The Stunt Man (1980)

I love this movie so much

To me, this movie is perfection.

Boring

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Peter o Toole is spectacular in this film. It is about a Vietnam veteran (Steve Railsback) who accidentally murders the stunt man of a film being directed by Toole. Toole hires the veteran as the stunt man. But the veteran fears that Toole is trying to murder him, even as he falls in love with Toole's girlfriend (the gorgeous Barbara Hershey). This film has some of the coolest non-special effects action I've ever seen. The back ground score by Dominic Lapierre is used to great effect.It was my father's favorite film when he was in college. He recently got the DVD imported. It really is a rollicking film. The first few scenes and the title sequence are simply to die for. Great buy.

Steve Railsback's Cameron is on the run for a murder as a Vietnam vet. As he tries to hitch a ride but the arrogant stuntman forces him out as he throws a wrench into the car as the stuntman drives around to try to kill Cameron. As Cameron is not sure whether he caused the stuntman's death.Unbeknowest to the fugitive, he stumbles into a movie set. Ran by the very eccentric and off the wall O Toole as Eli Cross. Trying to find a place to hide, plus O Toole needs a new stuntman, he agrees to hide Cameron. On the condition that Cameron takes the stunt man's place.There Cameron though Vietnam was tough, this playing the stunt man and being directed around the overzealous O Toole, makes his mind crazy and he feels O Toole will kill him. But he falls in love with Barbara Hershey as the leading lady in the picture and who had an affair with O Toole at one point.Cameron wants to survive the police and most of all, survive Cross. O Toole is a god, Railsback did not pick enough good scripts and was relegated to B movies but he really great as the protagonist. Hershey is still beautiful and was a beauty back then.

I will right off admit that this film is not my type of thing. I watched it because I'm a huge fan of Peter O'Toole's. I found it difficult to follow and disjointed despite some really fascinating scenes and some very good acting.Steve Railsback plays a Vietnam vet named Cameron who escapes the police after he is caught for attempted murder. He crosses a bridge and dodges away from an old car that is out of control. The car disappears. Later on, he encounters a film about World War I being shot on the beach. The director is Eli Cross (O'Toole) who offers Cameron a job as a stunt man. It turns out that the stunt man was in the old car and drove the car off of the bridge as part of a scene being filmed, and drowned. The police are sniffing around, so O'Toole introduces Cameron as Burt, the missing stunt man, and the rest of the cast and crew play along.Cameron learns a lot about stunts (as do we) and he falls for the film's leading lady (Barbara Hershey) who at one time was involved with Eli. Cameron over time becomes increasingly paranoid and believes that the manipulative, kind of crazy Eli wants to kill him.O'Toole, Railsback, and Hershey are all excellent -- we first see Hershey in an old lady mask and clothing. Throughout the film, she is beautiful, silly, and flighty as Nina Franklin, and intense and committed as the character Nina plays. O'Toole is madcap, and doesn't seem to care what happens to anyone as long as he gets the shot he wants, and one can see how Cameron would be unclear about his motives.The print I saw didn't look particularly good - I wonder about the budget for this film. I think a good deal of the budget went to O'Toole and some of those amazing stunts, as the film has a lot of TV actors in it -- all good, but TV actors nevertheless: Alex Rocco, Sharon Farrell, Allen Garfield.This film is a little hard to follow, but it's a good one about the value of perception and how it can change from person to person. Also, the ending is very satisfying.

This is definitely one of my favorite films of its time. I can't understand why this film is not more highly rated by just about anyone -- the critics or the public. It's not really a cult film so much as a seemingly chaotic black comedy. One is never quite sure if Eli Cross is totally insane, or has taken measures to prevent the killing of his on-the-lam stunt man. The case is definitely made that Cross is desperate, and resorting to desperate measures. The "killer crane" is a wonderful device, since it helps in the overall feel of vertigo that Rush is looking for.There's obviously the motif of trying to tell reality from false perceptions, and what better way than to have cinema as the setting? We share Cameron's bewilderment at what is happening to him, and there is non-stop tension in every scene -- you just don't know what lunacy may arise at any time. Can he trust anyone? The special edition of the DVD has interviews that really do enlighten. The difficulty in Rush having this film realized is a gripping story in itself -- obviously Rush was as obsessive as his antagonist Cross! I confess to falling for Barbara Hershey -- it's not so much her performance than how Rush photographs her -- she seems to represent not just the Most Desirable Woman but also Comfort. (Or is she just acting? Has Cross put her up to this? What are her true feelings?) And Cameron needs a lot of comfort. They filmed this in San Diego at the Hotel Coronado, but I can't seem to remember reading anything about it at the time! (I was certainly living here at the time.) Of course, Some Like It Hot was also filmed at the Coronado.