Deleted scenes

AnImaginaryBoy

Active member
I'm pretty sure they would have hung onto the deleted scenes for the Indy films. After all, there are deleted scenes on both the Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind DVDs, so if somebody had the sense to hang onto them, I think it's quite likely the same would be true of the Indy films. It would be nice to see them one day, especially the stuff from Temple of Doom, as they sound rather interesting. Does anybody know of any scenes missing from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
AnImaginaryBoy said:
Does anybody know of any scenes missing from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?

In another thread, James did a good job of compiling every scene that was in the comics/novelizations that weren't on screen. Some of these, like a prologue with Orellana, were entirely fabricated for the purposes of the novel and were never part of the script. Others were scripted and never shot, and finally others were shot and cut. As with the original trilogy, it's likely that Indy4 has no full deleted scenes so much as little extensions and bits and bobs that were removed. Here are a few I remember off-hand.

1) In the final film, after Spalko puts the sword to Indy's neck and commands him to find the crate, we cut to Indy leading them to the crate. Originally there was a bit where Indy offers some resistance, and Spalko responds by having her soldiers bring Mac outside and threatening to crush his head under one of the jeeps until Indy relents. This sequence was definitely shot as proved by production stills. There's this one (and in one of the early behind-the-scenes videos released on the official site, you can actually see for a very brief second the filming of Indy's reaction), as well as another production still that I've only seen as part of a magazine scan where you can actually see Ray Winstone being forced under the wheels.

2) When Indy whips the gun away from the Russian soldier's hands at the beginning of the warehouse setpiece, there was a tiny bit removed: when Indy pulled the whip, it pulled the trigger on the gun causing the Russian to inadvertently shoot another Russian soldier (the one who Indy punched out), and then Indy finally pulls the gun out of his hands and towards him. The gag can be seen in the pre-viz on the DVD bonus features, and in TheRaider.net's podcast interview with the stunt guy involved, he discusses the stunt being performed on set, so it was almost certainly filmed. (I say "almost certainly" because the soldier's dead body cannot be spotted in the final film, even in the wide shots in which you would think it'd have to be visible. Of course, this could be coincidental or a case of digital airbushing to eliminate a plothole. You have to think, for example, that the body of the unconscious guy outside the Well of Souls in Raiders might have been removed in post if the movie were made twenty years later.)

3) There is dialogue between Stanforth and Indy at Indy's house that was deleted, where the two further discuss age and whether anyone will remember them after their death. (My understanding is that there is more proof of its existence than the text adaptations.) Someone certainly remembers the exact line even if I don't. (The deleted portion was likely between "We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away" and when Stanforth decides to have "Just another half glass.")

4) I have no proof of this beyond my own observation, but it seems to me that dialog was cut in the diner scene between Indy and Mutt. There's a part where Mutt says "Well laugh if you want," and I suspect that something before that was cut, because Ford isn't laughing. Now granted, there can be a lot of explanations for this that don't mean deleted footage, but it's just a hunch on my part.

5) During the campus chase, Mutt and Indy were at some point supposed to interrupt the middle of a football game. There's reason to believe that Spielberg gave up on this idea while production was at Yale and that it was never filmed.

6) There was apparently some footage from the part with the cemetery warriors that got cut which involved Indy using his whip against one of them (evidenced by a production still and even the filming/practicing of the stunt on the DVD bonus features). Then there's this much discussed image.

7) When Mutt and Indy find the skull in the crypt, at the very end of the scene the floor was supposed to give way, and Mutt was going to fall through and be hanging on for dear life over the Nazca lines. Indy uses the skeleton of Orellana to pull him back up. It's unknown if this was filmed or not, but concept art proves that it was more than just something added for the novel.

8) Similar to the diner scene, I believe some dialogue between Indy and Mac in the tent was edited out for length reasons. The cut that appears wonky to me is the one between "You're not looking at the big picture here!" and "Eventually they're going to let me out of this chair, comrade." Again, weird feeling cuts are a part of every movie and do not necessarily mean there was deleted footage, but that is my suspicion.

9) At least barb between Indy and Marion when they reunite is cut. The exchange, which is actually from the Darabont draft, is when Indy says, "Why are you so mad at me?" and Marion responds "How much time ya got?" You can see this in the DVD documentary. It occurs right before Spalko interrupts them.

10) There's a moment in the novelizations between Mac and Spalko at the start of the jungle chase, when Spalko threatens Mac and displays her psychic powers. There's no way for us to know whether it was in the movie's script or invented only for the books, but most agree it was a good exchange.

11) Similar to the above, when Indy and friends are in the amphibious vehicle going down the river, Mutt gets attacked by a piranha in the books. Was it filmed or ever intended to be filmed? Who knows.

