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The dozen films from director Richard Rush are mostly undistinguished except for a little gem he produced in 1980 called The Stunt Man, which garnered him two Academy Award nominations for both writing and directing. Based on a novel by Paul Brodeur, The Stunt Man is a film that defies easy categorizing. It’s an action-filled, dark, comedic satire on the film industry; it also has touches of a romance. It’s a seemingly serious tale of a fugitive Vietnam War veteran who accidentally causes the death of a Hollywood stunt man. He is eventually sheltered by the film’s production company as he becomes the stunt man’s replacement.
The film is a joyous blend of thrilling stunt preparations and executions with a strange blend of wonderment of what is in fact reality in a world of illusions and make believe. B-actor Steve Railsback is Cameron, the fugitive who becomes a paranoid, yet skilled stunt man, never knowing when the film’s director will be leading him into more peril than the script prescribes. The wonderfully flamboyant Peter O’Toole plays Eli Cross, the god-like auteur director who forever is swooping down on the film crew from his maneuvering crane, or screaming from a helicopter window. O’Toole reportedly based his characterization on the great David Lean, his director for Lawrence of Arabia. Barbara Hershey is the leading lady, Nina Franklin, who is the love interest of Cameron. And Allen Goorwitz is the ever faithful but frustrated screenwriter, Sam.
The film works well as a thriller, always keeps you guessing where it may go, and O’Toole’s comedic, Oscar-nominated performance practically steals the show in this overlooked cult classic.
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