There's a cockfight scene missing in the UK. I'm told that it was in the first UK showing of the full version at the NFT by people who were there, but it was missing when I saw it in 1987, even though the version I saw had not been submitted to the BBFC - presumably taken out on legal advice.MichaelB wrote: The film was never released on UK DVD, but it had a pan-and-scan VHS release in 1986, and the BBFC website confirms that both the theatrical and video versions were cut, the video version by over a minute. No reason is given, but animal cruelty is overwhelmingly likely: even in the James Ferman era, the BBFC was generally reluctant to cut films by important Oscar-winning directors unless they were legally problematic.
The showing of the full version that I saw was in 70mm at what was then the largest of the two screens at the ABC Shaftesbury Avenue (now the four-screen Odeon Covent Garden) and it amounted to a private showing. Someone had hired the cinema for a Sunday morning showing, had hired the print and advertised the screening of a film not then otherwise available in that form. Since the showing sold out, that person must have made a profit.
There was some damage to the print, which in one place caused a big unintentional laugh. A splice removed someone's line of dialogue, which was unfortunate as the next (audible) line was "What did you say?"
That was twenty-five years ago, and I remember sequences and shots to this day, so the film must have had quite an impact as I've not seen it again since. Having said that, I caught a little of the first UK TV screening on the BBC2 Film Club and noticed that the sound mix had been tweaked: Kristofferson's words when he first arrives were more audible.
