The Stunt Man

Richard Rush's The Stunt Man (1980) is one of the most joyously bizarre films ever made. Released after a seven-year period of gestation, it got rave reviews but quickly dropped from public eye. It's fully deserving of its cult status, as a creative, original and hilarious piece of work.

Cameron (Steve Railsback) is a fugitive who accidentally kills a movie stunt man while fleeing a police dragnet. Cameron runs across Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole), the film's megalomaniac director, who conscripts Cameron as a stunt man in exchange for sheltering him from the law. The set is a constant battleground between Eli, his stars and his crew as they try to make the movie - a rather-bad looking World War I epic - into a "grand" statement. Cameron quickly adapts to his new job, romancing leading lady Nina (Barbara Hershey), but becomes increasingly convinced that Eli is planning to kill him in the film's final stunt - the same "car over a bridge" trick that doomed his predecessor.

The Stunt Man is among the best films ever made about Hollywood. Rush deftly plays with our perception of reality, with seemingly every scene cloaked in ambiguity. Everything, from the action on screen to the motives, backstories and even identities of the protagonists, remains shrouded in uncertainty throughout, every other scene a well-executed red herring and misdirection. The principal mystery seems to be Eli: an egomaniac playing God for a living, he seems to revel in manipulating his employees and keeping them in the dark, and Cameron can only guess at what he's up to.

Rush takes full advantage of this sleight-of-hand. The deception starts with some silly gags but is put to more substantial use as the film goes along. We know a film-within-a-film is being shot, but the action scenes manage to be exciting in their own right. The climax may seem predictable, but in Rush's hands it becomes genuinely suspenseful. The witty script (penned by Rush and Lawrence B. Marcus) helps matters, showing the movie's set as a hilarious den of ego, back-biting and pettiness ("How *dare* you yell cut on my set!?"). Everyone wants to "re-write" the story (figuratively or literally), but in this case the director gets ultimate authority.

Rush's direction is generally solid, handling the action with aplomb and keeping things moving at a brisk pace. The clever storytelling is served by the direction, which keeps everything exciting and ambiguous to the very end. There's also a nice score from Dominic Frontiere to commend.

Peter O'Toole got one of his eight Oscar nods for his hysterical, pitch-perfect portait of a frothing mad "auteur". Not his best or most challenging part, O'Toole's manic energy, obsessiveness and obscure motives nonetheless steal the show. Steve Railsback (Helter Skelter) gives a wonderfully ambiguous performance, and the luscious Barbara Hershey shines as "his" leading lady. The supporting cast holds up their end well: Allan Garfield as the neurotic screen writer, Chuck Baird as the impatient stunt chief, and Alex Rocco (The Godfather) as a short-tempered Sheriff.

The Stunt Man is certainly a unique and creative film. It won't appeal to everyone, but it's fully deserving of its praise and worth a look.