This Blog has been modified from its original version...

I've found a lot of funny clips of this stuff on YouTube and thought that I would share with everyone.

You know how when a movie that gets shown on network television or cable often has one of those disclaimers reading, "This movie has been modified from its original version"? And then it goes on to mention how it has been edited for content and to run in the time alotted? Usually what that means is that the film has had its violence/nudity/profanity cut out or cut down to make it more 'TV friendly.' Then there are some movies that are so short that to get them to 'run in the time alotted,' some studios would often re-insert cut footage so that the film could fill a 2 or 3 hour time slot! The Superman films were a prime example of this.

However, what I would like to focus on right now is the whole 'edited for content' versions of movies. There's usually two ways that Network execs go about this. 1) They use alternate footage filmed by the director where they actually had the actors speaking cleaner language, being clothed, or a close-up to cover up gore/violence. But access to said footage would usually be very rare especially in the 80s. Sometimes they would have the footage but not the sound and would need the actors to either return to the sound booth and dub in new cleaner dialogue or if they were unavailable, hire a sound-alike resulting in often funny sounding scenes where the voice-over actor didn't even come close to sounding like the actual actor!

2) The 'Parental Advisory' method I call it. Like many recording artists of the last 10 years or so who put out albums bearing a 'PA' sticker, they are usually requested by the record label to record a more friendly 'CLEAN' version of their albums recording different words so as not to upset concerned parents or other authority figures. Many movies in the last couple of years will actually be filmed with both the script dialogue and an alternate 'CLEAN' script in preparation for being shown on network or cable. So this way, they won't have to call in actors or 'soundalikes' to re-dub or re-film scenes.

Right now I'd like to give you a bit of a video history in this world of 'Edited for Content' versions of popular films. Be prepared to hear some of the most random "clean-ups" ever! You gotta wonder what goes through some of these guys heads when they're thinking, "What sounds like this and matches the lip movements???"

Starting with one of the most famous to come out of the 80s, 'Scarface'.

A comparison of the film itself and its TV version.