Reaction
Hooper enjoyed moderate success at the box office; it was one of the top ten films of 1978, but ultimately the film was deemed a letdown in comparison to Reynolds' Smokey and the Bandit, second only to Star Wars in box office gross the year before. Hooper grossed $78 million domestically, nearly 40% less than the gross of Smokey in 1977 ($126 million).
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound for (Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall and Jack Solomon).
The work of James Best accelerated his acting career, and he was selected to portray dimwitted Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in The Dukes Of Hazzard television show in 1979.
The film inspired a successful television series, The Fall Guy which starred Lee Majors.
The film is heavily referenced in episode 209 of the cartoon Frisky Dingo, in which main character Xander Crews suffers from a severe neck injury similar to Hooper's.
The film is referenced in episode 304 of the cartoon Archer, in which a character comments shes going to masturbate to Hooper until her fingers bleed.
The final stunt run in which Hooper and Ski drive their car through the collapsing town was replicated as a level in the 2002 video game Stuntman.
Read more about this topic: Hooper (film)
Famous quotes containing the word reaction:
“In a land which is fully settled, most men must accept their local environment or try to change it by political means; only the exceptionally gifted or adventurous can leave to seek his fortune elsewhere. In America, on the other hand, to move on and make a fresh start somewhere else is still the normal reaction to dissatisfaction and failure.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“Christianity was only a very strong and singularly well-timed Salvation Army movement that happened to receive help from an unusual and highly dramatic incident. It was a Puritan reaction in an age when, no doubt, a Puritan reaction was much wanted; but like all sudden violent reactions, it soon wanted reacting against.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“An actor must communicate his author’s given message—comedy, tragedy, serio- comedy; then comes his unique moment, as he is confronted by the looked-for, yet at times unexpected, reaction of the audience. This split second is his; he is in command of his medium; the effect vanishes into thin air; but that moment has a power all its own and, like power in any form, is stimulating and alluring.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)