Soft- and hardcore version of the same film

[pudgym29]

Originally Posted by viklas

There were a lot of rumors that "Flesh Gordon" (1974) was shot as a hardcore film and re-cut to be softcore.
The truth is more boring...it was a softcore skin-flick shot by producers who made their money in hardcore.

Originally Posted by Rob427

Here in the UK, I saw softcore versions of Alex De Renzy's "Babyface" and another film called "Hot Rackets" back in the early 80s thanks to a friend who's parents had a Betamax video and a porn stash. They had been carefully edited to not show any penetration whatsoever, also cum shots had been excised.

This is another rumor which is true. There was hardcore imagery lensed for "Flesh Gordon". But, the studio was raided by Los Angeles police (but you likely will not see this on an episode of 'Dragnet'). All the footage was confiscated. When it was eventually returned to Bill Osco, all the explicit footage had been excised. He opted to not risk further harassment by LAPD by asking for the missing content.
"Flesh Gordon" was re-edited. But it was to remove the remnant "Soft-X" imagery so that the movie could get an M.P.A.A. "R"-rating (and more situations).

As for those softcore (a/k/a 'cool') versions you saw in the U.K., those were the editions that were shown on subscription television here in the U.S.A. When you read elsewhere here on V-E-F about people seeing scrambled green and purple flashes on a certain TV channel when they were young, this version is what was being telecast.

[Viklas]

Thanks for the info!

I assume you've read Jason Williams' book I Was Flesh Gordon, in which he says the police removed some 400 feet of footage.

"For a long time after the movie came out, the urban myth was that the LAPD had destroyed all the hardcore footage. But the truth is, there wasn't much hardcore stuff in the movie in the first place. Getting harassed by the cops didn't help the production schedule, but it wasn't censorship that kept Flesh Gordon from coming out until 1974."

So what I mean is, it wasn't your typical hardcore film, i.e. a bunch of sex scenes loosely strung together by a minimal plot!

[constantstroke]

Alice In Wonderland - An X-Rated Musical Comedy

Started out as mosty soft core, then recut for R-rated distribution, then re-recut with hardcore scenes.