Best Stuntwork – 1983

My Nominations: Return Of The Jedi. Octopussy. Blue Thunder. Lone Wolf McQuade. Project A. 

We’re back with one of my favourite categories to talk about, because it’s not an official category and it feels less like I’m repeating myself. Jedi obviously gets a nomination – it’s still an action movie at its core, and between the climactic battle, the speeder bike and Ewok fun on Endor, and the opening excitement with Jabba, Fett, and pals, the stunt work is a treat. If there’s a Bond release, it’s always going to appear on this list. Octopussy is one of the more bland, least memorable Bond films but even with a lackluster story and characters, there’s still some standout action moments – a pre-credits car chase with bikes and an airplane are among the film’s best moments along with the aerial work in the end. 

While we’re on the topic of aerial work, we have to nominate Blue Thunder. A film about a pair of cops using a new-fangled helicopter to take down bad guys in LA, you would expect some tense action, and you’d be right. Lone Wolf McQuade deserves a shout out – not only because Carradine and Norris mostly performed their own stunts, but because it’s something of a more old-fashioned action movie compared to the extravagance of the other nominations and the excess which was just around the corner in the decade. Project A is a Jackie Chan and Hong Kong classic – everything you want for a Chinese Period action movie, with some of Chan’s most eye-opening/eye-closing stunts. 

No room for Uncommon Valor or Zu Warriors, unfortunately.

My Winner: Project A

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Best Stuntwork – 1982

My Nominations: 48 Hours. The Beastmaster. Blade Runner. Conan The Barbarian. ET. First Blood. Megaforce. Rocky III. The Thing.

We’re into peak 80s action era now, and as such we have stunts galore. Of the many swords and sandals movies released in this era, The Beastmaster is one of the most fondly remembered thanks to its silly charm and unique premise. It’s the animal work which is most notable here, but the film has plenty of sword swinging action too.

Putting every other Sword and Sandal film to shame, is Conan The Barbarian. Thanks to Milius and Stone the story has the look and smarts which most in the genre lack, and in Schwarzenegger there’s a genuine star in the making – it helps that he’s backed up by Bergman, Mako, James Earl Jones, and Max Von Sydow.  The film has several epic battle scenes throughout, from the opening village attack, the temple raids, and the climactic battle of the mounds, to many interspersed fights and encounters meaning it’s a practical stunt fan’s delight.

ET is 80s Spielberg, and while it’s not an action movie, he knows how to entertain a family audience – BMX chases. Blade Runner is not an action heavy movie but the scenes it does have are memorable for their visuals. Rocky III gets a cursory vote for for glove on glove action.

Megaforce is famously one of the worst movies of the decade, but it’s still a spectacle. While Hal Needham may not have cared much for story or character, when it came to stunts there were few better and in Megaforce he pulled out all the stops. The Thing is all about close quarters and the action is relatively contained even within the claustrophobic surroundings. Like Blade Runner, it’s all about the impact and how the action serves the story. Finally, the only genuine contender to Conan is Ted Kotcheff’s First Blood – the film which introduced us to John Rambo. A noticeably more dramatic, less action focused piece that its sequels, First Blood still sees Rambo taking out cops and amateurs in the Pacific North West using all manner of traps and tactics.

My Winner: Conan The Barbarian

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Best Stunt Work – 1981

My Nominations: The Cannonball Run. Escape From New York. For Your Eyes Only. The Road Warrior. Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

My favourite category to talk about, and we’re in my favourite era for stunts. Escape From New York is the lesser of these movies where stunts are concerned, mainly because the others are classics in this regard to the point of being iconic. A Bond movie is always going to be nominated in this category – For Your Eyes Only notable for its opening Helicopter chase, its epic ski/motorcycle chase, and its mountain climb finale. Raiders Of The Lost Ark has the most iconic moments – fist fights near swirling aircraft, sprinting from boulders, and its cliff-side truck chase are some of the most memorable action scenes of the decade. The Cannonball Run is rip-roaring nonsense with a great cast and is a who’s who of stunt performers having a blast in a variety of fast cars. I’ve never been a car guy outside of movies, but there’s something – dare I say – sexy, about the fetishized car and care chase on the big screen. It’s such a fun idea for a film – albeit limited – a bunch of car and race enthusiasts compete in an illegal cross country race, evading cops and using their unique skills and tactics to get ahead. The cars, cast, and stunts are the main draw, and the stunts remain the best thing about the movie. A remake is inevitable, but in all honesty I’d prefer a short TV show – each episode focusing on a particular State as the race heads from East to West across the US, showing off the locations and dealing with the backstories and motivations of each character.

