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What are some 3+ hour films that you believe earn their runtime?

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Brick

Brick

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Given our discussions about movie runtimes in various threads, and most recently in the thread for The Batman for its nearly 3 hour runtime, it got me thinking what films that are that long (i.e. more than 3 hours) do you feel actually do earn that runtime, are paced well, and you really can't think of any scenes that could have been cut. 

 

I haven't seen them since they first came out (which I should rectify), but the LOTR trilogy comes to mind. Classic epics like The Godfather 1 and 2 are another. 

 

 

And no smart ass answers please, we all know you'd prefer it if ALL films were 88 minutes long @sblfilms :p

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LOTR are the ones that always immediately come to mind. Lawrence and Once Upon a Time in America too.

 

I actually don’t find most epically long movies to be problems, I think there are waaaaaay more 150-160 minute movies that need to be 30-40 minutes shorter for pacing reasons.

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thewhyteboar

thewhyteboar

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1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

LOTR are the ones that always immediately come to mind. Lawrence and Once Upon a Time in America too.

 

I actually don’t find most epically long movies to be problems, I think there are waaaaaay more 150-160 minute movies that need to be 30-40 minutes shorter for pacing reasons.

Good choice. Wasn't the American cut something just over 2 hours? A sacrilege. 

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Gavin King

Gavin King

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50 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Guns Of Navarone 

Apocalypse Now 

The Great Escape

Schindlers List 

Barry Lyndon

The Hateful Eight

Man I love The Great Escape, seen it so many times. It's one of my go-to 'rainy day'/'Sick day' movies. I had to check because I didn't even think it was close to 3 hours long (it's 8 minutes shy), but it just goes to show you how enjoyable and well paced it all is that you're just along for the ride. Most modern movies probably would end when they break out of prison, but there is really a lot of stuff after that too.

 

Kind of surprised they haven't remade it yet.

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

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23 minutes ago, Nokra said:

A few favorites:

 

- Lord of the Rings

- Schindler's List

- Interstellar

- Amadeus

- Braveheart

- Cloud Atlas

- Saving Private Ryan (2:49, but still :p)

 

Interstellar and Braveheart were three hours long? Man those films moved. I would have never guessed they were three hours. This is what I'm talking about when movies don't feel their length.

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Kamusha

Kamusha

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Titanic feels long but that's intentional. The first half spends so much time setting up the characters and conflict that every time I honestly forget the the ship is going to sink in the second half. Which is why it works, because when shit finally hits the fan I'm truly sad to see it happen. The same effect couldn't have been pulled in a two hour movie.

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LazyPiranha

LazyPiranha

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41 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Interstellar and Braveheart were three hours long? Man those films moved. I would have never guessed they were three hours. This is what I'm talking about when movies don't feel their length.


You’re right, Interstellar doesn’t feel like three hours, it feels like three fucking lifetimes.  God I hate that movie.  As for Braveheart it’s hard to watch now given Gibson, but I knew it was long as hell because it was one of those rare two VHS movies.  It might even have been one of those shitty early dvds where you had to flip sides to see the whole movie.

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Brick

Brick

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3 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Was Once Upon A Time in Hollywood three plus hours? I remember thinking it didn't feel that long at all.

 

Edit: I'd add Magnolia in addition to Godfather 1and 2 and The LOTR films. Also Malcolm X and JFK.

 

Funny you mention OUATIH since I thought that movie meandered for the whole time until it finally got the finale and Tarantino got to enact his alt-history revenge fantasy. It wasn't a bad movie, but so much of it I was thinking, "OK what's the point of this scene?"

 

1 hour ago, thewhyteboar said:

The Irishman. Long but worth it.

 

Good pick, although I think there are a couple scenes that could have been cut. Like the flashback of Frank in WWII (which isn't helped that DeNiro looks like he's 50 in that scene, when he would  have been half that age. They really didn't go far enough in de-aging him in that movie at all), which didn't seem to be needed at all.

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Brick

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I've never seen Kingdom of Heaven. Not sure if the version that's on Netflix is the DC or not. I think Netflix uses the theatrical cuts of most films, like I heard the DC of Doctor Sleep was much better, but it's the theatrical cut on Netflix. They should specify. 

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

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2 hours ago, Brick said:

I've never seen Kingdom of Heaven. Not sure if the version that's on Netflix is the DC or not. I think Netflix uses the theatrical cuts of most films, like I heard the DC of Doctor Sleep was much better, but it's the theatrical cut on Netflix. They should specify. 

