Albert Pyun’s Original Cut of ‘Captain America’ (1990) Has Been Uncovered and It’s Supposedly Much Better
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On December 14, 1990, the film Captain America was released in British theaters. The movie was panned by critics and fans at the time, and it ended up earning less than its already miserable $3 million budget. While the movie has since gained a cult following, there are still numerous controversies related to the movie.
It has been known for some time that the original theatrical cut of the movie – which lasted 90 minutes – was butchered in post-production and that Albert Pyun, the director, made a version with a lot more character content that lasted 130 minutes and was seemingly much better than the original product.
Well, according to some reports on social media, it seems that the director’s cut of the movie has been recovered, restored, and shown to some people, who claim that it is a much better movie and that the panned film actually deserves a second chance with the fans.
This piece of news hasn’t been confirmed by anyone officially, but several social media sources have confirmed that the original version by Pyun has been found, restored and released, as you can see below:
Albert Pyun's original cut of the 1990s ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA’ film has been found.
— Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) December 13, 2024
Pyun’s wife is said to be trying to get the director’s cut officially released.
(via @BBW_BFF) pic.twitter.com/mnDgrL0tGP
watched Justin Decloux's mystery live-stream today on a whim, and I'm so glad I did because it turned out to be Albert Pyun's original cut of Captain America. it's vastly different from the theatrical cut – and imho vastly superior, surprisingly moody, melancholy, & very pretty pic.twitter.com/72hDUqFDuj
— priscilla page (@BBW_BFF) December 13, 2024
my quick little letterboxd review gives more context. basically: this was Pyun's own cut of Captain America before it got butchered into the theatrical version, and it's impossible to see anywhere. Pyun's widow – and Pyun's fans – would love to see a real release of this version pic.twitter.com/01kpxsgV8W
— priscilla page (@BBW_BFF) December 13, 2024
Was lucky enough to see a screening of a previously unseen cut of Albert Pyun's CAPTAIN AMERICA (1990) that is *wildly* different from the theatrical release and the DC. This version is less a superhero film, more of a downbeat 70's political paranoia thriller. Like THE PARALLAX VIEW but with Cap
— Tom Cody (@realtomcody.bsky.social) December 13, 2024 at 4:48 AM
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As you can see, some lucky people had the chance to see this restored version of the 1990 film and they are describing it as a significant improvement over the original theatrical release.
Albert Pyun died in 2022, so he probably never got to see the restored version, but his wife confirmed that she was looking into getting the restored director’s cut released, which would be great.
The existence of the director’s cut was confirmed more than 10 years ago, when Pyun confirmed he had found the original movie in his house:
It was eventually released in quite a truncated version: tell us about your Director’s Cut.
A couple of years ago I found my original 35mm cut of Captain America, and it’s much longer: it’s almost 130 minutes long, with a lot more scenes, which nobody had ever really seen it. It’s much, much different than the 90-minute version that was eventually released, which skips a lot of the character stuff.
The version I did was much more of a character study, of the person that became Captain America, and his feelings about living up to that name. That was all we could really do, and I think that holds up really well. It’s quite tragic and sad and he wonders what price he’s paid for undertaking his role.
By the end he really has empathy for Red Skull. Steve Rogers sees how he could easily have become that. Both he and the Red Skull have essentially had their lives taken away from them. Red Skull was a much more tragic, embittered figure who wanted to return to a time when he was himself.
It was a much more emotional movie, and the action is better because it’s more in context. We really focused on the characters and Matt did a really good job with that. The idea was that it wasn’t a rah-rah patriotic thing: it was about what any soldier gives up in their life, and the price they pay for upholding their duty.
Source: flexiblehead.blog.com
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