You have to see these deleted film moments to believe them. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut, but would have drastically altered the movie if they had.
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00:00-"But how did she do it?"
00:06-"You think I did it."
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the scenes that didn't make it into the final cut,
00:14but would have drastically altered the movie if they had. There will be spoilers ahead.
00:19-"Be prepared for anything."
00:22Number 20. Cap adjusting to modern times. The Avengers.
00:27At the end of his first solo adventure, Steve Rogers wakes up in the 21st century,
00:31and realizes the world is no longer the one he knew.
00:34-"The table's yours as long as you like."
00:36-"Nobody's waiting on it."
00:38-"Plus we've got free wireless."
00:40-"Radio?"
00:42You can imagine that skipping over 70 years of history, pop culture, and technological evolution would be pretty disorienting.
00:49This deleted scene shows Cap dealing with that emotional fallout,
00:52and reveals that he's not as well adjusted as he appears on the surface.
00:56It's a bit of character development that would have affected how we see Cap through the rest of the film.
01:01Plus, it includes another Stan Lee cameo.
01:04-"It's for her to be a moron."
01:06Number 19. Shot in the back. Back to the Future Part III.
01:10-"That's far enough, Tannen. I don't want any trouble."
01:13-"You stay out of my way and there won't be none."
01:15We knew Buford Mad Dog Tannen was dirty,
01:18but shooting an unarmed man in the back in front of his young son is especially evil.
01:23This deleted scene not only tells us just how rotten Tannen is,
01:26it also explains a lot about the Strickland legacy.
01:29In the franchise's modern day, Principal Strickland is obsessed with discipline.
01:34If your grandfather watched his dad get gunned down by an outlaw,
01:37it would presumably have a lasting impact on your family's way of thinking too.
01:41No wonder Principal Strickland never turns his back on a slacker.
01:44-"I've never seen you before in my life, but you look to me like a slacker!"
01:47Number 18. Saruman's Downfall. The Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King.
01:53-"Come down, Saruman, and your life will be spared.
01:57Save your pity and your mercy! I have no use for it!"
02:01Considering how important Saruman is to the story of this trilogy,
02:04it's a little weird that he doesn't even appear in the theatrical cut of the third film.
02:09The last we see of him is in the Two Towers,
02:11when the Ents attack Isengard and destroy his fortress.
02:14If you've never seen this deleted scene, you might assume that's the end of Saruman.
02:19However, the extended version of The Return of the King shows us his actual end.
02:24Although Gandalf tries to capture him alive,
02:26Saruman is ultimately stabbed in the back by his slimy lackey Grima Wormtongue.
02:31-"The filth of Saruman is washing away."
02:37Number 17. Letting Lector Go. Hannibal.
02:40It's obvious that Hannibal Lector has a thing for Clarice Starling,
02:43but we never had the impression that she reciprocates his feelings.
02:47-"Tell me Clarice, would you ever say to me, stop? If you loved me, you'd stop?"
02:57-"Not in a thousand years."
02:59That is, until we saw the alternate ending of Hannibal.
03:02In the original ending, Clarice attempts to trap the cultured cannibal
03:05by handcuffing his wrist to hers, forcing him to cut off his own hand to get away.
03:10In this deleted version, none of that happens.
03:13Instead, she simply gives up and allows him to escape,
03:16knowing full well that he will likely kill again.
03:31The scene paints Starling and her relationship to Lector in a completely different light,
03:35and makes us wonder if she found herself falling for him after all.
03:39Number 16. The Manager Knew All Along. The Shining.
03:43In this Stanley Kubrick classic,
03:45Jack Torrance slowly loses his mind while working as a hotel caretaker.
03:49-"Here's Johnny!"
03:51The finale culminates with Jack trying to murder his wife and son, who escape,
03:55leaving Jack to freeze to death.
03:57That's the last we see of them, but the original script included one more scene.
04:01In the lost footage, the hotel manager visits Wendy and Danny in the hospital,
04:05telling them that nothing unusual was found in the empty hotel.
04:08He then tosses Danny a tennis ball,
04:10just like the one used by the hotel's ghosts to lure him in.
04:13Is the manager a ghost too? Did he set up the family to be murdered?
04:17This ambiguity is exactly why test audiences didn't respond to the scene.
04:22-"That is, uh, quite a story."
04:24-"It is. It's still hard for me to believe it actually happened here, but it did."
