Dir. Richard Rush
Starring
Peter O'Toole
Steve Railsback
Barbara Hershey
Rated R - 1980 - 131 mins
If this movie was a sport, I'd call it NASCAR. If this movie was on Wall Street, it would be the stock market. And, if this movie was a drug, it would most definitely be cocaine. Sometimes a movie will creep up on you, like that up hill part at the beginning of a roller coaster; "The Stunt Man" is that kind of a movie.
"The Stunt Man" is one of those "movies about making movies"...movie. Which, when done correctly, can be a lot of fun. Well, the twist in this film is that Cameron (Steve Railsback), a Vietnam vet on the run from the law, quite literally stumbles into a big budget film being shot by Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole). A recent death of the lead stunt man on the film set gives Cross the unique position to compromise Cameron into becoming his new stunt man in exchange for hiding him from the law.
Cross is intrigued by the mysterious background of the war veteran/drifter, and seems to love psychologically toying with him, and other crew members, in order to get the reactions for the film being shot. You get the impression that Cross, a sweet talking megalomaniac, only cares about one thing: getting the right shot on film.
The story is constantly going back and forth between the World War One movie being filmed and the real world of cameramen, make up artists, stunt men and all. The film has a strong theme of "what is reality?" There are also a bunch of allusions in the film to things like "Alice and Wonderland", and biblical stories, so if you enjoy that extra meat in a story you'll get a kick out of this one. You REALLY feel the up and down ride of the story. Is Cross willing to kill this stunt man for the perfect take? Is the lead actress in love with Cameron, or is it a front for the movie? By the end of the film your head is (rightfully so) spinning. But somehow I didn't find myself angry or frustrated at the story, I just enjoyed the ride.
I would strongly recommend this to those who enjoyed films such as "Day for Night", "8 1/2" or "Living in Oblivion".
ACTING - 7 (O'Toole is GREAT, every one else...eh. Cameron reminded of Mark Hamil)
STORY - 9
LOOK - 7
1 comment:
Great review, glad you enjoyed the film! I, literally, logged on to Film Projections just now to review it myself!
I have to disagree, though, that Steve Railsback is "eh" as Cameron. He's great as the ironically nicknamed "Lucky," and his increasing paranoia throughout the film is on display in his eyes. Railsback always seems a bit crazy anyway, which is probably why his most memorable performance besides this was as Charles Manson in "Helter Skelter."
OTOH, you are quite correct, of course, that O'Toole is brilliant as director Eli Cross. O'Toole is one of the best actors in the world but you can probably count on one hand the great films he's in. He frequently wastes his talent in low-rent productions such as "Supergirl," "Club Paradise," and "King Ralph." I've always thought that directors must get him drunk before offering up a contract for him to sign. For me, this movie is one of the best of his career.
O'Toole also gets the best dialogue to work with. I find myself remembering, and frequently quoting, some of his best lines from this film:
"If God could do the tricks that we can do, he'd be a happy man."
"If we've anything to say, it's best to slip it in while they're all laughing and crying and jerking off at all the sex and violence."
"...Burt here was so busy being brilliant that he wouldn't have noticed sweet Jesus walking across the water. "
"I've fallen madly in love with the dark side of your nature."
I don't know about you, but I've always thought it was kind of a sly joke the movie tells that this film that megalomaniacal Cross is so intent on making looks terrible! Of course, they do acknowledge the script problems along the way.
Oh, and the music's great, particularly the theme. Grandiose and theatrical, like Cross himself.
It's interesting now that this movie seems to be so little remembered despite being nominated for 3 Academy awards and being taught in film classes during the 80s. (Did you get that, in the opening credit sequence, dog=Cameron/Lucky and bird=Cross?)
Richard Rush's career as a director is oddly infrequent. When he made this it had been 6 years since his previous film and he didn't direct another for 14 years!
When people ask me what my favorite movie is, this is one of three I mention. I will review the other two soon before someone else does!
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