電影太長?

且看一些比較長的荷李活電影名稱, 年份及片長:

"Gone With The Wind" 1939 - 222分鐘
"Ben Hur" 1959 - 212分鐘
"The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King" 2003 - 201分鐘
"Schindler's List" 1993 - 195分鐘
"Titanic" 1997 - 194分鐘
"The Good Shepherd" 2006 - 167分鐘
"The Departed" 2006 - 151分鐘
"Zodiac"2007 - 160分鐘

讀過電影的或許也看過D.W. Griffith的三小時作品"Intolerance"及"Birth of a Nation".

不少人, 包括電影業界, 導演, 影評人, 電影公司老闆, 觀眾等等, 都覺得有些電影過長, 其實大家又是否怕太長的電影呢?

忘記看過最長的電影是什麼了, 近年看過最長的應該是前陣子(去年十月)租影碟回家看的"The Best of Youth"(燦爛人生)(2003), 是意大利電影, 經刪剪過的版本, 也有六小時長. 不過我分了兩天三次去看. 看過後知道那時影藝戲院還未結業, 電影再於那裡上映, 分上下集, 或許戲院也明白觀眾沒能耐安坐那裡一氣看六小時吧, 且影響成本. 六小時的電影, 因為好看, 一點都沒有悶的感覺, 亦不會覺得再刪減多幾小時可以更好.

說到長電影, 當然是兩個半小時以上的, 個人不太抗拒, 只要是好的電影, 哪管它要馬拉松式地看. 不好看的電影, 即使是90分鐘內完成也可以把觀眾悶死.

比較喜歡拍90分鐘內完成的電影導演有Woody Allen及Stephen Frears("The Queen", "Mrs. Henderson Presents").

"I do think that most films are too long. I've seen too many long films. I've learned to be sympathetic to the audience. If nothing else, keep it short... You just say, 'Look, we've done this bit' or 'They've said all this.' Get on with it. You learn not to draw things out. All you're ever learning is not to be boring."Frear說.

近年片長多過兩小時的電影有: "Casino Royale," "Apocalypto," "Miami Vice," "Superman Returns," "The Da Vinci Code"及"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"等等.

不過"Zodiac"導演David Fincher(還有"Fight Club"及"Seven")也說: "I do agree you can't just make movies three hours long for no apparent reason. For a romantic comedy to be three hours long, that's longer than most marriages."

畢竟電影始終是一門生意, 太長的電影對老闆來說便不太合乎成本效益了.

英文原文: Long flicks: To cut or not to cut?