Cutting Room Rift Helped Doom the 'Stranger' Franchise Plans — The Director’s Cut Only Restored Four Decades Later

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Cutting Room Rift Helped Doom the 'Stranger' Franchise Plans — The Director’s Cut Only Restored Four Decades Later

Get Mean (1975) / Ferdinando Baldi / Tony Anthony / 1970s

The dispute over the theatrical version had concrete commercial and cultural consequences. Although Get Mean reportedly grossed some $10 million during its theatrical run, it was never released theatrically in Spain despite being filmed extensively there (Mini Hollywood, the Alcazaba of Almería and San Lorenzo de El Escorial). Anthony had hoped Get Mean would relaunch the Stranger into a globe‑trotting franchise (plans to move the character to China and Africa were discussed), but the film ended up being the final Stranger picture. The longer director’s cut — the version Anthony fought for — went unseen by most audiences until Blue Underground issued a restored Blu‑ray/DVD in 2015 that restored the excised footage and presented a director’s cut. The long interval between 1975 and 2015, and the initial unilateral theatrical edits, left the film in cult limbo and stands as a clear example of how distributor cuts and release decisions can neutralize a producer‑star’s plans for a franchise.