Stuntmen for life

Here is a tribute to stunt performers all over the world with some info on movies made about stunts and stuntmen and women.  Stunt players don't get (nor  do they want) the glory.  Being a young stuntman on CA stunt team shortly after this movie came out we understood and we lived like these guys lived...This is to recognize those movies made about us stuntmen and how few there are tells the story...Let's go for it!

Hooper (1978)
Well this is the best of them for many reasons (Burt Reynolds, Buddy Joe Hooker, Stunts Unlimited, Jock Mahoney, and all those stunt references).  The movie is about a stunt man named Sonny Hooper (Buddy Joe Hooker?), played by Burt Reynolds (who actually got his start as a stuntman) and how he deals with being an aging stuntman.  "if we don't watch out they will blow us right outta the water" He is referring to the new young up and coming stuntmen, one of whom is played by Jan Michael Vincent (Ski) Burt hires Ski on the movie within the movie called "The spy who laughed at danger" and the kid comes up with all these gags and gets the director, played by Robert Klein, all fired up to do stunts at any cost.  Sonny has back problems "Ive seen my x-rays they look like a map of L.A." and quits/gets fired before taking on a crazy car jump "that's 282 feet!".  Of course he returns and pulls off the stunt with Ski and saves the picture.  There are high falls, car gags, body burns and plenty of brawls to keep every stunt performer busy. There are references and nods to some names and stunt teams (Bobby Bass, Stunts Unlimited) and Brian Keith plays legendary stuntman Jock Mahoney (known in the movie as Jocko Doyle)  Directed by fellow stuntman Hal Needham this movie has it all...This short video tells the story of most stuntmen and stuntwomen who dreamed of doing stunts for a lifetime...

In 1985 a group of us stuntmen were breaking into the business anyway we could and we emulated the stuntmen in the movies and this movie was our mantra.  "Want not good times?"

Stunts (1977)
When a stuntman dies on the set his brother (also a stuntman) shows up to investigate and take on the stunts.  Two other stuntmen die before Glen Wilson, played by Robert Foster, and B.J., played by Fiona Lewis find the saboteur.  The stunts are good and performed by top stuntmen in the biz (Gary Davis, Dar Robinson)  The 70's feel and look are great and the actors portraying stunt performers speak about the bond between stuntmen and stuntwomen.  The line repeated a number times is "are we making a movie or are we making a movie?"  It speaks to the core of moviemaking and how important the film is.  The stuntmen know the risks involved and do their professional best to make the gag look real while also being as safe as possible.  However, stunts need to look dangerous so there is always an element of risk that is unavoidable.  As Robert Foster says to one stuntman before the stunt, "Sweet Luck, Charlie!"

The Stunt Man (1980) 
Directed by Richard Rush and stars Peter O'Toole and Steve Railsback.  Railsback plays a fugitive named Cameron who hides on the set of a movie as a replacement stuntman.  O'Toole palys the eccentric and possibly crazy director Eli Cross who may or may not be trying to film Camerons death.  As the stunts get more dangerous Cameron gets more paranoid (being a war veteran does not help his delusions)

Eli Cross is the an "auteur" and in film criticism, the auteur theory "holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision" (Francois Truffaut).  The plot thickens as reality and fiction are merged.  The movie had it's release problems (actually filmed in 1978, but released in 1980) and did not fare well at the box office.  The stunt co-ordinator was Gray Johnson.  the most significant stuntman was A.J. Bakunas, who would die that very year from a high fall gone bad. Some great stunts of course and a sort of surrealistic plot.


Death Proof (2007)

This one makes it because of Stuntman Mike the character played by Kurt Russell.  He is the 1970's/80's stuntman with his satin stunt jacket, turquoise jewelry and pompadour hairdo.  He tells of his credits in stunt work and has the scars to prove it (even though the young girls have never heard of any show he mentions).  His car is the machine that kills, but the character portrayed by Russell is the stuntman Tarantino envisioned for the movie.  That stuntman everyone knew who worked some and was this great character.  The stunts in the movie are all driving stunts and are some of the best ever recorded on film.  Consequently they are performed by some of the stunt greats of the 70's and 80's Buddy Joe Hooker, Terry Leornard, Tracy Dashnaw and Steve Davison.  It has the grittiness of 70's cinema and the realistic car sequences are reminiscent of such great chase films as "Vanishing Point" and "White Line Fever".  The character Stuntman Mike, not his psychotic persona, is truly a tribute to the stunt greats of decades ago.