The Stunt Man: Limited Edition – Transmission Video Distribution (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1980
Director: Richard Rush
Writers: Lawrence B. Marcus, Richard Rush, Paul Brodeur
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey, Allen Garfield, Alex Rocco, Sharon Farrell, Adam Roarke

Release Date: February 23rd, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 130 minutes 43 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK)

"Cameron (Steve Railsback, Lifeforce) is a man who finds himself unmoored from American life: recently returned from Vietnam, he is now a drifter on the run from the law. While evading police, he stumbles upon the filming of a World War I movie helmed by the megalomaniacal Eli Cross (Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia). When Cameron discovers that he bears a striking resemblance to the lead actor, he hatches a plan: to hide from his potential captors by disguising himself as a stunt double and agreeing to perform a series of increasingly dangerous stunts.

But nothing is what it first seems on an Eli Cross set, and as illusion and make-believe start to bleed into one another, Cameron finds himself locked in a battle of wits with a possibly insane genius, and in danger of becoming unmoored not just from society, but from reality itself…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.5/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "The Stunt Man was restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative in 2025 by Radiance Films and is presented in both Dolby Vision HDR (UHD) and SDR (Blu-ray)."

The Stunt Man comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 92.6 GB

Feature: 91.7 GB

This new transfer from Radiance Films looks exceptional; it is easily the best this film has ever looked on home media. Flesh tones look healthy; colors are nicely saturated; image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid; and the image always looks organic.

The Stunt Man comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46 GB

Feature: 35.8 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5 (Both Audio Tracks)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. Both tracks sound excellent: dialogue always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, ambient sounds are well-represented, and the score sounds robust. Included are removable English SDH.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an archival introduction with director Richard Rush (4 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival audio commentary with Richard Rush and actors Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey, Alex Rocco, Sharon Farrell, and Chuck Bail; and an audio commentary with film critics Christina Newland and Monica Castillo.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), two deleted scenes (5 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival introduction with Richard Rush (4 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Barbara Hershey (17 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Steve Railsback and Alex Rocco titled Devil’s Squadron (18 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Peter O’Toole (18 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Richard Rush titled The Maverick Career of Richard Rush (34 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with stuntman and actor Chuck Bail (10 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival feature-length making-of documentary directed by Richard Rush titled The Sinister Saga of Making The Stunt Man (114 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival audio commentary with Richard Rush, Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey, Alex Rocco, Sharon Farrell, and Chuck Bail; and an audio commentary with Christina Newland and Monica Castillo.

Other extras include a pull-out poster, six lobby-card style postcards, a rigid box and full-height Scanavo packaging with a removable OBI strip, leaving packaging free of certificates and markings, and a 40-page perfect-bound book with cast & crew information, an essay titled All the World’s a Stage: Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man written by Adam Nayman, an archival interview with Richard Rush conducted by Kenneth Turan, an essay titled Fall Guys - The Ballad of the Forgotten Men written by Brandon Streussnig, and information about the transfer.

Summary:

The Stunt Man was co-written and directed by Richard Rush. He’s most known for Getting Straight, Freebie and the Bean, and Color of Night. Although Richard Rush's career spanned four decades and included the direction of 13 films, he directed just 5 more films over the subsequent 32 years after his initial streak of 8 films in 8 years.

The narrative revolves around a fugitive who finds refuge as a stuntman on a movie set.

Most filmmakers spend the bulk of their careers as work-for-hire directors, who are just trying to get the one chance to direct their dream projects. Many of them eventually get the opportunity to direct their dream projects. They often have to alter their visions ever so slightly to fit into a more commercially viable commodity.

Then there are those filmmakers who are willing to do whatever it takes to get their vision on screen, without any compromises. Richard Rush falls into this latter category. He would spend nine years trying to get his dream project, The Stunt Man, off the ground. Along the way he would direct the hugely successful cop buddy film Freebie and the Bean and turn down several other projects, all in hope of finally getting his chance to direct The Stunt Man.

Trying to pigeonhole The Stunt Man in any one genre would be futile. Content-wise, The Stunt Man is a well-balanced mix of action, comedy, and drama. The action set pieces tend to attract the most attention, largely because they contribute to the misdirection that is essential to the story. The actual heart and soul are the characters that populate The Stunt Man and their more intimate moments. While the humor may not reach the same heights as the other elements, it generally succeeds in hitting its mark. 

Another area in which this film excels is the performances from its three leads: Steve Railsback (Helter Skelter) in the role of Cameron, a fugitive on the run; Barbara Hershey (Boxcar Bertha) as a Hollywood starlet; and Peter O’Toole (Lawrence of Arabia) as a megalomaniac director named Eli Cross, who is willing to get his film completed at any cost. The most memorable of these three performances is Peter O’Toole, who is utterly convincing as a tyrant director. Also, these scenes in which his character Eli Cross and Cameron interact are easily the most compelling since there is an underlying vibe that Eli might be trying to kill Cameron. Not to be overlooked is Steve Railsback's performance, which offers up a good counterbalance to Peter O’Toole’s more operatic performance.

Although many films have explored the theme of filmmaking as their premise, none have blurred the line between reality and illusion as effortlessly as The Stunt Man. None has so effortlessly blurred the line of what is real and what is an illusion, like The Stunt Man. There is a chaotic vibe to the general story at hand that only further enhances the obstacles that had to be overcome to get this film in the first place. And it should not come as a surprise that when it comes to the visuals, Richard Rush employs every trick in the book. There are a lot of moving parts in The Stunt Man and trying to digest them in one go is not an easy task. That said, The Stunt Man is a film that requires multiple viewings to really sink in.

Transmission Video Distribution gives The Stunt Man its definitive home media release. Highly recommended.

Note: This edition is limited to 5000 copies.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer