shooting of Michael and him falling off the balcony is shown, Loomis does indeed only fire six shots instead of the mistake of seven shots fired in the theatrical version.

I believe that after Loomis finds Michael's body and sees the blood on his fingers a slightly different audio cue is used that plays over the dialogue of Loomis telling the neigbhor to call the police. Instead of the neighbor saying "Is this some kind of joke...I've been trick or treated to death tonigh" he says "Was that a Halloween joke?" There is no "You don't know what death is!" from Loomis. Police sirens are heard in the background. The theme music starts to play as this is where the main titles would have originally came in. The film cuts right to the ambulance and police at the house where Laurie is pulled out. This means that the theme music is abruptly cut off.

The boy with the razor blade in his mouth and his mother going to the hospital is gone, but you can still see them at the front desk of the hospital when Laurie is being brought in.

When Laurie is being drugged, there is a cut to a shot of Jimmy and Bud instead of the needle going into her arm. There is a Laurie P.O.V. from the gurney of the drugs taking effect. Mrs. Alves says "Let's get her undressed." They begin to remove the unconcious Laurie's shirt. You get to see her in her bra. Mrs. Alves then dismisses Jimmy and Bud from the area.

There scene where Bennett Tramer is killed has some different music cues and Dialouge loops or differnet takes entirely. Once Tramer has started to burn, Brackett keeps yelling, "Is it Him!" Loomis exclaims that he does not know. Hunt shows up and his "They found three kids.........One of them was Annie" is from an alternate line reading. He says the line quite differently from the theatrical version.

After the Bennett Tramer scene we now finally see the scene of Michael wandering around the neighborhood that originally followed the main titles. The trailing off of the opening titles theme is still there which makes for an awkward musical jump cut. Becuase this scene has been placed later in the film, they cut around Michael seeing Loomis meeting up with Brackett where Loomis keeps yelling, "I shot him six times......!"

As Mrs. Elrod is watching the police bulletin, we actually see Michael entering the house behind he. We see him from a 3rd person perspective start to reach for the knife on the cutting board. We don't see the P.O.V. shot of Michael's bloody hand picking up the knife or him leaving the house from the 3rd person perspecive. We see of P.O.V. shot of him leaving. The shot of Mrs. Elrod touching the blood on the cutting board is replaced with a still head shot of Michael, then cuts back to Mrs. Elrod screaming.

Alice's death scene is not in this version. The film cuts to commerical after she says on the phone "He probably got angry and decided to start beating her. The film picks up back in the hospital. There is an extra scene of Jimmy asking about Laurie's condition. She tells Jimmy she is going to have a scar and that Dr. Mixter gave her a double dose of sedative.

Next there is an extra scene with an obviously drunk Dr. Mixter commenting on Laurie's course of treatment. He tells the nurses to try to keep Laurie "As quiet as possible" Jill comes into the the room and informs Mrs. Alves and Dr. Mixter of the body count from the earlier murders. Mrs. Alves tells Jill to go get Janet from her break.

There is an extra scene of Bud, Jill and Mr. Garrett watching the news coverage about the killing. Mr. Garrett is convinced that drugs were the cause. Bud gives a quick commentary on drugs and society.

During the shot of Michael wandering the outside of the hospital on the surveilance camera monitor there is a voiceover bulletin from the TV Mr. Garrett is watching stating that the killer is believed to have burned to death (Not from Robert Monday). Mr. Garrett buzzes Karen in, asks her if she heard the news and then informs her it was "Teenage Punks on Drugs"

There is an extra scene with Jimmy informing Karen that Michael Myers is believed to be dead. The camera swings to a P.O.V. shot of Michael in the hospital walking toward an exit door which leads to the stairwell. An errie music cue plays that, I believe, is never heard in the theatrical version.

There is an extra scene of Mrs. Alves trying to reach Laurie's parents. She chastises Janet for not immediately trying to reach them. Jimmy tries to sneak around Mrs. Alves to get to Laurie's room. He signals Janet to cover for him. Mrs. Alves catches him, but grants him two minutes.

The scene with Jimmy and Laurie discussing Michael is extended. Instead of starting with "They should have handled him more carefully....." we see Jimmy entering the room with a can of coke that he had promised her earlier and expressed his disbelief at what happened earlier. The dialogue then turns into what is shown in the theatrical version.

That's all I can get to for now. I'll try to continue on later.