04:34Number 15. Ferris is a Thief. Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
04:38If the audience doesn't consider Ferris to be a likable guy, this movie really doesn't work.
04:43-"They all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude."
04:47That's probably why director John Hughes decided not to film the scene,
04:50in which Ferris steals his dad's savings bonds to fund his day off.
04:54Early in the film, Mr. Bueller calls to check on his son, who he believes to be sick.
04:58In the original script, this scene was extended to show Ferris
05:01sneakily getting his father to tell him where his savings bonds are hidden.
05:05After he hangs up, Ferris breaks the fourth wall to make a snarky remark about how easy it was.
05:10-"Incredible. One of the worst performances of my career,
05:14and they never doubted it for a second."
05:15We know Ferris isn't above lying,
05:17but stealing from his own family would have turned him into an actual villain.
05:21Number 14. Loki Didn't Steal the Throne. Thor.
05:25-"You can bring your urgent matter to me.
05:35Your king."
05:37This scene would have cast Loki in a totally different light.
05:40Just after Odin reveals to his younger son that he's actually adopted,
05:43the Allfather falls into the Odin sleep, an Asgardian version of a coma.
05:48A few minutes later, the film hard cuts to Loki sitting on the throne,
05:51leading viewers to believe he seized the opportunity to assume power.
05:55But in an earlier deleted scene, we see Frigga bestowing Odin's scepter on Loki,
05:59telling him to make his father proud as king.
06:02-"Thor is banished. The line of succession falls to you.
06:08Until Odin awakens, Asgard is yours."
06:14The look on Loki's face makes it clear that he is shocked,
06:17maybe even moved by this turn of events.
06:20The scene makes his later betrayal even more nefarious.
06:24Number 13. Peter's Dad. The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
06:27One of the quintessential aspects of Peter Parker's character and backstory
06:31is that his parents are dead.
06:32So what if we found out that his father is actually alive?
06:35In a deleted scene near the end of the film,
06:37Peter is mourning Gwen Stacy when his supposedly dead dad shows up out of nowhere.
06:42-"What? What? Say it! Say what you want to say!
06:46What do you want to say? Where have you been?"
06:51-"You're dead!"
06:52He gives Peter a spiel about faking his death to keep Peter safe,
06:55and the two have a heart-to-heart on a park bench.
06:57Since the sequels to this movie were cancelled,
06:59we never got to see where this surprise development would have led.
07:02But considering that critics already skewered the film for being unfocused
07:06and having way too many characters,
07:08it's probably best that the scene hit the cutting room floor.
07:11-"It was never my destiny to save anything.
07:16It's your sin.
07:16And with great power, comes great responsibility."
07:29After narrowly escaping the T-1000,
07:31John, Sarah, and the T-800 retreat to an abandoned building.
07:35The theatrical version of the scene is pretty short.
07:38Sarah digs bullets out of Arnie's back while he and John chat.
07:41In the longer director's cut,
07:42the T-800 explains that if they reset a chip in his brain,
07:46he'll be able to learn more and become more human.
07:48-"Can you learn stuff that you haven't been programmed with?
07:51So you can be, you know, more human?
07:57And not such a dork all the time?"
07:59They agree to do it,
08:00which explains why the Terminator later starts using John's slang and cracking jokes.
08:05While the android is powered down,
08:06Sarah wants to destroy the chip and kill him,
08:09but John talks her out of it.
08:10-"I know what it's like to try to kill one of these things.
08:13And if something goes wrong,
08:14this could be our last chance, so look!"
08:16-"Look, Mom, if I'm ever supposed to be this great military leader,
08:19maybe you should start listening to my leadership ideas once in a while!"
08:22It's an important character moment for both John and the T-800,
08:26and theater audiences never got to see it.
08:28Number 11.
08:29Worst Case Scenario – Get Out
08:31-"All right, look.
08:35I just take it from the top, walk me through it again."
08:37It's common for horror movies to have bleak endings,
08:40but this one would have taken the cake.
08:42In the theatrical cut,
08:43Chris narrowly escapes the Armitage house,
08:45and his friend Rod arrives to save the day.
08:48In the original version,
08:49it's not Rod who shows up, but the cops,
08:52and Chris goes to prison for the murder of the Armitage family.
08:55Director Jordan Peele intended the ending to be a commentary on racism
08:59in the criminal justice system.
