6 Crucial Movie Scenes That Never Made It Out of the Script
There's a saying in Hollywood: "Cut what you love." No, it's not about cocaine. It means that it doesn't matter how expensive, beautiful or awesome a scene is -- if you can cut it and still have the movie make sense, then cut it. It's actually pretty common for perfectly good scenes to end up on the cutting room floor simply to shave a few minutes off the total running time or speed up the pace of the movie.
Of course, sometimes the movie doesn't make sense without that crucial deleted scene, but we just didn't notice it. Like in ...
Inglourious Basterds -- A Flashback Explains the Movie's Weird-Ass Name
We've mentioned before how Quentin Tarantino's Hitler-killing epic Inglourious Basterds ties the entire Tarantinoverse together like a fine carpet, but one mystery still remains: Why the hell is the title misspelled? There's one "U" too many and an "E" that should be an "A," in case you haven't noticed. Movie nuts know that the name is inspired by the Italian war movie The Inglorious Bastards (the director even makes a cameo here), but that doesn't explain the misspelling: In fact, Tarantino has gone on the record saying that he's "never going to explain that."
If that's the case, then he probably shouldn't have put the answer right there in the script, where we can see it.
The Missing Scene:
The script by Tarantino contains an extended flashback sequence starring Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz, a part played by Eli Roth that was originally written for Adam Sandler. The scene comes just as Donny is about to beat a Nazi to death with his baseball bat -- we see Donny buying the bat in his old neighborhood in Boston (spelled "Bostin") right before shipping out to fight in World War II. Good luck not hearing Happy Madison's voice screaming in your brain as you read this dialogue, by the way:
"Put down your Yahtzee/It's time to beat some Nazis ..."
Note the spelling of "basterd." Donny then goes around the neighborhood asking his fellow Jews if they have any loved ones in danger in Europe, and to write down their names on the baseball bat. At one point he goes to the house of one Mrs. Himmelstein (who would have been played by Frau Blucher from Young Frankenstein), and right before signing the bat, she says:
"Remember your roots by never spelling anything correctly, ever."
To which Donny replies:
"Now have some freshly baked cookies, sweetie."
Cut to Donny spilling the Nazi's brains out in the woods.
How It Changes the Movie:
This scene would have explained why so many actors are referred to as "basterds" -- that's just how people talked in Donny's old neighborhood, and it stuck. The line "A basterd's work is never done" is so important that it even made it onto one of the film's posters.
It's possible that Tarantino cut the scene after Sandler turned down the role to make Funny People (it remains a subject of debate as to whether this was a good thing for either movie). Perhaps Tarantino shortened Donny's role when he realized that Eli Roth's acting range isn't quite as ample as Sandler's -- did you see that movie where he plays a guy and his twin sister?
Raiders of the Lost Ark -- Why Indy Knew Not to Look at the Ark
In Raiders of the Lost Ark, everyone from Indiana Jones to Adolf Hitler wants to get their hands on the legendary Ark of the Covenant -- and yet, if you pay attention, you'll notice that throughout the movie, nobody actually touches the thing they're supposed to covet so much. They're always carrying it on poles or putting it in boxes, as if they were grossed out by it or something. Why is that?
The only time they do touch the Ark is at the very end, when the Nazis open it and accidentally unleash a light show that sucks their souls and melts their faces. Indy looks away from the lights and the spirits spare him ... but how did he know he had to do that? It's literally the only thing that saves him. And you can't say it's common sense -- he's the only person in the vicinity who knows to do it, and he has to tell Marion, or else her face would have melted, too. Yet this life-saving technique is never mentioned in the movie prior to that point.
The Missing Scene:
There's a scene in the movie where Indy talks to an old man who says the Ark "is not to be disturbed." Well, in a deleted scene from the script, the guy explains exactly what he meant by that: If you touch the Ark or so much as look into it while it's open, you die.
Even though they cut that part, it's pretty remarkable to see how deeply these warnings were ingrained into the story. Later, in the scene where Indy and Sallah first see the Ark, the script calls for Sallah to reach out to touch it, but Indy stops him:
"If you take it out of the box, it's worthless!"
This part was also removed, but again, the movie acknowledges the erased moment by having Indy and Sallah carry the Ark on poles instead of just lugging it around.
