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For numerous reasons, these movies were changed for the worse over in the US.
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00:00Thankfully we do now live in an age where it's never been easier to get hold of an
00:04alternate cut of a feature, should the version we witness in our home country differ to another?
00:09Yet that still doesn't change the fact that either due to negative test audience responses,
00:14or studios meddling with a finished creation, these films lost some of their best scenes by
00:19the time they were shown in the United States of America. I'm Gareth from WhatCulture.com
00:24and here are 8 movies where the US version deleted the best scenes.
00:298. Highlander Connor and Rachel's origin story
00:32No one's going to sit here and argue that Highlander is a film that boasts some of the
00:36finest acting performances ever committed to the big screen, but the feature generally comes with
00:42a boatload of charm, a trait that ultimately ensured its cult hit status. What you may not be aware of
00:48however, is the fact that this Sean Connery epic actually had two very different cuts dished out
00:54upon its 1986 release. The US version of the film had a whole 8 minutes trimmed from the runtime,
01:01with a lot of what was seen as European comedy cut. Yet one cut director Russell Mukahi simply could not
01:07understand was the decision to delete one of the film's most engaging moments. Those watching the
01:12US version were deprived of the scene depicting the first meet between Connor McLeod and Rachel
01:17Ellenstein, a scene which saw the immortal man save his eventual adopted daughter from a Nazi soldier in
01:23World War 2. Sure, the line, it's a kind of magic, is something else, but the scene definitely helps
01:29inform the pair's relationship. And who doesn't like watching Nazis get gunned down by immortal scouts?
01:357. Das Boot – Character development and more drawn-out tension
01:40When Wolfgang Petersen's jaw-dropping World War II feature about the crew of a German submarine during
01:46the height of the war hit cinemas in 1981, the resulting 149-minute cut that graced those theatres
01:52was met with a sea of acclaim. However, that initial release in the US and Germany was far from the
02:00whole masterpiece. By the time the BBC decided to bring the rest of the footage shot for this
02:05titanic epic to the small screen in 1984, the end result ran at a whopping 300 minutes overall.
02:122004 would then see this version trimmed down to 293 minutes, with episode recaps left on the cutting
02:18room floor. Both of these massive alternate versions to the earlier theatrical release saw an increased
02:24focus on character development for those spending their time patrolling the treacherous Atlantic Ocean,
02:29and also drew out the action and tension to increase the all-round claustrophobia,
02:34and anxiety felt throughout this period in time. For those who wished for a happy medium between
02:39the more action-orientated 149-minute cut and monstrous-slash-detailed 300-minute series, 1997 saw
02:47Peterson release a director's cut, which boasted that same action but with more of the aforementioned
02:52TV show character development laced into the flick.
02:556. Brazil Love conquers all replaces original ending
03:00This next entry is something of an anomaly, in the fact that the feature was heavily edited for US
03:05audiences, only for the project's director to fight against the studio responsible for butchering their
03:10work, and ultimately succeed in bringing, for the most part, their original version to American screens.
03:16We're talking, of course, about that time Universal decided that Terry Gilliam's daring dystopian sci-fi
03:22movie by the name of Brazil was perhaps a little too bleak for audiences across the pond.
03:27So, instead of releasing the 142-minute original cut that had spread its way across the rest of the
03:33world, the studio decided to do away with the film's gripping ending, which saw Jonathan Pryce's
03:38Sam Lowry pulling off a dramatic escape from central services only to cut back to him actually being
03:43lobotomized. This was apparently due to said ending testing badly with audiences in the states,
03:48leading to a love-conquers-all alternative being substituted into this new 94-minute version.
03:54Gilliam was understandably pissed about this call, and proceeded to secretly screen his version in
03:59film schools and to critics in the area. The overwhelmingly positive result to his Brazil
04:04then eventually gave Universal no choice but to release a new 132-minute cut, supervised by the
04:10director himself. Turns out, directors conquer all!
04:145. Want to put a time in America? A racing 90-minute kills the ovation
04:19When Sergio Leone's sprawling gangster juggernaut landed in Cannes back in 1984,
04:25in all of its 269-minute glory, the feature came away with a staggering 20-minute standing ovation as
04:32the crowd marveled at the masterpiece they'd just witnessed before their very eyes. The film was
04:37subsequently trimmed a little before making its way onto European screens, coming down to 229 minutes,
04:42but the end result was still worthy of praise. However, the same could not be said for the
04:47version of the picture that was rolled out in the US. Alongside completely rejigging the way the
04:52story was told, swapping a non-chronological structure for the complete opposite, and bringing
04:56the film down to 139 minutes without supervision from Leone, some of the film's most daring scenes,
05:03such as a few rather difficult-to-watch moments depicting sexual and graphic violence,
05:07were binned off. Many of the brilliant childhood scenes and even Robert De Niro's noodles meeting
05:12up with his long-lost flame Deborah were also cold. The film's original garbage truck conclusion
05:17was also nowhere to be seen. All in all, the abomination that was the US cut ultimately flopped
05:22at the box office, and it's probably best to forget said version even exists.
