HOOPER was Burt Reynolds third highest grossing movie, after Smokey And The Bandit and Deliverance. That’s one thing, but it’s harder to grok that this paper-thin excuse for elaborate stunts and back-patting was the 6th biggest hit of 1978, taking in $78,000,000 against a $6,000,000 tag. Then again, revisiting the rumpus and similar raucous items from the remove of numerous decades it helps to recall that this was the Burt Reynolds Era (The End, which he directed as well as starred in, was #11 that year) and of course people usually go to the movies for escapist fun. Check brain at door. Relax into macho mayhem. Idly muse whether Burt stopped chewing gum when he and Sally…

In the parlance, “a keeper”. Can we say that? I just did, so t.s.

Legendary stuntman ‘Sonny Hooper'(Burt) is stunt coordinator on ‘The Spy Who Laughed At Danger’, a Bondish action extravaganza starring Adam West (who, good sport, plays himself). The director is new hotshot and egotist deluxe ‘Roger Deal’ (Robert Klein), more than ready to be careless when it comes to pushing his underlings for “the moment”. When a brash young blood named ‘Ski Shidski’ (Jan-Michael Vincent) shows up ready to strut his stuff, Sonny bonds with the cocky spaniel (because Sonny’s a good guy, Ski has the right stuff and it helps by their being on the same side in a barroom brawl with louts from Cast Big Ugly Honkers), and shares stories and fears with best pal ‘Cully’ (James Best) and retired stuntman ‘Jocko Doyle’ (Brian Keith), the yarn-spinnin’, hard-partyin’ father of ‘Gwen’ (Sally Field), Sonny’s love bunny and #1 Real Gal Among Manly Dudes.

That’s pretty much it, just a ‘Saturday night the movies’ kind of flick, not be taken with any sort of seriousness. The director was veteran stuntman Hal Needham, who cut his debut director teeth (the one’s not knocked out) on Burt’s megahit Smokey And The Bandit. They’d whale on four more palfests (Smokey And The Bandit II, The Cannonball Run, Stroker Ace and Cannonball Run II) and for fans of the ilk it’s a toss-up whether the first Smoky or Hooper is top hound dog. We’re not nuts about any of them (fifteen beers would help), but if it would save Western Civilization (or could locate a field with a Sally in it) we’d pick Hooper. An affectionate proud-to-be-crazy ode to the wildass profession of the professional risk takers who take the falls for the ‘do not fold, spindle or mutilate’ stars, it’s got a semblance of a story, the able cast plays it straight, and the wacky stunts are fun, especially that drive-under-collapsing-smoke stack situation.

It was scribbled by Thomas Rickman (Everybody’s All-American) and Bill Kerby (The Rose). The big bar-renovating fight is one of those comic saloon brawls that deliver human and property damage that in real life would be devastating, and of course ends with everyone becoming hug-buds and getting sloshed. Klein’s director-as-dick was based on Peter Bogdanovich, who Reynolds had put up with for the tanker At Long Last Love. An acting coach as well as a character ace, James Best was always a fave from way back, ditto Our Man Keith (“Why spoil the beauty of a thing with legality?”). In the days before he tragically self-destructed, Vincent is a natural fit for the prove-himself part: that year he had his career best role in the surfing epic Big Wednesday. Sly fox Sally is mainly there to be fetching: mission accomplished. She followed this lightweight be-with-boyfriend gig with serious thesping as Norma Rae. Burt is Burt, and in this one, that’s okay.

The noise pulled an Oscar nomination for Best Sound. 99 minutes worth, with John Marley, Alfie Bass (irritant), Terry Bradshaw (brawl starter #1), Norman Grabowski (a 60’s regular), George Furth (being his usual dweeb), Jim Burk (longtime stuntman, fans of The Alamo know him as ‘It Do’), Robert Tessier (brawl starter #2), Donald Barry (bone-throw bit as a cop) and Tara Buckman.