Rockers (1978) 4K UHD Review

MVD Rewind

4K UHD Release: February 10th, 2026

Video: 1.78:1/2160p (HDR)/Color

Audio: English/Jamaican Patois DTS Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mono

Subtitles: English

Run Time: 99:17

Director: Theodoros Bafaloukos

In the heart of Kingston's music scene, reggae drummer Horsemouth (Leroy Wallace) dreams of making it big by distributing records on his brand-new motorcycle. But, when the bike is stolen, Horsemouth rallies a group of legendary musicians to track it down and take on the corrupt elite exploiting their community. (From MVD’s official synopsis)

Perry Henzell’s The Harder They Come (1972) is arguably the most famous, influential, and consequential motion picture to ever come out of Jamaica. It’s certainly the most famous, influential, and consequential motion picture about reggae and the criminal connections to the local music scene during the 1970s. Despite Henzell’s film’s impact on the midnight movie circuit and the fact that it helped introduce reggae and ska to North America and Europe, the Jamaican film industry largely stalled until the 2000s.

Fortunately, there were a few notable Jamaican-made movies released in the later ‘70s, including Trevor D. Rhone’s satirical comedy Smile Orange (1976) and Theodoros Bafaloukos’ Rockers (1978), which is sometimes considered a direct follow-up to The Harder They Come. At the very least, critics rarely discuss one without at least mentioning the other. Like Henzell’s film, Rockers’ plot revolves around the hardships of the reggae music scene, it’s centered on performances from real pop stars, and it bridges the gap between documentary and narrative feature. Unlike The Harder They Come, it’s a mostly lighthearted comedy (aside from some dramatic interludes) – not a ‘70s Jamaican variant of the pre-code Hollywood crime formula.

Rockers’ soundtrack had a larger impact than the film itself and is only overshadowed by The Harder They Come in terms of reggae-centric movie albums (on Rolling Stones’ top 101 soundtracks, Rockers rates 52 and The Harder They Come comes in near the top at 3). As a pseudo-concert film, it is an invaluable cultural artifact, though, naturally, mileage will vary based on the viewers’ affection for the reggae genre. Fortunately, Rockers doesn’t live and die on its musical appeal alone. It applies The Harder They Comes’ Trenchtown vérité style to an easygoing, episodic structure that captures the spirit of a time and place in a way that a straight documentary might not’ve.

You can draw a straight line from Rockers to the following decades’ culturally specific hang-out movies, especially enduringly popular American films of the ‘90s, like Reginald Hudlin’s House Party (1990), Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993), and F. Gary Gray’s Friday (1995). Unfortunately, Bafaloukos never directed another feature, but he did make music videos for Talking Heads, Chris Isaak, and Robert Palmer. His documentarian talents were put to use as a production and title designer for award-winning documentarian Errol Morris and he also did creative consultation work for Barry Levinson on Diner (1982) and The Natural (1984).

Video

Rockers debuted on North American VHS in 1999 via Blue Sun Film Company. The first official stateside DVD came from MVD (back when they were still going by Music Video Distributors), who hung onto the rights for digital streaming and a 2009 Blu-ray. This new version, released as part of the studio’s LaserVision Collection, represents a new, 2025 4K remaster from the original 35mm camera negative. I’m including screencaps from the 1080p Blu-ray version of this remaster, which illustrate the basic color-timing and cleanliness, minus the UHD’s HDR10 and 2160p upgrades.

Almost any problems with the transfer are due to the conditions the film was shot in, rather than the condition of the footage. The negative damage isn’t extensive, but is noticeable in terms of small stains, white/blue flecks, occasional streaks, and inconsistent grain levels (some shots are crisp and others are a bit fuzzy). The HDR boost doesn’t quite work, I think, because everything is naturally lit and there isn’t enough dynamic range to begin with. The whole film has an overcast quality. Still, the UHD’s black levels are a bit cleaner and brightly colored clothing and vehicles pop, compared to the Blu-ray’s slightly soupier look.

Audio

Rockers is presented with DTS Master Audio 5.1 remix and LPCM 2.0 mono audio options, both in the original English/Jamaican Patois. I know that 5.1 remixes can work well for concert films, but I found this one too artificial and echoey, so I stuck to the original mono mix, which sounded great, considering the rawness of the original recordings. The filmmakers tend to just record everything as is, so there’s a lot of people talking over each other and background noises. The musical soundtrack is also constantly rolling through the background, even outside of concert scenes and recording sessions, adding another layer of noise. When the music takes center stage it is clean and of album quality. 

I wish MVD had included standard English subtitles alongside the SDH track. There are too many cases of the subs reading “indistinct chatter” and not all of the lyrics are subtitled. In the translator’s defense, some of the chatter truly is indistinct.

Extras

Disc 1 (4K UHD):

• Rockers in 2160p 
  

Disc 2 (Blu-ray):

• Rockers in 1080p

• Jah No Dead: The Making of Rockers (119:37, HD) – This fact-filled new documentary, which runs longer than the film itself, includes mostly zoom interviews with costume designer Eugenie Bafaloukos (also the director’s wife), associate producers David Streit and Avrom Robin, musical editor Todd Kasow, editor Susan Steinberg, camera operator Ed Marritz, sound mixer Kit Whitmore, and performers Izabba Rogers and Kiddus I, as well as behind-the-scenes photos and clips of Jamaican musicians not already seen in the film.

• 2000 interview with Ted Bafaloukos (22:45, SD) – The late filmmaker discusses the making of the film, what inspired it, the screenplay, Rastafarian culture, the Cannes premiere, distribution, and his post-Rockers life.

• 2001 interview with Patrick Hulsey (5:12, SD) – The producer speaks briefly about the production from the streets of New York City.

• Selected-scene commentary with Ted Bafaloukos (16:28, SD) – This extension of the 2000 interview was originally advertised as a feature commentary. MVD has since corrected the confusion.  

• "Wea Rockers" music video by Inner Circle (4:10, SD)

• "Waiting For The Bus" music video (2:50, SD)

• Poster gallery

• Theatrical trailer

The images on this page are taken from MVD’s 4K remastered BD – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Note that there will be some JPG compression.