The Stunt Man

Cameron, a Vietnam veteran who is wanted for attempted murder, is caught by police but escapes. Crossing a bridge, he dodges a car that seems to be trying to run him down; when he turns around, the car has disappeared. A helicopter flies close to the bridge and a man inside looks at Cameron. Later, Cameron is attracted to a movie shoot—a World War I battle scene. Afterwards, he notices an older woman who walks through the set greeting the actors, then falls in the water. Cameron dives in to rescue her and is horrified when she pulls off her face—a mask. She is the movie's leading actress, Nina Franklin, testing make-up for scenes set late in her character's life. The director, Eli Cross, the man in the helicopter, descends from the sky on his camera crane. He offers Cameron a job, explaining that their last stunt man just ran a car off a bridge. They haven't found the body, and Eli can't afford the production delays if police get involved. The police chief is aware of the accident but Eli convinces him that Cameron is the stuntman. Cameron accepts the job. Eli shows the police film footage that seems to show that Cameron was never on the bridge. Denise, the film's hair stylist, dyes Cameron's hair in order to make him resemble the leading man, Raymond Bailey, and harder to recognize. Cameron is convinced Eli is selling him out to the police but Eli reassures him that he is not. Cameron learns from Chuck, the stunt coordinator, and films a scene where he is chased across the roof of a large building and falls through a skylight into a bordello. At the same time, Cameron gets involved with Nina, who once had a romance with Eli, who becomes jealous of Cameron. The last shoot at the current location involves Cameron's most difficult stunt, driving off a bridge and escaping under water—the same scene Burt was shooting when he died. Cameron believes Eli is trying to kill him, and will use the stunt to make it look like an accident. The morning before the shoot Cameron tells Nina he planned to open an ice cream shop when he got home from Vietnam with a friend, but his friend did not want Cameron around because Cameron's girlfriend had left Cameron for the friend. Enraged, Cameron destroyed the ice cream shop. When a cop showed up, Cameron knocked him out, leaving his head freezing in a bucket of ice cream, resulting in an attempted murder charge. Nina and Cameron plan to escape together: Nina will hide in the trunk of the car, which Cameron will drive away in the morning instead of driving off the bridge. Chuck has planted an explosive in one of the tires to make the car's tumble look more realistic. Cameron starts the scene too early. The car goes into the water when Chuck triggers the exploding tire, and Cameron scrambles to reach Nina in the trunk, until he looks out the window and sees Nina with Eli on the bridge. The air bottle Cameron is supposed to use to breathe seems to have been sabotaged, but he is able to get out of the car anyway. Cameron emerges and notices there were divers in the water with him all the time. Nina tells him that she was found in the trunk hours before the shoot, and Eli told her Cameron had decided to do the stunt. Eli explains that he would not let Cameron run off thinking he was trying to kill him. The best way to convince Cameron of Eli's good will, Eli felt, was to make sure Cameron got through the stunt in one piece. Cameron, though furious, is amused and relieved to survive. Cameron and Eli bicker over Cameron's pay and plan to catch a plane to the production's next location. ==Cast==

Shortly after Paul Brodeur published the original novel, his Harvard University classmate Frederick Wiseman initially agreed to direct an adaptation but quickly departed the project. Columbia Pictures held on to the film rights to the novel, and considered either Arthur Penn or François Truffaut to direct it. They both expressed interest but declined in favor of other projects, although they did incorporate elements of the film into their projects Day for Night (1973) and Night Moves (1975). Columbia Pictures finally offered the film to Richard Rush on the strength of the success of his previous film, Getting Straight. Rush initially rejected, then ultimately accepted directing The Stunt Man. In July 1971, Columbia announced that Rush would direct the film with William Castle as executive producer. Rush then penned a 150-page treatment different from the book; in the novel, the characters were all crazy, and in the screenplay, they were instead "sane in a world gone mad." The genre-defying film was essentially completed by August 1979 but could not immediately find a distributor and was handicapped by indifferent test screenings and Simon's lack of interest in the final product. But Seattle Post-Intelligencer film critic William Arnold saw it that same month in a private screening at Rush's house and was so taken with it, and sure it would work for an audience set up in advance for its unconventionality, that he lobbied other critics like Pauline Kael and Gene Siskel on its behalf and lavishly praised it in a feature story designed to pull an overflow audience to a test screening at Seattle's Overlake Theater on August 25. That screening was so successful it led to a forty-three week run at Seattle's Guild 45th Theater, followed by similarly successful one-theater runs in Dallas and Westwood, Los Angeles. There were further delays due to continual conflict between Rush and Simon, and a heart attack Rush suffered in the autumn of 1979, but after the film won the Grand Prize at the 1980 Montreal World Film Festival, it was picked up for distribution by 20th Century Fox on November 3, 1980. Peter O'Toole mentions in his DVD commentary that he based his character on David Lean who directed him in Lawrence of Arabia. ==Reception==

Reviewing it upon its release, Roger Ebert wrote "there was a great deal in it that I admired... [but] there were times when I felt cheated". He gave the film two stars but noted that others had "highly recommended" it. In an October 17, 1980, review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin noted "the film's cleverness is aggressive and cool," but concluded that although "the gamesmanship of The Stunt Man is fast and furious... gamesmanship is almost all it manages to be". Jay Scott called it "[t]he best movie about making a movie ever made, but the achievement merely begins there. ... Imagine a picture an eight-year-old and Wittgenstein could enjoy with equal fervor." Pauline Kael considered it "a virtuoso piece of kinetic moviemaking" and rated it one of year's best films; she called O'Toole's comic performance "peerless". , the comedy drama film held a 91% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 43 reviews. The critics consensus states, "The Stunt Man is a preposterously entertaining thriller with a clever narrative and Oscar-worthy (nomination, at least!) Peter O'Toole performance." In 2025, The Hollywood Reporter listed The Stunt Man as having the best stunts of 1980. == Awards ==

• Montreal World Film Festival – Grand Prix des Amériques (Best Film) for Richard Rush • Golden Globe Awards – Best Original Score for Dominic Frontiere • National Society of Film Critics Awards – Best Actor for Peter O'Toole Nominations The Stunt Man received three Oscar nominations: • Best Director – Richard Rush • Best Actor – Peter O'Toole • Best Adapted Screenplay – Lawrence B. Marcus, Richard Rush The Stunt Man also received five Golden Globe nominations: • Best Motion Picture • Best Director – Richard Rush • Best Screenplay – Lawrence B. Marcus, Richard Rush • Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama – Peter O'Toole • New Star of the Year – Actor – Steve Railsback ==Home media==

The Stunt Man was released on DVD on November 20, 2001, in two versions by Anchor Bay Entertainment. The first version is a standard release featuring two deleted scenes and a commentary by director Richard Rush. The second version is a limited edition (100,000 copies) containing everything from the standard release as well as the 2000 documentary The Sinister Saga of Making "The Stunt Man". The film's theme song "Bits & Pieces" is sung by Dusty Springfield. ==See also==