Synopsis:

The United States as we know it is destroyed in the climax of a Civil war. Years after the nuclear event a vicious band of raiders, led by the ruthless General Bethlehem, reign terror among the survivors in the Oregon region. In these desperate times a postman is send to restore communication routes and unintentionally ignites a spark of hope which inevitably crashes with General Bethlehem and his minions.

Intentions:

The Postman was a box office dud, but from the first time I saw it, I fell in love with it's blatant message of hope. But for the most part the story got overshadowed by just trying to be too much. A while back I discovered BionicBobs excellent edit of the Postman and it was great. Cutting the first act of the movie was a bold move, but it payed off big time. However, I had some ideas of my own and decided to make this edit. It's not a carbon copy of BionicBob's version, but it does borrow a lot of his ideas (I can't help it, it's a great edit). In the later stages I got help from a few well known members here and this edit grew into it's own right, becoming even more than I had hoped for. Hope you enjoy the story of the Postman, just as much as I do.

Change List:

- remade the intro with introductional texts. Some exposition text to tell the backstory. - removed almost the entire first part of the movie, as per BionicBobs idea. It creates a mystery around the Postman and it focuses the story. - I kept a portion to introduce General Bethlehem and his ruthlessness. - made some small cuts so that the Postman doens't take the uniform from the skeleton, now it seems he's just taking shelter. Also made a small cut so the cobwebs on the postman hat are a bit less obvious. - removed Costner's caveman impression while trying to light the Zippo. Costner's grunting is very much in the background now. - removed the part where the Postman looses his hat while trying to get into Pineview, I thought it was silly and very obvious on purpose. - made some small cuts in Pineview to remove the notion he might not be what he says he is. - removed the part where he flees and made it so that he's searching for the postoffice. - I wanted to keep the Sheriff Briscoe/Postman confrontation, there's a notion of the Postman lying and sneeking away in the scene. I tried removing that notion and keeping the scene, because I think it makes Sheriff Briscoe's "turnaround" and ultimate death more impactful. - I made a small change to the scene where Bethlehem notices Abby, I think the "piece of ass" line doesn't fit the character. -I removed the line "like a figure 8", It's a poor attempt at humor and it felt cringy. - I added the line "a few days later" to the introduction of the town of Benning, later on in the movie Abby tells what Bethlehem did to her every night, indicating she was in captivity for a few days. But somehow that never came across in the movie, this is my way of trying to fix that sense of time. - some small cuts in Benning, much like Bob's version. - I removed Bethlehem kicking a barrel when Abby shoots him. Also Bob's idea :) - the Postman shoots two guards, I removed an extra shot of the second guard emptying a clip only a few meters away and not riddling the Postman with bullets, and the Postman missing a lot of shots. The scene feels more realistic and the Postman now seems to be a better marksman. - I removed Abby butchering a Holnist, now you only see her smack him once on the head. Abby is a bit weird, but not psycho. - I removed the Holnists still looking for them in the snow and inserted stock footage to replace the shot. It seemed to me as if the snow had fallen instantly while Holnists were still on their trail. Now it seems as if they covered some distance and some time has passed. - Abby still discoveres something on the postman's shoulder, which makes her somewhat hostile, except it's not yet revealed to the viewer. - I removed the scene in which Abby tells the postman Michael had died and confronts him with being a Holnist. - removed the line "I'm nobody Abby" also the line "In direct contact, I can't believe this". - removed the traitor Luke subplot. - removed the line "If I told you the real reason how I became a postman..." to Abby. - a few cuts here and there in the postman leaving and taking Abby with him. - made some cuts in the scene where Ford delivers the letter to General Bethlehem, even though the letter reads that there is no Postman, Bethlehem doesn't believe it, the Postman's "giving up" is his way to protect the people. I also really liked the fact that the Postmen movement has expanded even beyond Ford's knowledge. - removed Luke from these scenes as much as possible. - removed the line "shall we fire?", I thought this line and Bethlehem's reaction made Ford's fate too hopefull. I kept the biggest part of this scene because I liked the fact that Bethlehem is obsessed with finding the postman. - removed the Postman recognizing Tom Petty, this was suggested to me to remove, and it is a lot better. The 4th wall is still intact. Besides, Tom Petty's age is waaaaay off. - removed Tom Petty's line "I ride it sometimes...", it fits the character, but I felt it distracted from trying to get across why the Postman is going to ride that cablecart. - removed the copymachine salesman line, the Postman couldn't have known that. - created and inserted a small scene as Bethlehem remembers Shakespeare. It shows the audience that they have a history together and that the Postman was at one point captured by the Holnists. - removed Bethlehems death, as BionicBob said in his cutlist, it defeats the new message of hope. - removed the original ending and created a new one with expositional texts. Never liked the ending scene of the original. Way too much tech and progress for being only 30 years after the events of the movie. - added credits in the credits for the used stock footage.

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Video: Snow storm footage by Nature Therapy Waving US flag footage by John Hill Fog on black background footage by Videezy.com Sound: Various sound effects by SoundsForYou from Pixabay Music: Johnny Cash - Help Me Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around Johnny Cash - Redemption Johnny Cash - I Won't Back Down Johnny Cash - Wayfaring Stranger.

Special Thanks:

BionicBob ArtisDead Wraith INIGHTMARES Futon88 Lantern51 Krausfadr.