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The Fall Guy: 30 Years As the Duke's Double
Action.
These days, a stand-in does pilates in front of green painted walls, while someone uses a computer to paint danger and the leading man's face into the shot.
But it wasn't always so easy...Hollywood once had a brand of man - part hero, part fool - that risked life and limb to put on a good show. They called their work "stunts" and "gags" but those words don't mean the same thing anymore.
The Fall Guy: 30 Years as The Duke's Double, is a look back at the original action stars of Hollywood. Men's men, unmatched in strength, skill, and bravery...yet rarely acknowledged outside the industry professionals who knew just how incredible their work really was.
These days, a stand-in does pilates in front of green painted walls, while someone uses a computer to paint danger and the leading man's face into the shot.
But it wasn't always so easy...Hollywood once had a brand of man - part hero, part fool - that risked life and limb to put on a good show. They called their work "stunts" and "gags" but those words don't mean the same thing anymore.
The Fall Guy: 30 Years as The Duke's Double, is a look back at the original action stars of Hollywood. Men's men, unmatched in strength, skill, and bravery...yet rarely acknowledged outside the industry professionals who knew just how incredible their work really was.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 13, 2021
Movie stunts can be dangerous, even in this era of CGI and on-set insurance adjustors and safety personnel. But it should go without saying that the stuntmen (and eventually stuntwomen) of bygone eras had much more dangerous careers, especially considering that many of them had to invent the stunts and pioneer the techniques that later became industry standards, learning their jobs the very hard way.
Chuck Roberson, who stunted for "Duke" John Wayne himself, was one of the best-known and most-respected from the trade's golden age. "The Fall Guy" takes the reader through his life and career, starting with a childhood on a Texas ranch where he witnessed a killing that would haunt him for years to come. He found his way to LA shortly after talkies came in and the "Land" part got cropped off the famous "Hollywood" sign. Quickly enough he got a job as a harness cop and then, on a lark, did some tricks on a horse in a movie.
Pretty soon he'd developed into a topflight stuntman, as well as a character actor specializing in playing scowling heavies. He had the good fortune to become a part of legendary director John "Pappy" Ford's repertory gang of cowboys, and proved an integral witness and participant to the making of some of the most legendary Westerns in the genre's canon.
Through it all, and perhaps most compellingly, he developed a rapport with a stunt horse named Cocaine, a graceful beast able to survive falls and jumps that would cripple or kill most other beasts.
The book gives a little too much attention to the late night boozing, womanizing, and cardplaying of "Bad" Chuck Roberson, and maybe short shrift is given to some of the technical ins and out of the "gags" (industry lingo for the stunts). But it's this informal, rough tone that lends the book a lot of its offbeat charm. The late nights out on the town and inevitable subsequent hangovers were as much a part of the life of a stuntman as the days spent working the ranges, wrangling cows and horses (and later actors, when Chuck graduated to a second unit director). And the book definitely doesn't skimp when it comes to the photo section.
No doubt those who enjoyed Brad Pitt's performance as stuntman extraordinaire Cliff Booth in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," would also enjoy reading this firsthand account of what exactly it takes to risk life and limb just to make another man look good on celluloid. Recommended.
Chuck Roberson, who stunted for "Duke" John Wayne himself, was one of the best-known and most-respected from the trade's golden age. "The Fall Guy" takes the reader through his life and career, starting with a childhood on a Texas ranch where he witnessed a killing that would haunt him for years to come. He found his way to LA shortly after talkies came in and the "Land" part got cropped off the famous "Hollywood" sign. Quickly enough he got a job as a harness cop and then, on a lark, did some tricks on a horse in a movie.
Pretty soon he'd developed into a topflight stuntman, as well as a character actor specializing in playing scowling heavies. He had the good fortune to become a part of legendary director John "Pappy" Ford's repertory gang of cowboys, and proved an integral witness and participant to the making of some of the most legendary Westerns in the genre's canon.
Through it all, and perhaps most compellingly, he developed a rapport with a stunt horse named Cocaine, a graceful beast able to survive falls and jumps that would cripple or kill most other beasts.
The book gives a little too much attention to the late night boozing, womanizing, and cardplaying of "Bad" Chuck Roberson, and maybe short shrift is given to some of the technical ins and out of the "gags" (industry lingo for the stunts). But it's this informal, rough tone that lends the book a lot of its offbeat charm. The late nights out on the town and inevitable subsequent hangovers were as much a part of the life of a stuntman as the days spent working the ranges, wrangling cows and horses (and later actors, when Chuck graduated to a second unit director). And the book definitely doesn't skimp when it comes to the photo section.
No doubt those who enjoyed Brad Pitt's performance as stuntman extraordinaire Cliff Booth in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," would also enjoy reading this firsthand account of what exactly it takes to risk life and limb just to make another man look good on celluloid. Recommended.
September 24, 2017
Great For Fans of Westerns and Stunts
If give this a higher rating of it included photos (which I'm sure were available) and if it wasn't so poorly out together. Sure, I don't expect a stuntman to be a writer, but every page has something wrong with it. And the Kindle version is horrendous. Formatting was apparently an afterthought.
