Robocop | Comparison between Theatrical Cut and Director's Cut

Not my work, taken from the excellent Arrow Blu-ray release. Buy it.

[@-RH80-]

I remember when I was a kid all the advertisement and promo focused on kids for this movie like toys, Halloween costumes etc... My parents rent it thinking the same way I was, action movie with mild violence, nothing out of the normal from the 80s movies like Commando, just explosions and soldier doing flips like circus clowns. To this day I still hearing Murphys screams, the shotgun blowing his arm and those psychopath laugh. The good old 80s. 😅

[@sexylawyer8228]

Yeah my wife won’t let me allow my 11 year old to watch it - lol. 80s were grand!

[@satnav1980]

Blood sqibs are 100 times better than digital blood effects. And that will never change. This movie is absolutely nuts with them.

[@wikie6401]

No. 1000 times better...

[@WidowOfOfficerDavis388]

Dang McKinney got way worse in Directors Cut 😭😭😭😭😭

[@billybobs1705]

@@wikie6401 quiet!

[@StreetsleeperUK]

Still amazing how they made this into a childs toy line and cartoon haha

[@WanabeSpiderMan]

Thank you for putting this together. I had always wondered what the differences were.

[@crissrudd4554]

It’s actually not assembled by the uploader. It’s an extra on the Arrow Blu-ray release.

[@Rob_Dekker]

2:25 too bad these frames are not in the director's cut. It makes much more of an impact to see his face one more time.

[@kevinsnazz]

Yeah, I was just re-watching that part realizing it hits different. Other than that though, the directors cut of Murphy's death is superior. It's just so brutal.

[@visionist7]

You could probably cut them together to have the best of both so long as you can get the audio right.

[@storytimewithdad4983]

Just saw the director's cut in the cinema and it hit a little different. Your video made good viewing to compare with. Thank you for showing the differences.

[@crissrudd4554]

This comparison is actually on the Arrow Blu-ray release.

[@Re.T986]

This movie ruined any chance of me ever being interested in Disney movies when i was a kid.

[@visionist7]

Amen

[@Miller_Lite]

I still can’t believe I watch this movie when I was like 6-7 and loved it.

[@throwback19841]

Honestly the directors cut isn't THAT much more violent. Quite impressive how hardcore Verhoven was able to go.

[@pulpted9937]

The theaterical cut is more reaction based. 2 seconds of violence and 5 seconds of reaction. Murphy’s death for example. When they shoot off his arm, they keep the shot where the hand explodes, but not where the blood is gushing out of the stump. It bothered me when I saw the h Theatrical cut because it it takes out of the moment when Robocop kills this guy with the same arm.

[@Sacrer]

Not any different? There's violence and then there's torture. We literally got the torture scenes in the director's cut.

[@alienkatdaddycgs5904]

​@@SacrerThat doesn't make any sense. The only thing the director's cut changes are the scene's pacing and the amount of on screen gore. The events are identical otherwise.

[@sean8102]

@@alienkatdaddycgs5904 Yeah I get what you mean. But I'd still call Alex's murder a torture/murder. They had fun with their prey.

[@JustSomeCanadianGuy]

The director's cut is funnier because it makes it look like ED-209 wasn't programmed to know when someone is dead or not! 🤣🤣

[@CatManDoom84]

lol right!

[@applescruff1969]

Never thought about that before, but you're right. That thing would've kept shooting until it ran out of ammo. Lol.

[@o.c.g.m9426]

😂😂

[@MotoGreciaMarios]

Indeed!

[@kimberlycole8402]

When he got his revenge it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside 🙂👍

[@MrMegatron85]

Og ED209 is the scariest character in any movie imo

[@michaelcordero5588]

Specially if you were 8 yrs old seeing it.

[@Grautag]

Think I was 9, and the early scene where Kinney dies is forever etched into my scared little brain.

[@toxicchatman8975]

Cain is way worse 😂than

[@Thelodis]

Newer versions of the film use the footage from the theatrical cut at 0:48 when he gets shot in the knee, but the director's cut for the rest of the film. I think it's better when it's zoomed out because it's easier to see where he gets hit. When it comes to Boddicker's neck stab I think it's better zoomed in, but it's a little blurry.

