Writing about Hooper in his autobiography, director Hal Needham claims the film pioneered the concept of outtakes. Subsequent films would feature flubbed line readings, misbehaving props, actions gone wrong and various other bloopers in their credits sequences. But Hooper – a film about, as its tagline proclaims, “the greatest stuntman alive!” – uses its final minutes to showcase extra stunts that didn’t make the final cut.
Instead of leaving them on the cutting room floor, these outtakes instead make the stunt performer’s (typically effaced) labour not only visible, but a point of celebration. An original ditty, Nothin’ Like the Life (Of A Hollywood Stuntman), was even commissioned as the soundtrack.
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