Stunt Rock

Plot synopsis:
Today
The film begins with commentary by passenger Detective Graham Waters (Don Cheadle), who has suffered a car accident with his partner Ria (Jennifer Esposito). He mentions that the citizens of Los Angeles have lost their "sense of touch." Ria and the driver of the other car, Kim Lee, exchange racially charged insults. When Waters exits the car, he arrives at a police investigation crime scene concerning the discovery of a "dead kid".
Yesterday
While purchasing a revolver at a gun store, Farhad (Shaun Toub), a Persian shop owner, and his daughter Dorri (Bahar Soomekh), argue in Farsi over what box of bullets they should buy. The gun store owner grows impatient and degrades the two of them by referring to Farhad as "Osama". Farhad asserts that he is an American citizen, but the store owner continues exchanging racially stereotypical insults at Farhad and has the security guard escort him out of the store. Dorri demands the store owner to give her the gun or give her back the money. After the store owner gives the gun to Dorri, she asks for "the ones in the red box". The store owner asks why, but Dorri does not answer and insists on buying that particular box. In another part of town, two black men, Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate), argue over racial stereotyping of African Americans after Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock), the wife of the local district attorney Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), walks in another direction while fearfully staring at them.
Anthony and Peter carjack the married couple as they are about to enter their Lincoln Navigator. Later, at the Cabot house, Hispanic locksmith Daniel Ruiz (Michael Peña) is changing their locks when Jean notices his tattoos. She loudly complains to Rick about having been carjacked and now having to endure a Hispanic man changing their locks, feeling he will give copies of the keys to "his gang banger friends". Having overheard this, Daniel leaves the keys on Jean's kitchen counter. Detectives Waters and Ria arrive at the scene of a shooting between two drivers. The surviving shooter is a white male, identified as an undercover police officer. The dead shooter, a black male, is revealed also to be an undercover police officer. There is a large amount of cash found in the black officer's trunk. This is the third time the white officer has shot and killed a black man.
LAPD officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) calls an HMO on behalf of his father and has an argument with a representative named Shaniqua Johnson (Loretta Devine). He then gets into the squad car with his partner Tom Hansen (Ryan Philippe) and sees a car passenger performing fellatio on the driver of a moving vehicle. They pull over the Navigator similar to the one carjacked earlier, despite discrepancies in the descriptions. They order the couple, television director Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton), to exit. Cameron is cooperative, but Christine is argumentative. This annoys Ryan, who manually molests Christine under the pretense of administering a pat-down. Intimidated, Cameron says nothing. The couple is released without a citation. Once home, Christine becomes enraged that Cameron did nothing while she was being violated. Cameron insists that what he did was correct and storms out.
Arriving home from work long after dark, Daniel finds his young daughter, Lara (Ashlyn Sanchez), hiding under her bed after hearing a gunshot outside. To comfort her, Daniel gives her an "invisible impenetrable cloak", which makes her feel safe enough to fall asleep in her bed. In the carjacked SUV, Anthony and Peter, arguing and distracted, hit a Korean man while passing a parked white van. They argue about what to do with him, finally dumping him in front of a hospital and driving away. Due to the blood in the vehicle, they are unable to receive payment for the carjacking. The next day, at the Los Angeles Police Department station, Hansen talks to his superior, Lt. Dixon (Keith David), about switching partners. Dixon, a black man, claims that Hansen's charge of Ryan as a racist could cost both Hansen and Dixon their jobs. Dixon suggests a transfer to a one-man car and mockingly tells Hansen that he should justify it by claiming to have uncontrollable flatulence.
Ryan visits Shaniqua and apologizes for the argument. He explains that his father was previously diagnosed with a bladder infection, but he fears it may be prostate cancer. Shaniqua nearly calls security to escort Ryan out of her office when he proceeds to insult Shaniqua by calling her an affirmative action hire. When Ryan asks for his father to see a different doctor, Shaniqua denies the request and he storms out of her office in anger. Meanwhile, Daniel is seen replacing a lock at Farhad's shop and tries to explain to him that the door frame needs to be replaced. Farhad, whose English is limited, misunderstands and accuses Daniel of cheating him, which causes Daniel to leave.
