Quotes from Hal Needham

Some stuntmen become actors, but Hollywood is a caste-oriented society. Most of the time you just don't have the opportunity to get out of your field if you're a grip, an electrician, stuntman, set designer, director or actor.

Can I tell you what I really believe is the reason everybody wants to work with us? I believe they sign on because they're almost assured that it's going to be a very commercial film. A Burt Reynolds film is a guarantee of exposure... And also, we have a lot of fun.

I just knew it would get a big laugh when people saw the 'Flying Nun' throwing the bird to a highway patrolman.

I love horses, and when the SPCA tells me off I get real mad because I know more about horses than they do. They say you can't rear a horse up backwards, but I do it so they fall into foam rubber and don't get hurt at all.

I'm not a big fan of CGI. When I look at it, I go: 'Wait a minute. That's not possible.' And I think other people see the same thing. The movies I worked on, we did stunts for real. And I think it shows.

No, Hal Needham without Burt Reynolds has not done well. 'Megaforce' went right in the toilet.

Out in Hollywood I'm getting to be regarded as the 'redneck adviser.'

The night before we began shooting 'Hooper,' I threw a $7,000 bash for the whole crew. I told them, 'Get as drunk as you want tonight, because for the next month and a half you're going to be working your tails off.' And it worked.

Guys like O.J. Simpson and Tony Dorsett can take the ball and run through the line, but I defy them to follow me over a 70-foot cliff or let a horse drag them a few hundred feet. Nobody can beat a stunt man for overall athletic ability.

I'm too old and too rich to do any more stunts.

When 'Smokey' was released and became a blockbuster, Trans Am sales went through the roof. If you wanted a black Trans Am, you had to wait a minimum of six months. By the time we were ready to shoot 'Smokey II,' I was on a first-name basis with Pontiac.

I hope to be remembered for mentoring the future generation of stuntmen and fighting for the rights and respect that stuntmen and stuntwomen deserve for their contribution to the world of moviemaking.

If you read books forever and ever, they will never replace what really counts - that's practical experience.

I thought, 'Wow. Look at all of the money I made. I think I will change jobs.' And that's how I decided to be a stuntman instead of a tree-topper.

If a producer has 5 million bucks tied up in a picture, he's not about to let a guy like Burt Reynolds wreck a car when he can get a dummy like me to do it. But some stars would make good stuntmen. Reynolds is one of them. Bob Fuller and Doug McClure are strong, tough guys with plenty of courage, too.

When people say Evel's a stuntmen I want to throw up. He's nothing but a daredevil idiot. The only reason he's famous is because he wrecks his motorcycle every time he rides.

I've wrecked a lot of good cars in my day.

I was a sharecropper's son. That's as low as you can get on the totem pole.

Of course when you toss a stick of dynamite at a cartoon character, he can come back to life again in the next frame. Getting the same effect with actors is going to be a lot tougher.

It was bad for a stuntman to have a reputation for being hurt, and worse yet to report it.

We try to reduce the danger to a minimum, of course. And then we prepare for accidents with alternate plans. For instance, if I'm turning over a stagecoach, I try to take into consideration what moves I have to make if it flips in the wrong direction. Without those emergency plans you get hurt.

'Death Car' was shot on a freeway that's under construction. It's called 'Chips' Freeway' because it's where they shoot the NBC series. We bring out our own traffic, too. This is true in all such scenes, even the car chase in 'The French Connection.' You have to work in a controlled situation, otherwise there would be numerous lawsuits.

There's no more fun. All that digital stuff - we used to do that crap for real! I hate that stuff. Young kids who play video games seem to like it, but I don't.

You can only fall so far through a tree before the limbs become abrasive to your body.