40 replies to this topic

[Bondpurist]

On Wednesday the 21st of August LTK was shown on ITV (Channel 3) here in the UK. One thing I noticed about it was additional and ridiculous editing. Here are some examples ;
1) At the very start the line 'If they hurry they might just be able to catch the bastard' was cut out !!
2) Bond's line 'watch the birdie you bastard' was cut down to 'watch the birdie'
3) The bit were Sanchez gets out his whip in readiness to whip Lupe was cut short.
4)The bit where Killifer knocks out the truck driver was cut.
5) Pam's immortal 'bull****!' was cut out!!
6) Several quite innocent moments with Pam during the tankers sequence were cut, e.g where she finds the truck and gets in (!!)
7) Where Sanchez shoots Truman-lodge and says 'it's time to start cutting overheads' is cut - one moment Truman-lodge is saying 'well done Franz, another 80 million dollar blow out' and the next hes lying down dead and Sanchez takes the suitcase!! It's ridiculous.
What do you think? Did anyone notice any more cuts?

[rafterman]

edits like these are why I prefer to watch my DVDs....

[ThomasCrown76]

Wow, and I thought ABC was the only network in the world who treated Bond with contempt.

[007.5]

I watched Licence To Kill last night and the hatchet job was ridiculous. They ruined the film. I noticed another cut:

When 007 torches Sanchez it was cheaply edited, rather than Sanchez spinning round on fire it had the screen almost paused in flame and then Bond sprinting away.

After Bond lands on the roof of the tanker truck and opens it, the bit of the truck driver grabbing the knife to slash Bond was cut and it went straight to Bond with the fire extinguisher.

The bit where Bond says to Lupe "make a sound and you're dead" when he's holding the knife was edited and it just had Bond saying "where's Sanchez?"

Krest's head blowing up was edited.

Truman Lodge saying the 'S' word when Bond rolls the rear bit of his tanker down the hill and it explodes was cut.

[ThomasCrown76]

What the hell is with the censors!? They let **** like The Shield get away with murder on FX and the stuff they show on the networks...it's no wonder their ratings are way down, and people are quickly making the choice for cable. Heh heh, thank God they didn't get their hands on The Sopranos!

[14 20 02]

The bit where Felix is being eaten by the shark instead of seeing him being eaten it showed Sanchez reaction, Darios and Killfer and when Felix is in the hospital and Bond and Sharkey are with him, Sharkey says "Chainsaw my i know a sharkbite when i see one" was cut out and finally when Bond pushes Killfer over the edge of the sharks pool you don't see him being eaten much just the blood and money.

Some bits didn't need to be cut out in my opinion.

[Jim]

Wednesday evening was beautiful. The sun was shining. I spent it in the garden with my children. I did not spend it worrying about edited highlights of a film I've seen a number of times anyway, and a film which was obviously going to be cut because a) it remains a 15 certificate and the advertisers will have demanded cuts to reach a wider audience (ie under 15s) and c) on the whole it's still the school holidays in the UK (maybe not Scotland) and the little ones could well have been a captive audience all the way through it, even past their bedtimes.

This is the compromise ITV has to make when it shows gratuitously violent films at peak hours. There's nothing that can be done about it, save for showing it after ten pm on a school night, or not showing it at all.

As for losing the word "bastard" twice; does this really damage what is a horribly compromised effort anyway?

[WhiteKnight1981]

I saw the edits.it was a farce.Ive never noticed them when it was screened before.Why do it now?Grrr@ITV

[Tedley King]

Although I didn't watch all of it, I had it playing in the background for the first half (before the news cut in - I hate it when that happens). Then I actually paid attention to it, not because it isnt a good film, it is, but I've seen it so many times, on TV, video and DVD. I'm sure on the tv yesterday they added a bit more than what is on the DVD. When Bond runs away from the tanker, I'm sure it showed more of that then the DVD did. The dvd shows the explosion and Bond run away for about 10 secs. I'm sure last night it was shown for about 15 secs. What does everyone else think?
I've seen it loads of times on TV and no matter whether it's on during a school night ot whatever, ITV always cut out those bits. They may not seem much to many people, but people like me who notice things like that, which adds to the film and Bond's anger for revenge, do get a little upset by it all.
Another part which was cut out was when Bond was being interrogated on the table by the Chinese agent and Bond told him to p*ss off. That went walkies too!

[JimmyBond]

I'm with Jim on this one. Why worry about the cuts on the film when you knew it would be cut to be shown on television. Thats what video and DVD are for.

[Bondpurist]

But videos and DVDS are quite expensive - for those of us who tape the films off the TV it's disappointing. I think the 'watch the birdie you bastard' bit was a very bad cut - the 'you bastard' bit is so powerful and shows Dalton at his best. There's not exactly gratutious violence in LTK -not in the 15 anyway - and the language isn't exactly what you'd call 'shocking' - a few bastards and a bull****. It detracted from the enjoyment of the film - 'bull****' is one of Pam's best lines, and the whole bit where Truman Lodge's murder was cut out made it difficult to follow.

[ThomasCrown76]

Just to throw in a few more details, there is a Goddamnit or two in there as well that I am sure fell victim to the censors.