As great as the stunts and action are in each of the above movies – there can only be one winner in this category. The Road Warrior is one of the greatest Stunt oriented movies of all time, and its finale has never been bettered, arguably not even by Fury Road. It’s a thrilling spectacle, and the highlight of a movie peppered with other memorable action set-pieces.

My Winner: The Road Warrior.

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Best Stuntwork – 1980

My Nominations: The Empire Strikes Back. The Stunt Man. The Big Brawl. The Blues Brothers. The Young Master.

What is always one of my favourite categories, because I’m a big silly action lovin’ boy, is a bit of a turd this year. There was a batch of War movies which don’t break any new ground, but the action genre was in a bit of a mire until the explosion which occurred later in the decade. With the name and plot of The Stunt Man you would rightly expect the film to contain a lot of stunts. In this instance that’s like saying The Wrestler has a lot of wrestling. There are stunts as this is the world the movie is set in, but they’re not the focus and they’re not pushing any boundaries. Still, there are a few nice car and chase gags. The Empire Strikes Back has a lot of practical action but we’re beginning to push action into the realms of gadgets, machines, and computers rather than solely having living performers putting their bodies on the line. It’s still one of the most action packed and stunt filled films of the year. In The Big Brawl and The Young Master Jackie Chan makes a few personal strides – into the US and as a director. Neither is one of his best efforts, but both features plenty of his trademark lightning fast and innovative fight scenes and acrobatic stunts. The clear winner for me this year has to be The Blues Brothers, thanks to its ridiculously excessive car chases, stunts, and pile-ups.

My Winner: The Blues Brothers

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Best Stunt Work – 1979

My Nominations: Apocalypse Now. Escape To Athena. Mad Max. Moonraker. The Warriors.

There’s no getting away from Apocalypse Now, even its stunt work is top notch in those small set piece moments. Escape To Athena is a movie I loved as a kid and treated it as a James Bond spin-off as it features Roger Moore arsing about with guns. There’s a tonne of your typical 70s War action and there’s a great motorbike chase later on. It’s a lot of fun. Mad Max doesn’t go all out crazy in the stunt department when compared with the sequels, but it does still contain some epic 70s era car and bike goodness – Australia seemed to take a few more risks in their approach in this regard – they had less money and possibly spectacle, but many of the stunts look more dangerous and real and come across as more thrilling. Moonraker isn’t the greatest Bond movie, but it still has its share of memorable stunts – my favourite being the cable car fight. There’s also falling out of an airplane, an unusual chase through Venice, and of course the Space scenes. Finally, The Warriors is peppered with mini riots and alley and subway gang fights and chases which are deliberately messy.

My Winner: Mad Max

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Best Stunt Work – 1978

My Nominations: Superman. Hooper. The Wild Geese. The Drunken Master. Jaws 2. Go Tell The Spartans. The Driver.

We’re in the peak era for many types of physical stunts, but even as computer trickery as displayed in the likes of Superman was coming to greater prominence, the duties were shared to make a more exciting whole. Some of the action set-pieces in Superman would go on to influence everything Marvel/DC touches today, and the combination of effects and physical stunts is still impressive. Hooper is essentially the Hal Needham biopic, and as such features some truly wonderful action, including some of the most batshit stunts you’ll ever see – a fall from a helicopter and a bridge jump in a TransAm spring to mind. It’s a film where cars inexplicably flip and buildings blow up simply by coming into contact with air – it’s great.

