A biography for Hal Needhamhasn’t been written yet.
“I'm not sure I have the knowledge, the intelligence or the sensitivity to direct a 'Love Story' or a 'Fiddler on the Roof.'”
“I'd always been a good athlete and I liked getting paid what they paid you for stunts. In those days, they paid you per stunt so I'd try to do as many as I could.”
“The critics gave me bad reviews on every movie I made.”
“The worst was practicing a stunt for John Wayne in 'McQ.' I lost two teeth, broke six ribs, cracked a vertebra and punctured a lung. I spent 12 days in the hospital.”
“I don't even consider directing Burt. I just say, 'Hey, Burt, the camera's here. Read the joke and let's get onto the next shot.'”
“Can I tell you what I really believe is the reason everybody wants to work with us? I believe they sign on because they're almost assured that it's going to be a very commercial film. A Burt Reynolds film is a guarantee of exposure... And also, we have a lot of fun.”
“Courage? Well, that's a difficult quality to define. If a man has never known fear can you call him courageous?”
“For 'Death Car' I had three vehicles for the leading lady, because you never know when something is going to go wrong. You can blow a tire or start spinning around and hit a lamppost.”
“I was damn sure that I was not going to be a lawyer or a brain surgeon.”
“If you read books forever and ever, they will never replace what really counts - that's practical experience.”
“I have to understand what I'm doing, and action is so simple and easy for me that I'd be foolish to try something different.”
“I'm the one that brought airbags into the stunt world.”
“As far as I know, there is only one other director who was a stuntman - guy named Chuck Bail who directed 'Gumball Rally.' Doing stunts isn't exactly a common path to directing.”
“I just knew it would get a big laugh when people saw the 'Flying Nun' throwing the bird to a highway patrolman.”
“We try to reduce the danger to a minimum, of course. And then we prepare for accidents with alternate plans. For instance, if I'm turning over a stagecoach, I try to take into consideration what moves I have to make if it flips in the wrong direction. Without those emergency plans you get hurt.”
“The night before we began shooting 'Hooper,' I threw a $7,000 bash for the whole crew. I told them, 'Get as drunk as you want tonight, because for the next month and a half you're going to be working your tails off.' And it worked.”
“It was bad for a stuntman to have a reputation for being hurt, and worse yet to report it.”
“'Death Car' was shot on a freeway that's under construction. It's called 'Chips' Freeway' because it's where they shoot the NBC series. We bring out our own traffic, too. This is true in all such scenes, even the car chase in 'The French Connection.' You have to work in a controlled situation, otherwise there would be numerous lawsuits.”
“I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but I know I'm the best stuntman in Hollywood.”
“Trying to get it together with me as a director was impossible. No one wanted to work with me.”