"Incredible stunts in this one. Burt’s throwing himself around like he’s already got the idea for Hooper in his mind and just needs the back problems to get into character — and my god it helps with the immersion. Seeing the star of a movie, with their face clearly visible, jump-tackle a guy through a fence, then grab him off the ground and slam him into a wall is just amazing entertainment as far as I’m concerned.

But the cake-taker is a stunt where Hal Needham is doubling Burt. The idea is that he’s jumping off a high wall into a tree and grabbing a branch — but the branch has other ideas. It snaps, and flips Needham upside down, where he reverts to his stuntman instincts and breaks the twenty-foot fall with his neck.

And they hold the shot after he lands. He’s not getting up quickly. Apparently he only had a concussion, but he’s lucky he walked away at all. Shades of Jackie’s legendary tree-based accident a decade or so later. I will never not respect lunatics risking their lives for my entertainment.

Oh yeah and on top of that Burt and Dyan Cannon are unbelievably charming, with stellar chemistry. I think Burt’s smarmy shtick actually works a little better in the New York setting, where his good ol’ boy charm makes him feel like an outlier. Love his down South canon too, but when everyone are good ol’ boys, no one is, you know?" -Letterboxd