User Reviews

. . . this INFLUENCE AND CONTROVERSY retrospective should explain why. Though it appears that the original Directors' Cut of PERFORMANCE may be lost forever, you can visualize it in your head if you just connect the dots sprinkled like so many bread crumbs by the whack-a-mole sort of Talking Heads provided here. The initial three-hour-plus version of PERFORMANCE screened for Hollywood Test Audiences featured Marlon Brando playing BOTH of 1900s London's infamous Kray Twins as they set up a drug deal which dooms both Mick Jagger and James Fox's characters in the end. (This climax included a touching final bit during which Mick and Jim stick their revolvers into each other's mouths and simultaneously pull the triggers as Brando's Krays are closing in.) However, the test screenings were total disasters. You can multiply the folks bummed out by Brando mumbling in Italian during the GODFATHER by a hundred, and still not touch the level of outrage engendered by TWO Brandos mumbling in Cockney! Therefore, when Marlon nixed re-shoots or allowing his voice to be dubbed, the Krays had to be cut entirely from PERFORMANCE. What's left is a Thanksgiving Dinner with a few of the trimmings--but no Turkey!