On March 13th there were two DVD versions of Almost Famous released. One of them has the theatrical cut in widescreen format, and it has a few extras including an HBO special "The Making of Almost Famous" and a music video. The other version has a director's cut - it has "30 minutes of never-before-seen footage," Crowe's original vision that the studio would not let him release due to the length of the film (however the music video and the "making of" special are not present on this DVD).

Locally here in Northern Illinois I have two choices for purchasing these products. Best Buy carries only the theatrical cut. Media Play carries only the director's cut. Most online stores carry the director's cut - or at least this is what I have found.

I have read a multitude of DVD reviews on Almost Famous - however every single one of them has been for the theatrical cut release. I am looking for a review of the director's cut version. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Has anyone seen the director's cut? Everyone keeps telling me that the SE won't come out for a year or two because Crowe was too busy with Vanilla Sky --- Is this supposed director's cut really Crowe's cut, or is it the studio's money-cut?

In writing the original post, I certainly did not mean to spread mis-information. However I am apparently not the only one who is EXTREMELY confused about this. There are many stores that are claiming (in their advertisements) to have the director's cut, including Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...463995-2911017

Also, here is what is listed at movies.yahoo.com:

DVD Features:
• Color
• Dolby Surround AC-3
• Surround Stereo
• Noise Reduction
• Stereo
• Closed Captioned
• Widescreen/Letterboxed
• Director's Cut
• In English
• Universal Studios Home Video
------------------------------
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Dolby Surround - English
Additional Release Material:
30 Minutes of Never-Before-Seen Footage
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Biographies - 1. Cast & Crew

None of these online venues mention anything about a widescreen version with an HBO "making of" special or a music video, but they all mention a director's cut. But it's not just the online companies advertising this:
My wife purchased the widescreen theatrical version of Almost Famous yesterday. Today I see an add in the newspaper for the director's cut with the 30 additional minutes. Needless to say, I am blown away by this, thus my original post. I do not want to open the one she bought yesterday if there is a director's cut that currently exists.

I certainly don't doubt the expertise of DVDTALK Forum folk - but why is it that so many of these stores claim to have a director's cut for sale?

The stores just have outdated information.

As I understand it, there's a 'director's cut' coming out later, possibly before the end of the year.