Ugliness out of the way, I did enjoy the stories. I'm old enough to have seen a lot of John Wayne movies when they were released and as a film fan, I was also aware of Chuck Roberson and really enjoyed him in many western films. He was a great stint double for Wayne and did some great gags, some of which are legendary (riding through a giant window on his horse, Cocaine).
Fun stories of the lives of stuntmen abound, and Roberson makes no apologies for his coarse lifestyle. It may not be a book for highly sensitive people so be warned. His womanizing was significant and I'm sure damaged his personal life. But when he tells stories of the people he worked with, from John Ford, to Duke, to Maureen O'Hara, to Clark Gable, that's where the book is a blast.
Enjoy it for the romp that it is, and cut it a little slack for not being well written.
If give this a higher rating of it included photos (which I'm sure were available) and if it wasn't so poorly out together. Sure, I don't expect a stuntman to be a writer, but every page has something wrong with it. And the Kindle version is horrendous. Formatting was apparently an afterthought.
Ugliness out of the way, I did enjoy the stories. I'm old enough to have seen a lot of John Wayne movies when they were released and as a film fan, I was also aware of Chuck Roberson and really enjoyed him in many western films. He was a great stint double for Wayne and did some great gags, some of which are legendary (riding through a giant window on his horse, Cocaine).
Fun stories of the lives of stuntmen abound, and Roberson makes no apologies for his coarse lifestyle. It may not be a book for highly sensitive people so be warned. His womanizing was significant and I'm sure damaged his personal life. But when he tells stories of the people he worked with, from John Ford, to Duke, to Maureen O'Hara, to Clark Gable, that's where the book is a blast.
Enjoy it for the romp that it is, and cut it a little slack for not being well written.
November 1, 2014
“The Fall Guy: 30 Years as the Duke's Double” by 'Bad Chuck' Roberson.
Movie fans admire famous Hollywood stars but who do the celebrity actors and actresses admire and look up to? The stunt-doubles!
'The Fall Guy' is a candid and comical autobiography of 'Bad Chuck' who was a stunt-double for John Wayne (Duke) and other iconic Hollywood leading actors such as Clarke Gable, James Stewart and Robert Mitchum as well as the infamously cantankerous director, John Ford.
Particularly enlightening was his close observations of Marilyn Monroe suffering physical and emotional abuse from her manipulative and insecure husband, Arthur Miller of whom 'Bad Chuck' says, “Miller is still listed in my Little Black Book of Bastards as one of the all-time greats.” (p239).
His description of the hundreds of incredible stunts he did is truly amazing, especially the horse riding action scenes with his favourite horse named Cocaine. Many broken bones went into getting successful “gags” captured on film. Tragically some of his closest colleagues died or lost limbs from freak accidents filming on location. But it's also full of interesting stories that will make you smile and laugh.
This book will appeal to a broader audience than just those interested in classic cinema history.
Here are two samples from the book:
“(My grandson) Little Charles claimed that he wanted to be a stuntman 'jus wike Gwampa.' He knew all about what I did for a living, but the first time he saw Duke (John Wayne) dressed up like me, he stomped up to him and said, 'And what do YOU do?'
Duke loved it. He laughed real loud, bent down, and put his hands on his knees and his nose right next to Charles' nose. 'You mean you don't know? I stand in for your Grandpa on the close-ups!” (p277).
“'There ain't gonna be another one like him, is there?' I asked God. I felt like something great had ended and nobody really knew but me. Then I hung my head, and I'll be damned if I didn't cry some.” (p285)
- - -
Movie fans admire famous Hollywood stars but who do the celebrity actors and actresses admire and look up to? The stunt-doubles!
'The Fall Guy' is a candid and comical autobiography of 'Bad Chuck' who was a stunt-double for John Wayne (Duke) and other iconic Hollywood leading actors such as Clarke Gable, James Stewart and Robert Mitchum as well as the infamously cantankerous director, John Ford.
Particularly enlightening was his close observations of Marilyn Monroe suffering physical and emotional abuse from her manipulative and insecure husband, Arthur Miller of whom 'Bad Chuck' says, “Miller is still listed in my Little Black Book of Bastards as one of the all-time greats.” (p239).
His description of the hundreds of incredible stunts he did is truly amazing, especially the horse riding action scenes with his favourite horse named Cocaine. Many broken bones went into getting successful “gags” captured on film. Tragically some of his closest colleagues died or lost limbs from freak accidents filming on location. But it's also full of interesting stories that will make you smile and laugh.
This book will appeal to a broader audience than just those interested in classic cinema history.
Here are two samples from the book:
“(My grandson) Little Charles claimed that he wanted to be a stuntman 'jus wike Gwampa.' He knew all about what I did for a living, but the first time he saw Duke (John Wayne) dressed up like me, he stomped up to him and said, 'And what do YOU do?'
Duke loved it. He laughed real loud, bent down, and put his hands on his knees and his nose right next to Charles' nose. 'You mean you don't know? I stand in for your Grandpa on the close-ups!” (p277).
“'There ain't gonna be another one like him, is there?' I asked God. I felt like something great had ended and nobody really knew but me. Then I hung my head, and I'll be damned if I didn't cry some.” (p285)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews