Rob Lowe might have been known for his boy-next-door charm at one time or another, but his character in 1995’s Tommy Boy was far from lovable. Heck, if we’re being totally honest, the conniving con artist by the name of Paul Barish isn’t even the slightest bit likable. To begin with, Paul plots to get his hands on half of factory owner “Big Tom” Callahan’s money by having his wife pretend to marry Callahan. Later, Paul sabotages Callahan’s computer system, causing significant problems for the company’s clients.
As a result, Paul and his wife come very close to succeeding with their plan. Luckily, Callahan’s son, played by Chris Farley, is able to swoop in and save the day at the last second by exposing what the couple’s been up to. Paul gets his well-deserved comeuppance, courtesy of a groin shot, and is subsequently arrested for the crime, but that wasn’t all there was to the character’s story. In fact, there’s one disturbing sequence that ended up on the cutting-room floor that would undoubtedly have had people calling for much harsher punishment.
The Gruesome ‘Tommy Boy’ Outtake That Might Ruin Rob Lowe for You
The scene in question takes place while Farley and David Spade’s characters are on their cross-country sales trip. It opens with Paul sitting outside of Callahan’s mansion, liberally spraying his head with hairspray while angrily staring into a mirror. A phone is ringing in the background, and a small dog can be seen barking at Paul from behind a fence. “Answer the phone!” Paul screams to his wife, Beverly (Bo Derek), who’s in the house during all this.
Beverly briefly talks to Tommy Jr. (Farley) on the phone as she watches Paul continue to douse himself with hairspray from the window. Cut to Paul, who, having finally had enough of the barking dog, proceeds to light the poor little fella on fire by using his spray can like a makeshift blowtorch.
Although it may seem pretty obvious why this didn’t make it into the final film, the actual reason for its exclusion was that they weren’t able to create a convincing enough visual effect for the sequence, or find a dog willing to go through with the stunt for real.
You can check out the outtake in its entirety above, should you be so inclined.
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