Year of the Dragon (1985)
Action, Crime, Thriller • 2h 14m
Overview
In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.
Director: Michael Cimino
Cast: Mickey Rourke, John Lone, Ariane, Leonard Termo, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava, Eddie Jones, Joey Chin, Victor Wong Chi-Keung, K. Dock Yip, Bau Hon-Lam, Way Dong Woo, Jimmy Sun, Daniel Davin, Mark Hammer, Dennis Dun, David Lee, Jack Kehler, Tony Lip, Al Leong, Fabia Drake, Tisa Chang, Gerald Orange, Fan Mei-Sheng, Yukio Yamamoto, Doreen Chan, Yip Ha-Lei, Dermot A. McNamara, Vallo Benjamin, Myra Chen, Chin Feng, Yuk Fan Yiu, Richie Hsiu, Irene Jung, Josie Lee, Jiwon Chang, Kelly Wong, Chi Moy, Johnny Shia, Gardell Tung, Jeff Khowong, Chen Chao-jung, Jerry Chang, Aileen Ho, Lisa Lee, Sammy Lee, Keenan Leung, James Scales, Ming C. Lee, Kader Ma, Paul J.Q. Lee, Manuel Fung, Emily Woo Yamasaki, Roza Ng, Gloria Au, Jadin Wong, Lin Ngan Ng, Janice Wong, Bruno Millotti, Lucille D'Agnillo, Julian Szumilo, Cecelia Pei, Quan Eng, George Kodisch, Bruce Kennedy, James Chin, Matthew Tung, Pat Fuji, Geoff Lee, Kuni Mikami, Billy Asai, Chi On Soo Hoo, John Sparks, Carmine Venezia, Anthony Parrillo, Matthew Castiglione, Steve Hanson, Raymond Gardner, Michael Acampora, Espérance Pham Thai Lan, Steven Chen, Paul Scaglione, Joseph Bonaventura, Jilly Rizzo
Capelight 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber caps. Capelight has better encoding than the Kino.
Recommended upgrade for viewers who aren't DV compatible due to Capelight properly encoding the HDR10 base layer instead of Kino, who require a huge DV layer to "fill in" picture information from a more compressed / compromised
Capelight 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber caps. Capelight has better encoding than the Kino.
Recommended upgrade for viewers who aren't DV compatible due to Capelight properly encoding the HDR10 base layer instead of Kino, who require a huge DV layer to "fill in" picture information from a more compressed / compromised
Director: Michael Cimino
2020 Shout! Factory 4K slightly better than StudioCanal in HDR10. Similar in DV
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc marginally better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is downmix.
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is remix.
Director: Michael Cimino
2020 Shout! Factory 4K slightly better than StudioCanal in HDR10. Similar in DV
35mm mix: 1991 Universal LaserDisc marginally better than StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is downmix.
70mm mix: StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is remix.
Director: Michael Cimino
Director: Michael Cimino
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Director: Tod Browning
Director: Tod Browning
Director: Richard Wallace
Director: Richard Wallace
Director: Edward Buzzell
Warner Archive Esther Williams: Volume 1 DVD
Warner Archive Esther Williams: Volume 1 DVD.
Also available on SD Streaming
Director: Edward Buzzell
Warner Archive Esther Williams: Volume 1 DVD
Warner Archive Esther Williams: Volume 1 DVD.
Also available on SD Streaming
More Action on Blu-ray
Director: Akira Kurosawa
BFI 4K Blu-ray has excellent master and grade, no DNR and tasteful HDR
Restored original mono mix: Toho Japan 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored original mono: 2014 BFI Blu-ray
BFI 4K Blu-ray has OG Perspecta (in 5.1 container) and a stereo downmix of it; no original mono.
The unrestored track on BFI's earlier release appears to be an almost entirely unmanipulated transfer of the original mix. It suffers from a distracting low-frequency hum. The 4K restoration comes with a restored track, which appears to be the same transfer, but which appears to be cleaned up with a moderate amount of noise reduction and some EQ, nicely opening up the high-end, and which is likely to be preferable to most listeners. All earlier releases sound poor.
Perspecta isn't a discrete surround format, instead only relying on manipulating volume and panning of the mono track across L/C/R channels, based on embedded control tones. As such, even the Perspecta track is technically just the mono mix, though the omission of the proper mono on BFI's 4K is still unfortunate.
Director: Akira Kurosawa
BFI 4K Blu-ray has excellent master and grade, no DNR and tasteful HDR
Restored original mono mix: Toho Japan 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored original mono: 2014 BFI Blu-ray
BFI 4K Blu-ray has OG Perspecta (in 5.1 container) and a stereo downmix of it; no original mono.
The unrestored track on BFI's earlier release appears to be an almost entirely unmanipulated transfer of the original mix. It suffers from a distracting low-frequency hum. The 4K restoration comes with a restored track, which appears to be the same transfer, but which appears to be cleaned up with a moderate amount of noise reduction and some EQ, nicely opening up the high-end, and which is likely to be preferable to most listeners. All earlier releases sound poor.
Perspecta isn't a discrete surround format, instead only relying on manipulating volume and panning of the mono track across L/C/R channels, based on embedded control tones. As such, even the Perspecta track is technically just the mono mix, though the omission of the proper mono on BFI's 4K is still unfortunate.
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
Arrow includes the original theatrical sound mix in all its glory. All previous releases other than the 1996 AC-3 LaserDisc were tamed relative to the original theatrical DTS track.
The disc is authored by Duplitech, but doesn't exhibit any compression issues, though the image is pretty soft, that's likely just down to the stock used.
Old New Line Video LaserDiscs include an exclusive commentary track.
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
Arrow includes the original theatrical sound mix in all its glory. All previous releases other than the 1996 AC-3 LaserDisc were tamed relative to the original theatrical DTS track.
The disc is authored by Duplitech, but doesn't exhibit any compression issues, though the image is pretty soft, that's likely just down to the stock used.
Old New Line Video LaserDiscs include an exclusive commentary track.
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John Woo
Director: John Woo
Director: John Woo
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
Director: John Woo
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
Director: John Woo
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
Director: John Woo
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
International Cut: US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray
Original Hong Kong Cut (2 parts): US Magnolia Pictures Blu-ray or Hong Kong Blu-rays?
Director: Moritz Mohr
Italy Plaion has Dolby Vision, but the metadata is static: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22742198&postcount=92
Director: Moritz Mohr
Italy Plaion has Dolby Vision, but the metadata is static: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=22742198&postcount=92
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Director: John Woo
Director: John Woo
Edit History
11/8/2025
Format
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly Release
Added
Warner Archive BD
Added
Warner Archive BD
Best Video Release
Added
Warner Archive BD
Added
Warner Archive BD
Blu-ray.com
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Year-of-the-Dragon/171220/#Releases
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Year-of-the-Dragon/171220/#Releases
