MovieChat Forums > Romeo Is Bleeding (1994) Discussion > One of the most important scenes is miss...

One of the most important scenes is missing!

posted 18 years ago by capnzulu
25 replies | jump to latest

Not without it's flaws, I continue to find this film a great nod to film noir. Oldman and Lena are both spot on. The biggest disappointment in re-watching this film was that the scene that has Mona cutting her arm off with the power saw was missing. One can certainly argue that it was (as originally intended) a bit over the top, however, I believe that (as portrayed in the original) we get a feel for just how psychopath this woman truly is. If nothing else, the missing scene creates confusion over Mona's suddenly armless body. Does anyone have any information on why this scene was ultimately cut for the DVD, or whether this film is available in Director's Cut?

[–] JossIsham 17 years ago

Thanx so much for the heads-up! It's nice to know that my VHS version is still a
keeper. And I'm saving my money until the original "CUT" is restored onto dvd.
I wonder if the video tape is worth more $$ because of such an ignorant oversight.

Made in America...
by illegal aliens.

[–] Jagged-11 17 years ago

Is there really such a scene? Here's a line from a review by Rita Kempley written at the the time of the film's release:

'...he sets off to keep a date with Mona, a meeting that leads to a series of increasingly nasty developments. Blessedly, some of these, as when Mona loses an arm, occur offscreen.'

[–] JossIsham 17 years ago

CCUUTTSS, prints, editing, you name it! I just spent a few mins. looking at run
times listed elsewhere. Wikipedia says 100 min.. All Movie Guide: 108 min.. I
must say that eight minutes is far more than needed to show removal of a few arms.
MY VHS copy states the timing is 110!! No, I'm not queuing up my tape (just yet).
I also noticed 2 different packagings for region 1 dvds. One says Avant Guard on
top. Maybe cutting-out the full cut is what THEY mean by Avant Guard. Hollywood
often re-releases items after some idiots shove their puds in, sullying the whole
thing. Maybe Lorena Bobbit should do her shtick before things get too 'avanty'.
Without watching my copy (for a 5th time) or knowing for sure whether I SAW it in
a theatre, I THINK Mona's arm removal is only implied. Watching Juliette Lewis'
sawed off gets the points across. Whoever on this thread queues up their 110 min.
tape 1st, releases a few others off the jagged edge of their keyboards. Ready? GO!

Made in America...
by illegal aliens.

[–] JossIsham 17 years ago

O.k., so here's what I've got on MY tape. At 78 mins. Mona deftly takes her frozen
arm (amputated previously off screen) and puts it beside Juliette's character's*
arm. She then revs up her friendly electric saw. What's shown next is a swapped -
out arm on the *dead body, taped in place. Then she gleefully torches the corpse.
These 20 seconds come across so menacingly (esp. w/ Mark Isham's perfect scoring)
that one can be led to believe that they've actually SEEN 2 arms sawn off ! The
gritty 'reality' laid out in less than half a minute DOES stay with you. Ah, such
power of suggestion...Two+ mins. later, the picture of a topless Olin with leather
prosthetic get-up is priceless. THEN comes the classic, "With, or without?" WOW!
-I seriously doubt Lena could've been cast into 'ALIAS' unless THIS preceeded it.-
Lastly, my player counts the total time at 109:20. I'll not explain other 'takes'.

Made in America...
by illegal aliens.

[–] iseepinkelefants 15 years ago

That's the version I have too and it's "Romeo Is Bledding [Uncut]". The full running time is 1:50:00. There's no actual scene of her chopping off her arm just the saw, I believe, and the two arms.

Is that not the full version? Because I don't think it actually shows her lighting a match, just Juliette Lewis' body next to an arm and then you find out later there was a fire.

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all

[–] beardouk 15 years ago

I can't remember if you saw the match, but the version I saw showed flames around her head.

[–] simoncarr 13 years ago

Watched on SKY HD in UK last night and the power saw and topless seen was uncut

[–] Jake-219 12 years ago

Topless, yes. Power saw graphically cutting off her (or even Juliette Lewis') arm, no. It just didn't happen.

I saw this at the show, well before my VHS and later DVD versions. That scene just never happened. It's one of those things that the director aimed you towards so skillfully that you imagined it all so vividly that it must have.

But it didn't.

So don't feel so bad, guys, your tapes and dvd's really are uncut.

You're just expecting more cuts! Somewhere just under the elbow...

[–] 13 years ago

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