[Victor Zokas]

The last couple of times LTK was shown on ITV it wasn't cut at all. Not only that but the version shown was cut less than the region 2 DVD, whch makes it the Japanese cinema cut. Both times ITV put this version of LTK on a Saturday night about 7.30.

Lupe being whipped, Krest exploding, Leiter fed to the sharks, Dario's death and Sanchez' death were all uncut. But they did cut the end credits. Obviously Patti LaBelle cannot be aired before midnight.

[Blue Eyes]

Originally posted by Bondpurist
But videos and DVDS are quite expensive - for those of us who tape the films off the TV it's disappointing.

Expensive? I'd disagree with that completely. But if you don't have the money, you can't complain because a TV station cuts it down and you want to tape it. I did that when I was seven, but there comes a time when you have to buy the thing to know how to enjoy it.

[Roebuck]

Originally posted by Blue Eyes


there comes a time when you have to buy the thing to know how to enjoy it.

Couldn't agree more. Said the same thing about the Mona Lisa, but the bloomin French wouldn't sell.

OK, apologies for being facetious, but budgetary considerations make it impossible for a lot of fans to buy a full set of Bond on VHS and DVD. As someone with their eye on a new Omega, I'm sure you appreciate how tight finances can be sometimes.

[Blue Eyes]

Appreciated. But I guess I didn't explain myself to the full.

BondPurist rants and raves continually about Dalton playing Bond right? And Dalton played Bond for two films? Are a purchased VHS copy of The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill really going to break the bank?

[Roebuck]

Sorry for the cheap shot Daniel.
It was unfair of me, especially when so much of your energy and free time is being channelled into this site right now.
It's just that an elitist statement like that did need qualifying.

[Blue Eyes]

Yeah sure, I don't mind. Your comparisons were good. But you have to agree, two videos compared to the Mona Lisa (which I'm going to steal one day btw) isn't quite a good comparison. Two videos aren't really that hard to come by are they?

Maybe dunphboy is right, he just told me I'm a "a grade one posh ****". And now I'm an eletist too

[PaulZ108]

Well, I was able to buy the DVDs (all of them) with no clash flow other than $8 a week over the course of about a year. I don't think it's really that elitist or anything to think it's a bit ridiculous to be dissapointed because you couldn't tape it off of TV quite right, especially with the VHS tapes near $5 USD now and with only 2 films being the ones that are wanted. If you want it enough, it can be done.

[Roebuck]

Originally posted by Blue Eyes
the Mona Lisa (which I'm going to steal one day btw)

I wish you luck.
I accidentally triggered a security alert in the Louver when I was on honeymoon.
Those guards really do come out of nowhere - and in strength.

Mrs R. nearly divorced me on the spot!

[Blue Eyes]

Oh my God! How did you manage that? Considering you've been there, which painting is on the floor of the Louver? I believe it's a Monet and pretty hard to get to see or something.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Blue Eyes should speak to Doctor No.

He seems to know how to organise the theft of a famous painting.

[Blue Eyes]

Ah a good suggestion, I was thinking Thomas Crown, but just as good

[General Koskov]

Originally posted by Blue Eyes
Mona Lisa (which I'm going to steal one day btw)  

Funny you should mention that: I'm planning to rob Ft Knox in the future. Perhaps we should start a forum on this?

PS. Blue Eyes, if you're caught, say you're Italian, and they'll let you off easily.

[JimmyBond]

Daniel wants to steal the Mona Lisa, Koskov wants to rob FT. Knox. Those are all fine and dandy, but I am going to:

Steal two nukes and hold the world ransom!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH



Yes, I did just watch Thunderball

[Roebuck]

Originally posted by Blue Eyes
Oh my God! How did you manage that? Considering you've been there, which painting is on the floor of the Louver? I believe it's a Monet and pretty hard to get to see or something.

Give me any other details you remember and I'll check out the guide book.

The wife and I were looking around the architectural excavations beneath the museum and came across a stone shaft, just wide enough to crawl through. We were poking about inside with a flashlight and must have tripped some kind of silent alarm. Thirty seconds latter the corridor was packed with unhappy French guards.

[Blue Eyes]

The only details I really remember are that there's a painting on a canvas. And it's in a basement or something. Story goes that the painter, perhaps Monet, painted it on a really large canvas, too large to get out of the basement. So it's stayed there ever since.

I could be way off track as I haven't heard the story in a few years.

[marktmurphy]

Its Louvre everyone, the r comes before the e! Just had to get that off my chest.

[Roebuck]

Originally posted by marktmurphy
Its Louvre everyone, the r comes before the e! Just had to get that off my chest.

My only defence is that it was nearly 2 am when I typed the original post and I was half asleep.

[scaramanga1]

Getting back to topic - I too watched LTK last wednesday at the inlaws. I almost choked on my Devonshire Cream Tea, when I saw all the editing that had taken place. What sacrilidge and stupid censorship, especially as it was interspersed with the 10 o'clock news telling the watching nation about alsorts of horrors! I mean c'mon! look at the real world!
When you thing about what ten and eleven year olds get upto these days, and what they learn at school, such censorship is naive and a complete waste of time. IMO