Rating: Summary: Of all the movies I have ever seen, this is in the top 10! Review: Believe what you hear about this movie and then expect more! When I got a divorce after 20 years this movie was the first item listed in the property settlement... I was to get it! I did, he erased it first, though. Watch and enjoy, never before or since have I been on such a rollercoaster ride. It is definitely Peter O'Toole's best.
Rating: Summary: BEST Sleeper movie out there -- A MUST SEE!! Review: Definitely not a title most people have heard of, this movie is on my Top 10 list of ALL time. One of the best performances I've ever seen - given by Peter O' Toole - fuels this rollercoaster ride of a movie about making a movie. O' Tooles best work (along with Creator) this movie should have taken the Oscars but didn't have the names of Raging Bull. "If God could do the things that we could do he'd be a happy man" spouts O'Toole on one of scene-stealing tirades. A must-see for TRUE movie buffs!
Rating: Summary: Don't Be Misled by the Hype...It's barely watchable! Review: Don't be misled by the hype surrounding this movie... it may have become a cult film, but contrary to all the glowing reviews, I found it barely watchable!Steve Railsback seems to be sleepwalking through the movie, he can barely act, and slurrs his lines routinely... the excellent Barbara Herschey is hopelessly miscast as a flighty star, and only the superb Peter O'Toole saves this movie from being a total waste of time (and even so, he hams it up a bit too much.) The script, though imaginative, is filled with ridiculous turns and silly contrivances (example: in a crucial beginning turn, the original stunt man first stops to give Cameron a ride, then he kicks him out of the car, and turns around to roll over him. Why? What? How? This crucial turn is never explained further.) Get this DVD if you are a super fan of Peter O'Toole, otherwise don't waste your time!
Rating: Summary: DIDN'T FLIP MY MINNOW Review: Don't get me wrong. This is not a bad movie. It just doesn't compare to Citizen Kane in innovation. Really, some LA Times reporter wrote that! I guess I'm supposed to watch this numerous times, but it just wasn't that interesting to me. Where's the innovation? The crane?(Golly gee Cletus, I never seen a crane that big before) The reflected faces? The cliched lines of the Vietnam Vet? Then there is that quote that's always bandied about, "You're an actor playing a stuntman playing an actor..." I understand what he is saying, it's just not very pithy. I kept waiting for the big suprise, the part of the movie that floored me. It never came. I wasn't drawn into an anti-reality, didn't see a dual reality and did not see any allegory. To some reviewers this is the greatest film ever. There's a guy at DVD Verdict who wrote that this film changed the way he looked at movies. I didn't see that. I watched a movie, that while good, was not thought provoking. I suppose I should watch it again, but it just didn't flip my minnow.
Rating: Summary: Its a great movie...never heard of it Review: Good thing someone did me a favor and tell me about Richard Rush's film. I like this film because its funny and has action and some romance and best of all...Peter O'Toole. How could this picture have been so obsure? Lets thank Anchor Bay for bring this cult classic into port. I mean it did get nominated for three academy awards (director, screenplay, and an actor nomination for O'Toole). Its about a convict, named Cameron, who hides out in a movie production. The director, played by O'Toole, makes him a deal that will could Cameron a free man or a dead man. Its strange, oh wow is it strange, remember its a movie in a movie. Just try and pay attension to what really is real. This is a film that if anything test our limits of perception. Any picture that has a dog licking its testicles in the first minute has got to be something of a different breed. Its different, and that's good. Believe me, we need fresh films like this now.
Rating: Summary: Good Review: I actually think the movie is clunky and clumsily done, and the Del Coronado Hotel scene is ridiculous if you've ever been on a movie set. Movies are not filmed that way!! BUT Peter O'Toole gives one of the most charismatic performance ever put to film, and for his performance alone I recommend this film. If his performance doesn't impress you, then you remind me of George Bernhard Shaw's line about London, "If you're bored with London, you're bored with life." If O'Toole doesn't impress you, then you've probably got a BIG Garth Brooks record collection. Mediocrity is your palate.
Rating: Summary: Brilliant Hall of Mirrors Review: I believe The Stunt man is one of the greatest films ever made. On one level, it's a fascinating look at the making of a movie --the often volatile relationships, power struggles and behind the scenes manipulations. It's really, however, about something much more fundamental. Steve Railsback plays a fugitive who hides out on a movie set and becomes a stunt man. Peter O'Toole is a meglomaniacal director who is either helping or exploiting --and possibly even planning to murder-- Railsback. To further complicate matters, Railsback falls in love with the leading lady of the film, played by Barbara Hershey. Who can trust whom? What is real? The movie set becomes a metaphor for the uncertainties of life itself, a theme that was later explored in The Truman Show, a film that was good but not as profound as The Stunt Man. This is one of those films that, if it grabs you as it did me, you can literally watch over and over again and pick up new insights.
Rating: Summary: Ride the ride of the century on Eli's killer crane.... Review: I check from time to time for movies that have never been released on DVD with hope in my heart. And now, FINALLY, my favorite movie OF ALL TIME is getting the DVD special edition treatment that it deserves. F A N T A S T I C ! ! ! I first saw this film at the age of 15 on the pay service ON-TV, (everyone who remembers that, raise your hand). And instantly fell in love with its characters and story. This film has it all... Drama, comedy, action, romance, mystery.... Every performance is right on - Everyone involved is at the top of their game. A great soundtrack. And more great lines than you usually find in a dozen films... I'm especially stoked, because although this is my favorite film of all time and I've seen it MANY times, I never got to see it in a theater... Seeing my favorite film in animorphic wide screen on my new 65" Mitsubishi wide-screen TV... WOW!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Slams the sensibilities Review: I walked out on THE STUNT MAN (in 1982) following a scene in which one of O'Toole's actresses is portraying an old woman who is getting her kicks from a swinging toy that depicts a bear/human coupling. I don't consider myself a prude (I love Kubrick's CLOCKWORK ORANGE, which outraged audiences when it came out), but Rush's undisguised contempt for his audience came across clearly. I took it personally. This movie is for people who have a masochistic streak, and want to be beaten up in the figurative sense. No wonder Rush hasn't made many movies in the last couple of decades; movies like THE STUNT MAN make you feel like you've been run over by a semi and dragged a few hundred yards.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Film, Delivers on many levels! Review: If there ever was a film that deserved to be called 'one of a kind', this is one of them. It is so good it deserves multiple viewings. I have always thought of it as a black comedy, but it's also exciting and suspeseful. The screenplay and plot may not seem so tightly-wound on your first viewing but they are, the screenplay is amazing giving O'Toole lots of juicy dialogue. I believe that a film must make you feel lots of things, that is what 'The Stunt Man' does it plays around with you just as O'Toole is playing around with Railsback's character, most people don't like this, but viewers who actually know a little something about movies and are open minded will love it. Railsback is OK as a vietnam-vet-turned-stunt-man who is already having reality/fantasy problems which escalate through the roof when he meets O'Toole's character. O'Toole clearly steals the film as God-like Eli Cross, his performance is amazing and his dialogue is so juicy you find youself playing his scenes over and over. Barbara Hershey is also great in a supporting role as the woman between O'Toole and Railsback. Richard Rush directed the film with an eccentrci mood and beautiful pace, I wonder why he never made any more films. This film comes highly recommended, the problem is that not everyone is ready for this kind of films so I recommend filling in on filmdom's most accesible classics so you can adquire judgement and enjoy these little treasures. Great film, great entertainment. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film an 8!
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