The Stunt Man (1980)

The Stunt Man is an inventive and surprising movie that I saw in the theater on its release. It's the picaresque story of Lucky (Steve Railsback), a fugitive who lies low working as a movie stuntman. This movie is known for showing how movies do stunts as well as playfully reframing juxtaposed scenes. For example, we see Lucky falling off a plane wing as he is practicing a wing-walking scene. Then, cut to a closeup of his face undergoing some apparent impact as we conclude he's just had the stuffing knocked out of him -- when the camera pulls back to reveal it's a completely different setting. You'll constantly find your assumptions being tweaked -- and it's a sexy movie too. My second-favorite scene is how Barbara Hershey, his love interest, yanks him from a cold start to a spin cycle the first time. Peter O'Toole chews through scenes as the megalomaniacal director of the movie within the movie, so there's also the potential for betrayal and sabotage and murder as our story gradually winds itself between the bookend dramatic scenes at the beginning and at the climax. Oh, they supposedly destroyed one of four surviving models of the 13 original hand-built Duesenbergs to film the scene, so you could be tempted to say "It's a real Duesy!" -- the car is the origin of the phrase "It's a real doozy!" -- but the survivor count remains at four today, so like their other movie tricks, the Deusenberg appears to have had a stand-in too. 4 stars.