The Stunt Man (1980)

The Stunt Man is one of those cult films that a certain group of people will absolutely love, while a larger group will find worthwhile but not anything to get really excited about. I fall firmly into the larger group. There's a lot of worthwhile stuff going on in this movie but screenplay writer Richard Rush gave director Richard Rush more than he could ultimately handle. The Stunt Man is a about a fugitive (Steve Ralisback) who accidentally wanders onto a movie set, accidentally kills a stuntman and then is bribed to take his place by the films eccentric director (Peter O'Toole). He falls in love with the leading lady (Barbara Hershey) and slowly comes to believe that the director is trying to kill him. The film attempts to blur the line between reality and imagination and does a very good job of doing so. Scenes from the film within the film flow seamlessly with scenes representing real life and do a good job of confusing the viewer much like the faux stunt man becomes confused. O'Toole is fantastic as the maniacal, ego driven, obsessive and manipulative director. He was nominated for an academy award and it was well deserved. He almost singlehandedly carries the movie. On the opposite end of that spectrum is Ralisback. Quite simply, he is not a skilled enough actor to carry a two hour feature film. Some character actors should only be character actors and his performance in the lead role really hurts The Stunt Man. The tone of the movie is also all over the map and while that can work if done right (and is almost assuredly the main reason this movie has a cult following), Rush just couldn't pull it all together and the film as a whole never quite clicks. It's still worth checking out and maybe you'll love it but I personally won't be visiting it again.

Rating: 3