Today
The next morning, Farhad discovers the store has been wrecked and defaced with graffiti. His insurance company does not cover the damage, calling it a case of negligence due to the defective door. When Farhad is told that his shop will be closing down, he vows revenge on Daniel. Detective Waters visits his mother (Beverly Todd), a hard drug abuser. She asks him to find his missing younger brother. He promises and takes notice that there is almost no food in the apartment as he is leaving. When he tries to present evidence in the shooting between undercover police officers, his superiors tell him not to reveal the cash in the black officer's trunk, saying that their work in crafting a non-racist image for the department will be undone.
Jean comes home and sees dishes in the dishwasher. She accosts her Hispanic maid Maria for not putting them in the cupboards. Ryan comes across a car accident and as he crawls into the overturned vehicle, he finds Christine trapped. Upon recognizing Ryan, Christine becomes hysterical, but gasoline is leaking from the tank and running downhill towards another wreck, which has already caught fire. He calms her down, and with the assistance of his partner and spectators, Ryan pulls Christine out just as her car bursts into flames. Anthony and Peter approach another Navigator which happens to be Cameron's. They only see Cameron driving after they open the door and are shocked to see that the driver is black (after Anthony previously bragged about not carjacking black people). Cameron is tired of being pushed around and resists. Anthony tells Peter to shoot Cameron, but Peter does not.
As police officers arrive, Cameron and Anthony both race for the car and jump in. Cameron drives away, with Anthony continuing to point a gun at him. A car chase ensues. Hansen is one of the police officers who has responded and recognizes Cameron's vehicle. Cameron drives into a dead end, puts Anthony's gun into his pocket, and gets out of the car, all the while yelling insults at the officers. Just before he pulls out the gun, Hansen convinces him to stop aggravating the situation and to go home. Hansen vouches for Cameron, fending off the other officers, and promising to give him a "harsh" warning. Later, Cameron tells Anthony that as a black man he is embarrassed for him and drops Anthony off at a bus stop.
Farhad locates Daniel's house and waits in ambush. Just as Daniel's daughter Lara jumps into his arms, attempting to protect him with the "invisible cloak", Daniel's wife Elizabeth (Karina Arroyave) runs out the front door and watches in horror as Farhad shoots Lara. It takes the grief-stricken parents and Farhad a moment to realize that Lara is miraculously unharmed. The box of ammunition that Dorri had selected contained blanks. Farhad later tells his daughter that he believes the little girl was his guardian angel, preventing him from committing a terrible crime. Jean is complaining to someone she knows over the phone that she wakes up angry every day and does not know why. Immediately afterwards, she slips and falls down a flight of stairs, spraining her ankle. Jean phones Rick, telling him of her accident.
Peter, who is hitchhiking, is picked up by Hansen. Peter sees that Hansen has a small statuette of Saint Christopher like his own. He begins to laugh as he realizes that they have so much in common, but Hansen thinks that he is being laughed at. Hansen pulls over and tells Peter to get out if he wants to be "funny". Peter moves to pull the statuette out of his pocket in explanation, but Hansen believes he is pulling out a gun and mistakenly shoots and kills Peter. Hansen dumps the body in the bush beside a road and then torches his own car. Peter is revealed to be Waters' missing brother. Waters and his mother meet at the morgue, where Dorri is revealed to be a coroner and Waters promises to find who is responsible. Mrs. Waters blames her surviving son for his brother's death, claiming he was always too busy to look for Peter.
