Les risque-tout

With All Due Respect to the Stuntman Profession and the Death Defying Daring-Do, this Movie is a Bland, but sometimes Realistic Tribute.

The Subject is usually better in a Documentary Format and it is a Noble Try to make it into an Action-Drama, but at least in this one, it comes off as Cheesy and Surprisingly Ineffective and the Drama here is just Awful.

Awful Writing, Awful Music, Awful Mystery. What saves the Movie from being Worthless is the On Screen setting up of the various Stunts with attention to Details about the Methods and Machines used to Pull Off the Magic.

These Scenes are well Photographed and Clearly Presented and the Mechanics behind the Stunts is Informative and Invites Viewer Curiosity. But other than that the Movie Strains to be a Movie and is as Intriguing as an Average TV Episode of an Average TV Show.

Robert Forster, Joanne Cassidy, and some Real Stunt Men make every Effort to Entertain but are Betrayed by a Boring Script and a General Feeling of just Going Through the Motions.

It's Baffling Lack of Energy and Suspense has to be Laid at the Feet of the Writer and the Director who Produce a Movie Homage about Movie Stuntmen and if the Movie Itself was a Stunt, Everyone would call for a Do Over.

This neat little sleeper of a movie, which is a pre-cursor to the more mainstream THE STUNTMAN, grabs you from the first few minutes and takes you on a wild ride right up to the end. When stuntman Greg Wilson (Gary Davis) meets a grisly end while on location with a film company, his brother Glen (Robert Forster) shows up to complete the film in his place, and find out what really happened.

Several more stuntmen meet their demise and it's really looking bad for the Special Effects man Pete Lustig (Richard Lynch). Lustig is a strange fellow to be sure, but is he capable of cold-blooded murder? The surviving stuntmen seem to think so as the bodies continue to pile up.

Meanwhile reporter BJ Parswell (Fiona Lewis) arrives to do a story on the mysterious deaths and finds herself right in the middle of it all. The action-packed ending will have you on the edge of your seat as the killer is finally revealed.

I liked this film, it wasn't as good as THE STUNTMAN, but not bad either. Forster, who resembles Robert Blake, is great as tough guy Glen. You find yourself rooting for him to find the real killer. Lynch does a fine job as the creepy, lone-wolf Lustig, yet he has such a sad, puppy-dog quality to him that you find yourself hoping he's not the one. It's hard to hate someone who seems so lonely and left out. And Lewis is superb as the bitchy reporter who turns out to be pretty nice and who ends up helping to solve the mystery.

Small drive in film that is really well made and entertaining. The story is straight forward and easy to follow. Someone is tampering with stunt props resulting in what appear to be accidents causing the death of multiple stuntmen. No motive is apparent, and there appear to be a number of culprits who could be the doing this. Robert Forster is the Brother of one of the victims, and he more or less takes his Brother's spot on the stunt team. As the death rate climbs, Forster remains determined to see justice done. No police are involved, as stuntmen have their own way of dealing with a comrades demise. The cast is strong, and includes the always interesting Richard Lynch. This is a movie to seek out, if you enjoy low budget films that are a very pleasant surprise. - MERK

I wish I saw "Stunts" when it first came out. I would have been thirteen years old and I would have loved every second of it. Watching it today, I liked a whole bunch of it. This movie has goodwill to spare. The cast is very likeable and most of them give nice performances. The story is silly but the stunts are cool so that balances out. The location photography is very good. I feel like visiting that hotel. All in all, I plan on watching "Stunts" again real soon. Honorable mention: Ray Sharkey.

STUNTS opens with a pair of black-gloved, up-to-no-good hands, as they tamper with a helicopter's safety line. Not long after, a stuntman tumbles from the same craft.

Splat!

Enter Glen Wilson (Robert Forster), who also happens to be a stuntman. Attempting to uncover the truth about his brother's demise, Wilson finds out what we already know.

Soon, Wilson's stuntman friends start having tragic "accidents" of their own.

While not overly thrilling, this movie does hold its own as a murder mystery. Forster is as good as ever, and he's joined by Fiona Lewis as stranded reporter, BJ Parswell.

Co-stars the wonderful Joanna Cassidy and Richard Lynch...