Extended cut
I remember quite a few years ago, before I had Encore, they were advertising a extended cut of Excalibur of about 3 hours (or more) long.
Does anyone have any info on what was added and where one might find a copy?
D. v~~v
I really don't think that exists.
the final cut of the movie is 140 minutes. There is a shorter version, which I believe they play on TV and the sex, nudity, and gore is edited out.
I remember that version too..but I (and a few of my fellow geeks) remember that clearly.
It ran on Encore way back in the day (when the TV Guide was the small mag that actually told you what was playing and had a movie guide in the back) for about a month..was gone for a year and came back. I decided to try Encore then, but when they hooked me up....it had stopped playing.
Oh well...guess I'll check the comic/sci-fi conventions for a bootleg.
D. v~~v
bootleg of what? the edited version? why on earth would you want to watch that and not the complete film on BluRay???
shareno...not the edited version..the extended 3 hour version that played on Encore a few years back. I have the complete, theatrical version on DVD already, but want to see the extended cut.
D. v~~v
there is no extended cut, just the 140 min version.
shareand I (and most of my friends) remember, very clearly a 3hr (give or take) version airing on Encore way back in the day. Unfortunately, none of us had Encore at the time (being broke sucks) so we were unable to watch it.
Yesterday, I called a old friend who ran a rare video rental store in Tampa (one of the only, at the time to carry the European cut of Dune before DVD took off) and he said he didn't have it anymore, but it DID exist at one time and that he got his copy in Europe. Unfortunately, as is the case with VHS, it eventually degraded and became unwatchable.
So the next step would be to check any sci-fi/comic conventions to see if any of the vendors that carry the oddball/rare/foreign cuts of movies has it.
One never know what one will find there.
D. v~~v
well you'd think the details page on imdb would list an extended cut....but it seems that officially the 140 min version is it.
shareWell IMDB has been wrong before.
If I have any success in locating a bootleg I'll be sure to update it.
D. v~~v
Okay, I'll bite.
So what does this extended cut that no one but you has ever heard of supposedly contain...?
Erik Kristopher Myers
Writer/Director -- ROULETTE
www.imdb.com/name/nm3138460/
Hence the reason for my search....
I don't know..I only saw it advertised way back when the TV Guide was smaller and had complete movie listings in the back.
It said it was a extended version and was a little over 3hrs long, as I recall.
I saw it advertised several times in a month playing on Encore (before there was a Encore multiplex) but since I didn't have, nor could afford the movie channels, I couldn't get it.
But I and several of my friends remember it being listed.
PLUS a friend of mine in Tampa who ran a rare VHS rental place use to have a copy he found in Europe but, as with the case with VHS, had degraded to become unwatchable.
D. v~~v
Two possible explanations:
1. Like Boorman's EXORCIST II, EXCALIBUR was re-edited, and for a while, only the edited version was available on TV and home video. In both cases, the film was then re-released in it's original (longer) format. This may have been false advertising.
2. Most channels "round up" a run time to fit hourly blocks; hence it being listed as three hours when it wasn't.
No documentation exists for a version longer than we have, so my belief is that this is a misconception based on confused marketing/advertising.
Erik Kristopher Myers
Writer/Director -- ROULETTE
www.imdb.com/name/nm3138460/
Maybe...but I recall the ad saying it was a "extended version" of the movie which, if it was the original theatrical version, they, as a movie channel wouldn't say. And I've never known a pay channel to round the time of a movie up that long. The original version has since run on the same channel several times and it was never advertised as such, nor was the time rounded up.
And, as I've said, my friend in Tampa (who use to run a rare VHS rental store) remembers having it as a "European cut".
So, who knows?
I'll keep looking at conventions, etc. because one never knows what one will find there.
D. v~~v
Though I remain sceptical, I wish you luck in your search. Please keep us posted. I hope you come back to tell me I was wrong...!
ekm
Writer/Director -- ROULETTE
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1294794/combined
They may also have listed the theatrical version as extended if they had previously shown the shortened version. It is true that a TV showing of an 140 minute film could easily have run for three hours.
shareWhat is in the extended cut that is not in the regular cut?
shareWhat is in the extended cut that is not in the regular cut?