Pretty sure they do specify if it's the director's cut. Like the have a second version of Hateful 8 on there.

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Bloodporne

Bloodporne

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I have to fully admit that one of the few very well-regarded epics I've ever watched where the run time absolutely bothered me was Once Upon A Time In The West. It's one of those movies I should love but every time I've watched it, I make it maybe halfway through. Never seen the entire film and I love all his other Westerns. I want to try again one of these days. 

 

I recently rewatched both The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained and despite their massive runtimes, both movies fly by for me. Same could be said for any of Tarantino's movies really, they're just incredibly entertaining. Need to revisit "Hollywood" but I really enjoyed that as well. 

 

Also did not realize Interstellar was that long, fucking loved every minute of it and it felt like it moved very quickly. 

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Kal-El814

Kal-El814

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Lawrence of Arabia

Bridge on the River Kwai

Ben-Hur

The Ten Commandments

Lord of the Rings (I generally prefer the extended editions, actually, even though I think they’re all paced worse and fluffier than the theatrical cuts)

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Godfather I and II

The Great Escape

Hamlet (The Kenneth Branagh one)

Seven Samurai

 

I’d put Titanic and Saving Private Ryan on there, too, but the intro and coda of both of those movies kind of tank the whole thing for me.

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Kamusha

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45 minutes ago, brucoe said:

A lot of those are great choices. I'd add The Snyder Cut to the list as it is most definitely over 3 hours (pretty sure it's about 4 hours), and I personally really love the movie.


There’s a decent 2.5 hour movie somewhere within those 4 hours. I can’t say every minute is important, though.

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thewhyteboar

thewhyteboar

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11 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I have to fully admit that one of the few very well-regarded epics I've ever watched where the run time absolutely bothered me was Once Upon A Time In The West. It's one of those movies I should love but every time I've watched it, I make it maybe halfway through. Never seen the entire film and I love all his other Westerns. I want to try again one of these days. 

 

I recently rewatched both The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained and despite their massive runtimes, both movies fly by for me. Same could be said for any of Tarantino's movies really, they're just incredibly entertaining. Need to revisit "Hollywood" but I really enjoyed that as well. 

 

Also did not realize Interstellar was that long, fucking loved every minute of it and it felt like it moved very quickly. 

Oh god I'm going to cry. This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Stick with it! It's gorgeous and has some of Ennio Morricone's best music.

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Kamusha

Kamusha

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On 1/24/2022 at 4:58 AM, TheLeon said:

Boyhood is “only” 2:45, but it completely flew by for me. It’s like your own childhood- it may feel long when it’s happening, but when it’s over you look back and think “wow, it’s over already?”


I considered this movie as well. I think it absolutely earns it runtime but my sense of time was totally warped when I watched it. Time went by so quickly yet it also felt like a lifetime had passed once I was finished.

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Bloodporne

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12 hours ago, thewhyteboar said:

Oh god I'm going to cry. This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Stick with it! It's gorgeous and has some of Ennio Morricone's best music.

I know it does and I'm with it for the first few glacially-paced set pieces but I can never get over the hump of the overall pacing. They're absolutely gorgeous set pieces obviously. Anyway, I'll try it again, I might have the patience for it these days, my viewing habits have changed quite a bit. 

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LazyPiranha

LazyPiranha

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On 1/24/2022 at 9:43 AM, Kal-El814 said:

Lawrence of Arabia

Bridge on the River Kwai

Ben-Hur

The Ten Commandments

Lord of the Rings (I generally prefer the extended editions, actually, even though I think they’re all paced worse and fluffier than the theatrical cuts)

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Godfather I and II

The Great Escape

Hamlet (The Kenneth Branagh one)

Seven Samurai

 

I’d put Titanic and Saving Private Ryan on there, too, but the intro and coda of both of those movies kind of tank the whole thing for me.


The intro and coda to Titanic are the best parts because it adds a hilarious unintentional wrapper to everything.

 

Bill Paxton: okay you old broad, tell us where the diamond is…

 

Rose: they called it the ship of dreams, and I got dicked so good on that boat I still dream about it six decades later.  Let me tell you all about it.

 

Seven hours later

 

Bill Paxton: ok, that was a lot of information, now about that diamond…

 

Rose: lol *dies

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