Deleted Scenes That Changed The Movie

As a filmmaker, knowing the right balance to tell the perfect cinematic story can be challenging. While on set, you film everything you think you’ll need to create a great film, but when you hit the editing bay, you realize that some stuff may not work. Scenes that add different aspects may end up on the cutting room floor. Not all of them actually take away from the film, but they add some more layers to it that add a lot. It could be a case of budget or just for time, but some things need to be chopped. What are some deleted scenes that changed the movie?

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Fans fell in love with everyone’s favorite anti-authority high schooler when the film hit the big screen. As the secretary says, “He’s a righteous dude.” The big key was keeping the viewer on his side the entire runtime of the film. We can all understand wanting a day of adventure in the big city. Go to a game, see some art, eat at an expensive restaurant. Yes, to all of this. Ever wonder how they could afford to do all of these things?

In a deleted scene from the film, we see Ferris talking to his dad on the phone while he is at work. He gets his dad to mention where his bonds are kept in his home office. With this information, we see Ferris stealing them to help fund his day trip into the city. The filmmakers decided that it would turn the audience against Ferris. While he spends the entire movie sticking to obnoxious authority figures, stealing from his own parents would have given the audience a different idea of our fun-loving hero.

Aliens (1986)

Most fans of the Alien franchise already know that Ripley had a daughter, but no one knew back in 1986. What is deemed an important motivational scene was deleted from the theatrical cut of Aliens, where we learn that while Ripley was floating around in space for 80 years, her 10-year-old daughter grew up and died. It ended up being cut for time and James Cameron has said that Weaver was not happy about it. She says she based her entire performance around the fact that Ripley had missed out on her daughter’s entire life because of the company’s insistence on capturing a xenomorph.

This is very present in her bond with Newt throughout their time running from the deadly life forms. She can save this little girl since she wasn’t there for her own daughter. It also adds a deeper connection between her and the Xenomorph Queen. Both are mothers. Both will do anything to protect their children. Adopted or not. All of this is on screen anyway, but this one scene really adds so many more layers to it. Ripley’s daughter would show up as the main character in the fantastic video game Alien: Isolation. While on a space station looking for clues to her mother’s whereabouts, another killing machine is let loose. The goal isn’t to win, but just to survive.

Back To The Future Part III (1990)

While someone could say this doesn’t drastically change the outcome of the movie, this deleted scene will make the viewer completely re-evaluate a character throughout the entire trilogy. That’s no small feat. In a deleted scene we see that Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen is a thorn in the side of Marshall Strickland. After a slight confrontation, Tannen shoots Marshall in the back in front of his young son. As he dies in his son’s arms, he tells him to always remember the word discipline. This would be passed down to his son, who would become the principal of Hill Valley High School. No wonder Strickland didn’t seem to like Biff Tannen all that much.

Clerks (1994)

Alternate endings are their own kind of scenes. Obviously, ending the movie differently will completely change a movie. The stark difference between ending the movie on a down note and a more upbeat ending can be as simple as one small cut. Kevin Smith built his entire empire on the 1994 film Clerks, and the ending originally would have put the brakes on any future plans at The Quick Stop.

Originally the movie ended with Dante and Randal mending their friendship as the store closed. Dante stuck around to finish up and a robber came in to empty the register. Dante is shot and left bleeding behind the counter. Once the movie was picked up, it was suggested that he end the movie with Randal throwing the open sign in at Dante proclaiming, “You’re closed,” which is really the perfect way to end the day from hell for our main character. A jaunty song gives the close of the film the good feeling you need as the credits roll.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

This slasher made it so you weren’t even safe in your sleep. Somehow, the story of a child killer would rocket Freddy Kruger to a pop culture icon, and we’d see kids dressed up as him for Halloween. Did we forget he was a child killer and implied sexual predator? Well, one scene in the film made things a lot more personal for Nancy and Freddy.

We already see that her parent’s marriage fell apart because of the secrets that they kept, but if a deleted scene was kept, we’d know there was a lot more to all of it. When Nancy’s mom shows her that she still has Freddy’s glove in their furnace, originally, this is where we would have learned that Nancy used to have a brother. She was little when it happened, so she forgot, but her older brother was killed by Freddy. Now things suddenly jump into focus.

Nancy’s dad is a cop. The explanation is that a cop screwed up, and Freddy got off due to a loophole. Does Nancy’s mom blame her father for the screw-up? Possibly. They were never able to move past it, and the death of their firstborn just destroyed their marriage. It’s suddenly very personal. Freddy didn’t just give her nightmares, he took her entire family away from her. She was already upset that her friends were dying. Now she sees he has ruined her entire life.

Return Of The Jedi (1983)

The third installment in George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogy seemed to wrap up all the storylines we had been seeing since the 1977 original film. One thread that was kind of left hanging is why Obi-Wan never told Luke that Darth Vader was his father. Since then, it has been explored many times over, but we almost found out way earlier.

In a deleted scene, Yoda reveals before his death that Obi-Wan actually wanted to tell Luke much sooner. Maybe even before the original film took place. Yoda instructed him not to. New Star Wars material shows that the Jedi may not have been as pure as we originally thought. Back in Return Of The Jedi, it is possible they were trying not to tarnish their reputation. Taking this out leaves Yoda as a wise Jedi master rather than someone who manipulates situations to keep questions from being asked.

Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)

Somehow, a Roger Corman B-Movie became a smash stage musical, and a theatrical film was quickly to follow. When fans went and saw the movie, they learned it had a drastically different ending. We see Seymour defeat Audrey II, and he ends up happily married to the original Audrey. We do get a quick wink that not everything is as cleaned up as we thought when we see a new plant in front of their house.

In the film, they originally planned to show something more akin to how the stage play ends. The plants win! The original Audrey dies and is fed to her plant successor. Seymour allows himself to be eaten out of guilt. Then, we are shown a wild montage of a bunch of plants running amok through New York as they have grown to kaiju size. Humans are doomed and the last image is a plant bursting through the movie screen towards the audience.

Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)

When the original Lord Of The Rings trilogy was released in theaters, it was a spectacle to behold. Peter Jackson brought pure magic to the screen and brought the books to life. While much of what was shown was from Tolkien’s books, a few things were invented for the films. Most of them didn’t detract too much from their source material, but one altered scene bothered the director, so it was digitally changed in post-production.

Aragorn was originally going to have a sword fight with the physical manifestation of Sauron in the final battle. As Gandalf and the army he has assembled battle the forces of Sauron, he appears in physical form only for Aragorn to attempt to slay him. In the end, the director felt this detracted too much from the true name of the quest, so he altered it, and instead, Aragorn now fights a large troll. Probably smart to keep Sauron more of an overseeing presence.

I Am Legend (2007)

The third adaptation of the book I Am Legend by Richard Matheson had a few different endings they tried out. The one that actually got closer to the idea of the book but was still pretty different had Smith’s character finally seeing the enemy’s point of view. When the creatures raid his home, he finally realizes they are there to save the female creature he had been running experiments on. He sees that in their eyes, he is the monster that has been kidnapping and experimenting on them.

Rumors have been swirling about there being a sequel to the film starring Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan. Akiva Goldsman has said that they are planning on continuing the sequel from the alternate ending rather than what audiences saw in the theatrical version.  It’s an interesting idea, but will that work?

Do you have any favorite deleted scenes? Let us know in the comments.