SALUTE OF THE JUGGER (Rutger Hauer and Joan Chen) (Blu-ray)

The Salute of the Jugger (also released as The Blood of Heroes in the United States) is a 1989 post-apocalyptic film written and directed by David Webb Peoples, produced by Charles Roven, and starring Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, and Vincent D'Onofrio.

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&mdashthe quick&mdashruns 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 of roving juggs at the center of the movie consists of Sallow (Rutger Hauer), Dog-Boy (Justin Monjo), Mbulu (Delroy Lindo), Big Cimber (Anna Katarina), and Young Gar (Vincent D'Onofrio).