I really want to talk about The Stunt Man with someone, d*mn it. Why this movie isn't better known remains a mystery to me. It's funny, insightful, dark, and Peter O'Toole steals my heart all over again each time I watch it.
I'm villifying you, for God's sake--pay attention!
It's one of my alltime favorite movies- Top 5, probably. And my favorite role of Peter's. He just OWNS the movie, even more than he usually does! And I too fall totally for him again whenever I see it. In the DVD commentary, Barbara Hershey says whatever you think working with Peter O'Toole would be like, whatever image you have of it, it's all that- but even better!
shareYes, this is my favorite O'Toole movie after Lawrence of Arabia. He's perfectly, absolutely perfect as Eli Cross!
I'm actually surprised at how good he looks in The Stuntman, considering it was his first role after his breakdown. He looks terribly gaunt and ill in My Favorite Year, which came later--but it guess that was the right look for the part, too. I hope he gets an Academy Award for Troy.
A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought. - Lord Peter Wimsey
Ah, you do know that O'Toole disappeared in the middle of making this movie? A frantic Rush found him halfway around the world, quite drunk, and rushed (no pun intended) him back to San Diego. One of the best "trivia games" regarding The Stunt Man is guessing which O'Toole scenes were filmed before the bender and which were filmed after...his appearance changed greatly, and there was much use of makeup to try to make him look "normal". As if you could make a potted movie legend playing a maniacal movie director "normal".
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I think this movies has one the best cast ever. I cannot see the movie without each of them in there place.
Start talking! This is a great movie. O'Toole is at his best, Herschey is something to see, and Steve Railsback is almost O'Toole's equal.
My favorite scene by far is the "confession" scene where he tells her why the police are after him.
Great lines in the movie: O'Toole: "besides, I've fallen madly in love with the dark side of your nature" and "it's not what he eats, but what's eating him that sorta makes it interesting" - nobody can deliver a line like O'Toole.
I used to think it was a real trajedy that he never won an oscar and would/did have to do with an honary oscar. The older I get, the more I realize just how much oscars are political (and always have been). Now, I think the fact that they awarded an oscar to him for just being him is by far a greater honor than "winning" a popularity contest.
What happened to Railsback after this? The next movie I saw him in was "Lifeforce" about 4 years later. Didn't see him again onscreen until a 30 second role in Eastwood's "IN the Line of Duty". He was great as Manson in "Helter Skelter", and then this movie, but it all went flat after that.
Back to the movie: Was Burt really dead? What do you think?
What happened to Railsback after this?
What?!? Railsback was incredible here. The movie might not have worked with another performer and was proabably the most perfect casting for the film, or at least its a toss up between him and O'Toole. If you want to see Railsback at his best, of course watch Helter Skelter, The Stunt Man and of equal impressiveness his his role as Duane Barry in season 2 of The X-Files. Incredible stuff.
shareI completely agree that Railsback was great in this film! He was perfect and captured the spirit of it just right. I just love the way you just don't know what to make of him (or anything else for that matter!)- is he a dangerous psychopath? Or a lovable vet with a sad and pitiable past? or both? Good Guy? Bad Guy? Stable??? The whole film is about perception and how we percieve different things. Rush himself said it was much about paranoia and the way it works on/in our minds. Anyway, Railsback kept me feeling slightly paranoid all the way through the movie (as did O'Toole and Hershey). I just couldn't put a finger on his character, and that was the point. Same with all the other characters - what were any of their real motives? What's really going on here??! Well, you just have to guess until the end...
shareRailsback was perfect: An actor pretending to be a Vietnam vet/escaped convict, pretending to be a stunt man, pretending to be an actor, pretending to be a WWI pilot...help mr. wizard... How many levels of artifice do we need to make us realize that it (this) is ALL artifice? One of the best movies ever, but, hey, I could be wrong.
shareI agree, I thought Railsback was great as Manson but was totally the weak link in the chain here. People often toss the "scenery chewing" epithet at Peter, but he's no match in any film for what Railsback displays in this one. Not a true note once. Really odd how he could go from hitting it so right as Manson - and that's tricky territory - to falling so flat when he should, seemingly, have had so much support. Wonder what the deal was.
shareHow nice to have some support. People have leapt to defend Railsback, and he really doesn't need protecting from me: I know he's good - his Ed Gein proves it.
But in Stunt his character was a stumbling block throughout, and I have no idea why. Maybe it was bad direction, or bad advice, but it's astounding that no-one seems to have suggested he turn down the wild-eyed fizzing. He was supposed to be haunted, but most of the time he appeared possessed!
I don't get it. His first words - about wishing his eagle tattoo could fly - sounded oddly over the top, and he never came down to earth after that. It's as though someone was bellowing 'more INTENSITY, Steve' right through filming.
Weird, Still a great film, though.
CD
Agreed. Railsback ruined the film for me. Goofballish and irritating.