09:00However, as he was filming,
09:02he realized that conversations around race in America were changing,
09:06and more people had become aware of systemic racial injustice.
09:09That convinced him that the movie actually needed a happy ending.
09:13-"I mean, I told you not to go in that house."
09:15Number 10.
09:16Aragorn vs. Sauron – The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King
09:21-"And we also felt that Aragorn has come this distance with his journey,
09:25and that Sauron is his enemy,
09:27and that we had to somehow have this personal duel
09:30between Aragorn and Sauron, and that's not in the book."
09:33When originally putting the film together,
09:35Peter Jackson and company had the idea of a final showdown.
09:38Pitting Aragorn head-to-head against Sauron himself.
09:41The theory was that Aragorn had his own journey,
09:44and facing Sauron was his final hurdle.
09:47-"And this blinding bright light shines on us,
09:50which blinds, you know, everyone except Aragorn
09:53in a certain moment sees something and walks toward it."
09:56In the end, it was decided that a fight like that
09:58would take the emphasis away from Frodo and Sam,
10:00whose story it really was.
10:03You still got to see the footage though,
10:04with the production team using CGI to create a troll
10:07for Aragorn to fight instead of the Dark Lord.
10:10-"It was not what Tolkien imagined,
10:12and we realized that was actually totally demeaning
10:14to what Aragorn was doing."
10:24Coming out at the peak of the gore porn craze,
10:26Hostel told the story of tourists who are kidnapped
10:29and tortured to death as part of a hunting club
10:31for the world's super elite.
10:33Those who went to see the theatrical cut of the film
10:35are well aware that the film ended with Paxton
10:38murdering one of the torturers.
10:40In the unreleased director's cut however,
10:42instead of killing the businessman,
10:43Paxton kidnaps the man's daughter.
10:53It's a much darker tale,
10:54as instead of simply killing the businessman,
10:57Paxton's lust for vengeance makes him a monster.
11:04Number 8.
11:05Tosche Station.
11:07Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope.
11:09-"You ought to take it a little easy, Luke.
11:11You may be the hottest bush pilot this side of Mos Eisley,
11:14but those little sky hoppers are dangerous."
11:17Star Wars was saved in the editing room.
11:20The original script and cut of the film
11:22involved a few additional scenes
11:24that kind of just went nowhere.
11:26Case in point, this scene,
11:28in which Luke meets with Biggs at the infamous Tosche Station.
11:31The scene was not only slow,
11:33but completely unnecessary,
11:35as all it did was give clunky exposition
11:37while offering a few details on space politics
11:39we didn't have before.
11:41-"No, that's not gonna happen here.
11:42You said yourself the Empire won't even mess with this old rock."
11:45-"Things can change."
11:46Similarly, in Return of the Jedi,
11:47part of Yoda's monologue originally had him explain
11:50that he instructed Obi-Wan not to tell Luke the truth
11:53about his father,
11:54which would have cast the green Jedi master
11:56in a different, more manipulative light.
11:58-"Obi-Wan would have told you long ago had I let him."
12:01Number 7.
12:02Downer ending,
12:03Clerks.
12:04-"You're closed."
12:07Clerks tells the story of Dante and Randall
12:09and the comings and goings of life in a convenience store,
12:12along with their personal lives and relationships.
12:15When shooting the film,
12:16first-time writer and director Kevin Smith
12:18did not know how to end it,
12:19and he originally decided on the downbeat twist
12:22of Dante being shot by a robber.
12:25-"Oh, I'm sorry, we're closed."
12:26When looking for feedback,
12:28most people,
12:29including the actor who plays Dante,
12:31hated the ending,
12:32and Smith took a friend's advice
12:34to simply end the film with the shop closing up.
12:36-"You're closed."
12:45Number 6.
12:46A fitting end,
12:47Deep Blue Sea.
12:48-"Let me tell you, man,
12:50I quit this job.
12:51I'm not gonna do it again."
12:53-"Let me tell you, man,
12:55I quit this job."
12:56Deep Blue Sea tells the age-old story
12:58of sharks who become hyper-intelligent
13:00after Dr. Susan McAllister
13:02tests brain-growing drugs on them
13:04in an effort to find a cure for Alzheimer's.
13:07You know, that old chestnut.
