8mm Forum: Hooper (Super 8 optical sound!)

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on January 19, 2007, 05:46 PM:

Okay, here's my latest "Optical sound crusade" film on my list ..

HOOPER!!

This was one of Burt Reynolds better films of the late 70's. Already as of that time, he was falling into the pit of wisecracking roles that would plummet his career in the early 80's into a ever widening pit, (until recently).

The story ...

Reynolds plays a stuntman who's starting to get past his prime. In fact, his back is starting to go out on him, and he is informed that if he does one more big stunt, he may be parylzed from the neck down.

Reynolds is devil may care and a wise cracking, fun loving bastard, but he knows it and loves it! He has a live in girl friend (the ever lovely Sally Fields!) who is concerned for his health. You see, this girl friend's father is also a stuntman who did one too many "gags" (stunts and he is nearly parlyzed, (he is played by the always relaible Brian Keith, who is really good in this role.), so she is VERY concerned.

Burt's current job is as stunt coordinator for the latest
Adam West thriller, (yes, ADAM WEST ... Batman himself, in a somewhat rare feature film appearance!), who also works for a
tyranical director who's a real pain in the ass. The director calls for a stunt to end all stunts, (which is an incredible stunt sequence for the last ten minutes of the movie!!), but if he does it, it may be curtians for Burt. He at first refuses to do the stunt, but he is cooerced into doing it.

For, you see, there is a young pup on the set who is muscling into Burts territory as top dog stuntman. The young pup, (played by a young Jan-Micheal Vincent!) is gung ho for everything, including this stunt, which is a rocket powered car jumping over a chasm that extends 325 feet! (an awesome stunt, by the way, God, what a great sports CAR!!)

There are wonderful scenes thru-out this film! A rauccous
bar-fight ... (after being thrown out of the car)

Thug : Hey, that fun! Lets get back in thier!!
Burt : Are you crazy?!!

A wonderful scene, where Burt drives a truck BACKWARDS at top speed down a highway, just to get his passenger on the right side of the road to pick up some beer! There is of course the awesome final stunt scene that's worth the price of admission!!

This is a grade A optical sound feature, though just briefly the sound becomes slightly dim for about 20 seconds of the film, besides that, it's fine. The color is amazing, though this is a 1978 print, I'd be curious as to the film stock. The grain is a little more than what I find on a optical sound print, but is more than acceptable.

The sharpness of this print is slightly better than average. The sharpness is that of, for instance a FOX 400ft. print of the 70's. Good, but not up to the best optical sound prints, but not bad at all.

The only drawback to this print, is that it has asian subtitles on it, but after a few minutes, my wife and I barely noticed them, (except in the one dark scene), and the sound was in english.

Which brings up an interesting point. Though this was with asian subtitles, this was most definitely NOT a censored print, though it was made for the airlines. This may be silly, but perhaps this was because the studio jiust assumed that asians wouldn't understand the cussing in the film, so they didn't edit it out. Nor did they edit out the one scene with nudity, (the incredibly big breasted woman popping out of the cake!) Intersting that this was completely unedited.

Despite the subtitles, this was an awesomely fun romp, and isn't that the reson why we watch these films in the first place?

Good hunting, my friends.

Posted by Jordan J. Bolinger (Member # 3560) on March 04, 2013, 02:52 PM:

I love this movie! Almost made want to be a stuntman.

Wasn't this movie shot in Scope? I was thinking it might have been in scope judging by the aspect ratio of the outtakes at the end.

Every dvd version is 1:33 and there doesn't seem to be any letterboxed or cropped 16x9 copy out there.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on March 04, 2013, 03:27 PM:

OZ

I remember that film well. Hal Needham (stuntman) directed it.

PatD

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 08, 2013, 01:45 PM:

Though Smokey and the Bandit did much better business for Burt, I thought this film was much better, such a lovely homage to all those stuntmen out there, as well as a rollicking good film to watch!

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on March 08, 2013, 04:45 PM:

Ditto!

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on March 09, 2013, 02:34 PM:

I like Burt, most of his films were entertaining and fun to watch. I have "Hooper" on 16mm, not watched for a while but sure its 1.33:1. Have a poor download on PC, never seen it on dvd in UK.

Here's a reminder of Hooper

See they have remade "Smokey And The Bandit"

Good music too Hollywood Stuntman

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on March 10, 2013, 08:59 AM:

If I remember correctly, this film, "Hooper" was he inspiration for the TV series, "The Fall Guy" starring Lee Majors as a stuntman who sidelines as a private detective.

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