10 Movies Saved By One Single Cut

Kevin Smith's slacker classic Clerks would've become something else entirely if the director kept his original ending, which saw Quick Stop clerk Dante (Brian O'Halloran) shot dead by a robber who then loots the place and runs off into the night. The End.

Smith even screened this version of the film at the Independent Feature Film Market, though at the behest of friends who watched it there, he decided to cut Dante's death and instead end the movie a minute earlier, as Randall (Jeff Anderson) leaves the store.

Though the dark ending isn't thematically inappropriate, it is an extremely depressing capper to the offbeat comedy, and by Smith's own admission likely would've resulted in his much-loved View Askewniverse - today comprising eight released movies - never coming to fruition.

We can't ever know how Smith's career would've turned out if he stuck to his guns, but considering the great movies it led to, namely Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it was most certainly for the best.