The Stunt Man (1980)

The "lost" sleeper hit of 1980 has since become one of the most revered cult movies of all time, largely due to its bawdy, irreverent story about the art and artifice of filmmaking and an outrageously clever performance by Peter O'Toole. As megalomaniacal film director Eli Cross, O'Toole plays a larger-than-life figure whose ability to manipulate reality is like a power-trip narcotic. The focus of his latest mind game is a fugitive (Steve Railsback) recruited to replace a stuntman killed during a recent on-set accident. In return for protective sanctuary, the fugitive takes a crash course in stunt work but soon discovers that he's the paranoid player in a game he can't control, with the dictatorial director making up the rules. Or is he? The Stunt Man is a game of its own, played through the fantasy of filmmaking, and half the fun of watching the movie comes from sharing the stuntman's paranoid confusion. Barbara Hershey has a smart, sexy supporting role as a lead actress who won't submit to her director's seemingly devious behavior; but it's clearly O'Toole who steals the show. Director Richard Rush adds to the movie's maverick appeal--in a career plagued by struggles against the mainstream studio system, Rush hasn't made a better movie before or since. The Stunt Man clearly represents the potential of his neglected talent. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com essential video

A Good Film Elevated To Greatness By A Brilliant Peter O'Toole

By 1980, the year THE STUNT MAN was released, Peter O'Toole and his peers -- that infamous troupe of besotted British actors which included Richard Burton, Robert Shaw and Richard Harris -- were considered anachronisms by Hollywood. Fast living had aged them beyond their years, but more to the point, these classically trained Europeans, their mannered acting styles designed to project to the last rows of the Old Vic, seemed hopelessly dated compared with the introspective naturalism of America's latest generation of rising Method actors, led by De Niro. For the most part, this lot was best remembered by American audiences for their historical costume dramas and World War II epics of the '60s -- the kinds of films nobody was making anymore.

For O'Toole in particular, the glory days of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA were long gone -- his screen work had recently included TV movies and the big-screen abomination CALIGULA. THE STUNT MAN, an ambitious black comedy about filmmaking and paranoia, resurrected O'Toole's career and garnered him his sixth Best Actor Oscar nomination. The irony in this is that O'Toole's comic performance as a half-mad movie director willing to risk everything to finish his film is quite purposely based on the same flamboyant dramatics that marked the actor as old-world and out of date.

O'Toole's Eli Cross has three days to wrap his antiwar film, with both his ego and his career on the line, and so he slows for nothing, not even the accidental death of a stunt man. (Real-life directors have gone as far in pursuit of their goals.) In creating his character, O'Toole has mixed in touches of such directing legends as John Huston and David Lean, for whom he had worked. But Cross is no mere parody. Rather, Cross plays as a composite of Peter O'Toole's greatest hits: there are shades of Henry II, head of that ancient English dysfunctional family, whom O'Toole had played to perfection in both BECKET and THE LION IN WINTER. Well aware of the aptness of the director-as-king metaphor, O'Toole invests Cross with Henry's regal magnetism -- part warrior, part diplomat, part schemer.

But in another sly stroke of insight, O'Toole draws even more heavily on his role as Jack, the paranoid schizophrenic nobleman who's certain he's Jesus Christ in THE RULING CLASS. Standing on a lofty perch above his cast and crew, Cross booms out in a voice that needs no megaphone: "We must have this shot!... I thereby order that no camera shall jam, and no cloud pass before the sun!" O'Toole grins crookedly -- he knows Cross is only half-serious -- but he plays his megalomaniacal director as a man who wants his crew to believe he is the closest thing to a deity they're likely to meet. "If God could do the tricks we can do, he'd be a happy man," Cross insists, and it's O'Toole's delivery, brimming with a crazed self-confidence, that makes this the film's tag line.

