4. "Add A Voiceover" - Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner is probably the most famous "re-cut" movie in motion picture history, given that there are about eighty-seven different versions of the film in existence today, all of which you can purchase. Back during its arduous production stages, though, Hollywood executives asked Ridley Scott to include a "voice-over narration" that would help to explain some of the movie's more "confusing" aspects to potentially baffled audiences. Harrison Ford, who leads the movie, rejected this idea on several occasions, though was contractually obliged to record the voice-over and proceeded to do so (though it's rumoured that ol' Harrison did it badly on purpose so it would get cut). The theatrical version, first released in 1982, originally shipped with the voice-over in tact - and
Blade Runner received a luke-warm response partly as a result of the ham-fisted narration. Luckily we can look back on this as an avoided mistake, given that Ridley Scott eventually managed to get a director's cut out there that took out the narration, a gesture that improved the picture greatly. It's now considered a sci-fi classic, of course, which means that although Hollywood executives managed to ruin the picture once, they didn't managed to do so indefinitely. Phew!