12) At the very beginning of the waterfall sequence in the final film, pay attention to Indy and Mac on the left when Ox sits up and says "three times it drops." Indy is mouthing something to Mac silently, as though we're seeing the tail end of a cut conversation. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was originally a bit where the characters talked to each other between the time the vehicle landed in the water and when the waterfalls suddenly appeared. This was probably an editing decision to keep the pace up. (Just as an aside, there are some good exchanges between Mac and the others peppered in this area in the text versions, such as him congratulating Mutt on his swordfighting skills which clashes with Indy, now the responsible parent. Again, I absolutely no proof this was in Koepp's script, but you have to think little character moments like this were on the page, and that they were mostly what was cut.)

I'm sure there were more, but, I've written enough. I'd like to think that there was a deleted scene explaining how the hell Indy, Marion, Mutt, Mac and Oxley somehow got through waterfall that led them to Akator, but considering the type of movie this is, I imagine not. Oh, and there's probably reason to believe that there were once a few lines about Akator that talked about the city's water/electric system, and there was probably more emphasis on the fact that it was a giant underground city, whereas in the final film it really just seems like there's those two temples. Akator was conceptualized as a huge place.
 
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Grizzlor

Well-known member
Most of the time, deleted scenes from films are merely extended scenes, which is kind of ho-hum. I've followed Indy movies for a long time, and I don't recall hearing about many of them, if any. Whereas Star Trek films I know have 2 or 3 actual short scenes deleted. Perhaps its simply a nod to Steven and George that they've made their later cuts, and did not have to remove anything? Plus, since Lucas Films has controlled both Indy and Star Wars movies entirely since Raiders, they were not forced by the studio to cut. Lucas's cuts on the original Star Wars (I have the Behind the Magic disc) were nothing to write home about. The major ones were a Luke/Biggs chat on Tattooine and the Jabba/Han stroll through the hanger, which was finished with CGI for the SE. Time and money forced those cuts from Lucas. Those have not been an issue for his films since. You could probably say the same for Spielberg, who directs under his own studio as well.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Grizzlor said:
Most of the time, deleted scenes from films are merely extended scenes, which is kind of ho-hum. I've followed Indy movies for a long time, and I don't recall hearing about many of them, if any. Whereas Star Trek films I know have 2 or 3 actual short scenes deleted. Perhaps its simply a nod to Steven and George that they've made their later cuts, and did not have to remove anything? Plus, since Lucas Films has controlled both Indy and Star Wars movies entirely since Raiders, they were not forced by the studio to cut. Lucas's cuts on the original Star Wars (I have the Behind the Magic disc) were nothing to write home about. The major ones were a Luke/Biggs chat on Tattooine and the Jabba/Han stroll through the hanger, which was finished with CGI for the SE. Time and money forced those cuts from Lucas. Those have not been an issue for his films since. You could probably say the same for Spielberg, who directs under his own studio as well.

There's a few major ones. The near-execution of Sallah is probably the biggest from Raiders. Temple's got a major scene in which Indy, while possessed, makes his way back to the Palace and freaks Willie out; there's also some important missing dialogue at the banquet and a scene where Shorty figures out pain releases you from being possessed. There's some stuff on the zeppelin in Last Crusade; that's probably the most minor cut. And in Crystal Skull, of the stuff that Udvarnoky pointed out, I'd say that some of the cuts involving Mac throughout the jungle sequence (especially the one with Spalko) and the cut line in the scene with Broadbent took away a lot of the texture that could and should have been there.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
It should be said though, that Indiana Jones movies have a tradition of being lean and mean. These are, after all, escapist summer movies that are meant to be high on action and low on everything else. (Even though modern summer blockbusters no longer care about runtime restraint, Spielberg evidently still does.) I'm sure these movies have had lots of things cut out or condensed from the script (in many cases probably prior to shooting, simply due to Spielberg's inclination toward heavy planning), and you will inevitably lose good footage for the sake of the final product's brevity. Scenes aren't always deleted because they're bad or don't work, but simply for pacing and time issues. A famous example is the heavy condensing, if not near removal, of the Indy/Marion reunion dialogue at the Raven in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Kasdan was reportedly very frustrated that the scene, which was meant to be very emotional and which he described as one of the best things he ever wrote, was left on the cutting room floor. These movies do have some solid character moments peppered throughout, but overall Spielberg and Lucas have to focus on keeping these pictures moving, and will sacrifice what they have to to make that happen. Note that Last Crusade is the only Indiana Jones movie that breaches the 2 hour mark, and I doubt it's by much.

I agree that some, or a lot, of the evident omissions to Indy4 may have resulted in a slightly better film, but if a movie doesn't work it's gonna be for problems far more fundamental than a few minutes worth of trims, the restoration of which isn't somehow going to save it. Like any Indy fan I'd love to see the deleted scenes for the movies out of personal interest, and I hope we get to someday.
 

Saber79

New member
I would have loved to see more Indy use the whip in Skull, especially in the Cemetery. That had the potential to be an exciting sequence in the movie...I could have been like the Streets of Cairo scene in Raiders. That's why I think Mutt is in shock that this old teacher can kick some ass. I think that scene (if it exists) should have been left in the movie.

