MovieChat Forums > That Cold Day in the Park (1969) Discussion > 113 minutes v. 107 minutes on new Olive ...

113 minutes v. 107 minutes on new Olive DVD

posted 12 years ago by movie-yogi
10 replies | jump to latest

The stated running time for "That Cold Day in the Park" is listed as 113 minutes in several sources. However, the new Olive DVD notes a running time of only 107 minutes. Does anyone who has seen both the original film and the DVD know if the DVD has been edited, and what scenes may be missing? Six minutes seems quite a bit of difference from the original time to just attribute to compression.

I have always wanted to see this movie, and am tempted to buy the DVD. However, there's no point in doing so if the film is missing scenes or has been chopped up. Any information/insight anyone can add is greatly appreciated.

[–] dimsung_09 11 years ago

I wasn't aware there was another edited version of this film. What sources claim this?

[–] movie-yogi 11 years ago

imdb and Wikipedia both note a 113 minute running time, the original 1969 Variety review says the film's length is 115 minutes, and the initial New York Times review says the movie is 112 minutes. However, the new Olive DVD is at 107 minutes, so at least 5-6 minutes of the film are missing.

If anyone knows what may scenes be missing or if they can confirm that compression or some other technological aspect is creating this shortened version, I would be interested in knowing before I purchase the new Olive disc.

Thanks.

[–] benGsboat 11 years ago

Hey movie...picked up the blu-ray from the library. Haven't watched it yet, but came here to find out what other people think.
After reading your post, I checked out four blu-ray reviews, and not one mentions if this is some shortened version. All agree though that the picture and sound quality is quite good.
I'll look into it some more and post again with my opinion of the film too

Any town's a nice little town when you nail a broad - Deke Sommers

[–] benGsboat 11 years ago

Just finished watching it - this is quite a picture. It sneaks up on you and gets better and better as it goes along. It's odd but utterly compelling.
Sandy Dennis is terrific as the repressed Frances...you really get inside this character and her situation. Michael Burns is very good too; innocent, yet confident and sneaky when he needs to be.
There's also a sexual tension throughout the entire film, and you're never sure what direction it's going to take. And it does have a few touches - long zooms and pans, conversations heard offscreen - that are unmistakably Altman.
I'm glad I knew very little going in. It's surprising and even chilling at times. When Frances asks 'the boy' if he thinks she's lonely, she answers herself: 'I am you know...but I don't think about it'
As far as this being an edited version, there's certainly some nudity and frank dialogue that's there. A scene at the gynecologist's office involving three women discussing birth control and penis size is particularly revealing.
Definitely worth seeing, esp for Altman fans. As for the blu-ray itself, it's a reasonably nice transfer. A little rough during the opening credits, but cleans up right after.
8/10

Any town's a nice little town when you nail a broad - Deke Sommers

[–] dick-409-354965 11 years ago

To the OP. I bought the Blu-ray disc after having owned the VHS tape. I noticed there were some brief scenes that were not in the VHS tape. I have not watched the Blu-Ray since I bought it a couple of months ago but it seems more complete than the VHS tape. Then again I wasn't old enough to watch it when it first came out in 1969 in the Theatres --I was 8 years old at the time! It's worth purchasing since it's Widescreen and a big improvement over the VHS tape.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mathew5000 11 years ago

I saw it this afternoon on 35mm celluloid but sorry, I didn't clock it.

UCLA Film & Television Archive, which did the preservation, lists a running time of 112 minutes, plus excerpts from the "pre-release version" of "approx. 10 min.":
http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013-03-16/cold-day-park-1969

When it was screened in Vancouver in 2006, the running time was listed as 113 minutes:
http://web.archive.org/web/20061010093309/http://www.cinematheque.bc.c a/sept_oct_06/altman.html

[–] GSPdude 10 years ago

Amazon lists the Blue Ray as 113m, and the DVD as 107m.
I've only seen the DVD and liked it. Perhaps I would have liked it more if i saw the 113m version.
Appreciate if someone who has seen both would comment.

[–] rubinek 10 years ago

I saw the Olive-Blu-ray yesterday and the running time is 107 min.

[–] MovieMadness (117) 6 years ago

This 1990 VHS shows 106 minutes on the back cover: https://i.imgur.com/SyWBoEB.jpg. So at least we know that from decades ago the run time had been the same. The 113m run time was just passed down from writer to writer over the years with no one bothering to check it. The first person who used 113m may have been the theater exhibiters back in the 60s, and they could've been wrong. And this is a pretty obscure film. Now we can see the run time easily on our devices with just one press. In the old days viewers had no way to see it and so no one told anyone to correct it except the technicians who made the tapes and discs. All the 113m runtime quoted in websites like wiki or even UCLA were obviously written by people who looked up wikis rather than doing real fact-checking.