Buyer Beware: Some 4K discs and streaming versions of cult classics have soundtrack changes

Not too way back, I did a JoBlo Originals video on the 1994 Jeff Bridges/Tommy Lee Jones motion flick Blown Away. In it, I discussed that the film had simply been re-released by Kino Lorber on 4K UHD—a trigger for celebration. Or so I assumed. Whereas the film is essentially intact, two minor soundtrack substitutions have apparently been made, which you’ll be able to examine right here.

The film depends closely on the music of U2, and fortunately these songs are intact. Nevertheless, two different soundtrack cuts—Right here’s The place the Story Ends by The Sundays and All Night time Lengthy by Aretha Franklin—have been changed. Within the case of Right here’s The place the Story Ends, the alternative is a canopy model you won’t discover immediately. The Aretha music, nonetheless, has been swapped out for some generic jazz, and so they even eliminated Aretha’s title from a bit of dialogue spoken by Forest Whitaker’s character.

Clearly, this comes all the way down to licensing prices, however it’s not the one instance. The Carl Reiner comedy Deadly Intuition, a spoof of Primary Intuition, has had two songs eliminated: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly and Brown Eyed Woman by Van Morrison, which performs twice within the unique. That is additionally the case for all streaming variations of the movie, though—curiously—the Blown Away streaming model nonetheless has its soundtrack intact.

I wouldn’t blame Kino Lorber for the modifications. Little doubt these substitutions had been made by Amazon/MGM, the rights holders. However the place does it cease? Apparently, a number of years in the past, the streaming model of When Harry Met Sally was lacking lots of its unique songs, though (fortunately) that appears to have been mounted. For some time, the streaming model of The Bare Gun 2 1/2: The Scent of Concern was additionally lacking an necessary music by The Righteous Brothers, however it’s now intact.

This has been a long-standing problem with TV re-releases (many variations of Dawson’s Creek are lacking its iconic theme music), however I didn’t understand it was creeping into films, too. Again within the ’80s, this was commonplace, with Common notorious for altering music on their house video releases—Sixteen Candles, Quick Instances at Ridgemont Excessive, and most notoriously The Wild Life. Fortunately, because the DVD period, these films have had their unique soundtracks restored (though music licensing stored The Wild Life out of print for years). However this new development appears like a slippery slope.

Even worse, shoppers aren’t being warned that the flicks have been altered. So—I hate to say it—be cautious every time a brand new catalogue title exhibits up on Blu-ray.

Anybody know of another films with altered soundtracks? Tell us within the feedback!