After a century of non-recognition for their broken bones and unsightly bruises, movie stunt designers are finally getting their own Oscar. It’s about time stunt guys and gals get their flowers for death-defying feats. But forget Mission: Impossible XIV and the next James Bond — many comedies are stuffed with outrageous acts of physical prowess, too.
Jackass 3D
The Guardian couldn’t get enough of this tour de force, featuring Steve O in a port-o-potty that’s shot into the air like a rocket. But wait — the flying toilet is tethered to the earth with bungee cords, meaning Steve O gets doused in doo-doo with each bounce. If the Academy had its act together in 2010, the Jackass team could have claimed its Oscar.
Safety Last!
The fact that Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock hand in 1923 still inspires sweaty palms is a testament to the comic artistry on display here. It was a hell of a stunt, requiring several buildings, trick camera angles and multiple stuntmen. Lloyd did most of his own dangling despite a prosthetic thumb and index finger. (He lost the originals in an earlier stunt.)
Jackie Chan put his spin on Lloyd’s iconic scene in his action-comedy, Project A.
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau shows off his abilities as “the Pavlova of the Parallels” before a stunt double swaps in to do the dirty work. A master class in physical comedy.
Singin’ in the Rain
You don’t think of a musical number as a physical stunt? Check out Donald O’Connor strutting his stuff while performing “Make ‘Em Laugh.” Not only is the scene hilarious, O’Connor should have won an Olympic medal for his insanely athletic work running up (and bursting through) walls. But the number took its toll. O’Connor, a chain smoker at 27, was bedridden for days after filming this sequence.
Hot Rod
In the 1980s, movies like Footloose featured nutso music video sequences in which the hero trained/danced his way into the movie’s third act. Andy Samberg’s Hot Rod paid tribute to those inspirational montages — except Rod trips over a log during his physical routine, causing an endless fall down a mountain. Even the Coyote never suffered this badly.
All of the Home Alone Movies
What is Home Alone (and Home Alone 2) without stuntmen subbing in for Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern to take paint cans to the face? “Every time the stunt guys did one of those stunts, it wasn’t funny,” confessed director Chris Columbus. “We’d watch it, and I would just pray that the guys were alive.” Even Macauley Culkin wasn’t immune — he still has the scar from where Pesci bit his finger.
Content shared from www.cracked.com.