Rockers 4K Review (MVD Rewind Collection)

Rockers is 1978 drama music film written and directed by Ted Bafaloukos (Talking Heads, Chris Isaak, and Robert Palmer Music Videos). It was produced by David Streit (Species, Interior Night, Camp Nowhere, Hear No Evil, Internal Affairs, The Prowler, River’s Edge, and Deep Cover). In the heart of Kingston’s music scene, reggae drummer Horsemouth (played by: musician Leroy Wallace from Heartland Reggae) dreams of making it big by distributing records on his brand-new motorcycle. When the cherished bike is stolen away, the ambitious Horsemouth rallies a group of legendary musicians to track it down and take on the corrupt elite exploiting their local community. Will they fight back???? Rockers takes the Robin Hood approach with it’s script. This subject has been done a few times but this one has it’s own different vibe to it. “The Harder They Come” from 6 years before reminds me of Rockers a little but it’s much darker than this. It has a lighter and more comedic tone to it. Reggae musician Leroy Wallace plays a more amped up version of himself as Horsemouth. I love the hustle of this. It goes to the old school days when artists had to push their own product to the community to build their fan base. Horsemouth is feeling confident until his bike is stolen and he notices the corruption around him with powerful criminals. Rockers actually features a group of talented and legends from the Reggae sub-genre. The supporting cast includes Richard “Dirty Harry” Hall, Monica Craig, Marjorie Norman, Leroy Smart, Lester Bullocks, Ashley Harris, Robbie Shakespeare (Sly and Robbie), Burning Spear (Bringing Out the Dead), Jacob Miller (Roots Rock Reggae), Gregory Isaacs (Made in Jamaica), Kiddus I (Inna de Yard), Big Youth (Reggae: The Story of Jamaican Music), Joe Gibbs (Sid and Nancy), and Errol Brown (This Is Your Life). This has an early art house atmosphere to it. If you are interested into Reggae, this is a must watch because it has so many respected acts in it. That’s kinda crazy thing about Rockers, it has more real people in it rather than actors. So it feels more real when it comes to everything. I wasn’t expecting so much comedy but it has lots of humor. One of the highlights which isn’t a surprise is the soundtrack and it’s exotic shots. The audience gets to experience more of the Jamaican life here. It deals with clashing religion and fighting back for what you believe in. The plot is thin but it has a great overall message to it. Rockers is not for everyone but it’s really good for what they are trying to achieve with this!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from the MVD Rewind Collection! This 2160p (1.78:1) unrated transfer with HDR10 is from a brand new 4K restoration from the camera negative. It’s a massive upgrade compared to MVD Visual 2009 home video release, it will never look better than this. It’s the definitive version of Rockers. It has colorful cinematography, beautiful visuals, and sharp production design. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English: LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks on the UHD. This one is has strong musical theme to it so it’s soundtrack is what pops the most when it comes to it’s audio. The dialogue is crystal clear, the vibes are elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Select Scenes Commentary” with writer and director Ted Bafaloukos that’s around 16 minutes. It even has some Picture in Picture for it. That’s the only extra on the UHD, the rest of them are located on the Blu Ray disc. It has the brand new exclusive full length almost 2 hour documentary “Jah No Dead: The Making of Rockers” directed by Richard Schenkman (Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God… Be Back by Five, We All Descend: The Making of Terminus, The Making of The Linguini Incident, Angel 4, I Spit on Your Grave: Vengeance Is Mine, The Man from Earth franchise, Mischief Night, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, and Layover). This alone makes it worth picking up or upgrading this 4K. This loaded retrospective might be better than the actual film to be honest. It has behind the scenes photos and footage. It has detailed zoom style interviews with Eugenie Bafaloukos, David Streit, Todd Kasow, Kiddus I, Eddie Marritz, Avrom Robin, Kit Whitmore, Izabba Rogers, Susan Steinberg, and others. They share their personal experiences working in Jamaica on this movie. They chat about it’s music and soundtrack that still holds it’s own to this day. They show respect and appreciation for it. They bring up on how it showed the actual life there at the time and it’s rough shooting schedule while putting it together. It has so many interesting stories and information about the film. It has the almost 28 minute “Archival Interviews” with director Ted Bafaloukos and producer Patrick Hulsey that’s separated into 2 different sections. They chat about making Rockers back in the 70’s. They go over the inspiration, the script, distribution, the Reggae culture, New York City, the musicians, and it’s overall Cannes experience. It has a variety of “Music Videos” which includes Waiting For The Bus and WEA Rockers that’s a total of 7 minutes. These two above are upscaled standard definition. It has the “Theatrical Trailer’, “Radio Spots”, and “Photo Gallery” for promotional material. It has a “MVD Trailer Gallery” featuring some of their other home video releases. It comes with a limited edition slipcover, reversible artwork, and a mini poster. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!