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1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, Stunts

Best Movie Stunts of the Year List 1970-1979

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Here is the list for the Best Movie Stunts for the Decade 1970-1979 as listed in the book, 100 Years of the Best Movie Stunts!

1970 – They Call Me Trinitythey_call_me_trinity_poster_02

The Spaghetti Western and Spaghetti Western Comedies were starting to come into their own and a string of “Trinity” films starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer would arise.  They became worldwide stars and did all their own fighting in their films.  These are great fun!

1971 – The Big Bossbig-boss-lobby

Bruce Lee would become a bonafide sensation after his first film and there really was no one quite like him. He had the skills and a way about him that everyone after him tried to copy.  Martial Arts got it’s very own movie genre after this.

1972 – The Poseidon Adventureposeidon-adventure wallpaper

Another new genre, would be this sub-category inside the action genre, that became the disaster film.  This one has a very good fall into a ballroom skylight done by a non-stuntman at the time, Ernie Orsatti.  He would go on to become a stuntman after this, he found he had a knack for it.

1973 – Live and Let DieLive Boat

James Bond would appear this decade a record 4 times!  This is the first on the list with a speedboat jump over land by Jerry Comeaux of 110 feet, which made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

1974 – The Man With The Golden Gunman_with_the_golden_gun_stunt

This one had a great car jump stunt that is a breath-taking, “I can’t believe I saw that” …mathematical stunt devised by Raymond McHenry at Cornell University and performed by Bumps Willard.

1975 – The Man Who Would Be Kingman who would be king

Joe Powell would perform a jump from a rope bridge between two ravines 100 feet into a pile of boxes that would lead legendary Director John Huston to say, ” That’s the damnest stunt I’ve ever seen.”

1976 – Gatorgator car

This would be the start of a great collaboration between Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds.  Hal Needham would body double Burt in this film and there’s a nifty car flip at the end of the movie with Hal in the truck bed.

1977 – The Spy Who Loved MeSPY-WHO-LOVED-SKI-1

This is a bond film with one of the most extensive pre-credit sequences than all the previous films and right before they go to the opening song and credits, they have a fantastic ski-stunt by Rick Sylvester right off a mountain and then slowly fall until finally has a parachute open. Really great opening.

1978 – HooperHooper3

Hal Needham directed Burt Reynolds this time in a movie inspired by and about stuntmen! Can’t name just one stunt to highlight in this film as it’s just chocked full of them, but if I had to, A. J. Bakunas has a world record breaking jump from a helicopter into an airbag (232 feet!).

1979 – MoonrakerMoonsky7

BJ Worth and Jake Lombard fight over a parachute in this Bond entry and it’s fun to watch.  I would definitely include all the camera men who had to jump and film the sequence which included 88 jumps over all.

Check out our new Book, 100 Years of the Best Movie Stunts!Screen Shot 2015-09-19 at 8.23.28 PM

1974, Stunts

Bumps Willard and Raymond McHenry For The Man With The Golden Gun

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This is where the Bond films start to dominate the Best Movie Stunts. Every picture was designed to out-do the last and they definitely don’t disappoint in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974). This stunt literally was designed in the laboratory. Designed by Raymond McHenry, and conceived at Cornell Aeronautical University, it toured the US as the Astro Spiral in the All American Thrill Show before being used for the movie.man_with_the_golden_gun_stunt

The stunt is performed by Bumps Willard and involves him driving an AMC Hornet as Bond off of a specially designed ramp that’s made up to look like a broken bridge on one side of a creek, across the water doing a spiral flip (a 270 degree roll) and then touching down on an identical ramp on the other side and then driving on.  It’s a fantastic, mathematical stunt that was performed in one take. The jump is also credited with being the first stunt ever to be calculated by computer modeling.  “Bumps” Willard was an original member of ‘Helldrivers’; a stunt group specialists on dangerous car stunts; showcases. The Group leadrers was ‘The Bossle Brothers’ and also Joe Williams; famous for the ‘Two-Wheel-Stunt-Driving-Scene’ in Diamonds Are Forever.man with

I want to add a side note that Martial Arts is introduced as the fighting style in this movie because of the huge popularity of Bruce Lee and his films such as Fists of Fury and Enter the Dragon, so you can say that Bruce Lee had his affect not only in his own genre of Martial Arts films but in Hollywood as a whole. It’s impressive to come along and affect James Bond.

The Man With The Golden Gun is directed by Guy Hamilton for Eon Productions.Man With Golden

Things to look up ( go to IMDB ):

  • Bumps Willard
  • Raymond McHenry
  • The Man With The Golden Gun
  • Guy Hamilton
  • Eon Productions

History of stunt terms as defined by Wikipedia: Hell Drivers – The frequently used term to describe, and the very popular title of, numerous automobile thrill-based productions performing at fairs and racetracks by various squads of stunt drivers since the 1930s. Earl “Lucky” Teter was the first to coin the phrase Hell Drivers, when he began touring his show in 1934. Hell Drivers provided massive audiences with an always exciting show filled with precision driving and deliberate crashes.

Featured stunts included driving cars on two wheels, crashing through flaming barricades, and jumping an automobile ramp to ramp through mid air. For many years, Hell Drivers were used to demonstrate the dependability of a manufacturer’s automotive product. Major Hell Driver automotive sponsors have included Chevrolet, Dodge, Chrysler, Ford, AMC, Nash, and Toyota.

Later thrill shows coining the phrase “Hell Drivers” were launched by such famous drivers and race promoters as Jack Kochman, John Francis “Irish” Horan, Danny Fleenor, Geoff Williams and Joie Chitwood.

General Manager of Kochman’s troupe was Bob Conto. Conto, a native of Malone, New York in the state’s North Country was a former radio-television announcer whose staccato delivery kept pace with the 50-mile per hour events.

The Danish city of Aalborg is known internationally as the world’s centre of Hell Drivers.

Currently, the only traditional new-car stunt show in the United States is Tonny Petersen’s Hell Drivers. There is a current documentary produced by filmmaker Dan T. Hall and Vizmo Films about the life and times of Lucky Teter.

Check out our new Book, 100 Years of the Best Movie Stunts!Screen Shot 2015-09-19 at 8.23.28 PM