13:08Test audiences were shown the original ending,
13:10in which Susan saves the day by killing the shark,
13:13but they were basically unanimous
13:15in their hatred of this ending,
13:16and despised that the woman responsible
13:19for creating the deadly sharks
13:20got off scot-free.
13:22The filmmakers took the criticism to heart,
13:24and chose to kill Susan in the theatrical ending.
13:28-"Let me ask you something.
13:32Are you sure it was just three sharks?"
13:35-"Yeah."
13:35Number 5.
13:37All Out War,
13:38World War Z.
13:40-"This isn't the end."
13:43World War Z ended on a surprisingly intimate note,
13:46with Brad Pitt's Jerry reuniting with his family
13:48as a vaccine is developed
13:50to help in the war on zombies.
13:52But the original ending was very different,
13:55and featured a large-scale battle in Red Square.
13:58A tremendous amount of footage was abandoned,
14:01and the process cost the studio millions.
14:03But replacement writer Drew Goddard stated
14:05that it was done in an effort
14:06to make the film better.
14:08The original ending had Pitt's character Jerry
14:10surviving the battle,
14:11only to find that his wife had turned to prostitution
14:14to support their family.
14:15So, a bit of a bummer.
14:17-"Be prepared for anything."
14:19Number 4.
14:20Becoming a Legend,
14:21I Am Legend.
14:23-"Open the door, please."
14:24The book that I Am Legend is based on
14:26tells the story of a man who sneaks out
14:28during the day to hunt vampires,
14:30building up to his realization that
14:32to the vampires that he stalks and murders,
14:34he's the monster.
14:35In the original ending to the 2007 film adaptation,
14:38Will Smith's Robert Neville realizes
14:40that he is under attack,
14:42simply because the creatures want back
14:43the female creature he kidnapped for testing,
14:46and upon returning her,
14:47finds that he's become the true monster.
14:49-"I'm sorry."
14:54But someone somewhere thought that was too cerebral,
14:57so instead,
14:58everything just gets blown up in the theatrical version.
15:06Number 3.
15:07Frame Job,
15:09Fatal Attraction.
15:10-"Excuse me, you said homicide?"
15:11-"That's right."
15:12Fatal Attraction is a thriller
15:14about a man who cheats on his wife,
15:15only for his paramour Alex,
15:17played by Glenn Close,
15:19to become an obsessive and violent stalker.
15:21The original ending had Alex taking her own life
15:24and framing Michael Douglas' Dan Gallagher for murder,
15:27making her more of a tragic figure
15:29rather than a total villain.
15:31-"If you don't come through for me,
15:35I don't know what I'll do,
15:37but it's gonna be something terrible."
15:40Many who saw the original cut of the film
15:42felt the ending to be anticlimactic,
15:44so it was decided that the violent and climactic showdown
15:47would be a more apt conclusion to such a tense story.
15:53Number 2.
15:54And the Plants Take Over,
15:56Little Shop of Horrors.
16:02Fans of the stage musical probably noticed
16:04that the ending of this film
16:05didn't ring true to the original show,
16:07but the original cut did.
16:09In the theatrical movie,
16:10the flesh-eating plant Audrey 2 is destroyed,
16:13and Seymour and his love interest Audrey
16:15live happily ever after in the suburbs.
16:18The original cut of the movie
16:19was straight out of the show though,
16:20which featured Audrey 2 eating both main characters
16:23before spreading around the world
16:25and growing larger and larger
16:27until it was powerful enough to take over the planet.
16:30Test audiences hated it, however,
16:32so the safer ending was shot and presented instead.
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16:58Number 1.
16:59A True Finale, First Blood.
17:05The original rough cut of First Blood
17:07was over three hours long and complete garbage,
17:09according to Sylvester Stallone.
17:11After it was cut down to just 93 minutes,
17:14one scene that didn't make it
17:15was this conclusion from the book,
17:17in which Rambo takes his own life
17:19rather than be taken into custody.
17:26Needless to say,
17:27not only would this have seriously changed
17:29the ending of this movie,
17:30but it would have also had a pretty big impact
17:32on the sequels.
17:33Like you can't make a Rambo franchise
17:36if Rambo is dead.
17:41Which deleted scene do you wish
17:43had stayed in the movie?
17:44Let us know in the comments below.
17:46Well, take it easy, buddy.
17:48You'll always be the best friend I've ever had.
17:51So long, Luke.
17:52Did you enjoy this video?
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