I also would love to see the original fight between the Cairo Swordsman and Indy...it was stated that it was filmed, so just to see a rough cut of it would be cool. :whip:
 

metalinvader

Well-known member
Saber79 said:
I also would love to see the original fight between the Cairo Swordsman and Indy...it was stated that it was filmed, so just to see a rough cut of it would be cool. :whip:


13 seconds into the clip.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TAoJrNbgUoI&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TAoJrNbgUoI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Enjoy!:hat:
 

Saber79

New member
Ah very cool thanks...that would have been an exciting scene, but then again I'm glad that the classic shot scene is still there...that helped put a nice edge to Indy's character.

Thanks for posting that. I always wanted to check it out.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
By the way regarding my rough list of deleted scenes, I was able to confirm 4) and 8) when I thumbed through the novelization during my last visit to the bookstore. There were in fact a few deleted lines in those cuts.

Also, good images here.
 
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Saber79

New member
Great pictures! I would have loved to have seen Indy whip the Cemetery guy. That would have made the scene a little more fun.

I've also been reading the novelization and I think they should included the dirt floor dropping out from under them while searching for Orelana's grave. Would have added some classic moments to the scene as well as some adventure/tension moments...would have been cool.
 

Luke Skywalker

New member
martinland said:
'There are no "deleted" scenes as Steven is very economical with setups. All scenes scripted are in the film, there are a couple of trimmed shots here and there and that's about it.'

IF he films the whole script, then he is not economical at all. He shoots everying and then trimms the movie to the best experience from his point of view.

And therefore lots of deleted scenes or unused footaga exist(ed)
 

Joosse

New member
NoCamels said:
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but there's always the possibility that any deleted scenes no longer exist. Nobody thought of keeping them around for DVD releases back in the '80s.

As sad as it may seem, I'm afraid you nailed it there, my friend....:(
 

AnImaginaryBoy

Active member
It's a good point, but as I said before, why would they keep cut scenes from Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, two films that weren't guranteed (spelled wrong!) to be successes in the way the Indy films were, but not for Indiana Jones? While probably not every little bit of footage they filmed they kept, but I'd be very surprised if there weren't a few deleted scenes from the Indy films out there somewhere....
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
I'm not sure that the Jaws and Close Encounters deleted scenes were "kept" so much as "by chance not destroyed."
 

Robyn

New member
I wish this cut scene had been left in!

magnew2.jpg
 

James

Well-known member
Just to streamline things even more, there were at least three notable scenes cut from KOTCS.

Spalko Threatens Mac
After holding the sword to Indy's neck, Mac is taken outside the hangar and thrown beneath the wheel of a car. Variations of this scene can be found in the magazine, trading cards, and playing cards. Actual footage of it was briefly glimpsed on the official site.

Indy Vs. Cemetery Warrior
Mutt throws his switchblade, which stabs one of the cemetery warriors. The warrior then prepares to throw the blade back, but Indy uses his whip to lash onto the warrior's arm. This would've occurred right after Indy yells, "Those darts are poisonous!" In the film, this is also why Indy trails his whip behind him as he chases after the warrior. Despite being omitted, this scene popped up quite often in promotional and marketing materials. It can be found on everything from trading cards to the cover of the comic adaptation.

Spalko and the Skull
During the jungle convoy, Spalko discusses her psychic research and attempts to communicate with the skull. Mac expresses disbelief and asks if she can tell what he's thinking. Spalko replies, "If I feel the slightest need," and we learn that Mac was wondering if she would kill him at the journey's end. This would have taken place right before the scene where Mutt learns that Indy is his father. Variations of this scene can be found in the magazine, trading cards, and playing cards.

Evidence of three minor scenes also exists:

Marion's Delay
During the jungle convoy, Marion's vehicle gets stuck and she has to get out and wedge it out of a ditch. A still from this scene was included in the final issue of the magazine.

Piranha Attack
Just before the first waterfall, Mutt is attacked by a piranha. A behind the scenes photo can be found in the Photographic Journal book. However, it's unclear whether it was the actual scene, or Shia simply joking around with the prop.

Through Eyes in Tears
Also in the Photographic Journal, there's a shot of everyone running through a waterfall. It appears to be at the entrance of the Ugha cave, and not taken from the gang's final escape during the finale.
 
ronicle said:
I wish this cut scene had been left in!

It would have been great to include it as an out take, but in the movie it would have drained the tension and given us that payoff too soon.

Remember how they left Nepal partners...still their future was uncertain?
Then in Cairo the were stealing looks at each other...things were warming up.
That even though she put up a good fight one on one she was abducted, and trying to save her...things got a little too hot and he finally killed her?

How he stole the first kiss when he found her in the tent, and finally that great scene where theyfinally get a break, (even though it was short) no pressure, just a bit battered and weary.

Quality progression, not forced...build the anticipation.

But as an extra sure, show Karen Allen making out all day long!
 
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