Its official: the Oscars will finally give awards for Best Stunts in their second century.
So here are some of the best they missed out on from the first.
Its always good to hear welcome news, even when it arrives 97 years late.
Or: there will finally be an Oscar for Best Stunts beginning at the 100th annual Academy Awards.
(1923) or Douglas Fairbanks shimmied up literal draw bridge chains in Hollywoods firstRobin Hoodmovie circa 1922.
In the 1930s, sound brought talkies and an emphasis on comedy of the screwball and musical variety.
Take one of the most visually impressive gags ever conceived as a critique of capitalism and industrialization.
The stunt created an indelible image that nearly a 100 years later packs allegorical punch.
And 1939sStagecoachis high among them.
What isFireflyif not Joss WhedonsStagecoachin space?
The chase features two iconic stunts executed by the movies stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt.
Its still breathtaking almost a century later.
Chariot Race in Ben-Hur (1959)
Ben-Hurbecame the first film to ever win 11 Academy Awards.
To this day, no film has bested that number (though several have tied it).
Well, it would have been 12 if there was an Oscar for stunt work.
That wasnt scripted, and the stuntman who performed it nearly died: Joe Canutt, Yakimas son.
He then pulls the chord on an absurd and terrific Union Jack parachute.
Way to keep a low-profile, James.
There are so many great stunts in theIndiana Jonespictures, so how do you pick just one?
Still, great stunts arent only about real-life danger.
It can also be about aesthetics, originality, and indelible iconography.
That is clearly Harrison Ford outrunning the boulder!
Of course its not really a boulder, but a still gruesome 300-pound prop made of fiberglass.
It is also on a track, hence why Ford was able to do the stunt.
Then I hit the glass.
And then I hit the floor.
So thats really her kicking it away and off the train while its wheels are still spinning!
Admittedly, calling it a fight scene is almost a misnomer.
This is really a chance for two protagonists in direct conflict to properly introduce themselves to each other.
Or how about when he performed hundreds ofHALO jumps from 25,000 feetin 2018sMission: Impossible Fallout?
We ultimately decided to go with the stunt which really signaled this transition in Cruises career.
Yet they dont even digitally remove that element.
Afterward hes street pizza.
The wings coming off is a digital effect.
Almost everything else is not.
God Bless George Miller.
Its a visual crucible of Mr. Wicks trials and travails distilled into a masterpiece of carnage.
