MovieChat Forums > Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) Discussion > now it's time to RESTORE THE 1988 VERSIO...

now it's time to RESTORE THE 1988 VERSION

posted 19 years ago by A_Minor_Blip
10 replies | jump to latest

it's like a catch 22...

they give us billy, finally, but a version no one has seen, with scenes edited out, with dylan ranked third before the credits (very lame), and the version we all grew to like, the 1988 version, has bad sound and isn't restored for DVD...

a catch 22...

come on, folks, the 1988 version is so much better, like a full meal... the other version wasn't as good...

damn those stupid studio heads...

"me winning isn't, you do" ty webb

[–] djfntstque 19 years ago

Do you even like Peckinpah's ridiculous cameo?

[–] ctoprefect 19 years ago

I do.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] djfntstque 19 years ago

It's too obvious; even if it weren't recognizably Sam, it'd still be overblown. By having a character completely delineate the subtext of the movie for the audience, loud and clear, Peckinpah does a pretty major disservice to the movie as a work of art.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] teejay6682 19 years ago

like i said in the other thread, the old version really doesn't look that bad considering it hasn't been remastered.

[–] djfntstque 19 years ago

I just wish they'd included the 106 minute James Aubrey cut (ala the Brazil DVD) so viewers could properly understand why the film hurt Peckinpah's reputation so badly.

[–] KEVMC 19 years ago

I too wish that the 106 min. cut was in the package, as I'm sure a lot of people here have never seen it. I managed to pick up a copy on pan'n'scan VHS a few months back on Ebay, just to satisfy my own curiosity. It is indeed a mutilated mess, but it would have made for an interesting comparison on the DVD, if only to show how a great film can be ruined by a clueless studio.

Oh well, maybe the next time its issued on DVD we may get it, along with a restored '88 cut. Here's hoping...

[–] f-groth 19 years ago

Having now watched both cuts in the new release I find myself wanting to cut them together and make a whole film. Particularly after having put up with my now faded VHS and the occassional broadcast of the erstewhile release cut panned and scanned. The scene with Garrett's wife helps to better deliniate his character and having now seen it I am left to wonder why it was removed in the first place... and why in hell Turner didn't put it back in.

[–] cutnshoot 19 years ago

The correct thing to have done would have been to have a dvd of the 1973 street release and a RESTORED version of the 1988 Turner Version with the scene of Garretts wife AND the note at the end by Peckinpah where he compares the Teapot Dome to Watergate. This interlock negitive was shown at USC in 1985 or 1986 and there are a number of video tapes of it floating around. This was the version that was stolen by Sam's people at the one screening that he was allowed. Then the viewer could have gotten all the info and made the connections on their own.
Instead we get a total ego manic that has the gall to presume what Peckinpah intended. The new Paul Seydor cut is AWFUL! The transfer is AWFUL....much too bright.....all the atmosphere and mystery is GONE.....it looks like TV. Whats really sad that in future years this Seydor cut may very well be considered the DEFINITIVE version and it is anything but. Its hard to believe that this could happen to someone as important to film as Sam Pecpinpah but it is in keeping with his luck that carrion would rule his most misunderstood masterwork. I can't believe the Directors Guild would allow this to happen. Warner's and Paul Seydor and everyone else connected to this mess should be ashamed. I am also surprised that more people have not called this BS down.