Cobra (1986)

[TylerDurden389]

Damn you Sly!! This is my favorite non-Rocky, non-Rambo movie of yours and my only complaint is that's its too short!! Not enough Cobra!! And now I find out that it was originally 2 hours long? I hope the print is still out there somewhere.

Shawn, what scenes and sub-plots do you know of?

[klauswhereareyou]

I don't think the world is ready for a 2 hour Cobra....maybe in about 50 years.

[TylerDurden389]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

I don't think the world is ready for a 2 hour Cobra....maybe in about 50 years.

Lol, dude in 50 years the R-rating won't even exist anymore.

[Guydowood]

In early 1990's, a different version of Cobra was broadcasted on TV. Here is the list of differences between normal version and TV edit:

1.Opening hostage scene: Alternate shot when gang member shoots with his shotgun. He shoots 2 times on fruits,but in TV cut one of these is close up shot of fruits exploding. Alternate dialogue. TV Cut - "You lookin at the brave hunter!" DVD Uncut - "You lookin at the ****in hunter!" Close up of knife in gang members belly is cut. Line "Don't listen to this *******" from Gonzalez is cut.

2.Cobra arrives home: Extra few seconds dialogue scene during the Cobra's argument with low rider.Cobra turns around and says something like: "Don't dirt America,keep it clean." Cobra talks briefly with old janitor: "How you doin'? You're doing really good job here",then crosses woman coming down the stairs with her dog,checks his mailbox and goes to his apartment. Song "Suave" is playing longer in this extended scene.

3. Aftermath of first murder: Extra scene after the first Nightslasher murder in which young Asian kid brings box in police station. Cop tell the kid to stay inside and go pick himself one of the toys from the box on the other side of the room. While kid is checking the toys,cop takes the box and sees blood dripping from bottom.Then he receives a phone call in which Nightslasher says something like: "Her hands are with you, but her soul is in the new world". Cop tells some other cop to trace the call and scene cuts to the regular autopsy scene.

4. Gang during the day: After Cobra shoots paper target,extra scene is shown. Nightslasher is at his day job cutting fish in some factory,sniper guy is working is some garage and there is a shot of him loking at electric wires. In police precinct where Cobra shoot the target,sideview of some police officers hands and forearms is shown while they are shooting paper targets. One of them is shown with gang's tattoo,skull with axes,on his forearm. Couple shots of gang performing their "axes and hammers" ritual are also shown. Music during these scenes is the same one that was used for opening credits.

5. Ingrid in the studio/Parking lot attack In the photo studio Ingrid is asked to go to a party,but she refuses. Rashe the photographer talks with her a bit,and Ingrid requires security guard presence to go with her to her car,cause she feels nervous. Death scene of guy with the glasses is cut.
Death scene of security guard is cut. He is not shown getting hit by the van.

6. Slasher's place/Hospital Shot of Nightslasher cutting his finger is cut. Alternate dialogue. TV Cut - "Friggin liar" DVD uncut - "****ing liar"

7. Attack on Cobra: Extended version of apartment attack. Sniper arrives in the car,guy on the street looks at Cobra's place and puts his mask on. 2 shots of 2 guys climbing up the stairs armed with axes are shown. They continue to climb and then cut the light while sniper is looking from his car. Later when he sees one of the guys shot by Cobra falling down,sniper starts the car and escapes. Some violence and blood are cut during the fight between Cobra and gang members.

8. Hospital attack: Shot of Slasher walking across the hallway with blood on his glove holding the knife is cut. Alternate shot of Cobra's arrival. Close up of Slasher's bloody glove is cut.

9.After the attacks: Alternate dialogue: TV cut - "Damn" DVD Uncut - "Goddamn" Line "Enough of this bullshit" from one of the cops is cut,instead he talks longer with Cobra.

10. After the chase: Extended scene where Cobra says that there is leak in the police,bald cop asks him a question.

11. "Feel The Heat": Extended dialogue between Cobra and Ingrid during the drive where he says that he never left California,and after some more dialogue,Cobra says some joke about football that ends with line "Have you seen my legs?" In restaurant,Gonzalet asks Stalk will she sexually assault him afterwards. After Cobra and Ingrid start to kiss,there is extra shot showing some old guy watching the motel from his house across the street and pulling the curtain.

12. Town attack: Extra scene where old guy is watching "DIAL M FOR MURDER" on TV. Some wires are shown being cut. Woman is washing dishes in a kitchen. Sniper is shown behind the window. Somebody catches women's hair from behind. Shots of old man watching TV and smoking pipe are shown,woman's shadow is shown while she is killed and the killer shadow,considering the haircut,implies that killer is Nightslasher. Sniper breaks window with axe,old guy is strangled quickly,his pipe falls down to the ground, close up shot of a parrot getting nervous is shown,and then zoom on sniper face.

