This is a great discussion and it makes me more excited about the 25th anniversary. Legend has it that Purple Rain was originally given an X rating by the MPAA. This was supposed to have been reported by MTV back in 1984 although I cannot find any articles or news clips. Uptown magazine reported this in one issue. If this is true, one would have to assume that there was another cut of Purple Rain that possibly included the 2nd love scene and/or the “rape” scene. I always assumed that Al Magnoli, being an editor, knew that the movie would run long and decided to leave certain scenes out of preliminary edits. This includes everything that was deleted after Prince seduces Apollonia in his basement straight through to when they both return to her apartment and possibly the “rape” scene (if it was filmed). But this MPAA story threatens to obliterate my theory. An X rated cut of Purple Rain had to include the 2nd love scene or the “rape” scene.

Lastly, if the 1983-1984 work print (with minimal extra footage) managed to get leaked and bootlegged, could this mean that an earlier edit is out there somewhere?

This is a great discussion and it makes me more excited about the 25th anniversary. Legend has it that Purple Rain was originally given an X rating by the MPAA. This was supposed to have been reported by MTV back in 1984 although I cannot find any articles or news clips. Uptown magazine reported this in one issue. If this is true, one would have to assume that there was another cut of Purple Rain that possibly included the 2nd love scene and/or the “rape” scene. I always assumed that Al Magnoli, being an editor, knew that the movie would run long and decided to leave certain scenes out of preliminary edits. This includes everything that was deleted after Prince seduces Apollonia in his basement straight through to when they both return to her apartment and possibly the “rape” scene (if it was filmed). But this MPAA story threatens to obliterate my theory. An X rated cut of Purple Rain had to include the 2nd love scene or the “rape” scene.

Lastly, if the 1983-1984 work print (with minimal extra footage) managed to get leaked and bootlegged, could this mean that an earlier edit is out there somewhere?

Toots said:
I have both the DVD version(not the Aniiversery) AND the Anniversery Edition 2 disc set it isnt in either one of them.
[Edited 6/9/08 14:18pm]

toots said:

I just soo think i saw that scene back in 84 I am going to a friends who has a working VCR just 2 pop in my copy. Even if it's not on my VHS copy..I may be just getting old but maybe i seen it on a friends or from a rental back in the day..but my VHS copy is from then.
[Edited 6/9/08 14:37pm]

who quoted this.. where toots posted it looks like i posted & where I posted just now it looks like the opposite. oh well we get the point.
[Edited 6/9/08 14:43pm]

He stole the entire basic plot from the Frank Sinatra movie Pal Joey.

meow85 said:

^ I guess that makes the Kid the MotherFucKERRRR and not Francis L.

Euripides said:

-----
Some parts are based on his life so I do not think it is based on Pal Joey.
He really appears to have a bad relationship with his dad.

Tamera1 said:

My quoty thingy is messed up

toots said:

its all good. i didnt mean 2 sound rude like that.. i just became confused for a minute when quoting myself.

rstokey2 said:

That would be very cool if there was a release of 'Purple Rain' unedited. I mean in these days and time..I know I'd buy it. & It would make some much sense to release it. It would prove so much,like how someone mentioned it couldve been '8 Mile' of it's time.. Just pointing out that that type of thing was done in full raw form,firstly in 83-84. Oh please let there be a release like this coming!!

I must say it definitely is much darker than what has now become the official "Purple Rain" movie. There was definitely more dark and grittier stuff happening there: Prince starting shit with The Time in their rehearsal space, Prince getting hardcore with Apples, the fellas from the Revolution acting a fool towards the ladies, the borderline incestuous relationship between the Kid and his mom, etc. I don't wanna give too much away, but there was a whole lot more happening than what made the final cut. I also heard that a lot of these were filmed. In fact, some of these parts can be seen in the original trailer.

You know what, the original script would've been like "8 Mile" way before "8 Mile"

ToraToraDreams said:

If I could go back in time I'd tell The Kid to release the full orginal version as planned. Though I suspect the suits at Warner had more to do with the heavy editing than Our Hero did. I hear they weren't overly keen on the whole movie idea in the first place, hence the minimal budget. They probably figured keeping all the gritty details in as planned would've pushed the edge beyond audience-friendly fare. I mean, the original script does imply he was having sex with his mom.