The Stunt Man: What Do You Believe?

“The film is the first art form capable of demonstrating how matter plays tricks on man”.

- Walter Benjamin

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Action:

An escaped convict runs down to a river, breaks his manacles, and ends up on a bridge.

A car approaches. He tries to wave it down. The driver stops, opens his door, sees who it is, and kicks him out.

The convict falls to the ground, finds some metal parts scattered around him, and notes that the car has driven away, and begins to reverse.

While on the ground, he picks up one of those metal objects, hurls it at the car, and it goes over the edge.

And then a helicopter appears…

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“The film is the first art form capable of demonstrating how matter plays tricks on man... The camera... brings the man of the street into contact with things”.

- W.B.

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“The Stunt Man” is the film that I think deserves a second chance, more so now than ever before. When I first watched it as a child (the poster caught my attention), I wondered if I would ever be able to trust anything I saw on film. We all know about movies that play with the form – Hitchcock's “Rear Window” and DePalma's “Blow Out” come to mind - but Richard Rush’s 1980 classic does not get the respect that it deserves, despite everything it has to say about our current moment with media and perception.

That convict, played by Steve Railsback, is Cameron, a Vietnam veteran who was beginning to believe that his luck was running out as he saw the police approach the café where he thought he could hide and plan a new life. Instead, he stumbles upon a film set, gets caught on camera and finds a job as a stuntman…to replace the man he accidently killed.

And who do we see in that first shot, working behind the camera? Peter O’Toole, playing director Eli “The Barbarian” Cross, never even blinks when that helicopter rises from below and he see his new acquisition and we can see him taking it all in. At one point, he claims the following:

“If God could do the tricks we do, he’d be a happy man!”

An egoist; a meglomaniacal control freak; a bizarre talent; and a complete sociopath?

Yes, he is a film director working in the industry. And he is making a war film set during the World War One (strange to see it go down surrounded by palm trees and tourists taking it all in). He is really not a man to be told no, even if it means that there will be more loss of life.

This is the central conceit of the film: does he want Cameron (now Burt; named after the dead stuntman) to die? Would that give Cross the ending that would make a tawdry-looking film a box office hit?

I will not spoil this, except to say that there was very little about this idea that surprised me. What kept me going with the film was the ever-changing perceptions and the constant testing of reality.

I cannot shake the scene where Cameron makes it to a boardwalk and sees a painting being completed by a tourist and it matches perfectly with the scene in front of us (trompe the hell out of that l’oeil), or the scene where he rescues an old woman from the ocean and realizes that not only is she not an old woman – the pulled makeup and false teeth and wig are not perfect, but still… - but happens to be a celebrity he recognizes (Nina Franklin). Of course, if you just rescued Barbara Hershey, you are allowed to feel a little dazed and confused by what’s happening:

“It’s just like in the movies!”

Her response is too perfect:

“I am the movies.”

And she adds the following:

“Come on, please. I’ve always wanted someone to rescue me from something.”

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As I thought about writing this, I wondered if I should include some of the heavier thoughts by other experts and critics about film and the role of the director in this piece, but I am going to leave it to you (the Walter Benjamin quotes are enough for now). We have all lived in a media-soaked environment for too long now. It is a world where one side complains about it being fake, the other side complains about it being insensitive, and we all worry about the power of Artificial Intelligence. Well, AI never had to deal with Eli, the other crew who teach Cameron-Bud how the game is played (you could actually learn how to be a stuntman with the scenes of the celebrated expert Charles “Chuck” Bail as a stunt coordinator), or a movie that will not play by the rules that other productions follow. “The Stunt Man” deserves a second chance, and you will enjoy the ride.

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“Mankind[’s] … self alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order”.

- W. B.

And how…

Cut!

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Thank you for reading!

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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