Michael Mann's epos, located in the colonial war, about the last representive of the Mohicans, who get involved in the war, had some trouble during its production. Director Mann is a perfectionist, that's why some scenes had to be shot up to 20 times. The budget was completely overdrawn and the start in theaters had to be postponed, because Mann cut a version with a running time of almost 3 hrs. So FOX forced Mann to recut it and reach a running time of almost 2 hrs. As a matter of fact, Mann never agreed with this version, that's why he got permission to release "his" DC on DVD.

Finally, the DC is just slightly longer (7 min), but then again a lot of good stuff has been added. As usual, Mann also deleted some scenes for the DC, so that a few scenes only appear in the TC. The DC and the new Director's Definitive Cut on Blu-ray are the only available versions in the US. The European releases are all featuring the theatrical cut so far.


44 differences, divided in
1 deleted dialogue
1 added dialogue
2 additional scenes in the Theatrical Cut
8 extended scenes in the Theatrical Cut
9 extended scenes in the Director's Cut
11 extended scenes with alternate footage
12 additional scenes in the Director's Cut

The Director's Cut is 408.04 sec or approx. 6 minutes 48 seconds longer than the Theatrical Cut (R-Rated / FSK 16).

Compared are the Theatrical Cut (R-Rated / FSK 16) on the German DVD, released by Warner Bros., and the Unrated Director's Cut (Director's Expanded Edition) on the US DVD, released by 20th Century Fox.

The time index of the German DVD (TC) is in PAL, the index of the US (DC) in NTSC.

Extended scene with alternate footage
0:04:38: John and another man get up and grab their guns because they've heard a noise outside. They open the door calmy, but then they hear Hawkeye yelling "Hey, John Cameron!". Then we see Hawkeye and the others arriving, but in a different angle. John asks his wife to set the table for three further people.

Instead, the TC contains a shot of Hawkeye and the others, which doesn't appear in the DC.
The DC is 22.4 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Extended scene with alternate footage
0:05:26: Different angle in both versions when John and Chingachgook say hello to each other.
The DC is 0.76 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Additional scene
0:09:19: Two more shots of the carriages in the DC.
6.8 sec

Extended scene with alternate footage
0:10:09: The interior shot of the house isn't interrupted in the DC, the profile of Jack remains unchanged. In the TC, a frontal view is used instead. Furthermore Magua appears in the DC which also contains more dialog (short conversation between a British officer and a settler).

Settler: "Any of the boys worth havin' can disappear."
Officer: "They will be found."
Settler: "And where does that leave you?"
Officer: "Those men will be found."
The DC is 12 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Extended scene
0:12:09: The General comes up with more gossip about the French in the DC.

General: "Their Latinate voluptuousness combines with their Gallic laziness and the result is [they'd rather eat and make love with their faces than fight.]" The text in brakes also appears in the TC.
8.68 sec

Extended scene
0:13:43: Cora says one more sentence to Duncan.

Cora: "Alice and I have depended upon you and respected you since we were all children."
5.52 sec

Extended scene
0:15:20: Extended dialog of Alice, Duncan and Cora in the DC.

Duncan: "It can be dangerous."
Alice: "Nonsense. Papa wouldn't have sent for us."
Cora: "Would you like some tea?"
Alice: "Yes, thank you."
9.72 sec

Additional scene
0:15:54: The squad marches in the woods.
9.6 sec

Deleted dialog
0:24:58: When Hawkeye makes clear that he's not a scout and that he doesn't belong to the militia, a voice-over of his is deleted in the DC. He asks "Clear it up any?".
No difference

Extended scene
0:28:36: Extended shot of them walking up the hill in the DC.
3.88 sec

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
0:27:57: Longer conversation between Cora and Hawkeye in the TC.

Hawkeye: "He said: 'Do not try to understand them.'"
Cora: "What?!"
Hawkeye: "Yes and: 'Not try to make them understand you.' That is because they are a breed apart and make no sense."
+ 14.6 sec

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
0:29:18: Cora gets back to Hawkeye's comments.

Cora: "A breed apart, we make no sense?"
Hawkeye: "In your particular case, miss, I'd make allowance."
Cora: "Thank you so much."
+ 12.72 sec

Additional dialog
0:31:33: Hawkeye says that his father had sent him to school when he had been 10 years old. Then a shot of Cora, but Hawkeye's voice-over only appears in the DC.

Hawkeye: "So we would know both worlds."
No difference

Additional scene
0:35:36: The DC also shows some soldiers carrying a gun, and two further soldiers carrying a wounded man.
7.56 sec

Additional scene
0:36:01: A shot strikes close to a soldier, so that he's blown away because of the vehemence of the impact.
1.76 sec

Additional scene
0:36:15: Guns are positioned and fired.
7.92 sec

Extended scene with alternate footage
0:36:25: In the TC, a group (including Hawkeye) tries to sneak past the battle in a canoe. That scene appears later in the DC, but not in one take. Details later. Furthermore the shot of the English fortress is different.

Instead, the DC shows the French-Indian enemy in the trench.
The DC is 25.08 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Additional scene in the Theatrical Cut
0:34:59: Longer shot of the English soldiers preparing the gun in the TC.
+ 1.92 sec

Additional scene
0:37:44: Unimportant shot of the English fortress from the outside. An Indian gets in position.
3.4 sec

Extended scene
0:37:51: A further shot in the DC.
1.08 sec

0:37:55: The first part of the scene with the canoe, already shown in the TC, appears here in the DC. Then a cut to some soldiers, which is in both versions btw, and finally the second part of the canoe scene.

