Les risque-tout

I have seen this one many times, every time I enjoy it, simple good story, good acting, stunts in stunts, beautiful women, Fiona Lewis, Joanna Cassidy and Candice Rialson. And, a very special presence, the unique face of Richard Lynch, great personality, even in a secondary role. Nice music, and great end..."just like in the movies" Well done!

It may perhaps be a very morbid statement, but it's also an undeniable truth that action movies are far more likely to gain a cult reputation when a stuntman actually dies on set. This is somewhat the hidden premise of "Stunts", an extremely low-budgeted but nevertheless compelling and entertaining late 70s popcorn flick directed by Mark L. Lester ("Class of 1984", "Commando"). The premise is processed into a "whodunit" scenario and a film-within-film narrative structure, complete with intrigues between the different cast and crew members and various red herrings regarding the possible identity of the saboteur/stuntman killer. Robert Forster tries hard to come across as the stoic and experienced stuntman, Glen Wilson, who joins the production of a low-keyed action vehicle to investigate the circumstances of the helicopter accident in which his younger brother (also a reckless stuntman) died. Glen is convinced that his brother's gear got sabotaged and that his death wasn't accidental, and he's obviously right, since more bizarre accidents occur on the set. Much more than Brian Trenchard-Smith's contemporary "Stunt Rock", Lester's "Stunts" gives us a handful of interesting insights in the world of movie stunt work and special effects. The film also wants us to believe that stuntmen form a sort of sacred community that performs specific funeral rituals and make pacts to "pull the plug" when one of them ends up living as a vegetable when a stunt goes wrong. I don't know if there's any truth in all this, but admittedly it ensures a couple of memorable scenes. Robert Forster's acting is rather wooden, but I enjoyed the roles of familiar faces in the supportive cast, such as Ricard Lynch as the arrogant special effects wizard and Bruce Glover as stuntman Chuck who makes a really nasty fall from a six-stores tower.

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.

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.

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.