Who payed the critics

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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!

***SPOILERS*** A number of accident have been occurring during the filming of this action movie that has stunt man Glen Wilson, Robert Forster, suspect that their no accidents at all but being committed, by acts of sabotage, someone on the set. This all started when Glen's younger brother a stuntman himself Greg, Gary Davis, was killed in a stunt, hanging on to a helicopter, that went terribly wrong and fell to his death. Now taking Greg's place in the movie Glen is risking his life to find out if his suspicions are right and is soon in for a big surprise! Not that he's not only right he dead right with what's waiting for him as his fellow stunt men working on the movie!It soon becomes evident that someone is out to not only kill , by staging accidents, all the stuntmen in the movie but is trying to bankrupt the person or studio that's financing it! Glen with the help of magazine writer B.J Parswell, Fiona Lewis, came to that conclusion when stuntman Chuck Johnson, Bruce Glover, fell to his death when he slipped off the rope that was greased that he was holding on to as well as stuntman Paul Salerno,Ray Sharkey, was burned to a crisp in another failed stunt when he was locked in a burning house that Glen in a fire resistant outfit escaped from.***SPOILERS**** With Glen ready to duplicate his dead brother Greg's hanging on to a helicopter death defying stunt that the killer, who just before beat his wife into a black & blue pulp, was exposed but by then it may have come too late with Glen already airborne and about to take his final dive! In fact it was the killer who gets the worst of it with Glen landing in his getaway car and during the struggle having him run off the road into a mobile home when he ended up incinerating himself. That last scene was so good even though it wasn't to be in the movie that it ended up not only being the highlight of the film but saved it from going bust or bankrupt!

In the 1960s, Robert Forster was starring in major studio movies like "Medium Cool" and "Reflections In A Golden Eye". But something happened to his career, and by 1977 he was appearing in low budget product like this movie. All the same, Forster gives a pretty credible performance, and the general level of acting by the other performers is acceptable. But it's hard to think of anything else positive about this movie. There are a number of stunt sequences, but they come off as just okay at best, routine at their worst. The main problem is with the script. Forster's character is supposed to be investigating his brother's death as well as the deaths of other stuntmen, but he hardly does any investigating at all. Most of the movie is obvious padding, and the revelation of the culprit only seems to come because the movie can't be padded out any more. Only if you're desperate.

The always terrific and charismatic Robert ("Alligator") Forster gives a typically fine and engaging performance as a gutsy ace veteran stuntman who's working on a troubled low-budget action picture that's being plagued by the unusual and alarming "accidental" deaths of several other stuntmen performing dangerous gags for the film. Director Mark ("Night of the Running Man") Lester, working from a smart and compelling script by Dennis Johnson and Barney Cohen, expertly maintains a steady pace throughout, stages the plentiful superb and stirring stunts with considerable brio and skill, and offers an intriguing behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of a down'n'dirty indie feature. The first-rate cast of familiar B-movie faces qualifies as another substantial asset: Fiona ("The Fury") Lewis as a feisty journalist doing an article on the crazy stunt profession, Bruce ("Walking Tall") Glover, Joanna ("The Glove") Cassidy and Ray ("The Idolmaker") Sharkey as fellow courageous stunt people, Richard ("God Told Me To") Lynch as the special effects coordinator, Candice ("Summer School Teachers") Rialson as a flirtatious stuck-up harlot of a starlet, and Darrell ("Blood Beach") Fetty as an eager beaver production assistant. Bruce ("Jackson County Jail") Logan's crisp cinematography, Michael Kamen's thrilling, melodic score, and the groovy theme song are all likewise up to snuff. A very cool and undeservedly neglected little sleeper that's a funky 70's drive-in flick precursor to the very similar (and stupendous) "The Stuntman."