It was to be a big sprawling Roadshow western. But since it was released in 1969, Roadshow epics were on the down hill swing then. It was filmed in Super Panavision 70, but not sure if it was ever shown in 70mm nor not sure that it was even released on the Roadshow circuit but I understand some people heard an overture before the film, so I guess it had a few showings. I understand that it was cut by a little over 10 minutes before it was released. I have read in several articles that the missing footage has survived, but maybe it is somewhere in South America (LOL).
I had also heard that a lot was cut, but when I started asking questions, the number I kept getting back was a little over 10 minutes. This could have been just another cut from the studio during release, while the actual film delivered to the studio by the director could have been much longer and Columbia cut it before anyone saw it. AFI just lists one running time of128 minutes.
It wasn't re-released..it was supposed to be according to Digital Bits but I have seen nothing yet, just the old release which is fullscreen. It was for a short time released by Sony with WS on one side and full on the other but thats hard to find and pricey if you do. It's a film that needs WS to be appreciated.
It was shown in 70mm when it first opened in London. I didn't get to see it at that time but I don't think it was given a Roadshow presentation.
It had a strange release because of the interference of the producer, Carl Foreman. It had orginally been shot for Cinerama(hence Super Panavision) but there was a falling out between Foreman and Cinerama and apparently some scenes were eventually shot in 35mm. It looked a bit of a mess and as Columbia at that time was fully involved in the roadshowing of Funny Girl, the film 'escaped" more than being released.
Actually the original aspect ratio is more like 2.20:1 having been shot in 70mm. The Scope reduction is probably cropped to 2.35:1 which is what the ratio of my DVD appears to be.