You miss the point of my reply. If what I said is true (and I do mean if because it was only a guess) then there is no extended cut, just the theatrical cut and the shortened one. share
please read the whole thread.
I saw this listed in the TV guide playing on Encore...a pay movie channel...NOT regular TV so there would be no reason to air the "shortened version" seen on regular TV.
Also the listing clearly said "extended version" to list it as such and then to show the theatrical version would be false advertising, and in all the years since, when they show the theatrical cut, they don't list it as the "Extended version".
Lastly, A friend of mine who use to run a rare VHS rental store use to have it as a "European Cut" but his tape had long degraded as to be unwatchable, so, to date, I haven't found it and don't know what the difference is aside for it being slightly over 3 hrs long.
D. v~~v
Well if it is a difference between UK and US then I can't help you. I come from the UK therefore the UK / European cut is the only one I have ever seen.
shareI found this on wikipedia:
According to Boorman, the film was originally three hours long; among scenes that were deleted from the finished film but featured in one of the promotional trailers was a sequence where Lancelot rescued Guenevere from a forest bandit.
Not sure if this version was ever shown, but I would be interested in seeing it.
Also according to wikipedia the 140min R rated version, and the 119min PG rated version are the only two versions ever released (not that you can trust wikipwdia 100%).
shareAccording to Boorman, the film was originally three hours long; among scenes that were deleted from the finished film but featured in one of the promotional trailers was a sequence where Lancelot rescued Guenevere from a forest bandit.
I'm in the UK where they don't usually cut films like they do in the US, and have never seen this version with that trailer clip. We have the long 2hrs 20mins version.
I don't even know why it was cut from the final.
If the c.3hrs version ever did exist, I'd like to hear about it here? This was the debate about Caligula - many supposed versions and now it is not banned but out on dvd? share
but featured in one of the promotional trailers was a sequence where Lancelot rescued Guenevere from a forest bandit.
Yes, that's (in) the trailer on my DVD.
I talked to a friend who knows all about "Excalibur". He said the original cut was three hours BUT never released. The director himself cut it down to 140 minutes and he said the material he took out either didn't work or slowed the movie down too much. So there WAS a 3 hour version but it was never released and the director is happy with the 140 minute version. Maybe Encore thought they had an extended version but didn't. They're made mistakes on the running times of their movies before.
shareWatched the blu-ray this morning with Boorman's commentary. He said what your friend said... most of the stuff cut from the initial version was from the wastelands section of the film. He felt the trimmed down 140 minute final cut was much better.
i can end the speculation regarding excalibur. all that was cut were a few anal scenes involving merlin and arthur.
sharePlease SEE the "Production" portion of this Wiki on the making of the film... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excalibur_(film)
-Charles W. Bailey
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2351682/
ekmyers..... great write up. My thoughts exactly.
shareIm watching what they call a re-edited version that runs 2:25 on encore action. It looks like it has been cleaned up and it plays a bit more understandably than the version I remember seeing at least 12 times.
shareI think the problem may simply be that the movie was 140 minutes, which is exactly 2.5 hours... it was not unheard of in the day for a movie on encore to extend beyond the normal hour or half hour cut off time by as much as 15 minutes... if a movie had over played by 15 minutes and ran until 7:15... it is then entirely possible that the TV Guide could list Excalibur as starting at 7:00 and ending at 10:00... Now look at someone how is writing the mini reviews in the TV Guide he isn't going to look at the actual time of the movie he is likely going to just look at the grid which makes it look like a 3 hour movie.
shareAgain..I recall the ad saying it was a "extended version" of the movie which, if it was the original theatrical version, they, as a movie channel wouldn't say. And I've never known a pay channel to round the time of a movie up that long. The original version has since run on the same channel several times and it was never advertised as such, nor was the time rounded up.
And, as I've said, my friend in Tampa (who use to run a rare VHS rental store) remembers having it as a "European cut". But it might have been a bootleg of the original 3 hours version...I have seen more than a few movies like that floating around
So, who knows? .
D. v~~v