O'Toole makes Cross larger than life, a screen presence whose hypnotic charm, more than his temper, reputation or title, is the true key to the manipulative power he wields. "I can't figure it out," says one character, an on-the-lam criminal whom Cross seduces into replacing the dead stunt man and risking his life on a movie set, "I can't take my eyes off the son of a bitch." It is an apt description of Cross the director, and a fitting tribute to O'Toole the actor, who roused himself from career torpor for one glorious performance which, in recalling the best moments of a bygone era, proved how compulsively watchable an old ham can be. May 12, 2008

Fantastic Film Loaded with Amazing extras!

What a ride! An excellent film that grabs you from the first frame and keeps you glued to the screen for the entire 130 minutes. I will not attempt to explain the plot, suffice to say that you will want to watch the film again and again. The bonus disc is almost as long as the film and is brilliantly photographed. A must have for anyone interested in timeless entertainment. February 8, 2008

Peter O'Toole is great surrounded by a great cast.

This is one of two O'Toole movies to own of his later work. The other is "My Favorite Year", which I reviewed as well.

What can I say. This is a nice ride into the world of Alice in Wonderland by a reluctant passenger who actually becomes part of that world by the end of the story. A spoiler? Hardly.

This film languished on a shelf for two years before being released, so I am told. It almost didn't see the light of day. Thankfully, someone inquired about it and they wanted to see it. The rest, as they say, is history.

Lucky isn't the only one who benefitted (you'll get this when you see the film).

December 30, 2007

The Stunt Man

Part of the great appeal of this crazed cult classic--which finds a paranoid, confused young man thrust into the maniacal world of filmmaking--is the way screenwriter Lawrence B. Marcus plays with our understanding of "reel" narrative, like a proto Charlie Kaufman. Based on the novel by Paul Brodeur, this kooky, wit-fueled romp pairs Cameron with sexy starlet Nina Franklin (Hershey), who also happens to be Eli's one-time lover. In one of his sharpest and funniest roles, O'Toole is an unstoppable fount of clever deviance and saucy bon mots. If you're in the mood for a frenetic farce about the thin line between fantasy and real life, make way for "The Stunt Man." July 10, 2007

Completely different to any other film out there

I've been informed many times that I should watch this film. To save an argument, I put it in the DVD player. While watching it, I did feel it was a little too long, and some scenes could have been cut so easily, but it's one of the strangest films I've seen in a long time. I think with a couple more viewings I could understand it more fully, and I don't think anyone will every FULLY understand on the first viewing.

But what you get is one of the most innovative and lesser known movies around. While the 80s were full of the Rat Pack, and high school movies, this one may have slightly slipped under the radar, and has become, judging by some of the reviews, what can only be described as a cult classic.

Peter O'Toole gives a great Oscar worthy performance (he was robbed!) as the egomanical director of a WW1 film, who will do absolutely anything, perhaps even murder someone, in order to protect his film. He'll do whatever is necessary to get a precious shot and the viewer feels like he needs to know where his motives lie. You see him place his lead character, Cameron, in many different stunts, each one more dangerous than the other, including the most memorable one, running across the rooftops, being chased. You do get the feeling the director wants to capture death on film, and since Cameron killed (and replaced) the other stuntman, he kinda owes the director a favour. I didn't like Cameron that much, but it wasn't him, it was after he dyed his hair, he reminded me so much of a guy I knew at school, I found it very difficult to watch him.

I think perhaps why this movie never got the attention it deserved, is because how on earth do you categorise it? It could fit under so many different film genres that it's difficult to describe the film in any sense making way. Especially, in a review, which I've had so much trouble writing.

What I found difficult about this film was the perspective it was told from. It's told from the perspective of Cameron, but it's NOT always his point of view, and my head was spinning after a while trying to keep up with it all. It does take some patience to watch it and understand it. What also put some people off is that it took a mere nine years to get to screen and even then it only got a limited release. This limited edition DVD is packed with extras, although it did remind me more of a video cassette case, rather than the slimline DVD that is out there now.

It's definitely a film worth picking out, if you're tired of the same old rom-coms, horror movies and action movies. This is a movie with a difference. March 4, 2007

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