Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

Body Slam Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 21, 2021

Hal Needham's "Body Slam" (1986) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new video interview with actor Barry Gordon and vintage trailers. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

How does the floor taste, bud?

Today the world of professional wrestling has very little in common with the activities that you will witness in Hal Needham’s film Body Slam. But is this a good or bad thing? It is not easy to give a definitive answer. For example, professional wrestling has evolved into a huge industry with strict performing standards that ensure the safety of the athletes and showmen that enter the ring. This is a good thing. There are powerful watchdogs whose main job is to prevent the shenanigans that Dirk Benedict’s character, M. Harry Smilac, pulls off. This is a good thing as well. After decades of unprecedented growth, professional wrestling has secured a loyal global audience. This is probably a good thing, too. But success always comes at a price, and today professional wrestling is run like a big corporation, which means that it has to meet a wide range of expectations, many of which are not compatible with the interests of the athletes and showmen that enter the ring. It has been transformed into a carefully scripted theater as well.

Needham’s film is about the old days before the success and believe or not it warns against the inevitable tradeoff. It does the warning in a way that reminds of Barry Shear’s film Wild in the Streets -- it mocks at will until it begins to look like it is no longer possible to take seriously, but then suddenly its exaggerations become so particular that you begin to view the satirical mayhem from a completely different angle. Consider for instance how Needham carefully rearranges Smilac’s profile from a struggling ‘music producer’ to an old-school crook to a visionary wresting manager. There is a very good reason for this. He is a walking litmus test that begins exposing all kinds of other ‘professionals’ like him -- managers, lawyers, dealers, event planners, etc. -- that make professional wrestling happen. These people are the system, and the more Smilac engages them, the worse everything begins to look. (By the way, this exact development is present in Shear’s film as well. The only difference is that Shear carves open a political system populated by a different crop of crooked opportunists). On the opposite end are the clueless pros, like Quick Rick Roberts (Roddy Piper), who either do not realize that they are being exploited or sense that something isn’t right but can’t challenge the system and are basically going with the flow. When Smilac ‘agrees’ to represent Roberts, the system is suddenly forced to improvise to restore balance, but it seems almost impossible to predict the outsider’s moves.

The film can be pretty funny if you only focus on Smilac’s shenanigans and ignore the fact that they are part of an important bigger picture. He routinely gets in trouble with some quite colorful characters that like to cause pain and break things, so there is plenty of good old-fashioned action. But I assure you that Needham did not intend to have his film seen only as a cheesy action comedy. The evidence that it is so is everywhere. The funny satire is just a facade that hides a pretty accurate deconstruction of professional wresting as it once was and a prophetic summation of its inevitable transformation into a highly profitable theater.

*Further evidence that Needham did in fact have a very particular vision of Body Slam and the message it was supposed to deliver is the fact that he rewrote huge parts of the screenplay that was delivered to him after production was initiated. Benedict apparently assisted him as well. Because of the alterations, writers Shel Lytton and Steve Burkow, who were also attorneys, filed a lawsuit that ultimately made it impossible for the film to get theatrical distribution.

Body Slam Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Body Slam arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a very beautiful new 2K master, which makes the entire film look practically brand new. There are only two areas where I think very minor and largely insignificant improvements can be made. First, occasionally some of the blacks become a tad too strong and cause minor crushing. Second, ideally density levels should be slightly better. But the rest really does look great. Delineation and clarity, for instance, range from very good excellent, while depth is often outstanding. The entire master is very nicely graded as well. Some of the outdoor footage, for instance, boasts such lush primaries that it is simply a pleasure to spend time looking at it (see screencapture #3). The overall balance is also very good. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks very healthy as well. My score if 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Body Slam Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby TrueHD 5.0 and Dolby TrueHD 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the entire film with the Dolby TrueHD 2.0 track. I thought that clarity, sharpness, and depth were excellent. I did not encounter any balance issues to report in our review either. As far the dynamic intensity is concerned, all I can say is that the lossless track produces pretty good range of nuances, with the best one appearing during the mass fights and whenever Kick is heard performing. There are no audio dropouts, hiss, pops, or other similar age-related imperfections to report in our review.

Body Slam Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Actor Barry Gordon - in this new video interview, actor Barry Gordon recalls how he became involved with Body Slam, how the film affected his understanding of professional wrestling, his interactions with Dirk Benedict and Hal Needham, Roddy Piper's contribution, etc. In English, not subtitled. (8 min).

• Trailers - two original trailers for Body Slam.

Body Slam Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Paul Bartel had made a film about wresting in America, it probably would have looked a lot like Hal Needham's Body Slam. This film overflows with the same type of high-quality satire that you would encounter in the likes of Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills and Eating Raoul, though instead of provoking with unbridled but hilarious cynicism, it produces a prophetic summation of wrestling's inevitable transformation into a highly profitable theater. I liked it a lot. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a very beautiful new 2K master. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.