Anthony returns to the white van owned by the Korean man whom they had run over the night before. Finding the keys still hanging from the door lock, he drives the van away. The Korean man's wife Kim Lee arrives at the previously mentioned hospital looking for her husband, the man who was run over, named Choi Jin Gui. Conscious and coherent, he tells her to go and immediately cash a check that he has in his wallet. The check is most likely payment for the contents of the van. Anthony has driven the white van to a chop shop he frequents, and as they inspect the van, a number of Cambodian immigrants are discovered locked in the back of the van, revealing that Choi was involved in human trafficking. Anthony is offered $500 for each person in the van but refuses out of disgust. Whilst resting in her bed, Jean hugs Maria, saying she is the only true friend she has ever had and apologizes. Anthony drives to Chinatown and sets the Cambodian people free. As Anthony drives away, he passes a car crash, which turns out to involve Shaniqua. Shaniqua and the other driver get out and begin to exchange racial slurs.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Great music and an enjoyable movie too!.
I liked the music so much after I bought the movie I found the soundtrack and bought that too, and it is even better on CD than in the movie.
I remember the rock band Sorcery, and I'm glad to see they still have a web site and are active.
I remember the buzz in Hollywood/L.A. about this picture about stunt work in the movies.
The filming in part,took place in Hollywood Ca. and at the MGM studio's in Culver City Ca. I enjoyed the insight of the Director,Brian Trenchard Smith, in presenting the contribution stuntmen made in making motion pictures back then.
Keep in mind, no CGI in 78', and most of the stuntmen working then took some pretty incredible risks to get the shot called for by the directors, to make scenes look as real as possible for the films they worked in.
The stuntman,Grant Page, was excellent in the lead roll as he talks about the business of stuntwork in film, and what it took to be a stuntman back then.
Sorcery presented the battle of "good vs.
evil" as Merlin against Satan played out live on stage.
They blended magic and music together like no one had ever done,or seen before.
Smith's, masterstroke bringing these two entities together,for his vision for the film Stuntrock.
Sorcery and Grant Page were perfect for this project.
The movie showed only a small part of SORCERY's live stage show.
I also think Sorcery is responsible for a large amount of the success now seen for the picture some 30 years after being made in 1978, and they are a major contributer to it's present day underground cult status.
I know the musicians from Sorcery played on other movies,did TV music work, records and did Dick Clark specials as well from that period.
Brian's vision to make this film was somewhat limited,with a small budget and short time to complete, however he was smart to put Sorcery and Grant Page together for this unique look at stuntwork and music together.
I will watch this again and again,for it's entertainment value and Sorcery's great music..
The story is about Australian stuntman Grant Page (playing himself) traveling to Hollywood to handle the stunts for the new TV series "Undercover Girl".
Grant hooks up with his cousin, who is a member of a rock band called Sorcery.
Sorcery uses real "magic" on stage with their music and their entire stage show is a rock opera that tells the story about a duel between the King of the Wizards (Paul Haynes) and the Prince of Darkness (Curtis Hyde).
They go see Sorcery rehearse in the studio and then to an actual stage performance, where the band uses fire, and some pretty awesome prog-rock tunes to tell their story about good versus evil.
That's about the entire plot of the film, as Grant performs a series of dangerous stunts (along with footage of other stunt men and women) and Sorcery performs a series of original tunes and magic to an appreciative audience.
Surprisingly, though, this film is a total blast from beginning to end, thanks in no small part to Grant Page's on-screen charisma and devil-may-care stuntwork and Sorcery's kick-ass music and stage show.
Luckily, Trenchard-Smith chose SORCERY, a big-haired prog-rock Los Angeles band (the keyboard player wears a hood over his head and his voice is electronically altered) with a loyal cult following.I must confess that I never heard of them or their music before this film, but their songs and stage show won me over pretty quickly.
They are kind of like Emerson, Lake and Palmer mixed with an Arthurian Legend stage show, complete with a Merlin-like wizard (who at one point is spun on the tip of a sword and then impaled!) that performs many magic tricks.
It's like watching a David Henning magic show with fist-pumping rock music, but without the extreme overbite.
best action/musical I have ever seen!.