Wish Malcolm McDowell had chosen to play the role of Cameron instead of Caligula released one year earlier.
The over-lit, zoom-happy, loose and jumpy cinematography and editing was really weak too.
This film is just so much fun and I looooooooooved Peter O’Toole’s hyper camp , control freak and slightly mad role as Eli Cross! It was great the way the plot carries off the film never allowing you to be completely at easy with neither of the characters. Barbara Hersey delivers as Nina Franklin together with hugely underrated Steve Railsback. The action is wicked and just shows you what you can achieve without CGI effects. Overall the DVD was worth every penny, it’s a film to watch over and over again.
shareThe Stunt Man has been my favorite film since I saw it at an art house in 1980 and 1 out 50 people I mention it to have even heard of it. One of the original release posters has the drawing of the devil in profile, peering through a panaflex camera and the quote across the top, "...if God could do the trick that we can do, he'd be a happy man!" It's generated more conversation than any other object in my home.
shareMy favorite scene is when Railsback falls all the way through that house.
shareI've always admired the way that O'Toole can deliver a line, making dialogue that seems quite ordinary on paper unforgettable on the soundtrack. He's spot-on throughout this film, but my favorite example is a short quip from another, far inferior film, What's New Pussycat? (good for lowbrow laughs when you're in the right mood). After being stuck in an elevator for hours with a beautiful woman, he emerges, looks at the rescuers and crowd of onlookers, and announces, "it was hell." If I could say it the way he did, I'd quote it often.
shareEvery one of the positive remarks herein are hereby seconded, and then some. Definitely one of the most inventive, unique, etc. etc. The girls seem intent on falling in love with O'Toole, but I found him intermittantly scary as hell. Kind of like Cameron/Burt: was he a nurturing father-figure, or a hellacious ego-maniac?? The best part is the overall surreal quality...never knowing what's real, what's F/x (the beach explosion), what's genuine in Eli and what is only directorial manipulation of actors' psyches. Is he willing to kill Cameron/Burt for the picture? Use him up and hand him over to the police? What about the scene where he manipulates the Hershey character into an embarrassing sexual confession in front of her parents before filming a scene for the movie? This is a great film.
"What we have here...is a failure to communicate."
You hit the nail on the head! What a great movie! And funny too. There were certainly some pretty solid out-there laughs as well.
shareMy favourite O'Toole dialogue quote, from My Favorite Year:
A middle-aged woman enters the Ladies Room to find a lightly-inebriated O'Toole peacefully pissing in the sink.
'This is for ladies,' she splutters, outraged.
O'Toole turns to her, smiling beatifically. 'So is this, madam,' he says. 'But every now and then I have to run a little water through it.'
CD
What I love about that scene is her reaction. Downright admiring.
shareAhh I just purchased the Directors Special two disc dvd of THE STUNT MAN, and wow.. it is spectacular.. , widescreen and There are two 5.1 EX stereo tracks., ( I had only heard this movie thru an old MAG video mono vhs tape back in the early 80's.) plus a dolby surround track as well. Now We can really pump up that score by Dominic Frontiere , ( didn't he do the music for The Outer Limits ?? ),, plus a fabulous directors commentary. as well a 114 minute featurette called The Sinister Saga., - the making of the Stunt Man., starring and featuring a lot of Richard Rush . - the director .
A lot of insight,, a lot of fun., and yes it truly is a magical film touching areas of illusion and comedy, and love and drama...
Got it on Ebay, new unwrapped for...... $ 8.68 !!!
I first saw The Stunt Man back in 1981 in the USSR. I remember that I left the movie theater covered with sweat. The weird drama had more action in it than any action movie I had seen. The movie grabbed me and never ever let go. In the USSR, it played in movie theaters for years (they bought about 2 to 5 US films a year), and each time I saw its title on a billboard I simply had to watch it, so I had watched it several dozen times in different cities (I used to travel a lot) before my friend managed to buy me a VHS copy of the movie somewhere in mid-90's. And last year I bought a 2-disc DVD box on Amazon for about 10 bucks (couldn't believe my luck).
When I first visited the US, I simply had to watch The Stunt Man in English (the Russian copy was perfectly voioce-dubbed) but it wasn't easy to find it in video rentals. My friend's mother finally managed to locate it in some Blockbuster, and I had a great night watching the original movie and trying not to miss any word that was spoken on the screen.
What else can I say? I love cinematography, and this movie is a hymn to cinema. I had to watch it a number of times before I understood its complexity and revealed all its layers, and even now that I remember each moment of the movie, it still overwhelms me each time I watch it. Peter O'Toole does wonders, and Steve Railsback and Barbara Hershey act better than in any other movie. The camera work is innovative, and the score... to say that it's fascinating is to say nothing.
Hear hear! All those interested in this movie -- read the last paragraph very carefully (What else can I say? I love cinematography...) It indeed describes The Stunt Man beautifully. It is a great movie - one of the best I've seen.
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