Hooper is a 1978 action-comedy motion picture starring Burt Reynolds, based loosely on the experiences of director Hal Needham, a one-time stuntman in his own right. It serves as a tribute to stuntmen and stuntwomen in what was at one time an underrecognized profession.
Plot summary
Veteran stuntman Sonny Hooper, known in Hollywood as "the greatest stuntman alive," is currently working as Adam West's stunt double on the fictitious action film The Spy Who Laughed At Danger.
Hooper's on-set antics and wisecracks are a trial for egotistical director Roger Deal, and even more so for Deal's bossy assistant Tony, who gets Hooper in trouble with the Humane Society over a stunt involving a dog. Furthermore, the years of self-abuse on and off the set are fast catching up with Hooper, with the numerous stunts -- and an addiction to painkillers -- beginning to take their toll on his body.
Hooper lives with his girlfriend Gwen Doyle, whose father Jocko is a retired stuntman himself. Upon coming home from work one evening, Hooper is goaded by a friend into performing at a benefit show. It is there that he first meets Delmore "Ski" Shidski, a young newcomer who makes his entrance in spectacular style, much to Hooper's chagrin.
The two do become friends that night after a barroom brawl with a pack of rowdy out-of-towners, including football great Terry Bradshaw. Later everybody goes to Hooper's place to watch films of Sonny's past stunts (during which footage from Reynolds' film Deliverance is seen). And an invitation is extended to Ski to begin working for Hooper on the new film.
Unknowingly, they begin an escalating but friendly rivalry with the stunts becoming more and more spectacular and dangerous. After a freefall from a record 224 feet, Hooper becomes more aware of his own mortality, and surreptitiously consults with his doctor about his condition. The doctor tells Hooper that one more bad jolt in his neck could render him a quadriplegic.
The pompous Roger decides to re-write the film script, adding even more stunts to the film, not the least of which is a climactic earthquake at the film's end, complete with explosions and fires. Hooper and Ski would need to race through the carnage to a gorge with the bridge self-destructing before they can cross it.
Roger first suggests the duo rappel down one side of the gorge and up the other to safety, but Ski comes up with another idea: Fly a rocket car over the gorge. Roger immediately takes a shine to this, ignoring the fears of the producer and the chief engineer that Sonny and Ski might not survive.
That evening, Hooper meets up with Gwen at the hospital; Jocko has suffered a stroke. Seeing the old stuntman laid out in a hospital bed jolts Sonny's thinking, and he confides in Gwen that this will be his last movie.
Hooper and Gwen return home to find Sonny's pal and assistant Cully waiting for them. Slightly intoxicated, Cully has been fired from the movie due to budget cuts, due to a $100,000 bonus for the final stunt to be split between Hooper and Ski. Cully then blurts out to Gwen how dangerous the rocket car stunt is, also revealing Hooper's visit to his doctor, both of which Sonny was keeping secret from Gwen.
Hooper tells a disgruntled Roger that he's backing out of the rocket car stunt, but Max Berns, the producer of the film and Hooper's friend, persuades Sonny to return and do the stunt -- no one else is available, or willing, to do it. Hoopey leaves for the studio, with Gwen, in a futile last-ditch attempt to change Sonny's mind, saying she might not be there when he comes home.
Sonny and Ski perform the massive stunt perfectly, but, as expected, they land hard in the rocket car at the other end of the gorge. Ski emerges okay, but the impact is more of a shock to Sonny's system.
Gwen tearfully pushes her way through the crowd as the crew frantically pries open the passenger door to get Hooper out. Gwen is terrified that the jolt is finally one too many, but Sonny slowly comes out of his temporary unconsciousness and takes Gwen in his arms as the crowd cheers wildly.
Max promptly fires Tony. And just for the hell of it, Hooper lands a hard punch to Roger's face, then walks off with Gwen, Ski, Cully and a crutch-bound Jocko by his side.
Cast
Reaction
Though Hooper did enjoy moderate success at the box office, it was largely considered a significant disappointment in comparison to Reynolds' mammoth 1977 hit Smokey and the Bandit, which was second only to Star Wars in box office success that year. Hooper grossed just over $51 million domestically, less than half of the $126 million grossed by Smokey in '77. [1]
The work of James Best accelerated his acting career, and he was picked to portray dimwitted Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane in The Dukes Of Hazzard television show in 1979.
The film inspired a successful television series, The Fall Guy which starred Lee Majors.
The movie is heavily referenced in episode 209 of the cartoon Frisky Dingo, in which main character Xander Crews suffers from a severe neck injury similar to Hooper's.
The "Blooper Reel" credits
Hooper was also one of the first movies to make use of the blooper reel credit crawl. The technique, originated by Needham[citation needed], showed a smaller screen of outtakes from the film to one side while the film's credits scroll slowly up the other side. Needham refined this technique for later films such as Smokey and the Bandit II and the Cannonball Run movies. (In Hooper the credit reel was mostly a montage of many of the stunts performed in the movie itself, owing to the film's tribute to the stunt industry.) It was later adapted into other films, including the CGI animated Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life, for which the bloopers were intentionally created, and in TV series including The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air and Home Improvement. Most of Jackie Chan's films also feature blooper reel credit crawls.
External links
