Stuntman!

January 3, 2011
Needham worked more than 40 years in Hollywood as a stuntman who filled in for John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Dustin Hoffman, and Burt Reynolds. Given the exciting and dangerous jobs he performed wrangling horses, staging fights, doing "high falls," and crashing cars, Needham has plenty of material, and he writes like a guy telling stories at a bar, laying out one anecdote after another about 1960s and '70s directors and big-time actors. Of course, as a thrice married, hard-living stuntman who was not only Reynolds's stunt-double but also his best friend, Needham has his share of fun and not-so-dirty little secrets that he doles out in a playful prose that makes it obvious that no matter how serious he took his job, he knew how to enjoy life. Indeed, Needham's personal life—bootlegging alcohol (he grew up in Arkansas), racing a car cross-country—has informed his work as both stuntman and director of such movies as Smokey and the Bandit, Stroker Ace, Cannonball Run, and Hooper.

December 1, 2010

One of Hollywood's most successful and influential stuntmen recounts a life filled with fast living, hard partying and dozens of broken bones.

In most on-screen situations, stuntmen are seen and not heard. Needham, a true innovator of his craft who's not shy about touting his accomplishments, is a colorful exception. Growing up as a poor sharecropper's son in Arkansas, the undereducated author parlayed stints as a tree climber and paratrooper into a career as a stuntman at a time when there was a high demand for men willing to fling themselves from horseback, get blown up and choreograph a bar brawl. His (self-proclaimed) ingenuity, willingness to try anything and work ethic soon led to more work than he could handle. Needham began to train other stuntmen, working his way up to the position of stunt coordinator and second-unit director while still performing death-defying falls, car crashes and jumps alongside of or doubling some of the most famous actors in the business, including John Wayne and Burt Reynolds. His stories are by turns entertaining and gripping, including an account of running in the real cross-country Cannonball race—the inspiration for the comedy classic Cannonball Run, which Needham directed—and a daring escape from Prague amid a movie shoot after an invasion by Russian troops. After a while, though, the author's self-aggrandizing style, peppered with braggadocio and oozing machismo, becomes monotonous, rendering what could have been an exhilarating and enlightening insider's guide from a groundbreaking performer into little more than a self-serving memoir that strokes an already well-stroked ego.

One can't help but wonder whether a night of drinking with the author might be more fun than reading this exhaustive chronicle. A little Hal goes a long way.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2011

Needham is best known for directing movies that are simply fun to watch--such as Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, and The Cannonball Run--and his autobiography of a life in film lives up to that tradition. Focusing on his years as a prolific stuntman, stunt coordinator, and film director, Needham fills the pages with behind-the-scenes anecdotes of his days with John Wayne, Burt Reynolds, and countless others. When he occasionally mentions his family, his childhood in Arkansas, or his relationship with his mother, it is all the more affecting; he is a consummate professional who never lost touch with where he came from or how lucky he was for the opportunities he had. The greatest attribute of the book is Needham's voice. He can tell a good story, and his life has provided an endless amount of source material. VERDICT A well-written, conversational look at a distinctive Hollywood experience, perfect for any library and anyone who admires the skills of filmmaking. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/10.]--Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2011
An absolute must for fans of books about moviemaking, this autobiography of one of Hollywoods most acclaimed stuntmennot to mention one of the most financially successful directors of the 1970s and early 1980sis guaranteed to keep readers glued to their seats. Needham, who broke into stunt work in the late 1950s, was the stunt coordinator for the television series Have GunWill Travel for six seasons. Moving to the big screen, he worked on movies directed by some of Hollywoods heavyweights (Wilder, Penn, Frankenheimer, Schaffner) and starring some of the movie business biggest names (Wayne, Douglas, Hoffman, Hackman, Sinatra). In the seventies, he segued into directing, launching that career with the wildly successful, if critically reviled, Smokey and the Bandit (which, he reminds us, was beaten at the box office that year by only one movie, Star Wars). Needham also, for better or worse, pioneered the use of outtakes during a movies closing credits. A well-written and exciting book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)