Missing scenes.... ?


I remember seeing this movie when i was a kid, and it had some scenes that i remember clearly, but aren't on the dvd, at least not the one i have.

The first one is when Steve Martin and his evil wife are in the car, and he hears the "brain" calling for help. So he steps on it, rushes back home and finds he left her (the brain) in the sun light. So he asks her to say the alphabet. She does so, but forgets the letter Z. He asks her how is called the animal with black and white stripes, and she says "a ebra". Then he asks her where they keep it, and she says "in the oo". So he says sadly: "The sun burned your Z cells." Then his wife walks in asking him wtf was his problem driving like a maniac, and she is totally grossed out from seeing the brain. I think she says "it looks like melted tapioca" or something similar.

Another scene is at his demonstration in Austria, where he opens a dead body's head and finds 3 lemons instead of his brain.... i remember someone from the audience gets up and starts yelling at him in german (i didn't know german too well then, so i don't know what he said) anyway, the guy looks really pissed and is threatening him or insulting him.... then steve asks another guy beside him what he said, and the other guy translates for him "Welcome to our country, have a pleasant stay, we admire your work very much, etc etc...."

reply

I don't remember those particular scenes, but I do vividly remember the scene where Michael and Dolores first go to the hotel in Austria. After the desk clerk looks her up and down, he asks the bell boy (who literally, at first, looks like a young boy) to help her with her bags. The boy walks over to her, takes a look at her body, and quickly grows a mustache, becoming a "man." This is cut on the dvd as well. Will Steve Martin and Carl Reiner ever release an extended version of this film?

"Michael? Were you out on the boat today kissing your brain?"

reply

Ha ha ha, yeah that rings a bell =) i guess i was too young to get it when i first saw the movie.... !!

reply

yep, i remember the Z-scene and the lemons scene as well. Also the scene where he is rowing a boat and has the brain in the glass with him with some glue-on lips on the glass I think.
Unfortunately I got rid of all my VHS cassettes just recently after moving to a DVD player/recorder.

reply

So why are they not on DVD?

reply

I also remember these scenes you speak of, plus I remember the scene with the teenage bellhop quickly going through puberty after looking at Kathleen Turner's smokin' hot body.

These vital scenes were somehow eliminated from the DVD version. I suspect Merv Griffin was somehow behind it....

reply

"regurgitated tapioca" ; ) Yeah, I miss that part too...

reply

The second scene is the one I remember; strangely enough, no one else mentions it. That screaming-German-guy in the audience was Carl Reiner.

reply

I just got this movie from I-Tunes. I'd forgotten all about the sun burning her "Z"s part until I came here trying to find information about other stuff I noticed missing. The "Z"s part is missing & the German translation stuff you mention doesn't ring a bell for me (though it's been a while since I've seen this), but that's not in it either. I do seem to remember the lecture scene being longer, though. Another part I noticed missing is where Dolores asks someone if a "citizen's divorce" is legal/valid & she's told that it's not in most places, but it is in Germany or something like that. This is not the only classic movie that I've discovered has original scenes inexplicably missing or altered on video/DVD/online ("Heroes"--1977; "Silent Movie"--1976; "Necromancy"--1972). Why can't they leave the classics alone? If they're gonna do this, I'd rather they do it to the overrated, overhyped, crappy or mediocre stuff ("Terms Of Endearment" & "Breaking Away" come to mind).

reply

This is the situation with a lot of movies. I always read of movies with scenes excised for no good reason. A lot of 80s comedies. Some explanations I've seen are that the longer cut is the TV edit of the film and that the theatrical release is what's on the DVD. It's that or the other way around... though I'm pretty sure I've got it right.

...the guy in the $600 banana suit - COME ON!

reply

The longer cut is usually the TV one, so that channels can have more ad breaks and make more money. The longer the film - the more ad breaks.

reply

I'm glad I read this thread. I haven't seen this movie in probably almost 30 years, my mom taped it on cable and I loved it and watched it over and over... I remember all the scenes you describe. Well, something made me think about it for the first time in ages and I was going to order the DVD from Amazon. If it was cheaper I might still go for it even though some funny stuff was cut out... but not at their current asking price.

reply