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.

Robert Klein does a great job portraying the quintessential Hollywood director with an over sized ego. The trivia section states that his character is based on Peter Bogdanovic, but I think he is based more on John Frankenheimer. Several of the movies I have seen with Frankenheimer's commentary, lead me to believe they were thinking of him when they created this character.

A lightweight look at 'the life of a Hollywood stuntman' (as the song featured on the soundtrack would have it) directed by a former stunt co-ordinator. Likable and fun - it comes up with plenty of amusing situations (and, naturally, dangerous stunts) throughout - but, ultimately, it's pretty forgettable; certainly not up to the level of the more significant (and relatively more serious) THE STUNT MAN (1980). Still, it takes care to deal with the bodily harm long exposure to this kind of work puts on an individual, as well as the strain on personal relationships; the film also pays sentimental tribute to ageing exponents of this short-term field (in the persona of Brian Keith).Lead Burt Reynolds is his usual mischievous, if limited, self; at one point, he shows hotshot newcomer Jan-Michael Vincent highlights from his past work - including scenes from John Boorman's DELIVERANCE (1972), an earlier Warner Bros. production which had co-starred Reynolds! The supporting cast includes Sally Fields as Reynolds' current girlfriend (and Keith's daughter), John Marley as a sympathetic film producer, James Best as Reynolds' sidekick, Adam West as the film star whom Reynolds' character usually doubles for - and, best of all, Robert Klein as Roger Deal, an egomaniacal film director who will stop at nothing for the sake of putting his "artistic" vision on the screen (a character reportedly based on Peter Bogdanovich, with whom Reynolds had worked on NICKELODEON [1976]!).

Following the success of the 1977 film "Smokey And The Bandit" Burt Reynolds was, for a short time at any rate, the world's no.1 box-office star. Alas, like so many actors who get to the top Burt soon found himself losing his mantle as he stumbled from one lousy picture to another. Part of the problem was that Reynolds formed a long-running partnership with stuntman-turned-director Hal Needham, a union that yielded too many bad movies. In total, the two men worked together six times. A chronological list of their films together would run like this: "Smokey And The Bandit", "Hooper", "Smokey And The Bandit II", "The Cannonball Run", "Cannonball Run II", and "Stroker Ace". Of this sequence, only the first two are really worthy of praise. The others are generally rather poor movies which met with considerable negativity from the critics and did little to enhance the star's popularity with the public. "Hooper" was released in 1978 and, as noted, was the second of the Reynolds-Needham collaborations. It is a simple but very slick story set in the world of testosterone-fuelled Hollywood stuntmen, and is perhaps the best of Reynolds' late '70s/early '80s films.Sonny Hooper (Burt Reynolds) is a middle-aged Hollywood stuntman. He leads a freewheeling lifestyle with his girlfriend Gwen (Sally Field) and her father Jocko (Brian Keith), who was himself once a leading stuntman and is something of a father figure for Sonny. Sonny begins to feel the heat when a young new stuntman named Ski (Jan Michael Vincent) appears on the scene and threatens to take his mantle as the bravest performer in the business. Believing that he has never proved his greatness - neither to himself, his girlfriend, his companions nor the younger generation of the profession – Sonny decides to pull off one final stunt so dangerous and outrageous that it will cement his place in legend. Film-maker Roger Deal (Robert Klein) offers Sonny just the stunt he is looking for. Deal is busy making a James Bond style adventure movie and needs two fearless drivers to perform a record-breaking 325 feet leap across a collapsed bridge in a jet-fuelled sports car. Sonny and Ski agree to do the jump, even though everyone close to them urges them to turn it down as the odds of performing it successfully seem almost impossible."Hooper" is admittedly a light film with a story that demands little of the viewer, but on its own terms it is an enjoyable and involving film. The performances are surprisingly strong and nuanced for a film set in the world of macho stunt performers. Reynolds appears brash on the surface but elicits genuine humanity in the scenes where he torments himself over the daredevil legacy he wants to leave behind. Field is superb as his terrified girlfriend; Vincent shows gung-ho spirit as the youthful pretender; Keith is wonderful as the old-timer who has lived long enough in the business to appreciate the value of survival; and Klein gives the best performance in the entire film as the single-minded director willing to risk the lives of his stunt team in order to shoot the greatest action sequence ever filmed. The film is punctuated with several impressive action sequences, and climaxes with the jet car leap around which the story is based. This closing sequence is brilliantly put together – with real suspense generated about whether the drivers will or will not survive their attempt. As brash, brainless and brawny as it is, "Hooper" is still a tremendously enjoyable film. Fans of fast cars and sensational stunts will revel in it!