Back in 1996, Wes Anderson announced himself as an exciting new voice in America’s burgeoning indie film scene, adapting his earlier short film into a feature-length heist caper starring the then-unknown Wilson brothers. Martin Scorsese was a fan, hailing the young director as his heir apparent and heaping praise on what he called “a picture without a trace of cynicism, that obviously grew out of its director’s affection for his characters in particular and for people in general.”
To celebrate the release of Bottle Rocket through The Criterion Collection, we’ve been granted exclusive access to a rare deleted scene from the film. In it, Owen Wilson rushes outside upon hearing a commotion and begins idly chatting to a local law enforcer – only to end up fleeing the scene himself. Check out the clip below and pick up a copy of the Blu-ray, which features 11 deleted scenes; commentary by Anderson and Owen Wilson; The Making of Bottle Rocket, an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman with interviews with the cast and crew; and the original black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film.