The Wild Geese is your typical 70s ensemble action war film, with hardened military types leaping out of airplanes, mowing down bad guys, shouting ‘go go go’ and blowing shit up. What more could you want? The Drunken Master takes a more personal approach and allows Jackie Chan to showcase his unique and almost lethal approach to stunts – putting his own body on the line for our amusement and bewilderment. While he would increase the danger levels in later films, here he fights and increasingly introduces more of his surroundings into the action. In Jaws 2, the action is heightened over the first film leading to some famous moments, most notable the helicopter attack.

Go Tell The Spartans is a little different from The Wild Geese, being a distinctly anti-war film which uses its action in a more harrowing way. It has its fair share of running and gunning and leaping over flames, but it takes the time and effort to make you think of the true cost of the reality. Finally, The Driver is almost like a series of stunts tied together by a loose narrative about a cop and a driver and the puppet-master. Where the car action in Hooper feels like a spectacle, like something which was planned meticulously for weeks, The Driver feels like they simply let loose a bunch of maniacs in cars upon the streets and filmed the results. It’s superb and has some of the best stunt guys in the business – Laurie and Everett Creach, Micky Alzola, Billy Barton, Chris Howell and others.

My Winner: The Driver

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Best Stuntwork – 1977

My Nominations: Star Wars. Stunts. Grand Theft Auto. Smokey And The Bandit. The Spy Who Loved Me. Viva Knievel!

Don’t worry, it’s not going to be a clean sweep for Star Wars. While that film does indeed include some great stunts, it’s more of a Special Effects vehicle and would feel false given the other films which use a great array of practical stunts this year. Like I alluded to in previous years, the stuntman was at his commercial peak here, with a number of movies released each year featuring the world or actors portraying stuntmen. Mark Lester’s Stunts (the clue’s in the title) is one such movie, a film starring Robert Forster as a Stuntman investigating the suspicious death of his brother – also a stuntman. It’s more of a mystery, but Lester cranks up the tension and allows for a number of cool stunts – it was one of those movies which always seemed to turn up when I was younger. In a similar vein, Viva Knievel takes an interesting look at the lives and gambles of the people who put their bodies on the line for our entertainment and stars probably the most famous stunt guy of them all (the clue’s in the title). The stunts here are still exhilarating as always but maybe less interesting due to a lack of variety.

Taking things on a more varied route is Grand Theft Auto (clue’s in – you get the idea). It’s a bit of a farce and a not-quite-satire on the media as a young couple steal a car and head for Vegas followed by a increasing number of chasers in different vehicles who want to win a reward for apprehending them. Lots of car action though. Keeping it on four wheels is of course Smokey And The Bandit – which features Burt Reynolds zipping about in a TransAm and jumping over rivers. It’s maybe the most authentic of the bunch given the second most famous stuntman ever Hal Needham was the director. It remains one of the most famous car chase movies, for good reason. Finally, we have 007 and The Spy Who Loved Me featuring more car antics – underwater, over bending roads, and one of the most ambitious one man stunts seen till that point, in the intro, as Bond skies away from a bunch of gun toting villains only to leap off a cliff edge and parachute to safety.

My Winner: The Spy Who Loved Me

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Best Stunt Work – 1976

My Nominations: Rocky. The Eagle Has Landed. The Gumball Rally. King Kong. Death Cheaters.

Although there were plenty of war and disaster movies this year, most don’t meet the grade in terms of overall quality or depth of action and stunt work. The Eagle Has Landed has a greater pedigree than most, given that John Sturges (his final film) directs. It follows the format of so many of the British war movies of the era – a big name cast in a loose retelling of an actual event, with the heroism and action pumped to the max. It’s another one of those movies we’re fed over here and it has plenty of running and gunning to satisfy a certain breed of moviegoer (me). Rocky… it’s a toss-up on whether or  not you class the fight scenes as stunts – I tend towards yes, given that they were choreographed and edited to look as gripping and spectacular as possible. King Kong is as large a spectacle as the original and veers between disaster movie and romance smoothly, with plenty of big budget stunts to remember. My final two picks are more straightforward stunt based movies – and two which tend to be forgotten alongside the bigger names of the era. The Gumball Rally has the cars and the stars, and given that its based on the cross country race you can expect fast, dangerous driving between cars and motorcycles with plenty of crashes, screeching tires, jumps, flips, explosions, and general mayhem. If you prefer the lesser Cannonball from the same year, by all means go for it. Finally, the largely unknown Deathcheaters is an excuse to show off by a bunch of experienced industry stuntmen – it’s a little more… dangerous… than most Hollywood efforts, but don’t expect the most realistic story or convincing performances. Expect fights, explosions, dune-buggy chases, guns, and a ridiculously fun opening 10-15 minutes.