How It Changes the Movie:
We've previously pointed out that the Bible pretty much spells out the effects of the Ark, and therefore both Indy and the villain should have known what it does, but presumably not everyone in this audience is an archeologist who specializes in Biblical relics. With the old man's explanation, people who didn't pay attention in Sunday school can understand what happened at the end of the movie, too.
The only problem, and the most likely reason why they cut those scenes, is that they sort of spoil the ending: When the bad guy opens the Ark, nobody knows what's going to happen to him, and the deleted scenes would have ruined the surprise (although there's a big difference between "you die" and "your head explodes").
The Empire Strikes Back -- Luke Learns How to Power Jump
For some of you reading this, The Empire Strikes Back is the greatest movie you've ever seen. For others, it's a movie wrought with incest, plot holes, continuity errors ... and the greatest movie you've ever seen.
"Give me your money and undying adoration. It is the only way."
So, yeah, it's probably the best movie in the Star Wars series, but it's also full of weird little inconsistencies. For example, there's a moment where Luke and Darth Vader are dueling and Luke falls into the carbon freezing chamber that previously turned Han Solo into a slab. Vader turns on the freezing mechanism, but Luke immediately jumps off the chamber super fast, flying off so high that he literally ends up hanging from the ceiling, like a cartoon character who just sat on a cactus.
Uh, since when can Luke do that? This is not a minor point: The only reason Luke doesn't get frozen there is A) because he can do that Jedi jump and B) because Vader doesn't know he can do it. Otherwise he wouldn't have turned his back on him and assumed the fight was over. And he should be surprised -- this particular superpower seems to come out of nowhere, especially considering that, as we've pointed out before, Luke only trained to become a Jedi for a few hours.
The Missing Scene:
It turns out there was a whole lot more to Luke's Jedi training than what we saw in the movie -- and no, we're not talking about the expanded universe, the novelization or someone's Luke/Yoda slash fiction. We're talking an entire omitted sequence of the script showing a training montage of Luke learning how to swing a light saber like a pro, how to run through Dagobah in Rocky-like fashion ... and how to jump really, really high.
First, Yoda sits on a tree branch dangling Luke's light saber and making him jump to reach it:
After a while, Luke starts getting better and trolls him back:
This is followed by the classic scene of Luke standing on one hand and Yoda using the Force to raise an entire spaceship from the swamp.
How It Changes the Movie:
Luke's training is still pretty short, of course, but the magic of the montage would have at least made it seem more intense than in the finished movie, and explained some of the abilities he later showed off during his fight with Vader. This way, Luke's fantastic leap out of the freezing chamber is actually the culmination of his training with Yoda and not just something George Lucas pulled out of his ass to get him out of a tight spot.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off -- Ferris Rips Off His Dad to Fund His Adventure
Maybe we're getting older, maybe we've just seen this film too many times, but something has always seemed a bit off about Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Specifically, how could the "day off" even happen? Throughout the course of the movie, we see Ferris treating his girlfriend and his friend Cameron to an upscale restaurant, a baseball game and the single most melodramatic museum visit ever.
"Perhaps some exposition would help us understand this art?"
That requires a hell of a lot of money for a kid living on a teenager's allowance. Yes, his parents appear to be rich, but as Ferris himself would point out, "It still wouldn't change the fact that I don't own a car." So, how does Ferris finance his excursion?
The Missing Scene:
The answer in the script jibes perfectly with what we already know about the character: Ferris gets the money through dishonesty and manipulation. He literally steals some saving bonds from his father after tricking him into saying where he hides them. John Hughes even had Ferris light up a cigarette and blow smoke rings as he duped his dad.
The scene comes right after Ferris convinces Cameron to come over to his house: They're talking on the phone when Ferris' dad calls on the other line to check up on him (remember, he was faking being sick in order to skip school). Ferris tells Cameron that he's "working on getting some heavy bucks out of" his dad -- he then switches back to his dad and casually brings up "those saving bonds you used to give me every Christmas," which leads to the following exchange:
Ferris then looks at the camera and says:
How It Changes the Movie:
First of all, it lets you know right off the bat that Ferris is a dick, which is probably why John Hughes chose to omit it. But, at the same time, it stresses the fact that this isn't just a regular day in Ferris' life: He was only able to do all the things he did because he stole his dad's money, and we're assuming that's not a stunt he can repeat every weekend. The movie is about a singular time in a young man's life when he's finishing school and about to go into college, and there's something bittersweet about the fact that he'll never be able to relive these carefree days again.
