10 Movie Scenes DELETED Because They Were Too Good

When scenes get cut for doing their job too damn well.

Deadpool Ryan Reynolds
Disney

No matter how confident and prepared a filmmaker might be, it's incredibly rare for every single scene that's shot to end up in the final cut of a movie. 

Potentially dozens of scenes are removed from films for a variety of reasons - perhaps they killed the pacing, or just didn't turn out as the director intended.

And on that rare occasion, sometimes they were just a little too good.

These 10 scenes were all cut from big movies because they were so damn effective at accomplishing their initial goal that they basically ended up detracting from the film overall, sucking all the oxygen out of the room in the process.

Perhaps they were too emotionally effective and destroyed the attention span of test audiences, or went above and beyond what the director expected of an actor, yet it left the movie as a whole on an uneven keel.

And so, while the directors themselves lamented deleting many of these scenes, it was ultimately for the greater good, to keep the film's tone and pacing consistent. 

Killing your darlings is a tough skill to learn in art, but these filmmakers all did what "had" to be done...

10. What's It All About, Austin? - Austin Powers In Goldmember

Deadpool Ryan Reynolds
New Line Cinema

Let's kick things off with an all-timer alright. 

The third Austin Powers film boasts a legendary deleted scene, thankfully featured on the movie's DVD release, where after Austin (Mike Myers) and his father Nigel (Michael Caine) temporarily go their separate ways, we're treated to an unexpected musical number.

The song, "What's It All About, Austin?," is obviously a parody of the iconic tune "What's It All About, Alfie?" from Michael Caine's classic 1966 drama Alfie, with almost all of the main Austin Powers characters shown singing a couple of lines - even Robert Wagner, in a dress no less.

And to top it all off, the number ends with Caine himself softly serenading us, accompanied by actual clips from Alfie, repurposed to represent Nigel and a young Austin in happier times.

It's a strangely beautiful scene for an Austin Powers movie of all things, which is reportedly why it was ultimately cut, the emotion proving overpowering enough that test audiences couldn't quite recover from it.

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.