STUNT ROCK

US/Netherlands, 1978, 91 minutes, Colour.
Grant Page, Monique van de Ven, Margaret Gerard, Paul Haynes.
Directed by Brian Trenchard- Smith.

Writer-director Brian Trenchard- Smith has for years been an action director, especially in Man from Hong Kong and Death Cheaters, as well as documentaries on stunt men. Grant Page is the expert Australian stuntman, responsible for so many spectacular effects in movies of the 70s. This semi-documentary is a tribute to him - and could satisfyingly have had more of his stunts. A thin plot (Page goes to Hollywood for work on a TV series) has him meet a relative who is part of a rock group Sorcery. The film has musical interludes which may or may not entertain according to age and taste. An interesting idea and the Page tribute is well merited.

1. An interesting and enjoyable film? A satisfying blend of documentary, stunt footage, a tribute to a person and his work, a rock concert? The range of appeal? For an Australian audience, American, international?

2. The importance and quality of the technical effects: colour, wide-screen, sound, split-screen, special effects, especially with so much stunt work?

3. The portrait of Grant Page as a person - how attractive, his manner, his strengths and limitations as an actor, his reputation as a stunt man and the quality of his stunt work, the glimpse of his private personality, the flashback to his films e.g. Mad Dog Morgan, his commentaries on fear and why he did the stunts, his respect for fear, his theory about heights etc.? How convincing was he as a stunt man and a professional?

4. The effect of the stunts for the audience - the visual thrill, for the man himself and his reputation and skills, the breaking of records, sense of achievement, the art of the stunt man (and the scenes from the film gone in 60 seconds?) The irony of the stunts for the critical directors and the irony with which the film director was presented here?

5. The atmosphere for stunts and their being carried out - heights, the air, flying? Cars and smashes and speed? The significance of burning and fire? The skill in imagination in thinking out the stunts, the mathematics and the physics for their safe carrying out? Protective needs etc.? Which stunts illustrated these aspects best?

6. The Australian opening and Grant Page being established as an Australian, the atmosphere of Sydney Harbour and the Heads and the Gap? The TV Coverage? The return to the Australian setting for the filming of so much of the stunt footage? The transition to the world of Los Angeles, American television, the humorous presentation of American series, Monique as the heroine, the attitudes towards film~-making in the United States? The presentation of the director and the crew? The contribution of the stunts to the series? The relative importance of the stunt work for the series?

7. The portrait of Monique, her work in the series, her agent, friendship with Grant and with Lois, the going to the Sorcery concerts? Her wanting to do stunt work and her final fall?

8. The contrast with Lois - Lois as an attractive person, journalist, seeing her at work? The device of having her research an article, the visit to the hospital and her fascination with Grant Page, continuing to watch him, going to the concerts with him, the change of the attitude of the article, looking at his scrapbook and providing the occasion for flashbacks? His stunt outside her apartment and inviting her to dinner and her reaction? The audience looking at the stunt man through her eyes?

9. The quality of Sorcery's music, the visual presentation of their songs, the recording sessions, the performance in concert, the gimmicks with the atmosphere of magic? The audience response? How well was this integrated with the stunt work? Grant Page and his final stunt work at their concert?

10. How enjoyable a film, good-natured? A film about filing and a tribute to cinema skills and human endurance?