Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: Stunt Man Edition

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies

Stunt Man Edition

This week, we delve behind the scenes and take a look at the men and women who put their lives on the line in the name of Hollywood.

It's the biz - show biz! All the glitz, all the glamour, all the glory.

It's all about getting your mug up there on the silver screen or getting that standing ovation. On the flip side - you're a never was, a could've been, a has-been, or a legend. Or, in the case of these stuntmen and women... sometimes quite dead!

Yes, these stunt people risk it all in order to make the stars look great. But at what cost?

It's all delish, so let's take a look and dish on all that glitters, but doesn't necessarily lead to gold in this edition of Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies!

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Hollywood Thrill-Makers

(1954)

AKA: Hollywood Stuntmen

A professional movie stuntman  is hurt while on location and a local boy  takes his place. The ex-stuntman turned agent on location is mighty impressed and takes the kid to Hollywood, where his career quickly takes off. The kid then wins the affections of the agent's daughter and the two marry, shortly after which he becomes injured during a risky stunt. The kid promises his wife he'll give up being a stunt man for good and convinces the professional stuntman whose injuries gave him his big break to take a risky but great-paying gig he had lined up. Something goes horribly wrong and the professional stuntman is killed. The kid feels guilty and, going back on his word to his wife, insists on doing the stunt himself.

This action film was directed by Bernard B. Ray and stars James Gleason, William Henry and Diana Darrin.

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The film wasn't well-received. The Monthly Film Bulletin called it an "Ineptly made, hashed up affair," while The Los Angeles Times said: "If you're interested in the antics of Hollywood stunt men, this one might interest you - but not much."

James Gleason is a familiar face in many a film. Among his credits: He co-wrote The Broadway Melody, the second film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as boxing manager Max 'Pop' Corkle in the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Gleason is also remembered for his distinguished performances in 1941's Meet John Doe, 1945's A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, 1945's The Clock, and 1955's The Night Of The Hunter.

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Stunts

(1977)

AKA: The Deadly Game

An expert stuntman is called in to finish stunts for a movie plagued by production problems and accidents. It turns out that his younger brother, who is also a stuntman, was killed in a mishap during filming... or so it seems. On a hunch, on the way to the shooting location, the stuntman picks up an ambitious journalist who's doing a story on stuntmen, hoping the writer will get to the bottom of things. Once on set, the situation grows dim as other stuntman lose their lives one by one while performing stunts for the film.  

This adventure thriller was directed by Mark L. Lester and stars Robert Forster, Fiona Lewis and Ray Sharkey.

Robert Forster replaced Don Stroud who had to drop out due to a motorcycle accident the day before shooting began.

Coincidentally, stuntmen Beau Gibson and Bud Davis and cameraman Daniel Pearl were burned when a house fire they were filming grew out of control.

This was the first film from New Line Cinema, which became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. in 2008, as a production company. For the previous 10 years New Line Cinema had existed solely as a distribution company. As Lester recalls, "they were distributing Truck Stop Women to college campuses and already had a script, so I was hired to direct it. We hired Robert Forster because he had done Medium Cool."  

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Animal

(1977)

AKA: L'Animal, El Animal, Stuntwoman

A good-for-nothing stuntman who can't do one single job without something going wrong gets shut out of the industry. His fiancée, a successful stuntwoman, is upset with him because film studios don't want to give him any more work. He ends up taking a job as King Kong, donning an ape suit to promote a local supermarket chain, but he can't even do that without screwing it up. The one and only role he plays well is when he pretends not to be able to hear, speak, and walk in order to get money from the government. However, his fortunes quickly reverse when an actor who is purportedly a fearless stuntman turns out to be afraid of heights... an actor for whom the good-for-nothing stuntman just happens to be a dead ringer.  

This French action comedy film was directed by Claude Zidi and stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Raquel Welch. It was distributed in the United States by Analysis Film Releasing Corp under the title Stuntwoman.

