As some of you may remember the following tale has long been attatched to the history behind the making of the film The 13th Warrior starring Vladimir Kulich and Antonio Banderas:

"The original version, known as Eaters of the Dead and Directed by John McTiernan was originally 127 minutes and slated to be released in May of 1998. But when the film failed test screenings Michael Crichton took over the project and reshot and added new material to the film. He was also involved with the reediting of the film as well and rejected composer Graeme Revell's hour long score. This version of the film has not been seen publicly." (http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0120657)


It seems that as the years have passed a little more information about this original cut of the aformentioned movie:

"In accordance with the book, John McTiernan's version of the Wendol's mother was an old woman, which was filmed with veteran actress Susan Willis. When Michael Crichton took over and did the reshoots they decided that brutally killing off an old lady did not reflect very well on the heroes. Crichton decided after the fact to make her younger, sleeker and tougher. In the final released film, Wendol's mother is played by actress Kristen Cloke (uncredited), but the final credits still list Susan Willis as the Wendol's mother (although she is nowhere to be seen in the final cut)." (http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0120657)


I had always assumed that Crichton and McTiernan had a falling out because the film strayed too much from the book. If the preceding information is to be believed, the truth is quite the opposite.

Am I the only one who thinks that a re-release of The 13th Warrior is long overdue and this time it should be a three disc set? On could be devoted to McTiernan featuring his cut of the movie and an audio commentary by him and the second disc devoted to Crichton with the theatrical cut and commentary by him detailing why he made the changes he did to the film and perhaps how he feels it compares to his novel. The third disc could be all we usually expect from special features discs (documentaries, interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, ad campaigns - pre and post title change, etc.).

Whattaya all think?

Didn't know about that. You have me curious though, I'd love to see the other cut of the movie.

I don't think this film did well enough, or has enough of a following, to warrant a multidisc release, despite the curiosity factor.

Now Windtalkers, on the other hand...

I would rather have a 13th warrior re-release over Windtalkers anyday.... I am in for a re-release of 13th warrior if they release it.

I'd buy a rerelease.

I'd probably buy it if it came out... I'm not sure I'd say it's "overdue" though.

I went into 13th Warrior with all the negative press on my mind and loved the film's grittiness and action, definately one of Bandera's better performances.

Great movie, great book. Two completely different animals, though. I'd be very curious to see both versions

The film is no more than mediocre in my book, but I'd be interested in seeing McTiernan's original cut, though I'm not confident this is a case of "Them" destroying the Artist's Original Vision.

I'd buy a rerelease as well.

No, there is no need to re-release this horrible movie

Horrible movie. I almost walked out of it...

I own it on DVD, and I'd buy a re-release, saying that there is enough of a difference between the 2 releases for me to upgrade.

Thanks for the backstory RocShemp, that explains a lot. Immediately after watching this movie, the very first thing I said was, "That was a good half of a movie" as I could tell that a lot was missing. I'd like to see the original version of this, it might have been a cult hit.

Like the film a lot. Maybe if there were extras, commentary I'd pay for a new copy (like I did for Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Princess Bride, Ran, All About Eve... HEY! This isn't fair!!)

Anyway, if memory serves, the current one is a bare bones.

Definately, this is Antonio Banderas's best work. (IMHO)

Wow, thats some very interesting stuff!

I would love another release of this DVD because I love this movie. So I say that it is overdue because a commentary directors cut, interviews, making ofs, the whole deal would be awesome! Im damn happy though that the barebones has a very good picture and great sound.

Many more fishes in the sea need a re-release with better features that I can think of other then this film.

I remember having high hopes for this movie, but at the end, I had a very ambivilant feeling towards it. It was hard to put my finger on it.

But.... like some, I'd be interested in seeing the original cut.

Yeah, 13th Warrior was terrible. No teenage titties or asses being flopped in your face, and no "gangsta" lingo. No cars that were FAST AND FURIOUS. Yep, terrible movie that could have really been a winner if only those things I mentioned above, were added.

I'm all for a multi-disc re-release of this movie. &nbsp Maybe this time we'll get the DTS track that the R2 folks have been enjoying.

Always felt this movie was very rushed and the action scenes were too dark (2 movies would explain some neccessary budget crunches). I'd be very interested to see an alternate version as its not bad, even in its current state.

Didn't know any of that info thx.

It might be interesting to see McTiernan's cut (even though from what I heard it was so bad it was deemed "unwatchable"), but personally I'm happy with the barebones DVD that currently out.

There never should have been a DVD release of this crapsterpiece in the first place...

well said Heliosphann. i agree 100%.

So, even though there are people that did enjoy this movie, it never should have come out JUST because you didn't like it.

I don't think the market is based solely on your opinion.

There have been plenty of movies that I didn't enjoy, but I wouldn't go so far as to label them bad movies just based on my opinion, or just because there are others that feel the same way. I surely wouldn't try to suggest a movie should never have been released on DVD just because I didn't like it.

This is an example of something that I see plenty of on this board. You may not like a movie, but that doesn’t make it a bad movie, it only means you didn’t like it.