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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 04/15/2009 : 12:59:38 PM
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Years ago, Smokey and the Bandit aired for the first time on NBC. Given the original film's salty language, as is standard practice, the dialogue was sanitized for TV, with all of the original actors redubbing their lines for the edited soundtrack.
All the actors, that is, except for star Jackie Gleason. The Great One, for whatever reason, chose not to participate, so in desperation the network employed no less than Mel Blanc to redub Gleason's lines for him. Not all his lines, mind, you, only the original lines that contained profanity. The remaining dialogue would remain voiced by Gleason as they had in the first cut of the film.
Perhaps because Blanc had previously attempted to impersonate Gleason in such long ago Looney Toons shorts as "The Honey-Mousers," the NBC censors felt confident that no one would even detect Blanc's involvement. They were wrong. Blanc was never able to duplicate Gleason's voice, and the result was surreal. Half the time, Smokey sounds like Gleason, and the other half he sounds like he's been possessed by the ghost of Yosemite Sam, or maybe Bugs Bunny with strep throat.
Since Smokey and the Bandit is no classic, this watered down version (which may or may not still be getting play on TV today, I don't know) is no big deal. But it does open the gates for a good discussion on what were some of the most ridiculous re-edited versions of movies you've seen over the years. Edits almost never do a movie good, but some "modified" versions are not simply annoying, they're bizarre. Any ideas out there? Here's one more:
When ABC first aired Journey Back to Oz (the animated sequel starring Liza Minnelli as the voice of Dorothy), the network in its infinite wisdom decided to add additional footage of the Wizard. Never mind that the Wizard couldn't be in the Oz sequel; after all, last we saw he was flying away in an errant hot air balloon. ABC solved that problem easily; all the Wizard's scenes would take place in the balloon.
The new structure would look like something like this: original footage of Dorothy in danger, trying to rescue her friends.
CUT TO:
The Wizard in his balloon, a thousand feet up, looking down, saying, "Oh heavens, Dorothy's in trouble, I hope she's going to be okay!"
CUT TO:
Dorothy escaping by the skin of her teeth, looking back and sighing.
CUT TO:
The Wizard above, still in his balloon, wiping his brow, saying, "Whoa, that was a close one! Good going, Dorothy!"
Sound stupid? It got stupider. See, Journey Back to Oz, as mentioned, was an animated film. But the new network-imposed footage was shot as live action on videotape. I guess they thought nobody was notice the juxtaposition. Oh, but wait, I've yet to cover the crowning glory. Who do you think the network got to play the Wizard? Someone Frank Morgan-ish right? Someone who could capture the same beloved qualities that the original actor brought to bear so many years before? And you'd be right! They went out and hired the most Frank Morgan-ish actor they could find...
Bill Cosby! That's showbiz. |
Edited by - zombiewhacker on 04/20/2009 1:10:23 PM
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2009 : 6:01:40 PM
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And now you know... the rest of the story! *g*
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I sleep now!! |
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andy80
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
81 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 01:59:09 AM
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Thats funny, now that you mention it I kinda remember that from Smokey and the Bandit!
One of the weirdest edits I can think of is in Fargo, where they replace the F word with "froozin." Unless thats some sort of Minnesota dialect? |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 06:05:17 AM
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Sad to say, I remember that edit of Journey Back to Oz. I was just a kid when I saw the thing, but I could see even then how clumsy it was. I was just glad I'd already seen its proper version on HBO.
When I saw Seven on network, my jaw dropped. Now, I'll accept that a network will knock away the worst of the violence and language. But the network took several scenes out strictly for time. One of the scenes was the quiet moment in the bar where Morgan Freeman warns Brad Pitt (and the audience) not to expect a happy ending. This scene gave a lot of insight into Freeman's character, showed a change in his point of view, and, in my mind, was one of the most important scenes in the movie.
Snip snip. Bye, scene.
Ugh! |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 07:36:47 AM
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On the other hand, the TV edit of Scarface is almost a bizarre thing of beauty. They did a pretty good job of doubling Pacino's voice, and a masterful job of replacing the several hundred F*bombs with various "freakings" and the like. There's a doc on the SE DVD about it. No one thought the movie could ever be cleaned up enough for broadcast and make any sense at all.
"This town is like a chicken, waiting to be plucked!"
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I sleep now!! |
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Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 09:51:06 AM
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Is there anyone who doesn't know the "twist" to The Crying Game at this point? Anyway here's a *SPOILER* warning.
I saw The Crying Game on late night broadcast TV once. I didn't make plans to watch it I just happened upon it and decided to stick around to see how they would handle The Scene. Well, needless to say it didn't have the shock value of the theatrical version. They just cut away really fast and dubbed in someone saying "oh no, you're a man!" It didn't sound like the orginal actor.
