Stunt Rock (1978)

Brian Trenchard-Smith, of the best aussie-directors to set foot in the filmindustry, invented Stunt Rock after a few hours together with a pen and a joint. So he says himself, and I don't doubt it. He had a weekend to find a band to star in this absurd movie and found Sorcery, and the rest is history. There's not much to say about the story by the way. Macho-stuntman Grant Page, who likes to walk around with a hairy breast and sunglasses, goes to LA to work on Undercover Girl. He meets his friends in the glam-metal-magic rockband Sorcery and.... that's it. Yeah, of course he performs some stunts and the band show performers rock music and magic tricks. 

It's more of a pseudo-documentary, but with a healthy dose of fiction. A movie to show off the talents of Grant Page (and the guy is really talented, and a complete nut!) and musical talents of Sorcery. As a former magician I enjoyed the magic tricks, and I like rock music and stunts - so like the director, this was a movie that suited me very fine! It's hardly a masterpiece, but as usual with Trenchard-Smith's productions it's slick, professional and never boring.

What kinda stunts do we see? A cool car-chase where Grant is climbing from on car to another, another car-scene where he crashes the car and get's catapulted out through the front window - on fire! There's high falls, some martial arts and some nice adventure sports. Trenchard-Smith was also Grant Page's manager, and this is mostly a movie to make advertising for the best stuntman in the world. He also wanted to do the whole movie like a ninty minute trailer, and he's quite close to achiving that.

Code Red has released a wonderful dvd. It's a 2-disc set with a couple of commentaries, interviews, trailer and the best of all: the 1973-documentary The Stuntmen, also directed by the same director. It's a fun and charming fifty minute piece where the first show an action-scene and they explains how everything works. It's four or five action-scenes all together and here we also for the first time sees Grant Page, cocky as ever. I love the way these stuntmen acts behind the scenes, often with a beer and a cigarette ready, and some words about a dangerous past and real-life troubles. 

Well worth buying, and especially for the second disc containing the vintage documentary!