MovieChat Forums > Fingers (1978) Discussion > Dubbed lines: is the US DVD censored?

Dubbed lines: is the US DVD censored?

posted 18 years ago by lewisherschell
3 replies | jump to latest

I can't help noticing that on the US DVD, there seem to be quite a few lines that are dubbed: for example, in the sequence in which Keitel has sex with the woman in the bathroom, when he leaves she visibly yells something at him but we don't hear her words, and in the scene before as Keitel talks on the telephone we hear him say "rotten chiseler", but it's clear from his mouth movements that he's actually saying something far worse.

Does anyone know if this dubbing was imposed by the MPAA? Is it on all prints of the movie, or does the DVD contain a slightly censored version of the movie (perhaps a television print--although the dialogue during the scene in which Keitel abuses a fellow restaurant patron is intact on the DVD).

______________________________________________________________
'What does it matter what you say about people?'
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958).

[–] Lambadockis 17 years ago

In his commentary, Toback talks about pre-release edits made to secure an R-Rating including overdubs, decreasing dialog volume in the audio mix, and trims to the final scene.

[–] lolarites 15 years ago

Maybe that will explain the insipid script.

[–] laserboy28 9 years ago

I was working at a cinema complex in the early 90's, one of the smaller cinemas was rented out to the Toronto Film Festival from October to May for "Cinemateque" programming. They brought "Fingers" in, and I'm sure James Toback along with his personal (original) cut of Fingers, and it was screened. I didn't see any of the film but I was told that the studio pretty much took control of the film and re-cut it. He was displeased with what went out, but proud with his original cut. He said he was working to get the original cut a VHS release, not sure if it ever came out or not. I believe there were also ownership issues.