Now that Warner Bros. archives has announced the release of James Bridges‘ Mike’s Murder on DVD, it would be right and appropriate and respectful for Bridges’ original cut to be included on the disc. I don’t care if it’s a lowball archives release. Because it truly isn’t right for the sake of Bridges’ legacy for the longer version to be tossed and forgotten. It’s now or never. Seriously. Calling Jimmy Olsen!

The running time of the forthcoming WB Archives DVD is 110 minutes. The IMDB says the film (presumably the recut version that played in theatres in ’84) runs 109 minutes.

Here’s the IMD’s “trivia” recounting: “Writer/director James Bridges originally wrote and edited the film so that the story played chronologically backward, similar to what Memento and Irreversible did 16 years later. However, the studio got nervous, thinking it was too complicated and hard to follow, and had the film re-edited in chronological order for release.

“This was the first project Debra Winger did after An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). After a poor reception from preview audiences, the film was re-edited, the ad campaign was changed, and Joe Jackson‘s soundtrack music was mostly replaced. The film was eventually released on March 9, 1984 after Winger had a hit with Terms of Endearment (1983).”