Review – The Stunt Man

I watched this with some friends, and all of us remembered liking it better back when we first saw it in the early 80s than we do now. So perhaps it isn’t the movie’s fault that it falls a little flat. Steve Railsback’s performance is a little too reminiscent of his Charles Manson from Helter Skelter, and that detracts from things a bit. On the other hand, Peter O’Toole is perfect as Eli, the psychotic god of the movie within a movie. Barbara Hershey is also above her average. I think the main problem is that the picture dwells on the characters’ attempts to retain their sanity in an insane environment without bothering to convince us that any of them were sane to begin with. Still, it has enough clever moments to keep it entertaining. Mildly amusing