10 Great Movies That Were Almost Ruined by Bad Editing

source// New Line Cinema

Orson Welles once said that "the notion of directing a film is the invention of critics - the whole eloquence of cinema is achieved in the editing room.”

The role of the film editor has always been something of a mystery to those looking in at Hollywood from the outside, with the finer details of what the job actually entails and how much importance it holds often up for debate.

Generally speaking, it will fall to the editor to select the shots, angles, and takes that will eventually make the completed movie. They have to choose when to cut away from one actor to another, decide what the focus of the scene should be, and rearrange/remove lines, exchanges, and entire sequences that don't work.

With that in mind, it's hard to argue against the importance of a good editor. While it may not be the most rewarding job in terms of recognition (good editing by definition isn't meant to be noticed), the editor has a direct influence on every aspect of a movie, from the look and the overall pace of the story to the impact of each individual performance.

They shoulder a great deal of responsibility, and when they get it wrong it is normally fatal for the film, though not always. Sometimes, if a film is based on a strong script, contains enough memorable performances, and has a director with an express vision, it can achieve greatness despite a botched editing job.

From Spielbergian cult films to modern Scorsese classics, here are 10 great films that were almost ruined by bad editing...

10. The Departed (2006)

With a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating of 91%, The Departed was hailed as Martin Scorsese's best work for a decade. The legendary director took a gritty little crime story and turned it into a highly violent, deeply engrossing street opera, though not everyone claimed to share the euphoric cinematic experience that most critics seemed to have.

The Departed, while undeniably a great film with some great actors, is cheapened at times by sloppy editing. Throughout the movie there are mismatched eye-lines and cuts that don't line up, with actors jumping from spot to spot and beer cans, cigarettes, and spoons switching hands at random, if not vanishing all together.

Another issue with the way The Departed was edited was the over-using of quick-cuts, a technique that, if used well, can give an action or a thriller the bursts of energy they rely on. When used in excess, however, it can be dizzying to the point of off-putting. The film included a total of 3200 cuts, meaning the average length of a shot was 2.7 seconds.

Compared to Scorsese's earlier work, this cut-rate is extremely high - Taxi Driver had an average shot length of 7.3 seconds, whereas Mean Streets and The King of Comedy both averaged 7.7. It could be argued that they were simply paying homage to the high octane Infernal Affairs (The Hong Kong thriller on which The Departed was based), though that film was better edited.

Where Infernal Affairs manages to convey the atmosphere of Hong Kong perfectly, the final cut of The Departed uses so many close-ups and tight shots that you lose a sense of place. Because of the unmistakable accent we know the film is set in Boston, but the film lacked enough location establishing shots to really suck us into the city itself.

9. Donnie Darko (2001)

When Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko was released in cinemas in 2001, it pulled in a measly half million dollars, a return that amounted to a little over a tenth of the total budget. In the few years that followed, however, word of mouth created a cult following that led this dark sci-fi romance flick back into theatres.

A director's cut was released in 2004 and before long Frank was the most popular costume at Halloween parties. The film wound up Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 85% rating, and it is certainly worth the plaudits - this was a memorable directorial performance from a filmmaker who imposed an otherworldly mood and a sense of intrigue on audiences from beginning to end.

That said, when was the last time you actually watched Donnie Darko? Fifteen years on from its initial release, mistakes that you never noticed seem far more apparent, perhaps because you can watch the film without first being influenced by cult hysteria. The first thing you find yourself thinking as Mad World begins to play and the movie wraps up (apart from how insufferable a performance Drew Barrymore gives) is how the film badly needed a better editor.

Donnie Darko is very much a debut movie, in that it comes across as a bunch of separate ideas that Richard Kelly has had over the years. The problem is that they don't seem to fit together.

The film plays like a series of set-pieces; a rogue jet engine crashing through the house, laser-beams protruding from chests, a giant imaginary Bunny - these are all plot devices that were never woven together in a way that made them seem important to one another. The film works despite it, but could have flown a lot smoother with a master in the cutting room.

8. Poltergeist (1982)

As far as bad editing goes, this one takes some topping. Spielberg produced horror classic Poltergeist is the story of middle-class Californian family the Freelings, who find themselves beset by terrifying happenings in their suburban home. Tightly written and smartly directed, Poltergeist was one of the iconic horrors of the '80s, though the editing technique ranged from questionable to confounding at times.

The most perplexing moment comes 35 minutes into the film when a scene in which Diane and Steven discuss the so-called sliding phenomena in their kitchen and suddenly, with Diane actually mid-line, they appear on their neighbors' doorstep. It is a jarring, massively confusing cut that takes the viewer right out of the movie, though there is an explanation for the poor editing.

The original scene had Steven questioning Diane over the unexplained moving of objects, asking what the gag was and suspecting her of using magnets, though within the dialogue he happens to mention that he hates Pizza Hut. While it has never been officially confirmed, the assumption is that Pizza Hut were not happy about being bashed by the Freelings and complained, which lead to the scene being cut halfway through.

