Plot
Veteran stuntman Sonny Hooper (Burt Reynolds), known in Hollywood as "the greatest stuntman alive," is currently working as Adam West's stunt double on the fictitious action film The Spy Who Laughed at Danger.
Hooper's on-set antics and wisecracks are a trial for egotistical director Roger Deal (Robert Klein), and even more so for Deal's bossy assistant Tony (Alfie Wise), who gets Hooper in trouble with the Humane Society over a stunt involving a dog. Added to which the years of self-abuse on and off the set are fast catching up with Hooper, with the numerous stunts—and an addiction to painkillers—beginning to take their toll on his body.
Hooper lives with his girlfriend Gwen Doyle (Sally Field), whose father Jocko (Brian Keith) is a retired stuntman himself. Upon coming home from work one evening, Hooper is goaded by a friend into performing at a weekend benefit show. It is there that he first meets Delmore "Ski" Shidski (Jan-Michael Vincent), a young newcomer who makes his entrance in spectacular style, much to Hooper's chagrin.
Hooper and Ski become friends that night after a barroom brawl with a pack of rowdy out-of-towners, including football great Terry Bradshaw. Later everybody goes to an after-hours party at Hooper's place where he shows his stunt reel (including footage from Reynolds' 1972 film Deliverance), and Hooper invites Ski to begin working for Hooper on the new film.
Unknowingly, they begin an escalating but friendly rivalry with the stunts becoming more and more spectacular—and dangerous. After a freefall from a record 224 feet, Hooper becomes more aware of his own mortality, and surreptitiously consults with his doctor about his condition. The doctor tells Hooper that one more bad jolt in his neck could render him a quadriplegic.
The pompous Roger decides to re-write the film script, adding even more stunts to the film, not the least of which is a climactic earthquake at the film's end, complete with explosions and fires. Hooper and Ski would need to race through the carnage to a gorge with the bridge self-destructing before they can cross it.
Roger initially suggests the duo rappel down one side of the gorge and up the other to safety, but Ski comes up with another idea: Fly a rocket car over the gorge. Roger immediately takes a shine to this, ignoring the fears of the producer and the chief engineer that Sonny and Ski might not survive.
That evening, Hooper meets up with Gwen at the hospital; Jocko has suffered a stroke. Seeing the old stuntman laid out in a hospital bed jolts Sonny's thinking, and he confides in Gwen that this will be his last movie.
Hooper and Gwen return home to find Sonny's pal and assistant Cully (James Best) waiting for them. Slightly intoxicated, Cully reveals he has been fired from the movie due to budget cuts; Hooper and Ski were to split a $100,000 bonus for the final stunt. Cully then reveals to Gwen the rocket car stunt and Hooper's visit to his doctor, both of which Sonny was keeping secret from Gwen.
Hooper later tells a disgruntled Roger that he's backing out of the rocket car stunt, but Max Berns, the producer of the film and Hooper's friend, persuades Sonny to return and do the stunt—no one else is available, or willing, to do it. Hooper leaves for the studio, with Gwen, in a futile last-ditch attempt to change Sonny's mind, saying she wouldn't be there when he comes back.
Sonny and Ski perform the massive stunt perfectly and, as expected, they land hard in the rocket car at the other end of the gorge. Ski emerges okay, but the impact is more of a shock to Sonny's system. Gwen tearfully pushes her way through the crowd as the film crew frantically pries open the passenger door to get Hooper out. Gwen is terrified that the jolt is finally one too many, but Sonny slowly comes out of his temporary unconsciousness and takes Gwen in his arms as the crowd cheers wildly.
Max promptly fires Tony. And just for the hell of it, Hooper lands a hard punch to Roger's face, then walks off with Gwen, Ski, Cully and a crutch-bound Jocko by his side.
Read more about this topic: Hooper (film)
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