Most of the stunts in the film were done by Belmondo himself. This caused multiple injuries; a dislocated ankle after the scene on the steps of Sacré-Cœur, dislocation and a penetrating wound after the scene in which he is tumbles down a flight of stairs, and a chewed up ear after the fight scene with a tiger. Because of all the accidents, insurance companies refused to insure the aerial stunts and they had to be filmed last. Fortunately, they went off without a hitch, and Belmondo was able to realize his childhood dream of personally standing on the wing of a flying airplane!

After a couple of under-performing movies, Belmondo returned to the heights with this movie which was the fifth highest grossing movie of its year in France. It remains one of his most popular films.

This would prove to be Raquel Welch's final theatrical movie until 1994's Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. The reason why?

Welch was due to star in a 1982 adaptation of John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, opposite Nick Nolte, but was abruptly fired by the producers a few weeks into production. The studio claimed she was not living up to her contract, by refusing early-morning rehearsals, and was replaced with Debra Winger. It made for big headlines and Welch was deemed difficult and out of control. Welch sued MGM for breach of contract. Studio executives claimed in testimony the reason Welch was following through with the trial was that she was an actress over the age of 40 and generally actresses in that age range can't get roles anymore. Welch's evidence at trial proved there was a conspiracy to falsely blame her for the film's budget problems and delays. The jury sided with Welch and she won a $10.8 million verdict against MGM in 1986. 

However, the damage was done. 

Despite the win, Welch wished the whole episode never had happened. "I just wanted to clear my reputation and get back to my work, my work in movies", she said. Instead, she was blackballed by the industry and the incident affected her film career on the big screen from that moment on.

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Hooper

(1978)

An aging stuntman known as Hooper is still on top as one of the best stuntmen in the business. However, an up-and-comer is starting to do bigger and better stunts. Hooper has the experience to set up a stunt safely, while the new kid lacks the common sense to know when a stunt is too dangerous. Together, along with their fun loving buddies, they find a way to do a stunt which will surpass anything any other stuntman has ever done.

This action comedy was directed by Hal Needham and stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jan-Michael Vincent, Brian Keith, Robert Klein, James Best and Adam West.

Lamont Johnson was originally due to direct in 1975, but the project was shelved in 1976. It was reactivated in 1977 with Hal Needham as director, with Lawrence Gordon joining as executive producer.

 Warner Bros. studio wanted to use The Stuntman for the title of this film. However, director Richard Rush, who owned the film rights to a book of that name declined to allow that. The matter went to arbitration, and Rush won, as the title of the film had been sourced from Paul Brodeur's source novel which had the same title. So, Warner Bros. had to call the film something else which ended up being Hooper.

At the time of filming, Field and Reynolds were in a relationship, having met on the set of Smokey And The Bandit the previous year. This film was not a tribute to just stuntmen in general, but to the well-known stuntman Jock Mahoney, who just happens to be the stepfather of co-star Sally Field.  That's why Brian Keith's character is named Jocko.

It was rumored that the Robert Klein's character in the film was a send-up of Peter Bogdanovich, who had previously made two rather disastrous films starring Reynolds - 1975's At Long Last Love and 1976's Nickelodeon.

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The Stunt Man

(1980)

While on the run from the police, a man hides in a group of moviemakers where he pretends to be a stunt man. Both aided and endangered by the director, the wanted man avoids both the police and sudden death due to the dangerous stunts involved. The mixture of real danger and the fantasy of the movie blend, causing all involved - including the audience - to lose touch with reality.

Adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Richard Rush from the 1970 novel of the same name by Paul Brodeur. this action comedy was directed by Rush and stars Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and Barbara Hershey.

It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role - Peter O'Toole, Best Director - Richard Rush, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. However, due to its limited release, it never earned much attention from audiences at large. O'Toole once said: "The film wasn't released. It escaped."

The film had a long and tortured birth, the story of which was later captured in a documentary.

