The ALMOST perfect movie . . . .

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2006)

No doubt this is an amazing movie. I have watched it many times. Unfortunately the available DVD has been edited and does not show the correct beginning to the movie.
Twenty-two pages of comments is too much to wade through to see if anyone else has caught this. I haven't seen it in the first 5 or 10.
Ever wonder why investigating marital affairs is Jake's "metier"? Don't crucify me on the spelling, OK? Ever wonder what sets the level of society's opinion of a private investigator in a small town like L.A.? Why does Curly get upset and why does his wife get a black eye? When the movie CORRECTLY opens Jake is skulking through the underbrush after having trailed Curley's wife and her lover. He locates them and takes the revealing pictures, with some amusement, that are shown to Curly, in the office later.
I can't believe this is not how the DVD opens. Maybe someday there will be a special edition that corrects this. This is how TV would show the movie, so I don't doubt that upon further inspection, additional cuts were found. A couple of generations of film watchers have been cheated.