Even if this is true, there really is no excuse for how awfully edited this moment is, done with such a lack of tact that you can only imagine that it was changed at the very last minute. Fortunately, the film had enough about it to pull viewers right back in to the story before they lost interest, the movie going on to become a generation-defining hit.

7. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

The third Bourne movie Ultimatum continued the success of the all-action spy franchise, with Rotten Tomatoes calling it the finest installment in the trilogy and giving it a Certified Fresh score of 93%. This was another white-knuckle ride from start to finish, with British director Paul Greengrass the man at the wheel, directing with the pedal to the metal.

The trouble with Ultimatum is that the journey Greengrass intended to take us on got distorted in the editing room. The shaky handheld cam technique can make for a challenging watch at the best of times, but when done wrong it quickly goes from immersive to irritating.

Such was the case with The Bourne Ultimatum, in which the titular rogue agent could have been wielding a banana in place of a gun half the time for all we could see. In fact, RogerEbert.com received so many frustrated letters on the matter that they published a number of them on their website.

Some will argue that this is an issue that should be taken up with the cinematographer, though that isn't the case here. Oliver Wood was the man behind the shaky cam, though he also teamed with Greengrass on the previous Bourne film Supremacy, which used the same techniques but to greater effect. In fact, Supremacy actually had a faster average shot length, with 1.9 seconds against Ultimatum's 2 second average.

The pace of the editing is not the issue here: the quality of it is. Whereas cuts had been smooth in the previous film, here the editing seemed jagged, interrupting actions and camera movements as opposed to blending them together. Not one pan, zoom, or movement of any kind is allowed to come to rest before the shot changes, creating a subtle visual imbalance that almost ruined an otherwise great movie.

6. Mystic River (2003)

Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel of the same name, Mystic River, was lauded by critics as a haunting masterpiece, with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins winning Oscars for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively - the first film that scooped both awards since Ben-Hur in 1959.

Robbins went on record as saying that Kevin Bacon also deserved credit for his part in the movie, but despite strong performances from the whole cast the film was actually far from perfect. To call Mystic River a bad film wouldn't be correct - it's a great film, an emotionally-charged story stripped to the bare bones and methodically executed - but it's a film that was badly put together.

Chop Shop director Ramin Bahrani said as much on stage when discussing Eastwood's film in 2006, citing one particular cutaway that stuck in his throat. When a gun goes off indoors, the next shot is of the bullet hole in the ceiling, something he cited as a lazy choice in editing. We know the gun went off, so the shot of the bullet hole is pointless, almost misleading. Did the bullet hit someone upstairs? Apparently not, as it was never mentioned again.

The film is littered with excess shots that add no value, and even some of the more important scenes are flawed, with crew members visible in reflections from certain angles and coffee mugs changing in colour between cuts.

Editor Joel Cox might have also done well to either include more footage of Jimmy's wife Annabeth earlier in the film or chop her speech at the end of it considerably, as her over-the-top, Lady Macbeth-esque attempt at justifying her husband's murderous actions seem misplaced. The much-maligned scene would have achieved the desired effect had the character's feelings on the matter been alluded to at all earlier in proceedings, but as it was, her supposedly poetic outburst was cringe-worthy.

5. Braveheart (1995)

Winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, Mel Gibson's Braveheart was a flawed masterpiece, and the majority of those flaws could have been remedied in the editing process. Traditionally, the award for Best Film Editing also goes to the Best Picture winner - about two thirds of the Best Picture winners have also won for Film Editing. Braveheart wasn't one of them.

There are a number of well publicised mistakes that made it to the final cut of Braveheart, the most famous (and most unforgivable) being the white car parked on a roadside during numerous battle scene shots. While it never jumps out at you, once you do notice the vehicle it becomes painfully obvious upon re-watches of the film, taking the viewer out of the period setting and out of the movie.

Editor Steven Rosenblum did a poor job across the board. Even without the random appearance of a machine that wouldn't be invented for hundreds of years, there are a number of other poor cuts that challenge the integrity of this epic war drama - duplicate shots are used within seconds of each other and crew/equipment is visible in a number of scenes. In fact, the film's climatic battle was riddled with bad editing.

As William Wallace and his extended Clan charge the English, Wallace's weapon is constantly changing. At first, the Scotsman brandishes a longsword, then, between shots, it inexplicably changes to a small axe. The weapon changes from a sword to an axe a total of five times during this single charge, and to top it off the axe appears to be made of rubber, flopping about ridiculously as Gibson attempts to look terrifying.

4. The Goonies (1985)

This Spielbergian cult classic might have a place in the heart of every '80s kid, though nostalgia for the period has blinded us to a truly terrible editing job. Mistakes can be expected when the cast is made up primarily of children, and it falls on editors to be extra vigilant when pouring over hours of footage in search of the best moments.

This wasn't the case with The Goonies - far from it. One of the most glaring mistakes to make it all the way through the editing process is Mikey (Sean Astin) calling his big brother Brand (Josh Brolin) by his real name, with Astin himself admitting to the blunder on the DVD commentary. Amazingly, this happens more than once in the final cut of the film, with Data (Jonathan Ke Quan) also referring to Josh Brolin by his given title.

