MovieChat Forums > Going Home Discussion > Plot Question (Spoiler)

Plot Question (Spoiler)

posted 17 years ago by cultofchu
2 replies | jump to latest

Just saw this at the screening at the Egyptian and was confused by one plot point. It appears that Vaccaro is raped, but the scene cuts away before we really know for sure. Then, in the final scene, Vincent says something like, "what I did to her." But this is an obvious overdub--his lips completely don't match the words. In fact, it looks like he says the word "rape." Does anyone know if this was part of MGM's recutting of the film, like they wanted to soften the ending a bit and make it seem that there might be a future reconciliation between the two characters?

[–] miriamwebster 15 years ago

This was one of several MGM films of the 1970-71 era infamously recut/butchered by then studio head James Aubrey (others include The Traveling Executioner, Brewster McCloud and Chandler) in effort to avoid R rating. (In case of Going Home, Sylvia Miles' entire role as hooker was cut.) There are numerous other dubs throughout film that don't begin to match actors' lips, too. Print I saw was so choppy that I'd intially wondered if it was a censored TV version; last third of movie lurched so much that plot didn't even track. Looked like a potentially interesting little sleeper that had been turned into a real mess.

[–] nataloff-1 13 years ago

Years ago I asked Jan-Michael Vincent whether MGM made these cuts to make his character less of a heel. He said that he was always a heel, but at least before the cuts, you knew why.