saw this years ago and loved it....the rounding up of the "crazies" in the supermarket and Holmes saving the day by announcing super bargain prices over the intercom was great.....but now I see it on TV and that whole sequence is missing..is this like Diary of A Mad Housewife, where there are two different prints (one for theatrical release and one for TV?)
shareMore than that. Originally, the supermarket scene was cut from the release print, bringing that version down to about 88 minutes. The supermarket scene was later RESTORED for TV prints in order to bring about a two-hours-with-commercials programming length. A television print I saw in the 80's was the most complete, including Jack Gilford's "It's harder than you think to tell a dream" speech, which is not on either video release. I've seen three different edits of the supermarket scene, two different edits of the Holmes/Watson interview scene in his study, including some re-dubbing of the swear words for TV(!), more of Al Lewis as the messenger in the opening scene, more of the clinic scene and other smaller bits here and there.
PEABODY- It's harder than you think to tell a dream. I know all about it. Every time I walk the streets and see the youngsters hand in hand, I see my college days. And I remember things I did. I feel them. That's the only way, you know. Facts we forget. But feelings? So I see the youngsters and I feel the things I did. I feel the night, the girl beside me as we walk. I hear the sound our shoes made on the grass. I feel my own excitement rise- maybe tonight. I feel it. But it never happened. Not to me. Not once. It's harder than you think to tell a dream.
thanks for the update...do you know if the dvd release is complete?
shareNo, not at all.
shareThe Peabody "hard to tell a dream speach" isn't in the 2000 Anchor Bay DVD Release but the supermarket is in it's entirety.
Also in the Director's commentary for that DVD he mentions that another scene was cut in which George C. Scott after Joanne Woodward goes home from the library - feeling that he has been let-down by everyone goes mad and runs down Wall Street during the night and collapses in the gutter, hence leading to his fatigued state when Peabody finds him back in the library the following morning.
Interestingly this scene isn't mentioned in the paperback book release of the script from 1971.
It was in the TBS cut in the 1980's. It'a very brief scene with no dialogue, about seven seconds or so- basically Holmes back at the trash can looking for his "Back To School" clue, and not really consequential. Perhaps a directorial decision at the time of filming and thus not in the published screenplay. This is juxtaposed with shots of Watson in her apartment unsucessfully trying to straighten it up, the way that one does at 3AM, also not in the script or the DVD. Also, in the TV print, the movie balcony scene is cut differently and is slightly longer than the DVD, closer to the published script. When TBS showed the film in the 80's, they must have gotten every scrap of film available to make the programming two hours with commercials.
shareShame when Anchor Bay did a release of this film they didn't use the stuff from the 80's TV cut you mention - They're generaly pretty good with things like that.
Good memory though being able to remember all those little details - did you tape it?
Yes, but it's gone now. I wouldn't blame Anchor Bay- these companies make their product from the material the studios give them, and, like 1776, it's possible there are no longer any existing original negatives of the snipped portions.
shareI remember the more complete print shown on television in the '70's and '80's; it's also possible that if those cut scenes exist they only exist in the 4x3 ratio 16mm prints made for TV then, and not in the wider theatrical ratio...
shareMy copy of the Anchor Bay print clocks in at 1 hour 31 mins 12 seconds, straight to the end credits. Can you confirm that this is correct? Did Anchor Bay add something to the end of the film to pad out the runtime to 98 mins like stated in some of the reviews? It included the supermarket scene so I'm confused why the runtime is different.
shareI love those lines. In a film filled with poetic, thoughtful dialogue, they still stand out. A pity they're not on the Anchor Bay DVD.
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I would like to have seen that lost ending that you describe. I've just seen the same TV version as you. I wonder why they cut out that full supermarket scene?
shareThe film's original theatrical running time was 91 minutes, according to the Los Angeles Times review of March 10, 1971.
Reviewer Kevin Thomas liked it quite a bit, but felt that the ending was "unsatisfactory."
I watched a 91 minute version - http://rarelust.com/they-might-be-giants-1971/
It's listed here as 98 minutes. Some things in the film didn't seem to make sense and I wondered if it was because scenes were cut out. After Holmes and Watson escape from the gangsters in the garden apartment (through different directions) it cuts straight to a scene of Watson preparing dinner and waiting for Holmes to arrive. Later when the pair are marching through the streets they're joined by people they've previously encountered in the story but I also notice characters played by M. Emmet Walsh and F. Murray Abraham and I don't remember those two appearing earlier in the film.
F. Murray Abraham was the usher at the movie theater.
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