The Stunt Man
The Stunt Man on DVD |
The Stunt Man: Limited Edition on DVD |
The Sinister Saga of Making "The Stunt Man" on DVD |
Chances are, you never saw Richard Rush's
1979 rumination on reality and illusion, The Stunt Man. That's too bad because it's
an exuberant celebration of life, love, and the power of art. It's also hilariously funny
and action-packed. No wonder Hollywood didn't know what to do with it.
Based on Paul Brodeur's novel, The Stunt Man follows
a desperate drifter's (Steve Railsback) flight from the police. He literally stumbles into
the middle of a movie being made -- in fact, he's the sole witness to the apparent death
of a stunt man. In order to keep the authorities from closing down his film, director Eli
Cross (Peter O'Toole) conceals the stunt man's death by helping the drifter assume the
missing man's identity -- and job.
Now blond and clean shaven, newly yclept "Lucky,"
the drifter sets about learning his new trade. What's unclear -- to him as well as the
audience -- is whether the stunts he's attempting are simply movie-making illusions or are
they as dangerous as they appear. Is Eli Cross really helping him or is he trying to kill
him?
Just to make life more complicated, Lucky falls hard for
the film's leading lady (Barbara Hershey). If he leaves, he loses her, but if he stays
he'll either be found out by the obviously suspicious police chief or, worse, run the risk
of being killed by Cross.
The film's pace is non-stop. One situation piles upon the
next. The illusions of filmmaking are trumped by the outlandishness of real life, and real
life stands no chance against a director like Peter O'Toole's slippery, saturnine Cross.
O'Toole is as good here as he has ever been -- he was
nominated for an Academy Award for this role. His Eli Cross is an obsessed artist,
endlessly amused by the plot of real life, but never subservient to it. It's just raw
material waiting to be bent to the will of a master craftsman. He's in constant motion,
swooping about in his helicopter or silently dropping into scenes on his camera crane, or
scooting out of the frame on a dolly. Even when he's seemingly at rest, his mind is
darting about, causing him to constantly twit Sam the screenwriter (Alan Goorwitz) or
tease, insult, or cajole cast members in attempts to elicit better on-screen responses
from them. He seems to feel, like Faulkner, that one "Ode to a Grecian Urn" is
worth any number of little old ladies.
Railsback, too, is perfect here -- and unlike O'Toole,
there's nothing else in his career to suggest such ability. His drifter is sheer animal
cunning. The only thing keeping him from clinical paranoia is the fact that the police really
are out to get him. As Lucky, he begins to develop other attributes -- first pride in
doing a good job, then an ability to love, and finally, the rare talent of actually
enjoying life.
Although the film was made in 1979, it sat on the shelf for
a full year before its release amidst rumors that the studio -- or, at least someone in
the studio -- hated it. I saw it several weeks after its premiere and it was
already showing only in second-run repertory theaters -- the early '80s equivalent to
going straight to video. As a result, almost nobody saw The Stunt Man, so O'Toole
didn't win the Oscar (Robert De Niro did, for Raging Bull, so there's no certainty
O'Toole would have won even if The Stunt Man had been huge). More importantly,
director Richard Rush never got his due for producing such a perfect gem of a movie.
The Stunt Man is available as either a single DVD or
as a two-disc Limited Edition, which includes a 104-minute documentary, The
Sinister Saga of Making The Stunt Man (which is also available separately). The
single-disc version has a director's commentary track, trailers, and DVD-ROM access to the
shooting script, which is all I really ask for. While I'm sure the documentary is
interesting, it's not worth an extra 15 bucks to me.
The DVD isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than the terrible
laserdisc version. The video transfer is bright and clear for the most part, but some
scenes come across as hazy and a few show digital artifacts, especially in action-packed
scenes involving vast amounts of sky. The sound is pretty good, although the score ends up
in the surrounds most of the time, with all the action taking place in the front three
channels. I didn't find this burdensome, but some viewers might be distressed by it -- you
know who you are. More objectionable, in my opinion, was an overall paucity of true
dynamic contrast, which perhaps is a blessing in disguise for those of you who are forced
to watch films only late at night. The DVD lists compatibility with DTS-ES and in Dolby
Digital Surround EX, but I couldn't take advantage of it. I don't expect either format
would result in radically different sound from straight Dolby Digital, though.
These are exceedingly minor quibbles compared to the great
news that The Stunt Man is now available to a wide audience for the first time in
its history. Take advantage of it -- if you don't know the film, you've got a genuine
treat in store. If you do know it, you won't need my urging to get to know it all over
again.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
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