This ones a classic, all it has is a man doing these awesome stunts that make me cringe just watching him burn himself up, hanging over cliffs and all kinds of stuff and the band Sorcery reminds me of a cross between KISS and Uriah Heep and I loved it!
"Sorcery"....(Polygram records/Sorcery music 1978) A U.S. band in the late 70's from Hollywood, California.They combined Music and Magic, in a live stage show.
A true one of a kind group with great magicians and world class musicians gave an excellent live show.
I also have enjoyed their movie "STUNTROCK" as well, andthink they were an excellent example of the great Live actsof the 70's and 80's.
Rock on SORCERY....Glad to see there still around..
Watch the movie to see the rock band Sorcery..
Although this movie is somewhat dated, the rock band Sorcery makes it worth watching.
I saw Sorcery live in LA at a concert where non-other than Van Halen opened for them.
The movie showcases their music and their spectacular stage show.
So sums up the female lead of this one of a kind cinematic experience know as STUNT ROCK.
A faux documentary about real life Australian stuntman Grant Paige, STUNT ROCK garnered considerable attention in cult film circles earlier this year when a trailer for it appeared on the TRAILER TRASH vol.
1. And, truth be told, the trailer is merely a glimpse of the insanity that dares to combine the reckless and the rocking.Grant Page (renowned stunt coordinator, probably best know for MAD MAX) packs up his bags and heads to L.A. to visit his "brother," a performer in the heavy metal outfit Sorcery.
When his first stunt goes awry in Hollywood, Page attracts the interest of a blonde reporter who is determined to find out what makes this crazy stuntmen tick.
Page is more than happy to show her the expressions of his unique knack, all the while making sure to catch a few Sorcery gigs.
Yup, that is the plot of STUNT ROCK.
Filmed in both Australia and Hollywood, STUNT ROCK is a true oddity of cinema.
The stunt work is pretty daring, featuring some real fist clenching scenes.
A stunt gone wrong from MAD DOG MORGAN is highlighted to show how dedicated Page is to his art (he was severely burned but made it back to the set a few days later).
You've never seen GONE IN 60 SECONDS?" Yes, to solidify the idea of stunts as art, the production even includes several of the amazing (and groundbreaking) car chases from the original GONE IN 60 SECONDS.To counter the outlandish nature of the stunt work, the production features several over the top numbers by the heavy metal outfit Sorcery.
In addition to their music, Sorcery presents an elaborate on stage show featuring theatrics that put 70s rivals KISS to shame.
The narrative of their show is a battle between good and evil, essayed in a number of magic performances featuring Merlin combating the Devil onstage as the band sings.
The two diverse worlds of stunt and rock finally coincide when Page joins the band on stage for a fire stunt and then Sorcery dedicates a song to Page entitled "Stunt Rocker." Exactly who this combination of music and mayhem was aimed at has never been determined.
Director Brian Trenchard-Smith is no stranger to the world of stunts, having previously helmed the similar Page vehicle DEATH CHEATERS (1976) and the stunt laced Jimmy Wang Yu film THE MAN FROM HONG KONG (1975)..
The band "Sorcery" were amazing as well.
Sorcery's stage show was the best presentation of music and magic ever seen!The good vs.
evil theme was never so well played out on any stage before.
"Hard rock music/heavy metal magic" was the way to describe this group.
They were and continue today to be the only magic/music show of it's kind in the history of ROCK!
If you're into hard rock music and/or some of the best magic illusions ever performed live,don't miss this one.
See the movie and the band..
This film will not appeal to all, but what movie ever does.
I have always been into the art of stunt work and this portrays it in a way that wouldn't get passed most TV censorship now, coupled with an epic soundtrack by rock band Sorcery this film makes for an awesome viewing experience.
If you don't like stunt work or rock music you'll hate this movie, but if you do lend an interest to the aforementioned you'll find this an enjoyable and memorable production.....
As I read some reviews, mostly from people with no movie or TV experience but lots of self-promoting opinions take shots at this film let me try to set them straight.
1) The Plot is simple: Stuntman Grant Page goes to Hollywood Cal. to work on TV series "Undercover Girl" where he garners the interest of his co-star "Monique Van De Ven" and, a the reporter,played by "Margret Gerard" who is writing a story about people who get TO caught up in the work.
In this case stuntman like Grant Page.
When Grant arrives in Hollywood, he hooks up with his cousin, played by Curtis Hyde, who plays the devil character in "Sorcery" in the bands stage show.
Their show is a magic based stage show of the battle of good vs.
It features some great hard rock music of that era.The band has some roles in the film and Grant does a good job at what he does,stunts.
The film is from 1978 and the Director,Brian Trenchard Smith is responsible for all we see and hear as the director and editor usually do.
2) Sorcery did a very good job, as I'm sure they followed the directors suggestions and did what was called for at the time.
It's OK if some people don't care for this film,I know how many I don't like,but this is for many a good time movie about Rock,Stunts, and the backstage requirements of stuntmen and the movie business from a inside look from Grants perspective as a stuntman.
And the contribution over time they make to the overall movie.
3) Summary: I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to be entertained!
That's enough stunt work, magic tricks and glamour rock for the next couple of years..
I must have seen bits and pieces of "Stunt Rock" footage in the downright fantastic documentary "Not Quite Hollywood", probably found it instantly cool, promptly added it to my never-ending watchlist, and then subsequently forgot about it for the next ten years or so.
They obviously only showed the awesome stunt parts in "Not Quite Hollywood", and from the documentary I couldn't derive that this really isn't the type of "film" I usually seek for.
"Stunt Rock" isn't a film, in fact, because there aren't any real characters and there isn't a plot.
It's a mixture of impressively performed stunts by Grant Page, integrally sung rock anthems by a band named Sorcery and inventive magical tricks shown by a Merlin lookalike wizard and a sort of devil named Prince of Darkness.
I don't want to talk too negatively about "Stunt Rock", because I have tremendous respect for its director Brian Trenchard-Smith.
I had an epiphany during this movie, for my whole life I naively thought Citizen Kane had no equal, but now I can say with complete confidence that Stunt Rock is unequivocally it.The similarities are subtle but many, there are moving pictures & sound - so far so good, plenty of thoughtful mugging is going on just like what Orson Welles did and lastly while you are watching twelve monkeys don't encroach around you hurling their feces in your general direction.One of the reasons I discovered this movie is I found the soundtrack to Rocktober Blood, which I listened to hundreds of times before finally deciding to watch the actual movie and of course Sorcery (not Sorcery of Chicago) does the music and they Rock!
I feel the movie (Rocktober Blood) is underrated, the plot is more interesting than you may initially think, but then again you get great music as well!I feel many parallels can be drawn between Rocktober Blood and Stunt Rock, which can only bode well for you, the viewer, since you could have a great night with friends, make it a double-bill!.
but really it's all an excuse to get from musical sequence to stunt sequence and back again.
many of the stunt sequences are spliced in from other films the star, Grant Page, has performed stunts in.
he plays himself, as do many of the other actors and musicians here, including the amazingly awful sorcery, whose live performances, as shown here, are filled with an audience who seem to all be wondering who the hell these people are.
PS: a few years ago a friend had a bachelor party in which he and his buddies dressed up as Sorcery and actualy learned and played the entire soundtrack to the film.
Even better was that the director, Brian Trenchard-Smith showed up and videotaped it!.
A stunt that drops like a rock.
This movie can't decide if it is a concert film, a stunt documentary, or a love story.
Ultimately, it winds up being none of the above.Choppy editing, wooden-like-a-tree acting, dreadful, repetitive and puerile songs;dialog that beggars description and magic tricks that are either interminable or transparent or both (i've seen better at a child's birthday party)--this is a perfect storm of a bad film.
