I’m going to a bachelor party today, and since I’ll be spending the entire weekend with my dudes, I needed to find the dudeliest Burt flick around. I think I’ve found it… and his name is Hooper.
Picture Burt Reynolds—what do you see? I’m willing to bet you’re imagining a mustache, a cowboy hat, and a little shit-eating smirk. That was Burt’s signature look for his most iconic role as Bo “Bandit” Darville in Smokey and the Bandit. But Burt also rocks his favorite western wear in Hooper, released just a year later. The film also co-stars Sally Field and is also directed by Burt’s good buddy and former stuntman, Hal Needham.
Burt and Hal go way back to 1959 when Hal was hired as Burt’s stunt double on the TV show Riverboat. A lifelong friendship formed, and by the time the ‘70s rolled around, Hal had written his first screenplay, Smokey and the Bandit. Burt liked the script, suggested Hal should direct it himself, and Hal went on to have a long and successful directing career, including six films with Burt: Smokey and the Bandit, Smokey and the Bandit II, The Cannonball Run, The Cannonball Run II, Stroker Ace, and, of course, Hooper.
Hooper was made as a tribute to stuntmen, with both Burt and Hal having backgrounds in stunts. The film stars Burt Reynolds as Sonny Hooper, an aging stuntman who, after years of booze and painkillers and the news that one more bad fall could leave him a paraplegic, decides to retire after his latest project: The Spy Who Laughed at Danger.
Along the way, we meet Burt’s supportive yet concerned girlfriend, Gwen (Sally Field—who Reynolds was dating at the time), Gwen’s dad Jocko (Brian Keith), a former stuntman who suffers a stroke, “Ski” Shidski (Jan-Michael Vincent), a hotshot young stuntman, and, of course, Adam West as himself, the star that Hooper is doubling for in the film.
Knowing that any stunt could be his last, Hooper pitches his idea to his pompous director, Roger (Robert Klein), about crossing a collapsed bridge in a rocket car. It’s so funny hearing Hooper and Gwen have such a dramatic argument over the words “rocket car.” But the film really builds up excitement for this stunt.
Of course, Hooper can’t do the stunt alone, so he trains with Ski, who goes from rival to protege over the course of the film. How do they train? By getting drunk at the beach and then escaping from the police while intoxicated in their rocket car.
The film reminds me of movies like The Wrestler or Crazy Heart, where an old warhorse can’t decide whether to go out in a blaze of glory or step aside for good. Luckily, this is fun summer fare, so it’s a lot lighter than those two films. Come on, they wouldn’t kill Burt. People want to see him win. So much so that Hooper grossed $78 million against a $6 million budget, making it the seventh highest-grossing movie of 1978.
I had a blast watching Hooper. The stunts are fantastic, the dialogue is funny, and Burt’s… well, Burt. Throw that ’70s sheen over the film, add in a country bumpkin soundtrack, and you’ve got yourself a great film for the boys. So let’s do it for the boys, give ’em one more chance, and let ‘em watch Hooper.
P.S. Hooper fights Terry Bradshaw in a bar.