Okay, so I broke down last night and picked up the DVD at Wal-Mart for $6. I was comparing the two (to see if I could finally chuck the 1989 Bootleg version) and sadly, I can't!
Here's the main reason: In the bootleg version, Frank is cornered near the end by the mafia boss, his son distracts him and Frnak buries a switchblade in his ribs. In the DVD, Frank has a slap-fest with the mafia boss and it has a much more "wussy" ending.
Also, what about the music playing during the opener? My bootleg has "Mack the Knife" playing while the Don's hitmen are getting offed one by one, and it's some other cruddy music playing in the DVD version.
Any thoughts from the folks who have seen both?
I have only seen the DVD version. I also bought it at Wal-Mart. I'm not a big fan of the movie, but for $6, it is very entertaining.
As for the music, they sometimes need to change it because they pay for the rights to use it in theaters, but not on tape or DVD. The old VHS versions of SLAPSHOT and THE LONGEST YARD have altered music, but the DVD versions contain the original music. The old VHS version of SLAPSHOT was missing the song "Get Right Back" (they replaced it with music that sounded similar to the song). The old VHS version of THE LONGEST YARD was missing the song "Born Free" (they cut the short scene where it appeared right out of the movie), and the music over the end credits was also changed. They restored all of the original music for the DVD release. Usually, the back of the box will say something like "home video version: some music has been rescored."
Post Edited (07-08-03 09:27)