Reviewed by JD Piche, RCRs Producer and Pop Culture expert,
follow him on Twitter at @misadventurer
What may at first seem like a love letter to those knuckleheads that jump off buildings, catch themselves on fire and crash cars for a living. Kurt Mattila’s “Stuntman” shines a light on Eddie Braun and the dichotomy of his life. He lives in a cute little house with a white picket fence, on a cute little street in the same town where he’s lived his whole life, he’s a loving father and husband. But his day job usually involves precision driving a modified police car, panel van or Camaro, down a specific route, hitting his mark, and then pushing his “Easy” button to trigger explosives, or an air ram, or jump a car onto the beach. For as much as Eddie loves his family, he loves his job, he’s Charlie Sheen’s stunt double, and walked away from a Helicopter crash, totaled hundreds of cars, and one of the most humble people you’ll ever meet, despite having the best stories you’ll ever hear.
Stuntman is steeped with passion. When he was a young boy, Eddie met his idol, Evel Knievel, and he watched, live on TV, when Evel’s infamous, Snake River Canyon Jump, failed. The parachute had malfunctioned and deployed early, but it was too late to abort and reset, Knievel was already off the ramp and the parachute fought the rocket’s thrust. Bob Traux, the rocket’s designer, was blamed for the stunt failing, and there was a black mark in history on the Traux family name. A few years back, the son of the original Rocket Bike engineer, Scott Traux, with a desire to prove his dad’s design would have worked, sought out to redeem his father, he was going to build the Skycycle X-2, but just needed someone crazy enough to fly it. That was Eddie. For nearly 4 decades, Eddie had crashed for cash, and when the opportunity to complete what had nearly taken the life of his idol presented itself, Eddie jumped at it. The years of crashing and catching himself on fire were starting to weigh on him, he was hoping to retire, and the ideas was, ‘why not go out on top, or maybe go down just like his hero?’ – The Jump would be Eddie’s Mic Drop.
This documentary follows the process of who Eddie and Scott are, what drives them, why, this one publicity stunt 40-odd years ago, was such a defining moment in their lives. Intercutting between the Rocket Build team and Eddie’s day job of car commercials, and flipping buses. Director, Kurt Mattila, does a phenomenal job of establishing who Eddie is, truly capturing Eddie’s humanity. He couldn’t be further from what his idol was. Evel was a Showman first, and a stuntman second. Eddie is a family man first and often shies away from the limelight. also scoring moments of pensive thought. The film also covers how, in 2014, Fox was going to do a special “Jump of the Century” which was going to be paired with Game One of the World Series, Slash of Guns N Roses fame, recorded a cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” for the televised event. In September of 2014, when an unmanned engine test fails, Fox dropped out. We’re at a low point. Snake River was Evel’s white whale, and proving to be the same hurdle for Eddie, as no one wanted their logo on the side of a Rocket which could be Eddie’s tomb at the bottom of a canyon in Idaho.
The other characters in the film, aside from Eddie’s wife Meg, and his kids are his stunt family. Most notably, Conrad “Connie” Palmisano, with an IMDb credit list longer than your arm, and more uncredited work, than you’d ever believe, talks about how much solidarity there are with stunt people, despite different groups or companies, on the day “when it’s his turn in the barrel, we’re all around the bag, and when it’s my turn in the barrel, they’re all around the bag.” And when something goes wrong during a stunt, or, in the case of Eddie’s helicopter crash, it being just a normal shot of some cars driving down a road, in a straight line, but the chopper just went down, how not everyone is as lucky as Eddie. As well as Buddy Joe Hooker, one of the best-known Car Guys in the business.
Evel Knievel was a Showman first, and a Stuntman second. His bravado and bluster and star-spangled jumpsuit and helmet were pure symbols of America’s “Can-Do” attitude, though his failure was almost emblematic of our society in decline. Politically the 70’s were tumultuous and it became gauche to wear the Stars and Stripes, while kids had Evel on their lunchboxes, the classic ‘American Dream’ was in decline. And here we are 40 years later, and the President follows Evel’s ‘Showmanship first, everything else second” attitude. It feels like the world needs more Eddie Brauns.
“I’d Rather Be Lucky, than Good” – Eddie Braun
I’ve known Eddie for years, and it was phenomenal to finally see his years of passion, come to fruition as they did in this. Kurt captures something, likely few had ever seen, Eddie Braun, crying. Knowing he may not make it. His whole life has been filled with calculated risk, that’s the life of being a stunt performer. A harness may fail, the wind could shift, for as many times as everything had been checked, there’s always a chance something may go wrong, and to see the culmination of everything. Eddie made it, I know he did, I’ve spoken to him since, But the whole launch and flight, had me on the edge of my seat, despite knowing he made it, Mattila did a phenomenal job.
– every stuntman was hurt during the making of this film –
10/10
About Stuntman
Follows professional stuntman Eddie Braun as he prepares and attempts the most dangerous stunt in cinematic history.
Follow Stuntman on twitter at https://twitter.com/stuntmanmovie
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Like Stuntman on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StuntmanMovie/
Visit stuntmanmovie.com or drivenpictures.com for more.
