Everything Action Theater: The Salute of the Juggers (1989)
There were dozens of imitators and knock-offs following the release of Mad Max and The Road Warrior, but only one inspired a real-life sport, 1989’s The Salute of the Jugger, aka The Blood of Heroes. Rutger Hauer stars as Sallow, the leader of a roving sports team who play the game “Jugger” against local towns in the post-apocalypse. The dream of all Jugger teams is to catch the eye of The League, teams that play for the affluent underground society known as The Nine Cities. Justin Monjo, Joan Chen, Delroy Lindo, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Anna Katerina round out Sallow’s team of “Juggs,” and Mad Max’s own Hugh Keays-Byrne and Richard Norton co-star. David Webb Peoples, who co-wrote Blade Runner and later wrote Unforgiven and 12 Monkeys, wrote and directed the movie. Jugger leaped from the big screen to real life and is played by many university and college teams, especially in Germany, where international sports tournaments are held. You can watch The Salute of the Jugger below via YouTube.
