I’ve only seen the uncut version so I can’t say. The edited down one probably isn’t bad, but I like the long one so much I feel like I’d rather just re-watch that rather than looking at a different version.
Hah, long overdue …
… and now we all can be curious what they do with the 3 versions. Releasing all 3 would be the best idea of course.
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Coming back to this, you are still looking for excuses, but fact is that many people (me included) love and admire the film, and surely not for the wrong reasons.
Production design, photography, costumes, locations, cast and other things all add to the film’s quality, but I would never really like a film for such things alone. More important for me is how a film is directed, how the story is told, how a film uses narrative techniques, and in that regard PG&BtK is one the most unique westerns ever. Actually it is one of the 4 best westerns for me, better than any Ford or Hawks film.
The “smiling” thing for example can imo be a good key to understand the film. It is the opposite of tough guy behaviour, but has a lot to do with the fatalistic acceptance of violence and death which was once described once as “Peckinpah offers what one critic has called a paralysed epic”. And the poetic intension of several episodes in contrast to the harsh violence gives it an uncertain feel of loss. Similar and at the same time quite different to Peckinpah’s other twilight westerns.
Alex Cox is doubtless an admirer too:
“Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is the most political of all American Westerns, and for all its difficulties I think Rudy [Wurlitzer]’s collaboration with Peckinpah (and Dylan, and all the actors and crew!) led to the creation of a masterpiece.”
Please, please, Criterion make sure the TCM version is included. Then of course also include the Seydor cut and the TV cut for all those extra bits and pieces.
Make that 4 versions: TCM, seydor, theatrical, TV
Finally:
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Yeah, you said it… finally.
Hope this one comes to the UK. Their semi-recent 4K of Roaring Twenties was announced shortly after their US announcement so I hope it’s the same for this.
Which is the cut to watch first though?
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That has always bothered me too …
… now having three cuts of this movie, it has become much less of an entertainment, as intended, and more for students of director Peckinpah.
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So coin toss lol
Tricky …
We’ll have to wait for the results, as it seems that 2 of the versions are partly new:
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After some checking the Preview cut will not be the Turner version, but instead the 2nd preview version, which is slightly different, and includes the wife scene. But this version is not a DC, it’s a version which clearly lacks fine cutting, and contains a scene which breaks the narrative point of view, one scene in which neither Pat nor Billy are present. 122 min
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The 50th anniversary cut runs about 2 min longer than the 2005 version, so it is very likely a new version. The 2005 cut was a compromise of preview and theatrical version, but too hastily done by Warner. The 50th anniversary cut most likely will be an improved version of the 2005 version, and such a revised version of the 2005 cut could be the winner. 117 min
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And its great to have the theatrical version, which is a version which works on its own, a kinda different movie. Despite some shortcomings PG & BtK was for me already one of the 5 best westerns in that version, which is a kinda different film, which works on its own because (not despite) of all the missing scenes. 106 min
In the past most fans preferred the preview version to the 2005 version, but I actually was disappointed by the preview version when I saw it first. I loved PG & BtK already in the theatrical version, and despite all the new scenes bringing new layers of complexity, the film worked less good for me. There were massive rhythm problems, which mostly were solved by the 2005 version.
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According to Stephen Prince’s article on “The recutting of PG&BTK”, the only difference between the two preview cuts is the presence of absence of the wife scene.
I want to know where the 1975 CBS Broadcast cut is. That’s the fourth version they’re missing.
Peckinpah’s preview cut is surely the one to watch. I haven’t seen the theatrical cut, but it would be unlikely to be better. The 2005 Seydor cut was not hugely popular, but this new version could be interesting…
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I really like the theatrical version, too. I’m not sure why people dislike it so much.
I think it works very well and I like the bunkhouse scene.
I’m not sure why I can’t get into the 2005 version. I think the pacing is much better in the theatrical cut and I can’t figure out why they didn’t just release that on DVD when the film was restored.
No, there are some other minor differences, a few parts of scenes cut out. Seydor describes them in his PG & BtK book. The 2nd preview is most likely half a minute shorter despite the adding of the wife scene.
Maybe it would have been the best to combine both previews?
Yep, they should have released in 2005 the theatrical version also in that DVD set.
While Major Dundee so far got better for me with every new scene, the PG & BtK situation is more tricky. Some of the strengths of the theatrical version got lost in every longer version, and sometimes I think they should just have taken the theatrical version as basis, and then of the new scenes only add the brillant prologue montage and maybe the Chisum scene. And a few small improving bits of the scenes all versions share.
I haven’t seen a whole ton of Peckinpah, but I recently watched Ride the High Country and Major Dundee. I especially liked the latter, being a Civil War buff.