I'll start off with a confession: My first dream job was "lumberjack." I don't know why, but the thought of climbing giant trees with sharp objects sounded appealing... and very manly. Tuff, as my inner Ponyboy would say. That lasted about a year. But my second dream job, "daredevil," lasted much longer. Between the ages of 7 and 12, I was so obsessed with Evil Knievel and movie stuntmen that I would do stuff like jump out of trees in homemade parachutes and swing around on flagpole ropes (and breaking my foot in the process).
Another favorite trick was getting into a cardboard box with a bunch of pillows and having my little sister push me down a full flight of hardwood stairs -- or off the porch railing, a full one-story drop. Ah, good times.
Anyway, when I read this morning that movie stuntmen are lobbying for their own Academy Award (to be handed out before the actual ceremony), I thought, well, of course they should get one. It's about time. In fact, its a bit of a shame that 100 years of movie stunts -- the vast majority performed without the benefits of modern photography or computer effects -- will go unnoticed.
Researching great movie stunts online, however, I was happy to see that one pioneer got an honorary Academy for his contribution to the field. And to think I had hardly heard of ol' Yakima, although I have seen him in action:
A casual observer might argue that the Oscar ceremony is already too long to keep adding awards to it. Who cares? I hardly ever watch it myself. To me, it's a simple case of giving credit where it's due.
