After seeing Matt Damon carrying "The Rainmaker" I sat up and became a real fan of the actor. In that movie he impressed me greatly. I decided to see what was he doing next. I read where he was slated to star in All the Pretty Hourses so I got a copy of the book to see what it was all about. I liked what I read and was looking forward to see Matt Damon in the effort. When I read where Billy Bob Thornton was to direct I became ecstatic, I remembered his acting and directing in Sling Blade. Later, I read where there was trouble with the length of All The Pretty Horses at the producer threatened to cut the movie. Mr Thornton's version ran almost 4 hours, the released version to theaters was 117 minutes. Of course I went to see the movie and could see that it should have been longer. Any movie buff could see that. What perplexes me is how studios and produces can contract certain directors and then butcher their completed work. Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in America suffered a humiliation when the studio decided to cut his film drastically; it lost it's meaning, and money. Later, the DVD restored version, 225 minutes, came out and was instantly received by customers. Thank God David O. Selznick stuck to his guns with Gone With The Wind. And look at how much money that! made. Like some others I hope that some one one day will be able to assemble the 4 hour version of All The Pretty Horses so that those of us who love movies can at least see what we've missed. I think we deserve to judge the movie for ourselves. Who knows, we might be missing a masterpiece.
