Payback Straight Up: The Director's Cut (1999).  Director: Brian Helgeland.  Starring: Mel Gibson, Maria Bello, James Coburn.

The term "Director's Cut" has been used and abused quite a bit recently, to the point where a theatrical versus the extended/director/unrated/whathaveyou cut of a film have become diluted from what I felt was the original intent, that is, a film that features at least some significant differences from what was presented in the theatre.

However, movies like Payback Straight Up: The Director's Cut prove that the term still has some magic behind it.

When I first heard about Payback, I was eager to see it.  I enjoyed The Hunter, the Donald E. Westlake's novel (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark) that was the basis of this movie.  Even more, I loved Point Blank (1967) the first film version of the novel staring Lee Marvin (a quick aside: If you haven't seen it, please do so.  Without giving too terribly much away, consider the original film a ghost story and you'll probably get a lot more from it than viewing it as a "crime thriller".).  Even more encouraging was the fact that Mel Gibson was staring.  Back then, the idea of seeing a film staring Mel Gibson was a pretty big deal, and the early word on the director's intentions (making the film 70's type crime drama) gave me optimism that the stars were aligning for what would be a truly great film experience.

That all came crashing down when the film was finally released.

In its theatrical format, Payback was, to me, pure crap.  I can't state how disappointed I was in the whole venture, from the "hip" humor to the oversaturated colors to the awful characters and situations.  Little did I know at the time that what I was seeing was far from what the director originally intended.  For you see, when the film was originally presented, the studios were nervous...they thought the film, as created, was a downer, too dark and humorless for a big box office star like Mel Gibson.  Gibson and company (if memory serves, minus the original director), therefore, made "fixes" to the film, changing the structure and adding what they hoped would be more "box office friendly" elements (such as that humor and, literally, an "explosive" finale).

The story would end there except that interest in the director's original version of the film was strong enough to get Gibson to back a "Director's Cut" for home video.  And, say what you will about the guy, he was also gracious enough to add commentary and explain what happened between the film's original version, the theatrical version, and this version.  I get the impression, though Gibson doesn't come right out and say it, that he preferred this version of the film versus what eventually graced the theatres.

I certainly do.

But, up front, let me say that as big of an improvement PSU: TDC is to the theatrical cut, it still doesn't hold a candle to Point Blank.  Point Blank starts as a crime drama but rapidly becomes so very much more than that, while PSU: TDC is perfectly happy to be "just" a crime drama.  A damn good one.

The differences between the director's cut and the theatrical cut are quite vast, and it would be pointless (not to mention extremely spoiler-y) to enumerate each and every one of them.  In general, the biggest change of the Director's cut versus the theatrical cut is found in the film's second act.  Kris Kristofferson, the head bad guy in the theatrical cut, doesn't even appear in the director's cut, and the "explosive" finale in the theatrical cut makes way for a grittier 70's kind of "anti" ending.  As an extra bonus, the Director's cut eschews those horrid oversaturated colors found in the theatrical cut in favor of a darker, more earthy tone, which also fits the 70's crime movie vibe far better.

What is most impressive of PSU: TDC is the fact that the film is far more coherent and consistent.  I can't say the Director's cut is a classic of modern cinema (the expression is overused enough as it is), but what was in its theatrical form a one star film at most becomes, in its Director's cut, a film I would comfortably give three stars out of four.

As such, its highly recommended.