''The Salute of the Jugger'' (also released as ''The Blood of Heroes'' in the United States) is a 1989 Australian-American

post-apocalyptic film Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

written and directed by David Webb Peoples, produced by Charles Roven, and starring

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...

Joan Chen Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film '' The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

, and

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

. The film has inspired the creation of the sport

Jugger Jugger is a sport inspired by the 1989 film '' The Salute of the Jugger'' (released as ''The Blood of Heroes'' in the United States), in which a game of the same name is played. The film version was invented by the film's writer-director, David ...

Plot

In a barren world caused by wars waged in the 20th century and now forgotten, most live from hand to mouth in enclaves known as "market-towns" or "dog-towns", scrounging out a bare subsistence harvesting hardy crops, raising dogs as food, and trading in trinkets from the past. What little entertainment exists comes primarily from a brutal sport known as The Game. It is played by bands of roving teams known as juggs, who challenge local teams. They might be considered professional athletes, as they make their living through the tribute paid by the town people, should they defeat the local team. Their trophy is the dog skull from the town. The Game involves two armoured teams of five attempting to score by placing a dog skull on the opposing team's goalpost. One unarmed player—the "quick"—runs with the skull while being protected by his/her teammates from attack by the opposing team. However, not all in this time live so sparsely. The Nine Cities, buried deep underground, are home to affluent and powerful members of the aristocracy. Each of The Nine Cities fields its own team of juggs in an organization known as The League, and its membership is maintained with a fresh stream of new players who are proven veterans of the travelling "dog-town" games by their collection of trophy skulls. Members of The League live in luxury almost equal to that of aristocrats. It is a dream among roving juggs to be good enough to get The League's attention and, with it, all of the luxuries afforded a League player. The team consists of Sallow (

), Dog-Boy ( Justin Monjo), Mbulu (

Delroy Lindo Delroy George Lindo (born 18 November 1952) is an English-American actor. He is the recipient of such accolades as a NAACP Image Award, a Satellite Award, and nominations for a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Tony Award, two Critics' C ...

), Big Cimber (

Anna Katarina Anna Katarina is a Swiss actress. Early life and family Anna Katarina is the daughter of cellists from Bern, Switzerland, where she was born. She is a classically trained pianist. Career She came to the US in her twenties whereupon she join ...

), and Young Gar (

). Sallow, the team leader, has played in the League of the Nine Cities before, but was cast out because of his indiscretions with an Overlord's daughter. Kidda (

), an ambitious peasant girl, joins the team after a game in her dog town where she virtually destroyed her competition. She and Gar inspire Sallow to challenge The League and expunge his past. But Kidda and Gar do not realise that the City games are for much more than honour and victory, they will need to fight for their very survival. The Game is played much harder and meaner in the Nine Cities.

Cast

as Sallow *

as Kidda *

as Gar *

as Mbulu *

as Big Cimber * Justin Monjo as Dog-Boy *

Hugh Keays-Byrne Hugh Keays-Byrne (18 May 1947 – 2 December 2020) was a British-Australian actor and film director. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was best known for playing the main antagonist in two films from the ''Mad Max'' franchise ...

as Lord Vile * Max Fairchild as Gonzo * Gandhi MacIntyre as Gandhi * Richard Norton as Bone * Lia Francisa as Mara *

Steve Rackman Steve Rackman is an English-born Australian actor and professional wrestler, best known for his role as Donk in the film ''Crocodile Dundee''. In his professional wrestling career, he wrestled under the ring name of Steve 'Crusher' Rackman. Rac ...

as Samchin Jugger

Production

''The Salute of the Jugger'' was shot in the desert of

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Alternate cuts

The US theatrical version of the film was significantly shorter than the original version released overseas. About ten minutes were cut. The biggest difference is in the ending. In the American release, the credits roll shortly after the climax, even though picture continues to roll, showing certain conversations with music covering the dialogue. In the longer cut, there are denouement scenes. The US DVD release of the film matches the US theatrical cut in being much shorter than the original film. Full versions were released on VHS in the early 1990s in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan. Various distributors began releasing the original cut on DVD in early 2001, known as the extended version or by the title "Salute to the Jugger". In 2017, a 2-disc Blu-ray set with both cuts of the film was released in Japan.

References

External links