I can think of many good movies that I enjoyed that I would have preferred to be shorter. I think overly long movies, like movies, for example, that are 3 hours, in most cases, feel self-indulgent, and a little bit of a challenge to watch, while I think had the same story been shorter, it would have been more enjoyable, while likely not losing its great movie status.
For example. The two scenes in GoodFellas involving Spider are totally extraneous to the overall plot. If you are being ruthless and cutting anything that doesn't advance the story, that is something you would cut immediately. From that perspective it's just two more scenes where we see Tommy is dangerous. Two more scene where we see that things can turn from laughter to death in an instant. Two more scenes where Henry is reminded this isn't all just fun and games. But if you think GoodFellas would be a better film without those two scenes, that they are self-indulgent because they don't really tell us anything new about the characters or change the plot, then why are you watching a movie in the first place? If you only want to know what happens in the quickest manner possible, read the summary on Wikipedia. Or you let Scorsese immerse you in this world and go along for the ride, even if it means you have to stay up past your bedtime.
One of the perfect examples of an "extraneous" scene in a great movie is the Mike Yanagita scene in Fargo. To a lazy viewer who just wants to get on with it already this whole thing seems like a waste of time. Marge meets some rando she barely remembers from high school and he awkwardly cries and hits on her after telling her a sob story. WTF? But it is one of the most important scenes in the whole movie. When she calls her friend afterwards and finds out just about everything he told her was a lie, it makes her reevaluate her interview with Jerry at the dealership. Marge's human instinct, even as a police investigator, is to take people at face value, to give them the benefit of the doubt. Once she realizes what a creep Mike Yanagita is she goes back to Jerry and presses him, leading to him fleeing the interview and confirming he was involved with the kidnapping plot.
Not every single seemingly random or extraneous scene is as key as that one, but in the hands of great filmmakers they all add something to character motivation or tone or the viewing experience in general. If you want a tidy plot that wraps up in 48 minutes watch any episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and be done with it. If you want to watch a great movie why in the heck would you be looking at the clock?
I would not cut a single frame from Lawrence of Arabia or Amadeus or Zodiac or Raging Bull or The Godfather. They have long running times, yes. They sure don't feel long. Are most filmmakers working on the same level as David Lean, Miloš Forman, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, or Francis Ford Coppola? Of course not. To me the shorter a Zack Snyder movie is the better. But when you do have truly great films, who cares if they are 90 minutes or four hours long?
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Last edited by Holden Pike; 2 weeks ago at 11:55 AM.