 

[Matthew Prince]

If anyone cares, in the UK, Last Action Hero is always cut if it's shown before 9.00 pm on Network TV.

After the start, when Danny Madigan's opens the door for the 2nd time to sneak out to the movie theatre, all scenes featuring the mugger barging in, handcuffing him to the toilet and trashing the house are completely deleted!

Instead you only see Danny check the door and see a person walk past, THEN he's out on the street walking. What's stupid is that he has BRUISED hands... which aren't explained!

Those scenes were important because it's right to show that a 13-year-old shouldn't be on the streets at MIDNIGHT, because something like that could happen or even worse.

Also in the helicopter shoout-out in the lift, when the doors open there's a quick cut so you don't see the gangsters get hit full on.

Anyway, the British rating board gave the movie a '15' so it missed it's target audience by about 2 years and it was released in the same summer as Jurassic Park

 

[WillG]

Here are the rest.

Mr. Garrett's death scene is slightly different. The shots of Garrett searching the storeroom are interspersed with shots of Michael supposed to be approaching the storeroom. There is an outtake shot of him crossing a hall into a door. Then a recycled shot of him walking down the stairwell from later in the film, then some shots of him walking through the boiler room from when he was chasing Laurie. The "Pursuit" theme plays up until Garrett's death.

There is an extra scene of Jimmy sneaking back into Laurie's room. Jill complains that he is going to get them all in trouble. Jimmy tells Laurie that Michael is dead, of course she does not believe him and insists that they have to get out of the hospital. She tries to get up but Jimmy restrains her. She becomes more desparate and keeps insisting that Michael can't die. Jill, Janet, Mrs. Alves and Dr. Mixter come in. Mixter preps a needle to sedate Laurie. As he is about to give the injection, the lights in the hospital go out. This is the last time Dr. Mixter is seen.

In the scene when the Dentist is examing the body of Bennett Tramer, some of Loomis's dialogue is slightly different. There is an added scene after this of Loomis and Hunt walking out of the coroner's office. Hunt tells Loomis that he knew Annie Brackett and the other kids. He insists he wants to stop Michael. Loomis suggested that if Myers was wounded, he may have tried to go back home.

When the townspeople are lynching Michael's house there is some additional dialogue of the cop on the roof telling the people to go home, they have searched the house and Michael is not there. After the cop tells Hunt and Loomis about the break in at the school, the "Stinger" sound that is used in the film a few times is played here. There is one last additional shot of the townspeople lynching the house.

There is an extra scene of Janet talking to Karen. She informs Karen about the storeroom break in and how she is creeped out about that and by Laurie insisting that Michael is still alive and coming to get her. Janet tries to remind herself that Michael is dead. This is the last time Janet is seen. This extras scene then cuts to Karen getting a scare by the call buzzer from the room down the hall.

There is some extra dialogue when Bud is trying to convince Karen to join him in the therapy spa. The scene cuts right to the scene of Bud and Karen in the spa. The start of the scene is slighly extended. When Michael comes up behind Karen, it seems to be a different take. The line reading are slightly different. There is an extra shot of Michael's face before Karen turns around and sees him herself. Michael dunks her, there is a cut to the temp. gauge and then it goes to commercial.

The scenes of the elementary school, Loomis's discussion with Marion, Loomis and Marion leaving the school and Loomis and Marion in the car where Michael and Laurie's link is revealed are now cut together into one long sequence. The shot of "Samhain" on the blackboard is replaced with a shot of Hunt. For some reason, some of the details of the timeline of Young Michael and Young Laurie are cut. The stinger sound effect is played when Loomis fires his warning shot out the window of the car.

Right after the above scenes, there are some additional shots of the hospital. There is a additional shot of Michael walking down one of the halls. The stinger sound effect is once again used. This leads up to Jimmy finding Laurie in her catatonic state. This scene is slightly extended with some extra dialogue between Jimmy and Jill. Jill guesses at what might be wrong with Laurie. At this point the film cuts to Jimmy searching for Mrs. Alves. The scene of Janet finding the dead Dr. Mixter and then her being killed herself is gone, leaving their disappearences unexplained. Jill leaves Laurie's room to respond to a buzz by another room. The film then makes an odd cut to the beginning of Laurie's dream sequence. We cut right from her catitonia to her appearing to sleep peacefully.

Laurie's dream sequence is slighly different. The part with Laurie's adopted mother telling he she is not her mother is gone. The drops of blood are gone too. It starts with Young Laurie going to see Michael in the institution. There is additional voice over by a Young Laurie pleading with Young Michael for him not to be angry with her and telling him that She's his sister. She then pleads for him not to hurt her. There are some additional shots of Young Michael here as well.

