Hooper

source: Hooper

Trailer—Hooper

Hooper

Burt Reynolds is great playing the stuntman. This movie is mostly about learning from the pro. Hooper describes himself well to the rookie stuntman and at the end he puts the director "in his place". Now "Smokey and the Bandit" a year earlier was a complete riot, and it left me in stitches. "Hooper" was a little on the tamer side which indeed spare a few laughs or more. The chemistry was great with Sally Field and him, and James Best was great before getting his role as Roscoe P. Coltrane on "The Dukes of Hazzard". This movie got a thrill you can spill! 9 out of 10.

Oddly enough, I didn't get around to watching "Hooper" before now. Well, there is a reason for that; as I haven't actively been seeking out Burt Reynolds movies to watch. It should be said that they had a good cast in the movie, which included Burt Reynolds, Sally Fields, Jan Michael Vincent and more on the cast list. The actors and actresses did put on good acting performances throughout the movie. But the story was very mediocre and generic at best, and you never really got drawn into the storyline. It seemed like a rather half-hearted attempt at putting out another movie with Reynolds and Fields on the billing.

You're not going to find a moving story about a man coming to terms with his own mortality here, but from just a look at the cover of the DVD, you probably weren't expecting it. What we have here is a very pleasant diversion that never takes itself too seriously. Just before things start to get a little too sentimental, someone always jumps off a tall building or flips the car he's driving. Overall, the film has a nice pace. The gags (as in slapstick) are occasionally hilarious, and the gags (as in stunts) are outstanding--I believe this film holds the record for longest rocket car jump. And Burt is his usual self, so utterly unself conscious, he can deliver lines like, "If you don't try to do any stunts, I won't try to do any acting." Make of that what you will. ;-)

Well, another funny-profane-interesting-irreverent Burt Reynolds movie of the 1970s. He made so many of these type of films, several with his girlfriend at the time, Sally Field. Almost all of them have the same feel to them. Field echos Reynolds good looks and bad morals by running around in a tight shirt with her nipples showing and pair of short shorts with a butt sticking out. This is not untypical of the movies in the 1970s, where "freedom" had arrived and many filmmakers abused it. No one had more fun with those low-moral characters than Reynolds (and Fields, I suspect, too). Yet, I have to admit most of the Reynolds films, including this one, were never boring and usually fun to watch. Being young and a bit immature helped us appreciate these movies back then.

Not much of a story but just enough to get by. Lots of stunts including a spectacular ending sequence that delivers enough to make this an enjoyable love letter to stunt men and a solid Burt pic.