I’ll be the first to admit that David Lynch’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece Dune from 1984 is deeply flawed. Deeply. That being said, I love the film. With Denis Villeneuve’s new adaptation finally being released soon and Arrow Video’s announcement of a 4K UHD set of the theatrical cut, I decided to revisit the 186 minute extended version. Lynch reportedly refuses to discuss the picture, practically disowning it, but he went so far as to have his name scrubbed completely from this release. “Alan Smithee” is credited as director with “Judas Booth” being named as the writer. I wouldn’t call this cut an improvement per se, but it allows us to spend more time in this amazingly rendered world.
Many thousands of years into the future, humanity has spread across the galaxy. Fractured into an interplanetary pseudo feudal society ruled by the Emperor (Jose Ferrer), the most important good in the universe is the spice Melange. Spice extends life, expands consciousness, and is the lynchpin (heh) in allowing for interstellar travel. When House Atreides is ordered to take over spice production on the harsh desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, Duke Leto Atreides (Jurgen Prochnow) realizes it’s a trap. Meanwhile, the Duke’s son Paul (Kyle MacLachlan), the product of thousands of years of genetic manipulation, begins to manifest abilities previously only available to an order of female mystics. Soon, House Harkonnen, led by the repulsive Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan), will lay waste to the Atreides’ fortress. Paul escapes into the deep desert, which is inhabited by aggressive skyscraper-sized worms, and rallies the planet’s nomadic inhabitants in his bid for revenge and ruling the galaxy.
Other notable players include Brad Dourif as a villainous lackey, Linda Hunt as an idiosyncratic household servant, Freddie Jones as a trusted advisor, Virginia Madsen as a princess, Everett McGill as a tribal leader, Patrick Stewart as an upright military leader, Sting as an evil heir, Dean Stockwell as a doctor with a secret, Max von Sydow as an imperial ecologist, Alicia Witt as an unnaturally mature little girl, and Sean Young as a beautiful tribal warrior.
First, the bad. Lynch had the unenviable task of shrinking a massive book down into a single film. His original cut was purportedly around three hours, but after demands were made by the film’s financiers to achieve a more traditional runtime, Lynch and his producers (Dino and Raffaella De Laurentiis) originally were able to whittle it down to 137 minutes by dubious means. This extended version is unable to fix the issue.
Even if I hadn’t read the book, it would be obvious that large chunks of the plot were excised. This is clumsily remedied by much too succinct exposition, often in (whispered) voiceover meant to mimic the book’s usage of interior monologs. All of it is absolutely dire. Unfortunately, there’s actually more voiceover in this cut, with an uncredited William Phipps providing intrusive narration that over explains everything that’s happening and who all the characters are. It doesn’t help that his lines are delivered like a kindly old man is reading a storybook aloud, robbing the narrative of some of its gravitas. Apparently, after watching an early cut of the film, the studio felt that the audience wouldn’t understand what was happening, as the story of Dune is supposed to feel like a moment in time of a much larger tale and also uses extensive in-universe vocabulary. What works on the page, doesn’t necessarily translate to cinema and this lack of confidence in the audience’s intelligence is palpable.
Lynch’s screenplay is hugely ambitious but is unable to muster the spiritual grandeur of the source material, though I have a feeling this is a byproduct of the editing hatchet job. A side effect of the poor scripting and editing is the pacing isn’t exactly kinetic, either, and transitions are even more unnatural in this version. Tonally, it almost dips into camp, with a few performances careening into ham territory (I’m looking at you Paul Smith and Francesca Annis). Furthermore, the cast is gigantic but many of the characters are not allowed to breathe.
Now, the good. The production design is gorgeous and immersive. Sets are intricately designed and add texture visually while providing a lived-in quality to the world-building. The same can be said for the impressive costumes, although they allow for some trademark Lynchian quirkiness. Vehicles and spaceships are cool and set themselves apart from other sci-fi cinema examples. The creature work by the legendary Carlo Rambaldi (a veteran of many Italian horror films and the designer of E.T.) is fantastic. The mutated Guild Navigators and the monstrous worms are impeccably realized. The makeup used for the Baron’s oozing facial sores is delightfully repulsive. Lynch is also able to deploy some of his typical nightmarish and unsettling imagery, giving the flick a unique offbeat flavor. DP Freddie Francis is able to blend all of these elements together, ensuring impressive visuals.
Though a few performances go way over the top, a few are very admirable. I particularly enjoy McMillan’s gleefully sadistic Baron and Stewart’s commanding soldier. This is MacLachlan’s picture, though, and he does a fine job, despite being given some of the most ridiculous lines. Both Toto and Brian Eno provide big and memorable pieces of music, ramping up the epic nature of this philosophical and politically minded hero’s journey. The alternate opening that utilizes stills of production artwork isn’t an improvement over the theatrical version, but I still dig it. It does have the effect of almost entirely removing Madsen from the picture, however. The one added sequence that I feel does add to the details of the proceeding how the poisonous super drug known as the water of life is manufactured.
David Lynch’s Dune is definitely a mixed bag, though it’s one I enjoy. I feel the same about the Alan Smithee cut. The virtues outweigh the flaws for me, even though I recognize how irritating some of the story changes are. Having seen the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, I think that that famed cult director would’ve produced something similar as well, by which I mean an interesting but inaccurate rendering. The TV movies are terrible and aren’t really worth mentioning. After being blown away by Denis Villenueve’s Blade Runner 2049, I’m anticipating a faithful and brain-melting version when it drops in October. I’ve read that Lynch turned down Return of the Jedi to make Dune. It’s clear that there was a passion for the project, but it seems like the material didn’t mesh well with Lynch’s sensibilities and this is a clear instance of the dreaded studio interference. Recommended for fans of interesting misfires, ‘80s cinematic sci-fi, and dreamy psychedelic art films.
Michael Cavender