The long-lost original cut of Norm MacDonald‘s 1998 cult classic Dirty Work is finally being released.
“It was an R-rated movie, so we made it that way, then [the film studio] made it [PG-13], so half the movie had to be cut,” MacDonald explained to Forbes in 2018. “So it’s hard for me to see it objectively.”
The movie features MacDonald and Artie Lange as nitwits who start a revenge-for-hire business in order to save their father’s life, and features memorable cameos from comedy stars such as Chevy Chase, Don Rickles, Chris Farley and Adam Sandler.
“At the test screenings, they tested both an R and a PG-13 version, and the R-rated cut did better,” Dirty Work co-writer Frank Sebastino told IndieWire. “The studio just determined that it didn’t do better enough to justify releasing it from a business point of view. It was crushing to us at the time because it wasn’t the funniest version of the movie.”
“Chevy Chase was bummed because he did the movie for a fraction of his asking price just because he liked the script,” he continued. “He did it for the same amount he got paid for his first movie, Foul Play. He said, ‘Don’t let them do that to your movie,’ and he was right, but there was nothing we could do.”
Despite the last-minute neutering, a resounding thrashing by critics and a near-total lack of success at the box office – I’m really selling it, aren’t I? – Dirty Work has deservedly developed a devoted following of fans clamoring to see it as MacDonald and director Bob Saget originally intended.
Thanks to the dedicated detective and restoration work of Vinegar Syndrome archivists Oscar Becher and Kurtis Spieler, their wishes have been fulfilled. “There were weird moments in the theatrical cut of Dirty Work where you could tell that a lot was taken out of it,” Becher explained. “When I found out there was an earlier cut, it was really a revelation — I realized that even as recently as the 1990s, there are lost films.”
You can order the newly restored version of Dirty Work from Vinegar Syndrome’s official website.
Read More: 10 of Norm MacDonald’s Most Memorable Moments
MacDonald, best remembered as one of Saturday Night Live‘s best Weekend Update anchors ever, died in 2021 after privately battling cancer for nearly a decade. Prior to his death he recorded his final stand-up special, Nothing Special, without an audience due to his declining health and the COVID pandemic.
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Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening
