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Post by manfromplanetx on Apr 17, 2017 7:13:33 GMT
Exciting & death defying stunts in Classic Film have thrilled audiences since the earliest days of cinema.
With daring and skill stunt work is mostly carried out by professionals, however many great stunt movie moments have been undertaken and immortalized by the actual stars themselves...
Barbara Stanwyck was aged 49 when she performed her own amazing stunt in Forty Guns (1957).
Her character Jessica Drummond had to fall off her horse which has been spooked by an approaching violent storm, one foot gets caught in the stirrup and she is dragged along the rough ground by the galloping & frightened animal for some distance.
This stunt was considered to be too dangerous, the movie's professional stunt person refused to do it.
Stanwyck earned a few scratches and bruises, Samuel Fuller insisted on three takes!, but also the challenging stunt led Barbara Stanwyck to be named an... Honorary Member of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.
any favourites to share?...
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Post by manfromplanetx on Apr 17, 2017 7:18:54 GMT
Buster Keaton has many thrilling stunts to his credit, the falling house scene is truly remarkable from Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) 
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Post by politicidal on Apr 17, 2017 15:17:00 GMT
Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, and I think Errol Flynn did a good chunk of his own stunts.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 17, 2017 16:10:07 GMT
Buster Keaton has many thrilling stunts to his credit, the falling house scene is truly remarkable from Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were nutters. Even their leading ladies had to fit in around their stunt work on occasion. Over the years, I've read that alot of silent movie actress did stunt work - obviously not as audacious as Keaton & Lloyd - but still dangerous physical stunts that today's 'Health & Safety' procedures wouldn't allow for a second. Plus they could roll and tumble while throwing fruits and custard pies with the best of them. "Though size was a concern in selecting an actress, it can hard follow that this was the only consideration, and I take umbrage with the idea that a leading actress needed only to be thrown about on screen to serve her role. First of all, if you take a look through his filmography, you might notice that Buster Keaton truly didn't do that much manhandling of women in his independent silent work; certainly not in his silent shorts. Yes, this style of comedy came up in a couple of his later features, notably The General and The Navigator, but the scenes Keaton commentators (including himself and his wife) might have been thinking most about when they said he treated women as props are from his later MGM talkies, such as Spite Marriage, Parlor Bedroom and Bath, Speak Easily or What No Beer. These later films are undoubtedly ones over which Keaton had significantly less artistic control than he had in his independent silents, and I am not sure to what extent he had much say in selecting actresses or determining plot details. If other creative "visionaries" were responsible for the choices related to selecting and creating roles for actresses in Keaton's talkies, I suggest they be held accountable for their choices with respect to women, not Keaton."
- Amy, 'Women Were Not Props'
Sybil Seely :
"The Freshman was, and still is, the quintessential college/sports film: it influenced and dictated the flow of all football and collegiate films to follow. Ralston, as in Girl Shy, plays a character who understands and appreciates Lloyd’s underappreciated qualities, and defends him even when he cannot defend himself: “The kind of girl your mother must have been.” It is again the responsibility of the girl to pick up the pieces when the boy’s world seems to fall apart, and Ralston’s homespun beauty make this task easy to accomplish. When we looked at her, we immediately trusted her; she relayed all the qualities of a good “mother figure,” and yet was believable as a love interest. She accomplished this by her natural acting ability and her wholesome looks. The next film she and Lloyd would co-star in would fully exploit this wholesome quality. For Heaven’s Sake features what I construe to be the finest chase scene in any Lloyd film – the trolley car/double decker bus ride with the drunken hoboes from the mission, through real city streets. No process shots, lots of action, excellent danger shots (which came through despite extreme safety precautions), and superb physical acrobatic acting. Ralston plays the the daughter of a missionary, who runs a downtown mission which was founded through the financial support of the idle filthy-rich J. Harold Manners. Actually, Lloyd’s cigarette accidentally burned down the street cart that served as the “mission,” and when Lloyd asked “how much will it take?”, the answer was $1,000 – thus, the mission was born. When Lloyd heard how that $1,000 had been spent, he immediately went down to the mission to stop it – (“I have no interest whatsoever!”). Of course, once he gazed upon Ralston’s beauty, he fell head over heels in love. One of Lloyd’s real strengths in characterization – and one which he seemed to patent during the Ralston years – was the “look of falling in love”: that slow melt from a blank look into that goofy smile that oozed “Isn’t she beautiful?” Ralston’s looks and demeanor seemed to inspire this in Lloyd: that knocked-over-the-head kind of love that comes to you, once you think about it."