This is nothing more than a vanity project for Grant Page, the stuntman who takes up most of the um...plot isn't the word.
Ah, i have it--Grant wastes most of the screen time.
Where else could you combine stunts with the power of ROCK?
"Stunt Rock" is cult filmmaker Brian Trenchard-Smiths' tribute to one of the legends in the stunt department, Aussie icon Grant Page.
There's not much of a "story" in this movie, but its basic set-up has Grant travelling to America to work on a TV series with film star Monique van de Ven (also playing herself).
He also begins work on stage shows for a highly theatrical rock band dubbed "Sorcery", who come complete with a "wizard" style magician (Paul Haynes) and a "Prince of Darkness" (Curtis Hyde).
Meanwhile, a journalist (Margaret Gerard) doing a piece on job dedication becomes fascinated with Grant.It does become apparent early on that "Stunt Rock" is not so much telling a story as it is detailing (documentary style, with use of split screen) the art of stunt coordination, and the "shock rock" genre that had been in style for a number of years.
It's never more interesting than when it follows Grant and his exploits, but at least the music is pretty catchy.
There's one good gag when somebody asks him to take it off.)Grants' death-defying ambitions form a great basis for the movie, and there is some breathtaking action to behold.
For example, we are shown the preparation that went into a stunt that Grant performed for Philippe Moras' 1976 picture "Mad Dog Morgan".
Grant is a charismatic, easygoing guy, and you do enjoy watching him ply his trade and interact with other people.
Some people could argue that TOO much screen time is devoted to the band, but it does ultimately lead into the possible development of entertainment that Gerard dubs "stunt rock".Overall, quite engaging, and relatively brief in run time (96 minutes).
Director Trenchard-Smith clearly has a great respect for people like Grant, and had previously made a documentary in 1973 called "The Stuntmen".Look for Richard Blackburn (director of "Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural" and co-writer of "Eating Raoul") in a supporting role as the agent; comedy legend Phil Hartman is apparently also in here somewhere.Seven out of 10..
Stunts, and rock.
End of story.The band obviously needed all that stuff because they are frankly second-tier, and playing a style that was already dated in 1978.
Grant Page is our personal hero.
An Australian stuntman known for his unbelievably dangerous stunt work, here he gets his own movie so he can display his charm to the audience as well.
Director Brian Trenchard-Smith fashioned an innovative cross between a documentary, a fictional film and a concert film, and its ahead-of-its-time (even today) nature ensures pure entertainment that will appeal to any generation.
What's so cool about Stunt Rock, besides the stunts and music, is that the filmmakers were smart enough not to weigh it down with an involved plot.
There's really no time for that, it has to be packed full with stunts and the music of the L.A. rock band Sorcery.What happens is, Grant comes to Los Angeles to work on a new TV show starring Monique van de Ven, called Undercover Girl.
Interestingly, her smarmy agent is played by Richard Blackburn, the director of the great Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973).
Anyway, Grant ends up in a relationship with a magazine reporter (Margaret Gerard, wife of Trenchard-Smith) who is doing an article on stunt men.
Meanwhile, Grant's cousin is in the stage show for Sorcery, who re-enact cosmic battles between good and evil featuring wizards and demons while the band crank out their rockin' tunes.This hugely entertaining film is just too awesome for words.
The great Trenchard-Smith blasted out a tour-de-force of music and action - a majority of the movie is footage of Page's death-defying stunts while Sorcery music blares on the soundtrack.
Page's insane, awe-inspiring work is so eye-popping, Trenchard-Smith puts it on split screens because one screen just isn't enough!
Pure fun, the simplicity of the execution, married with the powerful combination of the music and the action, guarantees Stunt Rock the status of cinematic masterpiece.
Trenchard-Smith described this gem as "a love letter to stuntmen in general and Grant Page in particular", and that love comes through in spades, and the overall upbeat, positive vibe is totally winning.Much of that has to do with the presence, music and magic tricks of Sorcery.