Doubling for McQueen and Redford: The Stunt Careers of Loren Janes and Mickey Gilbert

by James C. Udel

Overview

Since Hollywood's first motion-picture, stunt players have given blood, sweat, and tears to the business. From high falls and horse gags to fist-fights, fire, water-work and automotive mayhem, this largely unsung group of action-performers has been making movie violence believable and telling stories through exciting sequences without so much as an Oscar category to acknowledge their work.

This book follows the careers of Loren Janes and Mickey Gilbert, two fabled stunt practitioners born and trained during the pre-CGI film age, and shares their secrets of the trade while walking through five decades of movie magic. The fascinating and original conversations discuss some of Hollywood's most action-packed flicks such as Spartacus, How the West Was Won, Bullitt, The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Little Big Man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476642727
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	11/16/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	226
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

A member of IATSE’s Local 80 Grips since 1993, James C. Udel has held the position of call steward with the Hollywood Union for the past eight years. Besides serving as the Local’s archivist, he also penned a feature column for Below the Line magazine called Footnotes. He lives in Sherman Oaks, California.
A member of IATSE's Local 80 Grips since 1993, James C. Udel has held the position of call steward with the Hollywood Union for the past eight years. Besides serving as the Local's archivist, he also penned a feature column for Below the Line magazine called Footnotes. He lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Loren Janes
1. Childhood and the Early Days
2. Going Professional
3. Age of the Flying Cowboys
4. Wrestling Anacondas, Stunt Associations and McQueen
5. When the World Wasn’t Padded
6. The Misfits, Taras Bulba and The Greatest Story Ever Told
7. Western Classics: McLintock! and The Sons of Katie Elder
8. ­­­­­­G-Men, Camelot and More
9. From Apes to Frank Bullitt and Beyond
10. Tentpoles and Bogdanovich’s Masterpiece Plus Custer’s Last Stand
11. Life as a Pro
12. A Hard Day’s Night
13. McQueen’s Best and Last
14. New Beginnings of a Journeyman Player
15. Cold, Cold, Cold Around the Heart
16. Master of the Tinseltown Universe
Part II: Mickey Gilbert
17. Birth of a Champion
18. A Career Begins: Alvarez Kelly and Peckinpah
19. Cleopatra to Return of a Man Called Horse
20. All in a Day’s Work
21. Sydney Pollack, Redford and Belushi
22. Stunt Heaven and Helicopters
23. Old Gringo Rides
24. Return of the Westerns
25. The Fat Lady Sings
Glossary
Index