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John Woo Bullet in the Head Festival Cut


laagi

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Hi everyone,

Just curious if any member has this version on DVD ? ;) Or any info on where or how to obtain it, would be highly appreciated!

I'm not interested in the Joy Sales DVD though. Which simply puts the deleted scenes back in and furthermore quite horribly.

According to ofdb.de the festival cut has burnt in chinese and english subtitles.

Anyway, might be a long shot. But it's worth trying :)

Thanks

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Reel Power Stunts

I don't know if this helps, but as noone replied yet... this VCD put out by MeiAh ended in the office boardroom. It didn't have the car chase/shootout ending.

Bullet+in+the+head+vcd.jpg

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There wasn't any official release of the festival cut which AFAIK is the only version that had scenes like the full urine drinking bit integrated into the movie. The story going around was that even John Woo didn't have any of the footage, the cut was just made for a couple of festivals and then excised from the movie by Golden Harvest after audiences gave bad reactions. That may be just BS though.

Anyway, I had a VHS copy that I got off someone at the old alt.asian-movies newsgroup, but that crapped out years ago unfortunately.

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that VCD Actually has NONE of the Festival Cut exclusive Footage. (which had the extended ending). what the VCD does have is the original Music Score of the Festival Cut. that was replaced by a tamer, less emotionally involving Score for all now known Versions.

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masterofoneinchpunch

Do you have a direct link to the pertinent ofdb.de page?

The amount of versions out there gets confusing. FYI: I'll quote a few sources:

Tony Williams Bullet in the Head (2009: Hong Kong University Press)

"The Different Versions of Bullet in the Head"

John Woo's "Bullet in the Head" appeared in many versions following the time of its original theatrical release in Hong Kong during August 17-31, 1990. No one cut is really definitive, not even the 136-minute versions now available on the Fortune Star/Joy Star[sales] DVD version (which contain fragments from the missing footage that can be integrated into the running time or played separately) or the U.K. Hong Kong Legends DVD reissue of 2004. Although the case of Bullet in the Head does not resemble the nature of Orson Welles's original version of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) or Mr Arkadian (1955) which can be separated into seven different versions, the truth remains that no "director's cut" is now in existence nor, sadly, will there ever be one.

...

The full version of Bullet in the Head is probably the nearest equivalent that Hong Kong cinema has to the missing version of The Magnificent Ambersons both in terms of length and significant content, the only difference being that no complete screenplay is currently available by which we can attempt to recover the construction of the entire film. Hopefully, this may change in the future.

The first version (or "Ur" version) was John Woo's original cut that ran over three hours long. Golden Princess Film Production Company demanded that Woo reduce the film to a commercially viable running time. This probably emphasized the historical and political elements already implicit in the second version that may have been regarded as redundant for commercial purposes or capable of offending local censorship bodies.

The second version is the one theatrically distributed by Golden Princess Film Production that ran 136 minutes. Producers insisted that Woo also shoot some new sequences such as Ben's murder of Paul in the Triad boardroom and the final battle between both in the last ten minutes of the film. When the film received it first theatrical run, the last third resembles the versions available on DVD today where Ben leaves after making Paul lose "face" before the Triads and then waits to take revenge on him. However, local producers and distributors eager to gain as many screenings during the day would have insisted on further cuts leading to the next version.

[describes third VCD release]

[describes fourth VHS release]

[discusses missing scenes listed in Wiki, however those were taken down from that site]

Direct quote from John Woo (Kenneth E. Hall: John Woo The Films):

"We had a premiere at the Convention Center. At the premiere, the film ran 2 hours and 35 minutes"

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Fingers Hung

The (old) VCDs from Mei Ah and Megastar had a tiny little bit of footage which I can't remember being in any of the other commercially released versions, including the Joy Sales DVD. It's a few seconds at the beginning of Tony Leung giving dance instructions.

But yeah, other than that there's nothing here that can't be found elsewhere. Due to the changed ending and the various cuts throughout the movie, the VCD version runs almost 20 minutes shorter than the version most commonly available.

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post-784-144191897575_thumb.jpg

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The festival cut was uploaded at ADC before it was shutdown. Luckily I managed to leech and burn it on disc (still have it) before the shutdown.

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16 hours ago, DiP said:

The festival cut was uploaded at ADC before it was shutdown. Luckily I managed to leech and burn it on disc (still have it) before the shutdown.

You should share it on Avistaz or asiancinema.me if you want, it would be nice of you!

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i got this as ISO DVD9 from VHS and can share a download link via email soon, if requested:  puppepink@gmx.de

the PM System here is too complicated to keep track off, sorry.

 

 

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