Saving Private Ryan -- Why the Squad Is Walking Around With No Ammo, on Foot
Saving Private Ryan is widely regarded as one of the finest World War II films of all time, even if it didn't contain enough scenes of William Shakespeare making out with Gwyneth Paltrow in drag to warrant an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1999.
Still, when you think about it, there's one thing about the movie that doesn't make sense: Why the hell do Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) and his squad embark on their mission on foot and with almost no ammo? That's kind of the key to the whole tension of the movie -- they're on their own, on foot, with no backup. We mean, this is the freaking middle of World War II here, and they're supposed to find and bring home Private Ryan (Matt Damon) somewhere in Nazi-occupied France. Why did they head out no more equipped for the job than the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings?
Contrary to what the German army might tell you, marching across the French countryside is not a walk in the park. So, what gives?
The Missing Scene:
It turns out that there was an entire sequence in the script where Miller's squad leaves Omaha Beach on a badass jeep, with all of the requisite equipment you'd need for a wartime rescue mission. But they lose it in a battle, along with most of their munitions. Apparently Spielberg decided to cut this part pretty late in the game, because you can actually see them driving the jeep in the movie ... for two seconds. Pay close attention to the 0:10-0:12 mark here.
Before that, in the deleted scene Miller convinces the supply sergeant to let them use the jeep, which belongs to one General Gavin, by mentioning that Private Ryan's three brothers were killed in action. The sergeant is moved by this tale and lets them take off in it. And so:
In the script, the jeep serves them pretty well until it gets blown up in a skirmish, taking most of their ammo with it. This scene is even referenced in the movie when Miller tells Ted Danson "We lost most of our ammo" so early into their mission.
How It Changes the Movie:
The fact that the squad had not only a jeep but also a shitload more ammo adds a whole lot of feasibility to their mission, which otherwise feels kind of half-assed ... even more so when you consider that they technically had a jeep in the movie, they just decided to drop it and continue on foot for no reason at all.
Leon: The Professional -- Yes, Leon Sleeps With a 12-Year-Old Girl
Leon: The Professional is about an Italian killer living in New York (Jean Reno) who starts taking care of a girl named Mathilda (a very young Natalie Portman) after her family is killed. If you've seen this movie, you'll probably agree that there's something slightly off-putting about it; in the words of Roger Ebert, "Always at the back of my mind was the troubled thought that there was something wrong about placing a 12-year-old character in the middle of this action."
That's one way of putting it.
In one scene, Leon wakes up in bed and a scantily clad Mathilda is sitting next to him, but that's the closest they ever get to being romantically involved. So why does this movie creep us out so much?
The Missing Scene:
The international cut of the film reveals that the night before that scene, Mathilda tried to coax Leon into making love to her, but he turned her down because he "wouldn't be a good lover" (apparently there are no laws about having sex with minors in other countries, but there are plenty of laws about doing it lousily). Well, the screenplay takes the wrongness even further by making it clear that, actually, he does sleep with her. While crying. Here's the scene:
"How beautiful it is seeing them sweetly making love" is an actual line that the screenwriter wrote. And no, she's isn't 30 instead of almost 13 in this draft.
How It Changes the Movie:
For starters, this explains why Leon is so edgy the whole damn picture: On top of the corrupt DEA agent, he also had to be on the lookout for Child Protective Services busting his ass for pedophilia. But mainly, it confirms our hunch that there was something fishy going on in this movie all along. We'll never look at Luc Besson pictures the same way again.
Jacopo would like to thank @SimonBWFC, @AdamKalontas and everyone else for following him on Twitter. This article is dedicated to you.
For more key scenes producers could've left us, check out 7 Famous Movie Flaws That Were Explained in Deleted Scenes and 6 Deleted Scenes That Prove the Book Isn't Always Better.
If you're pressed for time and just looking for a quick fix, then check out Deleted Scene That Would Have Ruined 'Shawshank Redemption'.
And stop by LinkSTORM to see the deleted scene that will save all your Mondays.
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