During the early 1970's, Columbia Pictures owned film rights to the novel, with Arthur Penn and François Truffaut under consideration to direct. Columbia offered the film to Richard Rush on the strength of the success of his previous film, Getting Straight. Rush initially rejected, then ultimately accepted the job. At that time, William Castle was slated to produce.

Rush then penned a 150-page treatment different from the book, but Columbia executives rejected the script, saying it was difficult to find a genre to place it in. Said Rush: "They couldn't figure out if it was a comedy, a drama, if it was a social satire, if it was an action adventure...and, of course, the answer was, 'Yes, it's all those things.' But that isn't a satisfactory answer to a studio executive." 

In light of the studio's refusal to play ball, Rush bought the film rights from Columbia and shopped the film to other studios, to no avail. Warner Bros. offered to allow Rush to make The Stunt Man, but only if it was filmed as a straight action movie, without all the artistic layering and illusions present in Rush's screenplay. Rush turned down the offer.

Funding for the picture finally came from Melvin Simon, who had made a fortune in real estate.

All in all, Rush worked on the project for nine years and then waited two years after the film was completed to get it released.

O'Toole is on record saying he based his character, a film director, on David Lean who directed him in Lawrence of Arabia and the rambunctious John Huston. Reportedly, when O'Toole first read the movie's script a few years prior to the film getting made, the actor said to Rush: "I am an articulate, intelligent man. I read the screenplay and if you don't give me the part I will kill you". A similar "I will kill you" line, spoken by O'Toole's character, was included in the film. In addition, O'Toole and Rush wore identical clothing throughout filming and O'Toole said his hair "was done every morning and through every take" by Richard Rush himself.

Richard Rush said of the film: "I was lecturing at a university film school to a bunch of potential film students and asked them if any of them had seen my films. I started with Color Of Night, and I'd say about 80 hands went up out of a room of about 200 kids. Then I asked if anyone had seen The Stunt Man, the film I actually wanted to talk to them about, and only two hands went up. Two hands in a room of 200! I thought, 'Oh boy, my film is totally lost on this generation...'"

Ryan O'Neal originally was slated to play the lead, but dropped out and was eventually replaced by Steve Railsback. Elia Kazan recommended Railsback to director Richard Rush. Although actors like Martin Sheen and Jeff Bridges were lobbying hard for the part of Cameron, Railsback clinched the part after director Richard Rush saw his stirring performance as Charles Manson in 1976's Helter Skelter. Once Rush decided on Peter O'Toole and Railsback as his leads, he waited a year and a half to make the picture with them, turning down chances to go forward with the pairing of O'Toole and Jeff Bridges, Sean Connery and Railsback, and George C. Scott and Sheen.

Peter O'Toole typically waited a full decade before watching one of his own films, but made an exception for this film. Alex Rocco saw him in the parking lot afterward and recalls O'Toole saying almost doubtfully, "I was good in this." Barbara Hershey recalls learning that O'Toole only watched 1962's Lawrence of Arabia for the first time during the filming of The Stunt Man, after which the actor immediately called up an ecstatic director David Lean to share the news.

The big end sequences including the bridge sequence were filmed while on the lam from the film's financiers who wanted the equipment returned. O'Toole said they spent the last weeks of filming essentially hiding from the executives based in LA in order to get the movie finished.

Stuntman A.J. Bakunas broke a leg partway through a high stunt fall, and you can see the snap around the 49 minute mark. He then had another 80 feet to fall! Sadly, Bakunas would never see the film's release; he died a few years later during an attempt at a record-setting fall which went sour on the set of 1979's Steel.

Many scenes were filmed in and around the historic Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California. The Hotel Del Coronado had previously been used as a location for the 1959 film Some Like It Hot. In addition, L. Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz while staying there and legend has it was where Edward VIII met Wallis Simpson for the first time.

Karen Black turned down the role of Nina, which eventually went to Barbara Hershey.

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next time...

Same time, same channel.

Theme from L'Animal - Vladimir Cosma 

feat. LAM Philharmonic Orchestra

from the 1977 motion picture L'Animal