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
0:37:01: Deleted sentence of Hawkeye in the DC which appears in the TC.

Hawkeye: "We just dropped in to see how you boys were doing."
4.16 sec

Extended scene with alternate footage
0:43:49: Montcalm and an Indian are in a tent. Montcalm speaks longer in the DC and the following angle is different.

Montcalm: "For my children are the children of the true faith. My friendship and esteem is boundless."
The DC is 12.28 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Extended scene
0:44:28: The scene with Montcalm and Magua is slightly extended in the DC.

Montcalm: "We're at one. Join us. Hear what he has to tell us."
10.72 sec

Extended scene
0:47:52: The Indians and French are attacking the English fortress. The English soldiers go in position and start shooting. Then Hawkeye and his crew on a wall aiming the enemies (the last scene appears later in the TC, that's why it's not counted as time difference).
40.12 sec

Additional scene
0:48:38: Duncan orders his squad to kill the attacking French soldiers. He does really good and shoots a lot of them. Then shots of firing guns and Hawkeye and his crew, they surveil the messenger's escape.
40.32 sec

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
0:47:13: In the TC, Hawkeye also says to Duncan: "Some day, I think, you and I will have a serious disagreement."
+ 3.8 Sec

Additional scene
0:53:17: Tracking shot of the camp in the DC. A woman buzzes a song while she's stroking a man's head. That man is either heavily wounded or dead.
29.72 sec

Additional scene
0:55:39: Hawkeye walks across the field, then a shot of Cora. She closes a dead man's eyes.
11.92 sec

Extended scene
1:05:25: Montcalm compliments Col. Munro for his resistance. Munro replies that he was soldier and that the Marquis didn't ask to meet for exchanging some compliments.

Montcalm: "Please accept my compliments for the strong and skillful defense of your fortress. Under the command of a lesser man, it would have fallen long ago, given the superior numbers and materials. Chance has allowed me to array against you."
Col. Munro: "Monsieur Le Marquis, I am a soldier, not a diplomat. You called this parlay for a better reason than an exchange of compliments."
31.64 sec

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
1:01:49: Col. Munro adds how disappointed he was about his collegues' lack of support.

Col. Munro: "I've lived to see something which I've never expected. A British officer afraid to support another."
+ 6.8 sec

Extended scene with alternate footage
1:08:16: Col. Munro offers Montcalm to surrender, but only under the condition that he can bury the dead, send the survivors back and that the wounded get medical aid in the French hospital. The Marquis agrees and bows.

Col. Munro: "Monsieur Le Marquis, I am deeply touched by such unusual and unexpected generosity. My fort is yours under the condition that I be given till dawn to bury my dead, to prepare my men and women for the long journey ahead and to hand my wounded over to your surgeons."
Montcalm: "Granted, monsieur."
27.32 sec

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Extended scene with alternate footage
1:10:57: In the TC, Montcalm just watches Magua intensively. In the DC, he tells him that he shared his pain.

Montcalm: "My son Magua's pain is my pain."
The DC is 2.04 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Extended scene with alternate footage
1:11:29: Montcalm also says to Magua that he can't do anything. Furthermore both versions have different angles in advance.

Montcalm: "But I cannot break the term of the surrender and sully the lilies of France."
The DC is 13.52 sec longer

Additional scene
1:13:39: The French squad moves into the fortress.
7.6 sec

Extended scene
1:13:49: Earlier beginning of the shot, that's why Col. Munro appears first.
4.36 sec

Extended scene with alternate footage
1:21:27: In the TC, Hawkeye says "Got nothing better to do on the lake today, Major?". In the DC, they're just paddling.
The DC is 0.88 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
1:20:05: Cora tries to stop Hawkeye.

Cora: "You've done everything you can do. Save yourself!"
+ 5.92 sec

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
1:20:11: Cora speaks for a longer period.

Cora: "If the worst happens and only one of us survives, something of the other does, too."
+ 7.04 sec

Extended scene with alternate footage
1:31:58: Further shot of Hawkeye in the DC which pops up afterwards in the TC. In opposite to that, a shot of Chingachgook exclusively pops up in the DC.

Different angles of Magua's squad leading Cora and the others off in both version.
The DC is 22 sec longer

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut

Addtional scene
1:32:32: In the DC, it becomes evening and Magua's squad is still walking, and so is Hawkeye.
27.32 sec

Extended scene
1:40:41: Hawkeye and Cora leave the village while Duncan is being prepared for the sacrifice.
24.28 sec

Extended scene in the Theatrical Cut
1:39:14: What's that? In the TC, Magua's bloody wound is shown. That scene's not in the DC.
+ 0.48 sec

Additional scene in the Theatrical Cut
1:39:29: Cora sees Hawkeye, she falls in his arms while she's crying. They leave.
+ 23.8 sec

Extended scene with alternate footage
1:50:30: Chingachgook, Hawkeye and Cora are standing around silently in the TC. In the DC, there's one more dialog where Chingachgook talks about his thoughts about the future.

Chingachgook: "The frontier moves with the sun, and pushes the Red Man of these wilderness forests in front of it until one day there will be nowhere left. Then our race will be no more, or be not us."
Hawkeye: "That is my father`s sadness talking."
Chingachgook: "No, it is true. The frontier place is for people like my white son and his woman and their children. And one day there will be no more frontier. And men like you will go, too, like the Mohicans. And new people will come, work, struggle. Some will make their life. But once we were here."
48.76 sec

Theatrical Cut	Director's Cut