THE STUNT MAN: crashes and burns

Some movies simply misfire; the intentions were good but the elements somehow failed to gel satisfactorily. A few others are so spectacularly dysfunctional that they give the impression of possessing a fierce and powerful death wish. THE STUNTMAN belongs firmly in the latter category.
I use the word 'spectacularly' here not to suggest something impressive but to indicate the enormity of the disaster.

This film is unwatchable from beginning to end. I know that sounds like an oxymoron but I'm loathe to ever abandon a film just in case it gets better after I switch off. I stuck with THE STUNTMAN and it didn't. Writer-director Richard Rush takes self-indulgence to a whole new level with this ill-formed psuedo-art house tale of megalomaniac film director Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole) and Cameron (Steve Railsback), the fugitive from justice who hides out on Cross's film set posing as a stuntman.
The film is full of characters talking and talking just to enjoy the sound of their own voice, spouting lofty, pretentious dialogue that might have been halfway excusable if it originated in a genuine German art-house film of the mid 1970s rather than this clumsy wannabe.
What's so frustrating is that O'Toole's character has the potential to be someone really interesting and amusing but he never develops beyond this windy deliverer of lofty pronouncements and observations that are, frankly, boring. He toys with Cameron as a cat would with a mouse, alternately tormenting and encouraging him but even that relationship fails to generate any real sparks.
Looking like a fugitive from too many tv and direct to video movies (which is exactly where his career went after this brief moment in the sun) Railsback plays Cameron as a one dimensional lunk only too eager to do anything his tormentor/protector instructs him to and never questioning Cross's bizarre speaking style and observations on life.
This whole fiasco drags on for more than two tedious hours without ever remotely delivering on the promise of the story's concept. THE STUNTMAN fails as entertainment, as an exploration of the world of film making, and as a character study. The only thing it succeeds at is the one thing director Rush least intended - it is a solid gold, certifiable monumental waste of time.