"I am Temujin ... Barbarian ... I fight! I love! I conquer ... like a Barbarian!" |
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Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 10:54:59 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sardu
On the other hand, the TV edit of Scarface is almost a bizarre thing of beauty. They did a pretty good job of doubling Pacino's voice, and a masterful job of replacing the several hundred F*bombs with various "freakings" and the like. There's a doc on the SE DVD about it. No one thought the movie could ever be cleaned up enough for broadcast and make any sense at all.
Sardu, you sayeth a bookful.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcJ61KEynm4[/url]
And for your viewing pleasure:
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq1uDd05GrY"]Funny Face[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j9oYYRJY2U"]Mr. Falcon[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xau8HucxWjE"]My friend[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbkhW_6yAc"]Jew Money Lover You[/url]
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"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear" |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 5:51:26 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Capt. Nemo
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdbkhW_6yAc"]Jew Money Lover You[/url]
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"Ward, the Beaver blew up the 7-11 again."
"I'll have a talk with him Dear"
Wow! That has the dubious distinction of being acceptable for broadcast and more offensive than the original at the same time. Win.
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I sleep now!! |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2009 : 8:25:19 PM
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What was that Belushi/Ackroid movie? "The Neighbors"? Man, the dubbing didn't even "kind of" sound like the actors and often didn't match what was on the screen!
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2009 : 8:39:05 PM
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The Wrath of Khan has been edited into who knows how many different TV versions. I always thought one of the smarter moves would have been to cut to commercial right after Kirk says he's going to see how badly they're hurt. Then they can come back to the extended and rather important medical bay scene.
Actually, I find it interesting that certain things cut or dubbed 25 years ago are now perfectly acceptable.
I know this has been debated before, but why doesn't Hollywood just go ahead and offer PG level cuts and dubs of their films. The cost would be negligible but would probably boost revenue. I know there would be several films, usually comedies, that I would consider buying if it was the TV version.
I summon Bigger Fish! |
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Gristle McThornbody
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Germany
186 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2009 : 09:15:59 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sardu
On the other hand, the TV edit of Scarface is almost a bizarre thing of beauty. They did a pretty good job of doubling Pacino's voice, and a masterful job of replacing the several hundred F*bombs with various "freakings" and the like. There's a doc on the SE DVD about it. No one thought the movie could ever be cleaned up enough for broadcast and make any sense at all.
"This town is like a chicken, waiting to be plucked!"
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I sleep now!!
The network version of Glengary Glen Ross is pretty odd when it comes to the editing of the gazillion f-bombs. "Flip you"..."Ahh, Flip YOU!"
"Hi, I'm Bob Evil!" |
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
118 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2009 : 7:23:04 PM
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It happens all the time. I watched Starship Troopers: The Marauder a while back on Spike TV and there's a scene that takes place in a shower room and in the background you see a couple of naked men and women walking by and they have these blurry patches that hide any naughty bits. Of course the scene where everyone gets naked is cut out completely.
Then there's the TV series that only add the nudity/profanity when the series comes out in DVD. The Stargate: SG-1 DVD for instance has a scene with full frontal female nudity that has been cut out of the TV scenes.
And its just not movies that do it; books have been known to do something similar. I think in James Jones book The Thin Red Line the censors forced Jones to replace "F**k" with "Fug."
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2009 : 3:48:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by niccolom
And its just not movies that do it; books have been known to do something similar. I think in James Jones book The Thin Red Line the censors forced Jones to replace "F**k" with "Fug."
The Big Sleep novel has a character telling Marlow "Go --- yourself!" while in the movie, they replace the line "...didn't kill you LOVER." with "...didn't kill your BOSS." because Bogie was talking to a MAN about ANOTHER man.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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BT
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
168 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2009 : 07:56:29 AM
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| Niccolom, I think the nudity in SG-1 was in the original, not just the DVD. If I remember correctly, in the first espisode of Stargate, which I think was broadcast on Showtime, there was female nudity. I think after that, the show toned it down though. Regardless, I don't think it was added for the DVD release. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2009 : 1:09:09 PM
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Another bugaboo we've yet to address is when foreign films get "modified" for U.S. distribution. (The Gojira films are a classic example.) New scenes are added, sometimes with completely different actors who never get a chance to interact with the original cast. Sometimes storylines are redubbed, thereby altering and/or sanitizing the plot for American audiences. (Example: Mario Bava's Black Sabbath).
I'm curious as to whether somebody like Neville and New Hinda has any stories to tell about whether American movies have ever been altered when shown in their countries: the more ridiculous the examples, the better. <g> |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2009 : 4:53:24 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BT
Niccolom, I think the nudity in SG-1 was in the original, not just the DVD. If I remember correctly, in the first espisode of Stargate, which I think was broadcast on Showtime, there was female nudity. I think after that, the show toned it down though. Regardless, I don't think it was added for the DVD release.
Yeah, it started out on Showtime. I mean, if it's a good sci-fi show, it's better with nudity. Just obvious Hollywood logic there. I don't know how much after the first couple of episodes the nudity continued.
Showtime has upped the ante by now having a sci-fi show that's a simple excuse for softcore porn.
I summon Bigger Fish! |
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