[@56postoffice]

I always watch the Director's Cut, same with *"T2"* *"The Excorcist"* & *"Aliens."* I don't know what the theatrical versions look like now, but I might see them in their original form at some point.

[@Victory-in-YAHUSHA]

I plan to watch The Abyss for the first time but the director's cut special edition.

[@THK619]

Oh so it’s more violent. Sign me up

[@Pob2278]

Can’t see the difference 😂

[@CatManDoom84]

a lil bit, but overall yeah it dosent really add anything. just a few seconds of prolonged agony/gore. I do like the one shot of murphy getting shot in the head. Yeah the animatronics look noticeable today, but back then that was high level stuff@@Pob2278

[@Fuzzycatfur]

I must say this is one of the few times I think that the theatrical cut of a movie is better, really. It had the better cuts, had the better shots, and better pacing, it seems. Only real addition here that was a plus was the board room scene.

[@the-NightStar]

I COMPLETELY disagree. Verhooven's satrical ultra-violence-to-the-point-of-cartoonishness vision is completly lost in the theatrical version and dulls down the impact the director was going for.

[@jenpachi2408]

Lewis kneeling over his body is way more dramatic in the directors cut

[@solidoptimus0129]

There's also the shot where Alex's arm getting blown off was cut from the theatrical cut, making it look like it just disappeared.

[@to.kanali]

sadly i have the theatrical version on vhs,i found about directors cut from youtube

[@sancm8898]

It’s also on Amazon Prime video I bought it two years ago and came to find out it’s the original NC-17 cut

[@austinwillcut4919]

@@sancm8898 in 1987 it would've been the X rated cut, NC-17 didn't exist until the early 90's.

[@diddyphukkingkong393]

The Director's Cut was first released on laserdisc in 1995 by Criterion, so you won't find it on VHS.

[@visionist7]

@@diddyphukkingkong393 was it open-matte 4:3?

[@TheTwinRabbitMan]

Lots of nice little details added into the DC of Robocop but also lots of good details removed.

[@19grand]

Torture seen is horrific. I watched it once, when iwas about 9, but have to turn away when i see it now. Test audiences were horrified, some got up, and walked out.

[@ПисяКамушкинФедяЗелипупкин]

в детстве с братом КАК ОКАЗАЛОСЬ В ИТОГЕ, смотрели режиссёрские версии робокопа! а потом позже показывали стерильные театральные, там даже не было размазывания жидкого человека, и разрезания предателя полицая в робокоп 2! а так же трепанирования Кейна. (да, я помню что режисёр второй части Ирвин Кершнер, но вторая часть снята в том же стиле первой части ) хотя когда я пересматривал эти театральные версии уже лет в 25, точно помнил что подобные сцены были и мы их видели. потом толькодошло что это режиссёрские версии

[@adamquiles2468]

Always liked this movie and always liked Paul Verhoeven but didn't like his directors cut because the death scenes went on too long. In the theatrical cut the deaths were quick and fast enough

[@TrentonWade]

Can you fly bobby?

[@nexusdrop7863]

I need to rewatch this movie and make sure I get the correct version.

[@JayKhwaja]

3:39 WOLVERINE 🔪

[@PANDRIUX]

PERFECT!

[@kylereese2000]

I’ve actually always preferred the theatrical cut. Even though it shows a little less, in a strange way it seems more violent. I always found the extended ED209 scene too over the top. Which is what they were looking for, but I think the pacing feels odd. I also never liked the dummy they used in the extended Murphy death scene. I prefer the more realistic cut in the original release. It brings a darker, meaner quality.

[@diddyphukkingkong393]

What are your thoughts on the TV version of those scenes?

[@JAMES-qp8tz]

03:42

[@fishtv3645]

Am I making this up , but I swear when I saw this as a kid, on VHS they showed him impaling Clarence in the neck ?