The scene of Michael entering Laurie's room appears to be comprised of different takes. The stabbing of what is presumably Laurie is cut. There is an additional shot of Michael picking up and throwing one of the pillows in apparent frustration. There is an additional shot of Michael closing the door to Laurie's room as he leaves. The music that plays over this scene in the theatrical version is played out for longer.

The scene with Laurie trying to use the telephone is extended. She cries to her mother in the receiver and says "He won't die, Mama"

There is some additional dialogue in the scene where Jimmy and Jill are talking about everyone being gone. There are some additional shots of Jimmy searching the hospital.

There are some additional moanings out of Jill after Michael kills her (I think that this has led some people to believe that Jill was not killed in the TV cut. There is no confirmation of this but an change made later in reference to the body count could be supportive of that theory.)

There is an additional shot of Loomis and Marion in the car en route to the hospital.

The scene in which finds Laurie in the car and tries to get them out is gone.

The Marshall's death is different. Instead of having his throat slashed, Michael gets up and rams the scalpel through his back and out through his chest.

There are some extra shots of Michael pursuing Laurie and Loomis

The scene of Loomis and Laurie releasing all the gas in the operation room is inerspersed with shots of Jimmy wandering the hospital. As the explosion is set off, Jimmy slips on Mrs. Alves blood. There is an additional shot of a gurney burning.

The dialogue between Hunt and the other cop about the body count in the hospital is slightly altered. In this version they don't know for sure.

In the ambulance, a figure in a sheet rises up behind Laurie. It is a bandaged Jimmy. Laurie, through tears, exclaims that "We made it!" They hold hands, the ambulance drives away.

I think so far Halloween II takes the cake in the biggest varience between the theatrical and Television version.

 

[CoreyII]

Hey Will G, thank you for the info.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I think Brazil takes the cake, the meal, and everything else on the table.

 

[Mark Schmitt]

One of my favorite instances of alternate TV versions is the broadcast version of Cheech and Chong's Next Movie.

All the drug references were removed! Details are fuzzy, but I remember the duffle bag of weed they had was now a duffle bag full of diamonds! And they of course still carried it around like it weighed the same as a bag of weed. Oh and even better, their goal of the movie was to be able to build a children's playground! I don't remember exactly how that went about (I missed the beginning), but when they found the bag, Chong says, "Look it's full of diamonds!" (Cut to an obvious insert shot of the bag with diamonds in it) "Now we can build the children's playground!" The movie made no sense whatsoever by the end. Oh, and Chong wasn't flying at the end because the aliens gave him some killer blow, they simply taught him how to fly.

I mean, OK, after writing that last sentence, I admit it didn't make much sense before, but now, it was just completely devoid of sense whatsoever.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

I think this was referenced in an episode of The Simpsons (but I didn't know it until now). Homer was watching an old 70s movie where some guys accidentally grabbed a bag of diamonds instead of the bag with "their stash".

 

[MikeEn]

Mark said:


Yes, and I think we know why, Mark.

 

[Steve Y]

There is also of course the television edit of Brazil, which excises all the dream sequences and re-organizes the rest of the movie into something completely different from the original version (the ending being only one of these things). These differences are of course explored fully and to fascinating effect in the 3-disc Criterion edition.

 

[Shawn_KE]

Thats pretty funny. What was the point in even doing all that to put in on tv?

It's like trying to edit a porno to show on tv.

 

[Mark Schmitt]

D'oh!

 

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

Its funny watching mallrats (or hell any kevin smith movie on tv.) Almost all of jay's lines are badly overdubbed by another actor who sounds nothing like jason mews.

 

[Drew Mertz]

When the Goonies was shown on the disney channel years back they aired a version with the Map burning scene, mad magizine map scene and the Octopuss scene all added back in. I believe there were a few scenes removed or atleast dubbed out anything that wasn't disney approved. I have a horribly gennerated copy and I haven't watched it in years.

 

[Chris Woodard]

Well hell!

Why don't I mention a case of a T.V version of a film being infinitely superior to the theatrical release?

Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander"! Roughly two and a half hours longer, and is Ingmar's preferred cut.

True, it only showed on Swedish T.V... and I would think most film aficionados would know about this (thanks to the beautiful Criterion box set).

Still, it should be pointed out.