‘Onion Field’ Editing

As director of “The Onion Field,” I would like to inform those viewers who saw it for the first time on KTLA Channel 5 Jan. 12 that the film they saw bears only a loose resemblance to the film I made.

What I saw that Friday night was an outrageous piece of butchery. Scene after scene, cut after cut had been hacked away in order to make the film fit the convenience of a two-hour time slot. The film was simply treated as yard goods, cut to fit between commercial breaks.

At the very least, viewers should be informed that they are seeing an abridged version of the film.

HAROLD BECKER

Los Angeles