Doubling for McQueen and Redford

Book excerpt: Since Hollywood's first motion-picture, stunt players have given blood, sweat, and tears to the business. From high falls and horse gags to fist-fights, fire, water-work and automotive mayhem, this largely unsung group of action-performers has been making movie violence believable and telling stories through exciting sequences without so much as an Oscar category to acknowledge their work. This book follows the careers of Loren Janes and Mickey Gilbert, two fabled stunt practitioners born and trained during the pre-CGI film age, and shares their secrets of the trade while walking through five decades of movie magic. The fascinating and original conversations discuss some of Hollywood's most action-packed flicks such as Spartacus, How the West Was Won, Bullitt, The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Little Big Man.