Debbie Harry: The Lady in Red

Here's one of Debbie Harry's finest moments on the silver screen, opposite James Woods in "Videodrome" where the two debate sex on television as guests on "The Rena King Show." I saw "Videodrome" with my brother Bill and my friend Greg on opening night, Feb. 4, 1983 -- but I came to appreciate it quite a bit more years later when I discovered a re-edited version on the Sci-Fi Channel (as it was known then). (We don't need to go into the horror I experienced by watching this with my entire family on home video!) Debbie Harry's character, Nicki Brand, disappears for a huge chunk of the cut seen in theaters. (Kind of like Madonna in "Desperately Seeking Susan" a couple years later.) But in the version I saw on TV, she is more prominent --most notably in a scene in a limousine (and possibly another) that explains her disappearance and Woods' state of mind after she's gone. 

The VHS tape was the theater version, but I hoped the DVD would include this "alternate" cut, but alas it did not. (Oddly, Wikipedia details a deleted scene that has nothing to do with what I've just mentioned.) If anyone knows more about this, please get in touch with me. I just noticed there's a Criterion Collection version that came out in 2004 that claims to be the film in "its full-length unrated edition," but based on the run time, it sounds just like my old videotape (87 minutes) and doesn't mention "deleted scenes" as a feature. (Anyone have it?) Best of all, there's a 107-minute laserdisk version listed HERE -- one of the few '80s contraptions I never fell for! -- that is likely what I'm after. Until then, here's the famed "red dress" scene -- and a fuzzy version of that deleted limousine scene in case you've never seen it. It really is some of Debbie's best acting, and it's a shame it wound up on the cutting-room floor. For a second I thought I'd hallucinated the whole thing -- so Videodrome -- until I found someone had uploaded it, too. Only 49 people have watched it so far, but what's weird is the same user has uploaded a number of scenes, but calls ALL of them "TV version deleted scene," even though many of them are not. (Now I'm even more confused.) Tell me what you think.

Below: Limo talk (deleted scene)