13. Final showdown: Death scene of sniper is cut. Shots of him burning alive are cut. Nightslasher's death scene is cut. He is only shown impaled for a few seconds,but the parts of him hanging on hook,screaming,going into fire and getting burned are cut. Extra scene after the shootout.Cobra and Ingrid are walking out of the factory when three cops show up and point shotguns at them.Cobra then says: "You guys missed the hell of a party." He also tells them that he is a cop,and when one of the other cops says that he wants answers now,Cobra says something else and then leaves.

There is an uncut,about 2 hour long work print of Cobra. This work print contains many scenes not shown in any other versions. Almost all deaths scenes are longer and much more gorier,some characters have more dialogue or character development scenes(Ingrid's photographer friend,Cobra's partner Gonzalez,detective Monte and some others),action scenes are much longer with more violence and deaths (hospital attack and attack on Cobra's place,car chase,pick-up truck chase and final shootout) some parts of the movie have different music than the one heard in DVD versions.

[Shawn Elestren]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

I don't think the world is ready for a 2 hour Cobra....maybe in about 50 years.

From IMDb:

Original rough cut of the movie was over 2 hours long. Due to the concern that it wouldn't be a hit,it was cut down to 84 minutes. Some of the deleted material was cut because of the MPAA,who originally gave the movie an X rating due to the graphic violence. After massive re-editing,great deal of plot was either removed or speed up,while most of the violence and nearly every death scene is edited or is always happening offscreen,often causing many continuity mistakes. Because of the re-editing,a great deal of action scenes is also cut.

A very rare workprint of the movie is available amongst fans. Although most of the copies of it are in poor quality,it has approximately 30 or 40 minutes of extra scenes which are not available in any other version. It also has all of the X rated material removed from released version.

There is uncut,about 2 hour long work print of Cobra. This work print contains many scenes not shown in any other versions. Almost all deaths scenes are longer and much more gorier,some characters have more dialogue or character development scenes(Ingrid's photographer friend,Cobra's partner Gonzalez,detective Monte and some others), the Night Slasher at his day-job gutting fish in a factory, action scenes are much longer with more violence and deaths (hospital attack and attack on Cobra's place,car chase,pick-up truck chase and final shootout) some parts of the movie have different music than the one heard in DVD versions.

People Magazine

[newgen2005]

Originally Posted by Shawn Watson

From IMDb:

Original rough cut of the movie was over 2 hours long. Due to the concern that it wouldn't be a hit,it was cut down to 84 minutes. Some of the deleted material was cut because of the MPAA,who originally gave the movie an X rating due to the graphic violence. After massive re-editing,great deal of plot was either removed or speed up,while most of the violence and nearly every death scene is edited or is always happening offscreen,often causing many continuity mistakes. Because of the re-editing,a great deal of action scenes is also cut.

A very rare workprint of the movie is available amongst fans. Although most of the copies of it are in poor quality,it has approximately 30 or 40 minutes of extra scenes which are not available in any other version. It also has all of the X rated material removed from released version.

There is uncut,about 2 hour long work print of Cobra. This work print contains many scenes not shown in any other versions. Almost all deaths scenes are longer and much more gorier,some characters have more dialogue or character development scenes(Ingrid's photographer friend,Cobra's partner Gonzalez,detective Monte and some others), the Night Slasher at his day-job gutting fish in a factory, action scenes are much longer with more violence and deaths (hospital attack and attack on Cobra's place,car chase,pick-up truck chase and final shootout) some parts of the movie have different music than the one heard in DVD versions.

People Magazine

No sign of this workprint anywhere, the Swedish TV version is easy to find though!

[indisposed]

Is anyone else going to this?

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/...in-london.html

I bought my ticket last night and I can't be more buzzed about it! This business with the alternate cuts of Cobra could be a good question to ask him.

[TylerDurden389]

Oh man. I have some internet research/digging to do. To me this is even more special than the workprint for Rocky 5!! THANKS for the outline details!!

[Markgway]

I'd love to see a director's cut of COBRA.

Imagine a 2-disc BD set with both cuts.

[sukraj]

Originally Posted by TylerDurden389

Damn you Sly!! This is my favorite non-Rocky, non-Rambo movie of yours and my only complaint is that's its too short!! Not enough Cobra!! And now I find out that it was originally 2 hours long? I hope the print is still out there somewhere.

Shawn, what scenes and sub-plots do you know of?

Me also love a bit of cobra.

[fitprod]

Weirdest part... Cobra came from the re-writes Stallone did on Beverly Hills Cop, before they went back to the original script and hired Eddie Murphy.

Covered in this discussion with Jerry Bruckheimer:
Exclusive Jerry Bruckheimer Interview

fitprod

[TylerDurden389]

Has anyone ever seen any of the international blu-rays of Cobra? I didn't find a page for it on caps-a-holic. This is my favorite non-Rocky, non-Rambo Sly movie and I'd HATE HATE HATE to buy the American blu-ray and then find out that another region version has better picture, more special features, commentaries...etc. Any help is much appreciated.

