Compared are the Original Version (US-DVD by MGM) and the Director's Cut (3-Disc-Set by Curnan Pictures)


- 6 differences
- Difference: 831.5 sec (= 13:52 min)

General Information

Long before the Marvel hero in the funny blue/red costume appeared in the new version with Chris Evans - not to mention the all star vehicle The Avengers - on the big screen, there was another adaption of Captain America in theaters in 1990. The company 21st Century Film Corporation (involved with Menahem Golan / Cannon) was allowed to take a shot for a motion picture. At that time, the company was the rightholder of Spider-Man as well by the way - it's probably for the best that they lost the rights shortly afterwards without being able to make a Spider-Man movie...

Anyway, in this particular case, the movie was directed by Albert Pyun which apparently seemed to have similar consequences as his most famous movie Cyborg. After differences during the production process, the studio altered the movie quite heavily and the final cut didn't have much in common with Pyun's original version. Furthermore, the scheduled theatrical release was postponed several until the movie was released direct-to video in 1992.

And there's another similarity. Just like Cyborg, Pyun got a workprint of his "Director's Cut" and offered it on-demand so to speak on his homepage www.pyun.com. The release of the regular US-Version (= Original Version) was being handled in a similar way because MGM released it in September 2011 (Pyun wanted to sell his version before under any circumstances) as DVD-R. Unfortunately, the quality sucks.

The Director's Cut

...is available on disc 2 of the 3-Disc-Set from Pyun's homepage and it's approx. 14 minutes longer than the regular US-Version. Unfortunately, the end result isn't as spectacular as expected due to its history. There's just a longer block of scenes in the middle of the movie which is a nice charakter development. The new footage proves the stronger focus of Captain America's inner conflict. Besides new footage, some footage has simply been recycled as flashback. As already mentioned, it's rather unspectacular and it doesn't look very professional either.

Apart from that, the only other differences are in the beginning and the end but that looks like a lousy fan-edit because it's just some more recycled footage which is kind of pointless. At least, that way the movie starts with a different scene and Pyun argues in the commentary that this illustrates the bond between Captain America and Red Skull (because the state did experminents on both) in a better way. No further comment...


All in all, the DC is worth taking a look at for die hard fans (do they even exist?) because of the additional footage in the middle of the movie but one can do just fine with the Original Version which doesn't contain the repetitive or recycled scenes. So it's a double-edged sword. On the contrary, Pyun's "Director's Cut" kind of implies to be a sham and I'll tell you why: the IMDB lists a bootleg VHS with further scenes that don't sound uninteresting (Klick). This would have put the emphasis on the above-mentioned production problems but not one of these scenes is available in any available version. Similar to the Cyborg DC, the end result is kind of disappointing. Also because of the sloppy editing in the beginning, it seems like Pyun intended to release "his" version before the MGM release to profit from the success of his recent movies released in movies theaters.



Many thanks to the label Shamrock Media for providing the entire footage for the comparison.



Time index refers to
Original Version in NTSC / Director's Cut in NTSC

00:00-00:18 / 00:00-02:03

The Original Version (US-DVD) starts with a 21st Century Pictures logo, followed by the introduction of little Red Skull.

The Director's Cut begins with a text box that only points out to the fact that the audience is going to see the DC. Then an introductory text with background information to the storyline. According to that, Mussolini is responsable for the experiment Red Skull grew out of. But the actual person responsable is Hitler, the one Mussolini worked for. Yeah, right.

Before the abduction of Red Skull Junior, the actual movie starts with an "additional" scene because it starts with the beginning of Captain America's confrontation with Red Skull. The very same scene gets repeated in the final.
Red Skull makes loads of despicable comments (he says Captain America had just been part of Dr. Maria Vaselli's experiment, a shot of Vaselli taken from another scene follows). In the end, he says the two brothers finally had to figure out what was stronger: Captain America's heart or Red Skulls hatred. During a shot of Red Skull, the camera fades out.

Director's Cut 104.5 sec longer




Alternate
00:38-00:45 / 02:22-02:29

The middle part of the shot of the two boys in the DC has been removed and replaced by a further (additionally in slow motion)shot of deformed Red Skull. Very odd alteration. As a result, the title gets lost in the DC.

no difference

Original Version	Director's Cut

Alternate
02:26-02:29 / 04:11-04:14

When Tadzio's parents get shot, the DC contains an additional shot of deformed Red Skull.

no difference

Original Version	Director's Cut

49:05 / 50:50-50:51

Only the DC contains a black screen after Steve's conversation with Bernie.

1.7 sec




51:48-51:51 / 53:34-64:46

After the shot of Valentina in the plane, an exterior shot of Steve's apartment follows in the Original Version. Then an interior shot of the apartment. He puts a tape in the recorder to watch it with Sara.

The Director's Cut lacks the mentioned exterior shot. As compensation, the Director's Cut contains an 11-minute-block of scenes which is missing in the Commentary Version for some reason. Basically, it's several sentimental scenes with Steve still feeling lost in the new timeline which is why he tries to find to himself.

Steve searches for Colonel Louis at an army base. Due to the woman at the info point, he's at the hospital for vets and that's where Steve's going.

The following conversation is about the sense of wars in general ("Now it's just a goddamn business!") and Col. Louis doesn't understand why Steve came to him at first.

A flashback of Steve in surgery follows. Here, the VERY SAME shots from the beginning of any version have been used; altered with a color filter. Anyway, young Col. Louis expresses critical comments regarding Steve's safety. He says he'd only be known as Captain from now on and adds Steve's safety needed to be kept a secret.

Back at the hospital, Col. Louis takes a trip down memory lane for a moment and Steve talks about how he failed his mission and that he didn't feel well as Captain America because of that. Then, Louis enters a trance again. When he's being addressed by Steve, he can't recall Captain America being right in front of him. Steve returns the newspaper and says bye.

Steve leaves, some shots of him walking around buried in thoughts follow.

Back at home, Steve watches an interview of the President on TV. This interview is made of recycled footage as well - on any version, this interview pops up approx. 30 minutes earlier.
Sarah arrives ans Steve claims to be looking for a job. Subsequently a shot of him working at their gym.

Steve is on the phone with Bernie. He gets to know that the Red Sox won the NFL Championship in 1944 and he jokes around that Bobby owed him some money. Bernie replies Bobby had died in Korea a long time ago.
Finally, a shot of Steve buried in thoughts, flipping through a book which contains newspaper articles about the assassination of JFK - among other things.

Director's Cut 668,3 sec (= 11:08 min) longer




91:00 / 103:54-104:51

Red Skull listens to the tape which is another reason for an "additional" scene: the abduction of little Tazio is being repeated one-to-one from the second the soldiers break in.

57.1 sec