As far as revealing errors go, actors being called by their real names is the cardinal sin. Nothing will take you out of a movie like being reminded that you are watching a bunch of actors, and allowing it to happen more than once really cheapens the experience. You can only assume that Spielberg and co-editor Michael Kahn hoped that Josh's name would be lost among the chatter, though there is no explanation for the way they edited the film's ending.

After the Goonies make their escape from the Fratellis and are asked for an account of their adventure, Data mentions an octopus, though, having previously cut the scene with the octopus themselves, surely Spielberg and Kahn realised this made no sense whatsoever? It seems likely that the scene was cut late in the editing process and that Data's reference to it was simply overlooked.

However, despite being strewn with numerous other errors that ought to have been picked up in the editing process (from blinking dead men to people singing with their mouths closed), The Goonies never loses its charm and the spirit of the movie outshines the errors.

3. Apocalypse Now (1979)

Despite being the quintessential Vietnam war movie, Apocalypse Now had more flaws than the US Army's evacuation plan. Over 500 errors have been spotted in the movie, with the vast majority of them being in the continuity department, from subtle things like the rank of an officer according to his badge changing between shots to not-so-subtle things like a week's worth of stubble appearing in an instant.

The production was notoriously chaotic, with Harvey Kietel fired early on after director Francis Ford Coppola decided he didn't have the gravitas to pull off a lead role. He was eventually replaced by Martin Sheen, though proceedings were halted again when a combination of a grueling schedule and an excess of drink/drugs lead to the new star suffering a heart attack, though even that didn't stop the party on set.

A shoot that was supposed to take six weeks ended up lasting 16 months, and even with all the scenes (a great deal of them improvised by director and actors alike) finished, the greatest challenge was yet to come. Editing duties fell to Walter Murch, and he had a hell of a job on his hands contending not only with actors performing under the influence but also the ever-changing weather - Coppola ignored advice and decided to shoot during monsoon season.

The result was a massively flawed masterpiece. The disjointed nature of the shoot left Murch scrambling to produce something coherent, but even with the many inconsistencies the raw message of the movie shone through, and it did it despite the final cut looking like a film school project funded by a rich parent.

2. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)

With a record-equaling eleven Oscar wins, the love shown to The Return of the King was not necessarily because it was the best film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but an acknowledgement of the achievements of the franchise as a whole. Among the trophy haul was the award for Best Film Editing, a category that the previous two films only managed nominations in, though curiously the third and final film in the trilogy had far more editing mistakes than the two before it.

Among the most glaring mistakes to make it through the editing process were Pippin (Billy Boyd) falling over to reveal a sneaker where a hobbit foot should have been, the face of Lady Arwen's riding double being perfectly visible on occasion, and the scar on Frodo's cheek randomly swapping sides to reveal flipped shots, especially in Mount Doom.

Revealing mistakes like these ones are always going to be spotted by someone, though one thing editor Jamie Selkirk was deservedly criticised for was the will-this-ever-end finale. The lengthy ending fades out and starts up again so many times that it becomes irritating, and while there were a lot of loose ends to tie up, all of the main story threads being given their own personal ending really took the wind out of the sails of an otherwise gripping movie.

Of course, novel to film adaptations are a tricky terrain, and a die hard Tolkien fan might argue that not enough was covered in the multiple endings - what of the future for Merry and Pippin, Eowyn and Eomer, Legolas and Gimli? He was likely under the influence of a director known to be hands-on, though for the good of the film as a cinematic experience Selkirk should have insisted on a heavy chopping job to keep the audience from shuffling in their seats for the last 20 minutes.

1. The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)

With a run time of 3 hours, the biggest criticism Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street faced was that it was far too long. Had the first cut of the finished product been released, audiences would have had to sit through a whopping 4 hours of Jordan Belfort's (Leonardo DiCaprio) debauchery, with Scorsese's long-time editor struggling to cut the movie down to anything near a normal run time.

Thelma Schoonmaker, who has edited every Scorsese theatrical feature since Raging Bull in 1980, admitted that, while the endings of movies are always difficult, trying to wrap up The Wolf of Wall Street was one of her worst experiences in the editing suite due to the amount of improv that Scorsese encouraged during the shoot:

“The endings of movies are always horrendous, this was particularly horrendous. Cutting improvisation is really hard, because things don’t match, and you end up with some bad cuts sometimes. But we’d rather have the bad cuts and the great improv."

Some of the bad cuts she is referring to include Teresa closing the same door a total of three times in the scene in which she pulls Jordan out of the limo screaming, and Jordan's pen switching hands as he offers it to people and asks them to sell it back to him - this mistake is repeated with every new person he offers it to.

Schoonmaker is well respected in the film world, with a number of high profile directors having attempted (and failed) to secure her exclusive services, though when a shooting script that is already 162 pages long is extended to allow for ad-libbing, even the most cut-throat of editors would find themselves struggling. In the hands of someone less experienced, The Wolf of Wall Street would have wound up a major flop for team Scorsese/DiCaprio.