In the pre-DVD age, most deleted scenes were lost to the ages, but new technology has helped immortalize them. Though some DVDs' deleted-scenes archives feature intriguing or even superior moments, the not-quite-there sequences, narrative dead-ends, and just-plain-bad ideas are far more plentiful. Here's a guide to some moments that illustrate the wisdom of judicious editing.
Where It Might Belong: The scene would make a terrific inclusion for a post-apocalyptic episode of ER.
Almost Famous
Scene: Stairway To Heaven
What Happens: In order to convince Frances McDormand of the virtues of rock 'n' roll, Patrick Fugit hands her the lyric sheet to the Led Zeppelin classic and plays the entire eight-minute track, while she feigns interest.
Why It Doesn't Belong: While the scene perfectly captures the awkwardness of one person playing a song for another person—with all the furtive glances and cautiously approving nods—a full eight minutes of watching people listen to a song would have been self-indulgent, even for a movie that's essentially writer-director Cameron Crowe's life story.
Where It Might Belong: Intercut with one of those Brady Bunch episodes where Greg plays his latest song, while his brothers and stepsisters smile and nod at how awesome it is.
Saturday Night Fever
Scene: Arriving At The Apartment
What Happens: After a hard night of disco dancing and self-examination, John Travolta tries to get former dance partner Karen Lynn Gorney to give him a second chance. In the final cut, he just shows up at her door and knocks, but in this deleted scene, Travolta spends a good minute at her building's intercom, buzzing and begging to be let in.
Why It Doesn't Belong: Naturalism has its place, but where does it end? If the hero makes a phone call, do we have to watch him look around his room for the scrap of paper where he jotted down the number, watch him dial, and then watch him sit through three or four rings before someone picks up?
Where It Might Belong: In one of those contemporary Taiwanese or French art films, where directors care more about how many steps the characters take to their destination than what they do when they get there.
Lagaan
Scene: The Equipment Scandal
What Happens: In a 17-minute sequence excised from the nearly four-hour Bollywood musical, British colonial Rachel Shelley sneaks some cricket equipment to Indian villager Aamir Khan, setting off a chain of events: jealousy in Khan's girlfriend, betrayal by a teammate, and incarceration when a British commander insists that the equipment was stolen.
Why It Doesn't Belong: For starters, the movie is already four goddamned hours long. Anything that doesn't involve singing, dancing, or the actual playing of cricket is best left out. Also, the sequence is anchored by an interminable interrogation scene in which each team member must individually prove that he isn't the traitor.
Where It Might Belong: As a stand-alone, semi-allegorical short film, in which gifts from strangers lead to unfortunate ends.
In The Mood For Love
Scene: The Secret Of Room 2046
What Happens: In Wong Kar-Wai's gorgeous reverie about repressed passions in 1962 Hong Kong, the unrequited love between Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung is requited on a rainy night in a hotel room.
Why It Doesn't Belong: Wong is notorious for his semi-improvisational shooting style, which results in miles of footage that never make it into the final cut. While his methods contribute to a dazzling cinema of possibilities, it's hard to believe that he ever thought to sabotage the exquisite sense of loss that makes his characters' relationship so heartbreaking.
Where It Might Belong: Wong has been known to spin off material from one movie into another: Chungking Express was originally supposed to contain three stories, until the third was developed into Fallen Angels. Full of false starts and bittersweet resignation, this deleted scene works well out of context, but it belongs in a movie that Wong didn't (and shouldn't) make.
Out Of Sight
Scene: Untitled Hotel Scene
What Happens: In an exchange whose sexual undercurrents recall the infamous "oysters" scene in Spartacus, ex-con George Clooney and associate Ving Rhames talk about the pleasures of a nice warm bath. Rhames tells Clooney there's some lilac oil and a vanilla candle under the sink, then goes on to explain how "the heat and the wet is calming," settling him "in a way that I really can't articulate." Clooney then says he could "go for a little wine tonight."
Why It Doesn't Belong: Moments of homosexual panic are a staple of Hollywood comedies, but no other scene in the movie suggests that these sensitive and tight-knit crooks are quite so intimate. Then again, hard time has been known to change a man…
Where It Might Belong: An all-gay, Off-Broadway reworking of the film needn't involve a complete overhaul of the material.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Scene: Extended Special Edition Ending
What Happens: Set years after the events of T2, this scene features Linda Hamilton living in a future America that apparently requires its citizens to wear jumpsuits, overalls, and unconvincing old-lady makeup. Her son is now a senator, and Hamilton spends her days on park benches, narrating dark observations about the averted apocalypse while wildly enthusiastic young people play a futuristic version of frisbee behind her.
Why It Doesn't Belong: Reportedly excised by James Cameron because he wanted to keep the door open for future sequels, this scene could have been cut simply because Cameron came to his senses. Not only is it awkward, but it also unintentionally breaks the film's mood for a bit of pastel-colored future-kitsch.
Where It Might Belong: Currently accessible only as an elaborately hidden Easter egg on an out-of-print version of the film, it should be destroyed entirely, lest it return at some point in the future to kill the enjoyment of future generations of T2 fans.