- Annette D'Agostino Lloyd, 'Harold Lloyd’s Leading Ladies : A Comparative Examination'
Mildred Davis :
Bebe Daniels :
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 17, 2017 16:53:39 GMT
Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, and Jackie Chan were all publicized as doing all their own stunts, and in all three cases this was untrue.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 17, 2017 17:01:54 GMT
Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, and Jackie Chan were all publicized as doing all their own stunts, and in all three cases this was untrue. Do you mean they performed some of their own stunts but also used stunt doubles? I believe Buster Keaton used stunt doubles too. Or do you mean in reality they didn't perform any stunts at all and it's just a myth that they did? |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 17, 2017 17:14:44 GMT
I think most of the time Burt Lancaster did his own stunts - specifically in THE TRAIN and TRAPEZE. Warner Brothers offers one million dollars to anyone who can prove that film star Burt Lancaster did not perform his own stunts in movie "Flame and the Arrow". In his memoirs Garner discusses a fight scene on the set of A Man Could Get Killed. According to JG, Tony Franciosa started actually hitting the stuntmen, who were afraid to complain about about it in fear of losing their jobs. JG says he warned TF to stop, but was ignored. So during the next take JG let TF have a real punch. TF didn't cause any troule after that. James Garner tells of doing a fight scene with burly brawler Leo Gordon on Maverick (FF to 5:12): The motorcycle jump in The Great Escape was done by McQueen's friend Bud Ekins. The jump off the cliffs at the end of Papillon was a stuntman (Dar Robinson?) |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 17, 2017 17:19:52 GMT
Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, and Jackie Chan were all publicized as doing all their own stunts, and in all three cases this was untrue. Do you mean they performed some of their own stunts but also used stunt doubles? I believe Buster Keaton used stunt doubles too. Or do you mean in reality they didn't perform any stunts at all and it's just a myth that they did? Watch the "Hazards Of The Game" episode of Brownlow's great Hollywood series for more info on Fairbanks and Lloyd. For anything dangerous they were doubled. This was especially necessary for Lloyd, who was missing fingers on his right hand, thus making it even more difficult to hang on to buildings etc. As far as I know the young, silent-era Keaton was only doubled once -- for the pole vault into a window in College. Not due to danger -- he was simply unable to do it. |
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Post by petrolino on Apr 17, 2017 17:26:33 GMT
Do you mean they performed some of their own stunts but also used stunt doubles? I believe Buster Keaton used stunt doubles too. Or do you mean in reality they didn't perform any stunts at all and it's just a myth that they did? Watch the "Hazards Of The Game" episode of Brownlow's great Hollywood series for more info on Fairbanks and Lloyd. For anything dangerous they were doubled. This was especially necessary for Lloyd, who was missing fingers on his right hand, thus making it even more difficult to hang on to buildings etc. As far as I know the young, silent-era Keaton was only doubled once -- for the pole vault into a window in College. Not due to danger -- he was simply unable to do it. Thanks. I've read in books that some of the hanging stunts Lloyd did perform, despite his hand injury. It certainly looks like him in some moments in 'Feet First' for example. But as you say, obviously some dangerous stunts need experts, that's for sure. Guys like Charles Bronson and Sylvester Stallone would do stunts where possible but some things were simply out of the question as you needed real expertise to do them. |
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Post by _ on Apr 17, 2017 17:31:47 GMT
12 Dangerous Movie Stunts Tom Cruise Actually Performed
By Jared Canfield MOTORCYCLE CHASE – KNIGHT AND DAY CAR CHASE – JACK REACHER SHOOTOUT – COLLATERAL ROCK CLIMBING – MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: 2 RUNNIN’ AND JUMPIN’ – EDGE OF TOMORROW SAMURAI SWORDS – THE LAST SAMURAI FISH TANK – MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE TRUSTFALL – MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III KNIFE FIGHT – MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 BREAKING INTO LANGLEY – MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE THE BURJ KHALIFA – MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL AIRPLANE HANG – MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION screenrant.com/dangerous-movie-stunts-tom-cruise-performed/
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 17, 2017 17:49:31 GMT
I'm not claiming BL & JG did all their own stunts on every film; I'm sure there are examples of the being doubled, especially in their later years. Fight scenes, that is fisticuffs, are fairly simple and "safe" (though even those can cause problems, as we've seen). The real danger in stunts comes when you leave your feet: jumps, climbs, riding animals or vehicles... Even fights can be dangerous if it's required: I saw an interview with Robert Fuller (a former stuntman) who told of doing a cantina brawl on Wagon Train. The villainous bandido had to lift Fuller and throw him on a table. Fuller checked the table and chairs to make sure they were breakway, then shot the scene. The director asked for another take, and Fuller rechecked the furniture, but missed one chair. Guess which chair the bandido threw him onto? Fuller broke his leg, and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He was in a cast for several months, and 40+ years later claimed the leg still gave him intense pain. |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 17, 2017 17:54:58 GMT
Watch the "Hazards Of The Game" episode of Brownlow's great Hollywood series for more info on Fairbanks and Lloyd. For anything dangerous they were doubled. This was especially necessary for Lloyd, who was missing fingers on his right hand, thus making it even more difficult to hang on to buildings etc. As far as I know the young, silent-era Keaton was only doubled once -- for the pole vault into a window in College. Not due to danger -- he was simply unable to do it. Thanks. I've read in books that some of the hanging stunts Lloyd did perform, despite his hand injury. It certainly looks like him in some moments in 'Feet First' for example. But as you say, obviously some dangerous stunts need experts, that's for sure. Lloyd could do the close shots via the deceptive perspective technique they came up with. But a star could not be risked in the long climbing shots, especially one with only part of his right hand. Bill Strother did the climb in Safety Last, and Feet First was Harvey Parry (who is interviewed in "Hazards of the Game"). |
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Post by teleadm on Apr 17, 2017 19:04:03 GMT
Burt Lancaster and his "silent" partner Nick Cravat from the old circus days did a lot of the stunts that can be seen, but not neccessarily all of them, and Nick was a stunt double for Burt in Trapeze. Nick Cravat never spoke in the movies because he could never break out of his Brooklyn accent, and that would have been unsuitable in period adventure movies like The Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate. In Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet mentioned on the William Shatner thread, Nick Cravat played the aircraft-eating Gremlin.
