“I’ve seen my x-rays. They look like a map of L.A.”

Drake’s rating: Hooper and Colt Seavers should’ve gotten together to travel across the country in an old RV and jump off of things

Drake’s review: Burt Reynolds was just hitting his peak star power in 1978 and was at the top of the movie star pyramid. The success of Deliverance in 1972 sent him rocketing towards the top, and hits such as White Lightning and The Longest Yard further cemented his star status before Smokey and the Bandit made him a veritable household name. So it was that, a year later, he and stuntman-turned-director Hal Needham re-teamed for another movie, this one centered around a stuntman who is at the top of his game, but finding out that the way down is not so much a gentle decline as a fall off of a cliff.

Sonny Hooper (Reynolds) is the world’s greatest stuntman. He knows it, his friends know it, everyone in the movie industry knows it. But his years of glory are somewhat dimmed by his declining physical condition, with scars aplenty and a back that’s been repaired more than once. Still, Hooper gears up and pulls off a motorcycle gag for his latest flick, The Spy Who Laughed at Danger, flying through the air and landing in the grass, before downing a handful of Percocet to keep the pain in check.

It’s a tough existence that Hooper’s chosen for himself, made all the tougher by a demanding director and a young up-and-comer who’s eager to become the next Sonny Hooper. To his credit, Hooper takes the young man, Delmore “Ski” Shidski (Jan-Michael Vincent, The Mechanic) under his wing, and it becomes obvious that the stunt business is changing, and Hooper is too old and too banged up to change with it.

And if that sounds like an action-drama, it probably should be. But while Hooper has its heavier moments, those are swiftly swept under the rug whenever Burt Reynolds flashes his toothy grin or belts out his trademark guffaw. Hooper might have all the trappings of a serious film that sets itself up to examine the life of a man who finds himself risking his life for nothing more than a paycheck and a few seconds of film footage, but it’s really more interested in having a wacky old time as Hooper cavorts with Terry Bradshaw and makes googly eyes at Sally Field.

None of that makes Hooper a bad film, at all. In fact, it’s a pretty decent one, all things considered. Reynolds is up for the role and Vincent is full of “aw, shucks” charm, and the stunt work is largely terrific (as it should be, judging by the all-star names inhabiting the stunt credits). It’s a fun little flick, and a fairly light popcorn muncher.

But the problem is, it really had the potential to be something more, and there are hints here and there that a more serious film was intended at some point along the way. Hooper works well enough during the action scenes, but the comedy bits always feel like they’re one Dom Deluise away from plunging the movie into full Cannonball Run territory.

Or worse yet, Cannonball Run II.

Comedic issues aside, Hooper is still a good look at the life and work of a stuntman. Reynolds has great screen charisma opposite both Jan-Michael Vincent and Sally Field, whom he was dating at the time, and quite capably carries the movie with a wink and a grin. It’s not the best work he ever did, but it’s also far from the worst.

And it has a rocket car. Who doesn’t love a rocket car?

Intermission!

• It’s cool to see Adam West in a non-Batman part. He plays himself, as the lead actor of the James Bond-ish action movie that Hooper is working on.
• Brian Keith is also good here, entering his “crotchety old man” phase as Jocko Doyle, Hooper’s mentor and Sally Field’s father.
• Bar fight! Everyone saw that coming, right?
• Aw, but they’re all friends now.
• Jumping from a helicopter into an airbag while you have a bad back seems like some poor decision making.
• That ending stunt sequence is truly impressive. And nary a bit of CGI!
• Burt Reynolds turned down more than a few parts in his time, including the role of James Bond post-Sean Connery. He also turned down the role of Han Solo in Star Wars, a move he later regretted. Honestly, although Harrison Ford made the role his own, as originally written for that first movie, Solo is very much a Burt Reynolds character.