THE PUNISHER (Mark Goldblatt, 1989)

[Nathan]

Same here Geoff, although the R1 version isn't bad at all.

[Jox]

although the R1 version isn't bad at all.

Surprisingly I can actually pass on the quick cuts, but the mono sound is really a shame and disappointing (especially since I suspect it's just someone pressed the wrong button or something and it hasn't been checked properly if at all)

[Nathan]

What do you mean quick cuts? How much of the R1 version is cut anyway?

[Jox]

Some impacts are lessened, most of the time the cuts are less than a second but you can tell when you remember it from the theater or uncut VHS (not the UK one no!): the hand cut off at the harbor, the knife in the throat at the club etc)...

And for instance the supposedly uncut and non authorized German/Austrian release has been made from the R1 NTSC DVD (meaning a NTSC to PAL transfer, which is never the best)and patched up with a different and lower quality source to make up for those cuts.

[Nathan]

Well I wasn't even born when The Punisher came out so I've never actually seen the uncut version...people like me don't know any better!! I tell you what does annoy me, when they cut a film for no reason because it stays at the same rating, eg: The UK Under Siege 2 dvd is cut to shreds but it still achieves the highest rating possible, so why cut it at all?

[Jox]

Because they can have weird criteria and standards, especially the UK rating board (with their no head buts no nunchakus), and feel they have this responsibility to decide what even adults can see or not.

But regarding the Punisher it's been regarded as a very violent movie in its time and the US cuts where made to avoid the NC-17 rating (it was presented a few times to the MPAA, when it was still planned for a US theatrical release).

[Nathan]

Yeah it is still pretty violent I think evenif it is cut. It's really ridiculous I mean they rated Notes on a Scandal a "15" in the UK because they thought the use of the word "cunt" was justified and rated Casino Royale a 12A, so technically with a parent a five year old could go to the cinema and see Bond be sexually tortured and there was many young children there, Bond is supposed to be for everyone young and old but I think the rating system is an absolute joke. I've pretty much agreed with everything they rated in Dolph's filmography although I do think that they are less strict on DTV releases for some reason.

[Jox]

I've pretty much agreed with everything they rated in Dolph's filmography

Really? To me it's a joke because we probably have the most liberal system in France.

So at the most they'll be rated 12 (13 until 1990): The Punisher, SILT, Universal Soldier, Joshua Tree, Men of War, JM, Silent Trigger etc... but all the others are not even rated and available to anyone (Red Scorpion, Dark Angel, Cover Up, The Shooter) and a few DTV will have a PG or 12 but just as an indication.

So that's how I could sneak in the Punisher which was rated 13 and I was a 10-year old looking older (and ultimately saw it 4 times at the theater!)

[Jox]

it's official now
http://festivals.carolinatheatre.org/es ... isher.html

Nineteen years after its original release, ESCAPISM is proud to host the United States Theatrical Premiere of director Mark Goldblatt’s extraordinary vision of the Marvel Comic’s action hero! This is Goldblatt’s original cut of the film (as well as his own personal 35mm print), including all of the moments and shots that he was forced to trim for an MPAA "R" version in the U.S., due to so-called "excessive violence". How, you ask, can this be the US Premiere? Several months prior to the film’s scheduled theatrical release in 1989, the film’s US distributor (New World Pictures) went bankrupt and rather than being released to US theatres, the film went straight to video (although it did play in theatres around the rest of the world.) Shot in Sydney, Australia in 1989, The Punisher comes brilliantly to life in this searing action-adventure thriller starring Dolph Lundgren as the infamous Frank Castle. (Forget the puny 2004 version! 91 people are killed individually on screen in this movie, not including those who die en masse in explosions, etc. Now, that’s action!) Lashing out from a labyrinth of subterranean sewers, The Punisher leads a heavily armed raid into the world of brutal crime and savage retribution. A world where only one thing is certain…the guilty will be punished.

[Krom]

Looking to see most of his hits on the big screen:)

[Jox]

Some impacts are lessened, most of the time the cuts are less than a second but you can tell when you remember it from the theater or uncut VHS (not the UK one no!): the hand cut off at the harbor, the knife in the throat at the club etc)...
.

Here's more details about the cuts, as you can see it's mostly that shots have been slightly shortened...

http://movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=4918

[Jox]

http://joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=13871

[Geoff]

AWSOME - I do hope it gets a dvd release.

[Nathan]

Thanks for the info about the cuts Jox, not that much was cut but it all mounts up I guess, as long as they don't cut out entire killings because the scenes and editing have to blend seamlessly together and not be cut to shreds.

[Jox]

short Mark Goldblatt interview
http://zacksmithwriter.wordpress.com/20 ... -punisher/