The Stunt Man (1980) - Want a visual definition of "star power"? This movie is it. Any part of this movie in which Peter O'Toole is not on screen is mediocre at best. Bad '70s TV at its worst. But when O'Toole is on screen it is something else entirely.
A fugitive from justice (Steve Railsback) falls into the middle of a movie shoot. He may or may not have had something to do with the death of a stunt man on the shoot. The director (O'Toole) takes an irrational shine to him and covers for him. As a cover they make the fugitive the dead stunt man as they try to wrap the shoot. In the final three days the fugitive, the director and the leading lady (Barbara Hershey) share their mutual insanity. The story is a bit of a mess and you really don't need to worry about it. It got Oscar nominations for both the director and the script which befuddles me. It also earned one for O'Toole. How is it this man has never won an Oscar? But that's beside the point.
You watch this movie for Peter O'Toole.
Everyone around him wanders around in a fog. The dialogue is weak, the characters are flat and the plot is predictable. But O'Toole leaps off the screen. When he leaves you wish he were back again. His first scene (glaring at Railsback through the window of a hovering helicopter) is brief and completely without dialogue. But it perfectly establishes the character to come.
Star power is turning a second rate clunker of a movie into something watchable and memorable. Just by being on the screen.
Rating - *** Worth A Look
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