05:274. The Descent – The Last 30 Seconds As it goes, the original ending of The Descent,
05:33that was unleashed onto UK audiences, actually found a great deal of inspiration in one of the
05:38previous entries on this list. I know, what are the chances? Director Neil Marshall revealed as much
05:43in the wake of its arrival, explaining that the original ending for Brazil was a massive inspiration
05:49for the original ending of The Descent. The idea that someone can go insane on the outside,
05:53but inside they found happiness. However, if you were taking in this feature from across the pond,
05:59the chilling conclusion which saw Sarah wake up in the cavern shortly after completely hallucinating
06:04her hopeful escape, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, largely due to complaints over it again
06:09being too bleak, the last 30 seconds of the feature were cleanly chopped from the US release.
06:14This meant that the film alternatively ended on the visual of the ghost of Juno joining Sarah in her
06:20car, depriving US audiences of one of the movie's most moving moments. That of Sarah's daughter
06:25Jessica gifting her a birthday cake before the hallucination reveals it's simply a torch before her.
06:313. Army of Darkness – Ash is Screwed
06:34For those of you who have only ever enjoyed the dark fantasy comedy delight that is Sam Raimi's
06:39Army of Darkness on UK television, the chances are you've probably never actually stumbled upon the
06:44ending or the version of the feature as a whole that was pumped into US theaters back in 1993.
06:50When it came to said 81 minute theatrical cut of the project, Ash wasn't actually screwed when
06:55the dust had settled. Instead of having Ash accidentally swallow too much potion and rock
07:00up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the decision was made to have him live happily ever after,
07:05as he blasted a deadite in the present en route to sharing a smooch with his lady.
07:09With most British TV channels and even UK Netflix opting to wear Raimi's preferred 96 minute cut,
07:16instead of the unashamedly cheesy S-Mart shootout, a whole generation have likely been brought up on
07:21this bleak but arguably more hilarious finale. As Raimi put it himself, I kind of like the fact
07:27that there are two endings, that in one alternate universe Bruce is screwed and in another he's some
07:32cheesy hero. 2. The Trip – More hilarious jokes and humanizing back and forths
07:38Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are without doubt two of the finest improvisers audiences have ever had
07:44the honour of witnessing on both the big and small screen. Yet with that ability to riff and take a
07:49joke to ridiculous lengths, comes the realisation that not every single piece of comedic gold is
07:55going to make its way into a finished project. That was unfortunately the case when the pair's
08:00laugh-a-minute series, The Trip, was converted into a feature film format for the series' multiple
08:06releases in the US. From not being given the time to properly set up the always hilarious scenarios we
08:12see the two heightened versions of themselves involved in during their journeys, to altogether
08:17leaving out some of the funniest jokes from the show, the US film version also drops some of the
08:22more human exchanges between the travelling duo. You won't go wrong if you decide to just stick on
08:27the US film cut, but the series undoubtedly gives you a richer experience when all is said and done.
08:331. Austin Powers' International Man of Mystery – Christian Slater's Cameo
08:38The first entry in the routinely side-splitting Austin Powers saga came equipped with some of
08:43the most quotable lines in comedy movie history. It's not hard to see why fans have gorged on Mike
08:48Myers' first outing in particular over and over again in the years since its 1997 debut. However,
08:55perhaps one of the most notable sequences in the flick didn't even appear in its American outing,
09:00As Powers attempts to get past a familiar-looking guard, the International Man of Mystery is forced
09:05to delve into his box of tricks. Hypnotizing the poor sod played by none other than Christian
09:10bloody Slater, Austin convinces him via some mesmerizing eyebrows that everything seems to be
09:16in order. This, along with a couple of hysterical scenes which depicted families and friends being
09:21informed about the deaths of henchmen, were given the heave-ho by the US in the end. That being said,
09:27Slater's appearance in particular has long since been immortalized around the world,
09:31with just about every man and his dog attempting to hypnotize a pal into buying them some orange
09:36sherbet at one point or another. Don't lie to me, I know you've done it.
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