Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132648 in DVD
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com
Years before his Oscar win, Tim Robbins top-lined this spoof of The Vikings and other ancient adventures. Writer/director Terry Jones (Life of Brian) paints his titular marauder as a wide-eyed pacifist born at the wrong time (with his wig and headband, Robbins looks like a refugee from Hair). During the age of Ragnarok, barbarians can only enter Valhalla through battle. So, Erik consults a sage (Eartha Kitt) who advises him to cross the Rainbow Bridge. He convinces his fellow villagers they can live amongst the Gods without all that raping and pillaging, but marauding is a lucrative business, so Halfdan the Black (John Cleese) tries to cut Erik's journey short. The nice Norseman also faces a sea dragon, a princess of easy leisure (Imogen Stubbs), and the delicately-positioned island of Hy-Brasil. Erik the Viking may be a minor entry in the parade of post-Python product, but this DVD is a long time in coming. "The Director's Son's Cut," however, is 21 minutes shorter than the 100-minute theatrical version. In his commentary, Jones explains, "I was never quite happy with the final edit." His son, Bill, punches up the pace through cuts and restructuring, but some fans will surely miss the more expansive movie of their memories (Plus, there's a moment when Robbins moves his lips to a deleted line). Other extras include featurettes (both old and new) and a photo gallery. One thing that hasn't changed: though a last-minute replacement for Tom Hulce, Tim Robbins plays Erik with irresistible innocence. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

completely butchered version of a great movie
It's a complete shame that they choose to release Erik the Viking here in the U.S. in this butchered down version of the movie (25% of it has ben removed in this "Director's Cut"). This wouldn't be so bad if they also included the Theatrical version as they are doing with the UK release. As it is there is no way I'm paying any money for this hacked up piece of a once great film.

Drastically edited version
It's worth noting that this is a *drastically edited* version of the original. The original was ~100 minutes, this one is ~75 - 25% of the movie has been removed and the remaining sections reordered/edited. So think carefully if you are going to purchase this expecting it to be the movie you remember.

DON'T BUY IF YOU LOVE THIS FILM!!!!!
This "Director's Son's" cut has been edited down significantly. Why? I have no idea.