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The Stunt Man (1980)
The Stunt Man (1980) poster

The Stunt Man (1980)

Action, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Romance • 2h 11m

Director: Richard Rush

Radiance 4K Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 3 months ago

UHD tiers

Excellent
Transmission

Overview

A fugitive stumbles onto a movie set just when they need a new stunt man, takes the job as a way to hide out and falls for the leading lady while facing off with his manipulative director.

Release details

Featured Lists
Is this Perfect?

*highly probable

Length
131 mins
Type
Movie

Part of Is this Perfect?

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Director: Jean Vigo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray with much better encoding than the Gaumont Blu-ray with the same 4K restoration see caps

Criterion Blu-ray uses an older restoration

Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti & Charles Crichton & Basil Dearden & Robert Hamer

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Director: Robert Bresson

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Director: Basil Dearden

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)

Director: Otakar Vávra

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review

Best Audio:

Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD

Audio Notes:

Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.

Director: Robert Rossen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Anthony Mann

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2008 Universal DVD mono

Audio Notes:

The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin. 

Additional Info:

The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.

Director: Charles Crichton

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Directors: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Imprint AU 4K is world UHD debut and encoded by FiM. Part of the The Cinema Of Powell & Pressburger - Collection Two set.

Director: Basil Dearden

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion

More from Richard Rush

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Director: Richard Rush

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

More from Shout! Factory

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Director: John Milius

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Shout! Factory or Germany/UK Capelight 4K Blu-ray?

Director: Gus Van Sant

Best English-Friendly:

US Shout! Factory Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video & Audio:

French Carlotta Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Shout! Factory and Carlotta use the same scan https://slow.pics/c/Wcn5YFlw, the Carlotta has two extra bonus features

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Disk Kino/WCL China import

review: Disk Kino

better encoding, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono

Director: Michael Mann

Best English-Friendly:

88 Films UK Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray  in December

Best Video:

88 Films UK Blu-ray for both cuts 

Best Audio:

88 Films Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

88 Films Blu-ray is missing Michael Mann commentary for the DC found on other BDs

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:
Audio Notes:
  • the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.

Director: Henry Selick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

2D Version: Laika/Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

3D Version: 2011 3D Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2D Version: Laika/Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

3D Version: 2011 3D Blu-ray caps 

Director: Tsui Hark

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

There is a newer 4K restoration by L’Immagine Ritrovata, which should be of better scan quality. The 4K restoration used on all current 4K disc releases stems from a low-quality Cintel scanner. The newer restoration has yet to be released on home video.

Director: David Lynch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray

Uncensored version: old DVD

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut

Directors: Frank Oz & Jim Henson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory's 2.0 is a downmix of the 5.1

Additional Info:

Old Sony DVD has an isolated score

Director: Jim Henson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray

Sources: lddb.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Shout! Factory doesn't have the low-pass filter that's on the Sony US 4K Blu-ray from 2021 with Dolby Vision (or the worse HDR10 only release from 2016). Shout! Factory retains more high-frequency grain and detail.

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Researched and maintained by

tyyuxvanshadyDISKANBGR8

· last reviewed 3 months ago

Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.