Word: stunt
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...received wisdom about films: that, yes, there are still pearls worth diving for; you just have to look in ranker, more roiled waters. Hence, Vanishing Point's Richard Sarafian, and John Hough of Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, and a true indie daredevil, H.B. Halicki, who died during a stunt scene while shooting the sequel to Gone in 60 Seconds...
...just like the one in Vanishing Point, is for sale. She and her girlfriends visit the peckerwood who has the car, and three of them take it for a test drive while one of them stays behind to keep the guy company. Zoe has a mind to perform a stunt on the hood of the car: strapped to it at high speed. This caprice naturally attracts the attention of Mike, who is either in the neighborhood or has truly amazing car-dar. The chase consumes the last half-hour of the film...
...difficult here, if you're not as entranced with the sassy talk of tough broads as Tarantino is (at least when he's supplying the talk). Or maybe he didn't care much about delineating heroes and villains. Perhaps he wanted to set up an old-fashioned competition: stunt driver vs. stunt girl. Nonetheless, Zoe is asking for it. If you strap yourself to the hood of a car going 120 mph, don't be surprised if you and your friends get in trouble, with or without the menace of a Stuntman Mike. And if you're a filmmaker...
...when zombies chew it off--wait, it gets weirder--and instead of a prosthetic limb has her stump fitted with a machine gun, which she uses to mow down acres of the undead. Death Proof, Tarantino's contribution, presents two trios of high-adrenaline chicks menaced by a psycho stunt driver. The women in both entries love guns and cars and don't mind using them for righteous vengeance and reckless thrills...
...into show business. By 17, she had hooked up with Vincent Lopez' decidedly demure band, to which she immediately brought verve and volume. One night when impresario Billy Rose was in the audience, did her madcap routine, picking up the elfin Lopez and carrying him about. That stunt earned her roles in the Broadway musicals Two for the Show and Panama Hattie, where, she later said, her one number was filched by star Ethel Merman on opening night. Betty's revenge came eight years later, when she played a ole Merman had originated onstage: Annie Oakley...