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Post by teleadm on Apr 17, 2017 19:09:13 GMT
Gary Cooper in his later movies always wanted to do all his own stunts even if his age and health was detoriating, They Came to Cordura and The Wreck of the Mary Deare was very strenious and caused delays in the productions.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 17, 2017 19:37:48 GMT
Burt Lancaster and his "silent" partner Nick Cravat from the old circus days did a lot of the stunts that can be seen, but not neccessarily all of them, and Nick was a stunt double for Burt in Trapeze. Nick Cravat never spoke in the movies because he could never break out of his Brooklyn accent, and that would have been unsuitable in period adventure movies like The Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate. In Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet mentioned on the William Shatner thread, Nick Cravat played the aircraft-eating Gremlin. Cravat has dialogue in Run Silent Run Deep. I've read he can also be heard speaking in The Big Knife, but I haven't seen that in so long I recall little about it. Cravat can be seen, but as usual not heard, in the pilot for the John Cassavetes private eye series Johnny Staccato -- as a homicidal fencing master! |
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Post by wanton87 on Apr 18, 2017 5:02:21 GMT
I read that both Jock Mahoney and Dick Jones performed almost all of their own stunts in the Range Rider TV series. I also remember the Buffalo Bill Jr series that Dick Jones starred in later.
When I looked up Dick Jones more recently, I was unaware that he was no longer with us, but even more surprised to see that he was 87 when he passed away in 2014. I had no idea that he was that old.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 18, 2017 16:48:46 GMT
I read that both Jock Mahoney and Dick Jones performed almost all of their own stunts in the Range Rider TV series. I also remember the Buffalo Bill Jr series that Dick Jones starred in later. Mahoney started as a stuntman. Wiki: Director Vincent Sherman recalled staging the climactic fight scene in his 1948 film Adventures of Don Juan and could find only one stuntman who was willing to leap from a high staircase in the scene. That man was Mahoney, who demanded and received $1,000 for the dangerous stunt. |
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 18, 2017 17:04:09 GMT
Pearl White shooting on the New Jersey Palisades, with cameraman Arthur Miller, director George Seitz, and leading man Antonio Moreno, 1917  Wiki: Over the next five years, White would appear in the popular serials The New Exploits of Elaine (1915), The Romance of Elaine (1915), The Iron Claw (1916), Pearl of the Army (1916-1917), The Fatal Ring (1917), The House of Hate (1918), The Lightening Raider (1919) and The Black Secret (1919-1920).[5] In these serials, White flew airplanes, raced cars, swam across rivers, and did other similar feats. She did much of her own stunt work until Pathé decided that they could not risk injuring one of their most popular stars (She had already injured her spine during the filming of The Perils of Pauline, an injury that would cause her pain for the rest of her life). A male stunt double wearing a wig would perform the majority of the more dangerous stunts in White's later films. The public was largely unaware that White and other actors used stunt doubles because studios made a point to publicize that the actors did their own stunts. In August 1922, the public finally learned the truth.[9] During the filming of White's final serial Plunder, John Stevenson, an actor who was doubling for White, was supposed to leap from the top of a bus on 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue onto an elevated girder. He missed the girder and struck his head. Stevenson died of a fractured skull.This site claims Pearl White never visited California (she filmed in the East and soon retired to Paris). Answer to a trivia question? "Biggest American movie star never to set foot in Hollywood?" |
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Post by divtal on Apr 18, 2017 17:37:38 GMT
Katharine Hepburn was quite athletic, and preferred to do her own stunt work. In Summertime, she insisted that she didn't want a body-double to take a spill into a Venetian canal. In an interview (I believe with Dick Cavett), she regrets that decision, as it resulted in a permanent condition that irritated her eyes.
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Post by wanton87 on Apr 19, 2017 5:22:21 GMT
Mahoney started as a stuntman. Wiki: Director Vincent Sherman recalled staging the climactic fight scene in his 1948 film Adventures of Don Juan and could find only one stuntman who was willing to leap from a high staircase in the scene. That man was Mahoney, who demanded and received $1,000 for the dangerous stunt.I think it was pretty much the same with Dick Jones as well Richard, as per below. Range Rider, Buffalo Bill Jr, Annie Oakley, and I’m sure a few that I’m missing, I believe were all Gene Autry Productions. Gene Autry must have been a pretty successful, as well as a very busy man in the 1950’s. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Jones_(actor) |
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