[@kevinsnazz]

Probably just misremembering it, happens with lots of movies from when you're a kid

[@ponyrodgers]

I fully remember seeing Clarence getting stabbed in the neck (rather than how in this video it just shows Robocop's face as he stabs him and then cuts away to Clarence after the stabbing) when I saw this in a theater as a kid in 87. When I recently rewatched the theatrical cut on dvd, I was thrown off by the cutaway because I was expecting it to be shown head on like I remembered. Hard to say what's going on there. Maybe when I was a kid I was less aware of subtle cinematic details than I am now? Or CERN's messing about with my timeline? Who the hell knows?

[@diddyphukkingkong393]

Probably you had also watched the TV version when you were young.

[@orzen_the_orzo933]

Can you do one for Die Hard 4 (the 2007 movie, I forgot the name)

[@The_Husband_of_Jane_Lane]

Live Free or Die Hard.

[@crissrudd4554]

This video wasn’t made by the uploader. It’s an extra on the Arrow Blu-ray release.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

never knew always only seen the theatrical directors seems more violent interesting

[@user-oz2ms3op1g]

They should remake this, and I'm not talking about the 2014 version either

[@edstar83]

Why remake it? This is a classic. Unlike the 2014 version you mentioned.if you want to watch Robocop watch this. * * * * remakes of classic movies that aren't broken.

[@valiantloony8336]

💥🖐 Well give the man a hand 🤣

[@henrycordy]

Superb work

[@Thorax7x686]

I keep forgetting if the one I watched was theatrical or director cut

[@Warrior2044]

Fun fact: This used to be the unrated version because back in the day when this movie came out into theaters, rated R movies used to have limits of how much violence are in the movies. Now, MPAA doesn’t see violence as a big deal as they do with nudity. This unrated version has now become the new rated R version.

[@michaelcordero5588]

Dude, you're tripping. R rated robocop from back them would've been impossible to show it in cinemas nowadays.

[@Fuzzycatfur]

​@michaelcordero5588 Yeah no kidding, this dude's tripping. The violence yes, but the blood and gore? No way in hell would it be allowed to go. I just saw Saw X and thought it was rather tame compared to the earlier films in that series.

[@MotoGreciaMarios]

Yeah, how hypocritical. A tit on the screen is a red flag and yet every 13-yo has access to youporn by clicking "I'm 18 years old or older".

[@KevSmith.]

Directors cit was a lot better and clarance is one if the best bad guys out of 80s films

[@scottaznavourian3720]

Yeah the kinney death is way worse

[@sharptoothtrex4486]

Martin McFly: Holly smokes Doc, that companies robot needs big improvements and mods! Doc Brown: Great Scott, Martin that robot almost killed us dead!

[@michaelbradford4621]

His name is murphy

[@aboutthisproduct7674]

why did they not aloww the directors cut!

[@marianoyuba3736]

At the time, those longer, more explicit shots netted the film an X rating. It wasn't that they couldn't keep them, but that an X-rated film is nearly unmarketable and would have likely resulted in a flop

[@sean8102]

They had to trim it down to not get a X rating.

[@diddyphukkingkong393]

@@marianoyuba3736 Imagine if Verhoeven edited the movie down to a PG rating though, with the same edited shots made for TV.

[@TheEarlymtv]

i feel the R rated cut works best.. the more you show, the more phony it can look. and it was violent enough as it was...

[@diddyphukkingkong393]

For me, the TV versions feel somewhat more realistic except for the ED 209 scene. The R-rated version still feels realistic except for Clarence's and Dick's death I guess.

[@hipsterdoofus1332]

How is this allowed on KZbin? Lol

[@Dieterdde]

The better question is : why not? There's KZbin kids for young viewers and there's also videos that can be marked as age restricted content, if needed.

[@sean8102]

Far more violent stuff than scenes from a movie is on youtube lol

[@visionist7]

KZbin has almost nothing against violence unless a bunch of karens flag the video

[@83cat]

Robotcop is so weak, scared and cry like a crown baby

[@albertomartinez714]

Shame they got rid of the cool shot at 2:29 in the theatrical version. The puppet they built for that was so convincing.

[@sean8102]

For sure. But apparently that was one shot the MPAA would not budge on at all no matter how much other gore they trimmed to get down from a X rating to R. (source: Robodoc, an amazing Robocop documentary)

[@Nate_M_PCMR]

I didn't even notice that it was a puppet