[JR Ewing]

Originally Posted by TylerDurden389

Has anyone ever seen any of the international blu-rays of Cobra? I didn't find a page for it on caps-a-holic. This is my favorite non-Rocky, non-Rambo Sly movie and I'd HATE HATE HATE to buy the American blu-ray and then find out that another region version has better picture, more special features, commentaries...etc. Any help is much appreciated.

I have the version that was released in Asia and it's identical to the USA release. As far as I know all versions released worldwide are the same.

[TylerDurden389]

Originally Posted by JR Ewing

I have the version that was released in Asia and it's identical to the USA release. As far as I know all versions released worldwide are the same.

Thanks!!

[UniSol GR77]

WE should start a petition........................................ this is a great EIGHTIES movie !!!!!

[TylerDurden389]

Originally Posted by UniSol GR77

WE should start a petition........................................ this is a great EIGHTIES movie !!!!!

It really is a spiritual sequel/remake to Dirty Harry for the 80's. You could almost say it's Dirty Harry on steroids, lol. From the opening shot of the close-up of Cobra's gun, to the casting of Reni Santoni (as Cobra's partner of course) and Andrew Robinson. Sucks it was so poorly received. I think this would've been a great 3rd franchise for Sly that could've been re-molded for the times in the late 80's through the 90s (in terms of style tone, and plot), similar to how the last season of Miami Vice is completely different than the first 2 (it's much "darker").

[olivasauce]

Saw this for the first time after buying the Stallon Triple feature with Assassins and Demolition Man.

When I was young in the 80's I was a die hard Schwarzenegger fan (still am)and thusly sort of disliked Sly his biggest competition. Only gave the Rocky movies a chance back then. Still haven't seen any of the Rambo movies from beginning to end. Started to be ok with Sly in the 90's with his run of Cliffhanger, Assassins and Demo Man.

Cobra always looked to creepy and slimy to me with the villian being so seemingly satanic in nature from what I caught of it back then. Had no interest in it but now was curious to check it out.

Anyways, have to saw it was ok, doesn't hold a candle to Arnie's 80's flicks but was watchable. Some great cheese and one liners. Some parts were hilariously bad too, enjoyably bad though.

The one thing in particular that made me shake my head was later in the movie Cobra trying to convince the Cheif and whomever else that the Night Stalker wasn't working alone. Well duh, at that point he had already killed like 5 guys for goodness sake. Was it like a video game, kill the guys and the body just disappers or what? Maybe I missed something but to me even for a movie like this that was a huge plothole.

[welcometothepartypal]

Originally Posted by olivasauce

Saw this for the first time after buying the Stallon Triple feature with Assassins and Demolition Man.

When I was young in the 80's I was a die hard Schwarzenegger fan (still am)and thusly sort of disliked Sly his biggest competition. Only gave the Rocky movies a chance back then. Still haven't seen any of the Rambo movies from beginning to end. Started to be ok with Sly in the 90's with his run of Cliffhanger, Assassins and Demo Man.

Cobra always looked to creepy and slimy to me with the villian being so seemingly satanic in nature from what I caught of it back then. Had no interest in it but now was curious to check it out.

Anyways, have to saw it was ok, doesn't hold a candle to Arnie's 80's flicks but was watchable. Some great cheese and one liners. Some parts were hilariously bad too, enjoyably bad though.

The one thing in particular that made me shake my head was later in the movie Cobra trying to convince the Cheif and whomever else that the Night Stalker wasn't working alone. Well duh, at that point he had already killed like 5 guys for goodness sake. Was it like a video game, kill the guys and the body just disappers or what? Maybe I missed something but to me even for a movie like this that was a huge plothole.

I agree with you, but I think I liked it a little more. There was this rumor floating around that there exists a director's cut somewhere, now that would get me real excited to visit this movie again. It felt like something was missing when I watched and feel a directors cut would elevate it to true 80's action cheese. Gotta love the whole pizza/scissors scene.

[olivasauce]

Originally Posted by welcometothepartypal

I agree with you, but I think I liked it a little more. There was this rumor floating around that there exists a director's cut somewhere, now that would get me real excited to visit this movie again. It felt like something was missing when I watched and feel a directors cut would elevate it to true 80's action cheese. Gotta love the whole pizza/scissors scene.

Yeah, wasn't sure what he was doing there, he cuts off a bit with scissors and throws out the rest? Random to say the least. Just as random as him taking a sip of warm beer before throwing the can in the supermarket.

Also laughed out loud at how bad the drawing was for the police composite sketch. Like get a guy who can draw a bit, looked like a 3 year old drew that.

[Astro Zombie]

I love Cobra! One of my favorite Stallone films.

"I've got a bomb here! I'll kill her! I'll blow this whole place up!"

"Go ahead. I don't shop here."