the audience applauded

Good movie but grossly overrated

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

***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!

With All Due Respect to the Stuntman Profession and the Death Defying Daring-Do, this Movie is a Bland, but sometimes Realistic Tribute.The Subject is usually better in a Documentary Format and it is a Noble Try to make it into an Action-Drama, but at least in this one, it comes off as Cheesy and Surprisingly Ineffective and the Drama here is just Awful.Awful Writing, Awful Music, Awful Mystery. What saves the Movie from being Worthless is the On Screen setting up of the various Stunts with attention to Details about the Methods and Machines used to Pull Off the Magic.These Scenes are well Photographed and Clearly Presented and the Mechanics behind the Stunts is Informative and Invites Viewer Curiosity. But other than that the Movie Strains to be a Movie and is as Intriguing as an Average TV Episode of an Average TV Show.Robert Forster, Joanne Cassidy, and some Real Stunt Men make every Effort to Entertain but are Betrayed by a Boring Script and a General Feeling of just Going Through the Motions. It's Baffling Lack of Energy and Suspense has to be Laid at the Feet of the Writer and the Director who Produce a Movie Homage about Movie Stuntmen and if the Movie Itself was a Stunt, Everyone would call for a Do Over.

"Stunts" is a combination of action movie and murder mystery that works well both ways: there are some truly impressive stunts (duh!), but the mystery plot ain't bad, either (I was almost certain about the person who was behind the killings based on Roger Ebert's "Law Of Economy Of Characters"....I was wrong). The actors give understated performances and create believable characters. Joanna Cassidy, in one of her first roles, has the one big physical and emotional outburst in a bar, showing hints of the talent that has kept her career going for more than four decades. The efforts of many real-life stuntmen (like Gary Davis, who plays Robert Forster's brother) guarantee the stunts' authenticity and legitimacy. **1/2 out of 4.

In the late 70s and early 80s, action films didn't rely on CGI to wow the audiences; stunts were what packed in the crowds—real stunts performed by real stuntmen.Anything with cars flying 30 feet through the air would be guaranteed to fill the theatres and the limits were pushed by these 'fall guys' as to what they would do in order to impress. Stunts—AKA 'Who Is Killing the Stuntmen?' AKA 'The Deadly Game' (UK video title)—tells of one such guy, Glen Wilson (Robert Forster), who becomes involved in the making of a movie after his brother mysteriously dies performing a stunt. Suspecting foul play, he searches for clues between filming, aided by a feisty female reporter (Fiona Lewis).Director Mark L. Lester, who later helmed the 80s 'classics' Class of 1984 and Commando, packs the film with all manner of death defying feats, but struggles to make anything special from the run-of-the-mill script. Despite a good performance from the ever-reliable Forster and good support from a raft B-movie regulars (including the great Richard Lynch), the result feels very much like a made-for-TV movie, and lacks the grittiness I was hoping for.Stunts is enjoyable on a nostalgic level (if you love the vibe of 70s flicks, then there is some fun to be had from the movie's general atmosphere), and it does contain a few fairly impressive action sequences, but I found that, even at a running time of less than an hour and a half, the film only just managed to keep my attention.