LA Story
The latest DVD release of L.A. Story is great because it’s got 15-year-old deleted scenes. At that point it’s like a buried treasure of golden footage. Since the film was all Steve Martin’s observations about Los Angeles and such, this is more quality material.
L.A. Story DVD Review
With 19 additions in 20 minutes, the scenes run the gamut from simple weatherman mugging to an entire subplot about Harris’s boxer neighbor played by Scott Bakula. Funny stuff like a back and forth between Martin and his friend at a health food store and Harris shooting commercials are sharp and witty. Stuff like a church kazoo quire is just oddball.
There’s more with the freeway sign as a two-scene subplot reveals even he has a Los Angeles love. And extensions of Harris’s frantic appeals to the fleeing Sara turn him into an action hero on roller skates.
Most of the scenes are workprint quality with makes them seem authentic to me, although the John Lithgow scene that aired on Showtime has been fully restored. But there’s plenty more to his character that Showtime never revealed, and it’s great.
Stay tuned for updates.
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