I recall noticing that something was off when I watched the robbery scene for the first time on the Criterion edition of Bottle Rocket but didn’t know what at the time.
From an Amazon review:
The Criterion 2-disc Bottle Rocket is outstanding, but don’t toss your original disc just yet… the new edition is a slightly different edit that loses one laugh and adds another. I couldn’t find any reference to these changes in the supplementary material at all.
MISSING: Originally, during the book store robbery, Anthony grabs a random book off the shelf and opens it, revealing the title page “Job Opportunities in Government – 1995” which always gave me a little chuckle. Now for some reason the book opens to a black and white photograph of a military plane (it goes by so fast you’d have to freeze frame to make it out.)
ADDED: Originally, when Bob hands his earnings over to Future Man to cover his attorney fees, he asks if he can keep a few bucks for gas, and the scene ends. Now the scene plays a few seconds longer, and we hear Future Man’s reply: “No, you can’t.”
I’d assume the book change is some kind of rights issue, likely an oversight at the time of production.
Bottle Rocket’s been playing on cable a bunch lately, I’ll have to look for those scenes.