The Stunt Man – Review

A fairly unique experience, The Stunt Man features some well blended genres. As Vietnam veteran Cameron (Railsback) sits at a diner bar, the cops move in on him, as he is a wanted man. He notices one officer and gets up to try and blend in, moving to a pinball machine in the corner. Another cop slides in to block his exit out the side door. Uh oh.

Cameron is cuffed, but then makes a quick and surprising move to flee out the back of the restaurant, running through the hills and some yards while the coppers blast off shots at his rear. None land, and Cameron continues his escape. Finally, he hits a bridge, and a very nice classic car is driving along it. He puts his thumb up to catch a hitch, but the driver passes. Eventually it slows to a stop and Cameron hops inside.

After a very strange event on the bridge, the driver of the car is deceased and the car is in the water below. It appears that this was potentially part of a movie set… and the director Eli Cross (O’Toole) flies by in a helicopter, noting Cameron, who runs off again.

Cameron looks to stay out of the crosshairs of the law, and has stumbled into a WWII movie which is being filmed over three days in San Diego outskirts. As Cross ropes Cameron into his film as a stunt man, basically to replace his dead one, things get wilder and wilder for most everyone involved.

The Stunt Man is far too long, but it is a different type of film than most I have seen. While based on a book, apparently, they two differ quite a bit. The film version brings in a lot of Hollywood satire and takes shots at movie-making left and right. It is also packed with interesting stunts, and great performances, especially from O’Toole who anchors the entire picture.

There is a lot of fun to be had, as well as plenty of psychological elements. Reality and illusion blur together often, as do genuine and faked behaviors. Cross is a devious director who will do whatever it takes to get the shots he needs. Cameron is a war vet who is now in a world he does not understand, and almost treats him worse than the jungles of Vietnam. Nina Franklin (Hershey) is one of the film’s stars who knows what she must do to remain in the director and Hollywood’s best graces.

The film is just a wild time, featuring a good plot and sound direction. The twisting script must have been fun for most all of the actors involved, and it also must have been pretty tough to shoot for the director, who did a great job reigning in its craziness. It really is a good time all around and full of psychological chaos, but again, it goes on far too long. If it had been trimmed, I believe it still could have said what it needed to without losing much steam, however I also suspect it was hard for the director to lose any shots as they were all pretty hard to produce.

This one is hard to compare to others outright, but features some elements of the below films.