My Winner: Deathcheaters

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Best Stunt Work – 1975

My Nominations: Breakheart Pass. Death Race 2000. Graveyard Of Honor. The Hindenburg. The Man Who Would Be King. The Great Waldo Pepper. Rollerball. The Wind And The Lion.

Less car stunts this year, less disaster related too. This year sees Breakheart Pass – another fun Bronsan/Ireland vehicle with plenty of entertaining action culminating in some spectacular cliff scenes, train top fights, and canyon crashes. Death Race 2000 is a film I nominate purely because who else is ever going to nominate it for an Oscar? Cheap and cheerful as you would expect, it still has countless impressive stunts – natural for a film about a cross country car race where you get extra points for any pedestrians you knock over. Graveyard Of Honor by the great Kinji Fukasaku finishes with one of the most iconic stunts/shots in Japanese Cinema – one giant leap – but is rounded off with your usual Yakuza gunplay. The Hindeburg hits our disaster quotient, with fire, falling, and flailing, while The Man Who Would be King presents one of the great ropebridge stunts – it’s just a bit of a shame we don’t see it from another angle, though it’s still a terrifying fall.

As films with stunts and the notoriety of some stuntmen increased in the decade, we began to see certain films and shows based around the industry. The Great Waldo Pepper is one such entry, looking at aerial stunts or barnstorming with Robert Redford playing an ex military pilot who begins stunt performing to make ends meet. It has some of the best airplane scenes you’re likely to witness. Our final two films are packed with stunts – Sean Connery again getting in on the action with The Wind And The Lion featuring mostly horseback gags, while Rollerball creates a new physical, brutal sport and lets the performers crash into each other with as much force as they can stand.

My Winner: Graveyard Of Honor

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Best Stunt Work – 1974

My Nominations:Earthquake. The Towering Inferno. Gone In 60 Seconds. The Man With The Golden Gun. McQ.

We’re well and truly into the golden age of car stunts now, and in many ways this is the second age of movie stunts – the first being all those westerns of previous decades. The Eighties would bring in a new age of more spectacular work, but this is truly when the stunt profession hit its stride and maybe its peak of fame. Earthquake as the name would suggest contains a variety of stunts thanks to the massive quake which rocks LA and due to its epic scale set a new precedent for the number of stunt performers involved. Any time there’s a scene of carnage, the stunt guys are there making everything as thrilling as possible – the film has everything from falling and dodging gags to the higher drops and elevator crash. Similarly, The Towering Inferno has disaster oriented stunts – the elevator makes an appearance again, this time on the outside of the building – as well as lots of fire and height related fare, from crane work, dodging flames, and more water.

Gone In 60 Seconds is our first car-related stunt extravaganza, a film with a monumental chase sequence and famous for wrecking over a hundred vehicles. The film has many incredibly dangerous stunts and scenes, with several real accidents being incorporated – the carnage includes cars, trucks, flipping, cars jumping, skidding, crashing, and a final lengthy jump which remains incredibly impressive. The Man With The Golden Gun has a number of car gags too, its most memorable being that amazing corkscrew flip across a river – a stunt you never really see replicated anywhere. On top of this the film adopts martial arts thanks to the popularity of Bruce Lee with a number of basic fight scenes. McQ continues the theme of flipping cars and chases, while Stone does the same but with motorcycles replacing cars.

My Winner: Gone In Sixty Seconds

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