MovieChat Forums > Stanley (1973) Discussion > Deleted scenes

Deleted scenes

posted 17 years ago by mcintyro
11 replies | jump to latest

I am fortunate enough to have scene this film when it was originally released in 1972 on a double bill with NIGHT OF THE LEPUS.

1) One scene that stands out in my mind is an end scene in which the snakes and attack Tim and the fire breaks out, before the scene when the place burns and the credits roll, I swear there was a scene when we see Tim half burned with snake bites all over his body, thus making him look like a snake. Then I believe, Suzy runs away, and the barn burns.

Television never showed this scene. They cut from the snake bite to Suzy running away, to house burning with credits. AM I WRONG?

2) There is another scene where Tim is eating a vegetarian meal and he feeds Stanley and Stanley's wife mice, and we see them eat the rodents. AM I WRONG?

When the movie was shown on television, these scenes were always cut. However, I have acquired several video and DVD versions, and I have noticed that these scenes are cut as well.

Can anybody shed some light. If you notice at the end of film, it jumps quickly from Tim getting bit, abrupt cut, house burning with credits.

I am glad there is finally a sight for this film.

[–] JAPfeif 17 years ago

I vaguely remember seeing this movie sometime in the 70's (probably at the Drive-In) and one of the few things I remembered about it was at the end, the Indian goes nuts in the burning house & begins killing his own snakes, grabbing them by the tails & slamming them on the floor like wet hoses.
When I was finally lucky enough to get a factory VHS copy a few years ago, ironically that one scene, the one scene that really stood out in my mind was nowhere to be seen! No snake-slamming. And I KNOW I'm thinking of the correct movie, STANLEY.

Now, the ending of the film has a VERY choppy, edited-looking look to it, so maybe those scenes were cut out when it was released to video (animal cruelty perhaps, although I can't think they were using real live snakes in that scene). Was very disappointing.

Any of the few others who are familiar with this movie remember this scene, or am I just crazy? (or thinking of a different movie, which I don't think I am).

[–] JAPfeif 17 years ago

Hey man, I found the scenes you are referring to AND the "snake slamming" scene I was thinking of. There are at least 2 companies that have released this film on VHS (no DVDs yet anywhere). The one i had was from Neon Video. A rather poor grainy copy that had all the deleted scenes mentioned cut out. Must have been the TV print. I recently found on eBay another copy by a company called VidAmerica Inc. This one is totally uncut, has the "snake slamming" scene I had remembered, and the scenes mentioned earlier, like Chris stumbling out of the burning house covered with BAD burns & snake bites.
This one can be recognized, if you find a copy on eBay, by the box art: it has a very cartoon-y pic of a man (who is supposed to be Chris Robinson I believe) with a rattlesnake around his neck, choking him. The box has a very green-y blue tint to it. Try & find this one if possible...the print is also VERY much clearer than any others I've seen.

[–] mcintyro 17 years ago

Boy do I really envy you!

I remember when that one was released in the summer of 1986. I didn't buy that one because the cost was $60.00 and I couldn't afford it back in the early days of video.

I got the neon one you got, and yes the quality sucked.

I often debated getting the one you are now lucky to have, but I rarely see it, and when I do, I wonder if I am going to get burned.

Now, at least if I see the one you are referring to I will strike while the iron is hot and buy it.

I know the cover you're talking about. It reminds me of a MAD magazine cover. It's sort of silly and propertionally weird.

If you ever want to sell it, let me know.

Thanks again.

[–] dfg_40 17 years ago

I have the VidAmerica copy,also. Pretty fair quality. You are right about the snake slamming scene. I have that one, too.

[–] kbtoys100 16 years ago

^ well, i just got this vhs at a video store i knew it was the cut one but hey, i cant even find it on amazon or ebay.

but while watching i noticed it was a VCI release so im guessing that there are 3 releases then?

[–] kbtoys100 16 years ago

i just got the VidAmerica release in the mail today. im alittle confused as to the runtimes though. on imdb it says 108 (something close) minutes but on the box it says 96 minutes. does that mean it still has stuff cut?

EDIT: i just watched the vidamerica copy and it does have scenes cut. while it has all the violence intact (at least from my old copy) it was missing a few things that were in my other one which i just sold on ebay.

3 of them come to mind

when the dancer is talking to tim she says something about her and his father and like father like son or something.

the drunk guy stands by tims truck and sees stanley and runs away. (someone mentioned this in another post i think)

pyscho points the gun at the other 2 trappers and doenst remember who they are right before he gives them the gun.

tim makes that bed thing for stanley and hazel.

that being said on Dvdaficionado i saw that the uk actually had a dvd release of stanley but it said it was OOP. also for another poster that said he didnt think they used live snakes after seeing the 'uncut' version i think he might be wrong. did you notice when psycho kills hazel and her babys? the snake moves just as he smashes the gun on it. also hazel gets a blast to her body and it looks pretty real.

hmm, maybe just some good effects for the 70's?

[–] smcarter1966 15 years ago

Just watched the BCI special edition last night. It is probably the uncut version you are looking for, as it has all the scenes that this thread said was cut out, and I highly recommend it.

I would have loved to have seen a trailer on the disc, but you can't have everything, I suppose....

Well, as a undercover man,
you sure got covered under....

[–] indalay422 14 years ago

We have the uncut version on dvd, I think it's called "gorehouse" or something like that, there are a whole bunch of movies on it and only cost five bucks! A couple of the other movies on this dvd are "Blood of Dracula's Castle" and "Bloodmania", there are at least 10 more.

[–] smcarter1966 14 years ago

If you're talking about Mill Creek Entertainment's Gorehouse Greats set, you are correct.

Mill Creek had been re-releasing EVERYTHING that BCI had done (and some that was scheduled to be released) in multi-disc sets.

I guess this is sorta, kinda trying to save face with the fans who were buying the Crown International drive-in classics for their own collections from BCI until Navarro Corp. shut down BCI for some inane reason.

Myself, I'm just glad that Mill Creek is still releasing the films on DVD.

If vegetarians don't eat formerly living creatures, then why do they eat yogurt?

[–] indalay422 14 years ago

Me too, I get a kick out of seeing these old drive-in movies, reminds me of the good old days. Just saw Avatar though, and there just is NO comparison to the special effects! One thing I didn't like about "Stanley" in particular is that it looked really real when they killed some of those snakes, and I happen to LIKE snakes.

[–] KnatLouie 11 years ago

There's a new Scandinavian (Danish) release of Stanley, where all the mentioned scenes are present. Lots of animal cruelty, actually, as I'm pretty sure they used real living snakes for all the scenes - even the ones where they got bashed against the floor or got their heads blown off!

http://www.laserdisken.dk/html/visvare.dna?vare=1344945885201980446