I could be wrong, but I don't think the song is actually played in the film. I think it was just written and recorded for the soundtrack. I don't know why it was included in the end credits unless it was going to be in the film and got cut out.
A lot of TS fans say it is not in the movie. And I could not find it myself. The problem is those credits, and some promotional material that say the movie has a song by David Johansen. Closing credits cost money. Not only does the producer need to pay for every inch of film stock those credits go on, but has to pay someone to print the credits onto the final reel. Producers would love to go back to the days when the only credit at a film's end was "THE END", but today for legal reasons they need to give credit for every single person who worked on the film, and every copyrighted materials ( including songs ) used in the film. Stigwood would not have put a credit for a song that was not in the movie because it would have cost him money. So basically
Flowers in the Citywas in the final cut.
This only leaves three possibilities. One, that the film had to be cut after the final cut. Normally that would mean the film got an X rating and at the last second the offending footage was cut. But with all the edits for content Stigwood made prior to the final cut, I doubt anything was left to warrent an X rating. The other reason for a last minute edit would be if the distributor decided they wanted a shorter running time. At 111 minutes, it does not look like the running time was cut. Typically, the movie would be 90 minutes long if cut for time. There is always the possibility that the print used for the home video release had something cut long after the theatrical release, but that seems unlikley too. And finally, the posibility that David Johansen never agreed to allow his music on home video, so his song was cut for clearence reasons. But I doubt that as well. If there were clearence problems then the Cars song would have been the first to go.
That brings us to possibility two. That the song happens at a point in the movie when we are all too engulfed in the plot that we don't notice it. But I doubt that.
That leaves the third and most likley possibility, that it was in the final cut, but either is heard very briefly, or is just some random background noise. As long as even a note can be heard in the soundtrack, Stigwood would be legally obligated to list it in the credits. This is where I was hoping one of the more obsessed fans ( The ones who studied every second of the film, can quote every line, and tell you the movies on evert marquee ) could say exactly where to find it.
reply
share