10 of the Craziest Movie Stunts Caught on Film

Raul breaks down 10 of the craziest movie stunts ever captured on film. 

Every actor, director, stuntmen, and studio are looking to increase the pure balls out insanity that they can show on the screen in order to attract more viewers. They do it for various reasons; upping the ante for sequels, going up against the bigger budgeted competition, or trying to achieve something that hasn't been done before. Most of the craziest stunts have often been in countries that are competing with American films and have or had less stringent rules regarding safety; mainly Australia, Hong Kong, and Thailand. That's certainly not exhaustive, as Hollywood has had their fair share of totally insane stunts. This list is meant to include ones that were performed by the actor or stuntman without the use of wires of any other special effects, just a dude doing some crazy shit. It's also not meant to be a definitive best of because there are so many more that are also normally mentioned; including the highest free fall in Sharky's Machine, going underneath the Stagecoach in Stagecoach, which was then recreated in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the crocodile jump in Live and Let Die, and the damn jump in Goldeneye. 




1. Born to Fight 2004: The Truck Sequence

A Thailand production from the same director that was involved in Ong Bak, the whole movie is a series of crazy stunts and martial arts action. But this has to be one of the most insane stunts ever, as the stuntman falls off of one semi, hits a second one, and then lands in between them, narrowly avoiding getting his head crushed by some of the tires. If you like Tony Jaa or martial arts movies, you need to check out this whole movie. 

2. Fatal Termination 1990: The child hanging from car scene

Have you ever seen a little kid hanging from the outside of a speeding car? Do you want to? Well here's your chance. Leave it to those crazy Hong Kong stunt people to dream this one up as a little girl is being held outside of the car by her hair. Don't worry, it wasn't actually a child. It was an 80 year old tiny female stunt lady, nah it was totally a kid.

3. The Man from Hong Kong 1975: George Lazenby set on fire.

What do you do when you're an Australian production and want to get noticed by American audiences? How about ask one of your main stars and former Bond George Lazenby to let them light his suit jacket on fire. The result is a totally badass and epic final fight scene between Lazenby and Hong Kong film star Jimmy Wang Yu. Lazenby did end up with some burns from the scene, but it was caught on camera so that's all that matters.

4. Police Story 1985: Jackie Chan sliding down electrified pole

There are multiple scenes from this movie that could be included in this list, notably the stunt men crashing through the front windows of a semi truck. There are also so many insane stunts that Jackie Chan has done over the years, but this one did some decent damage to his body. Chan slides down a 100 foot long pole with electrified lights on it and also crashes through some glass panels along the way. It is totally insane and resulted in second degree burns on his hands and a dislocated pelvis.




5. Banlieue 13 AKA District 13 2004: Opening Parkour scene

No stunt men, wires or CGI involved in this French Production. Just David Belle doing things that he would normally do. Belle is considered the originator of Parkour, or free running. Since this movie came out, we've seen an explosion of similar stunts done with the likes of Borne and Bond. But this is the original and the best of the lot. You should watch the whole movie, it is full of a great mix of martial arts and Parkour action.



6. Buster Keaton: Pretty much any movie he made

You could almost devote a whole list to dangerous and crazy stunts that the silent era film starred performed. The video contains two, the iconic falling house scene from Steamboat Bill Jr. and the water tank scene from Sherlock Jr. that he broke his neck performing. He didn't actually discover that he had broken his neck until years later. 




7. The Burglars AKA La Casse 1971: Rock quarry scene

Quarry scene begins at 1:31 mark of film



French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo was highly influenced by Buster Keaton before him and performed pretty much all of his stunts. He did a lot of crazy stunts such as hopping onto busses, climbing building, and hanging from a ladder attached to a helicopter. His stunts would later be an influence on Jackie Chan. Like Chan, you could select one of many stunts that Belmondo did. The first video is a highlight reel of some of his work. The main one selected is a rock quarry scene that pays homage to a similar stunt Buster Keaton had performed. In this one, he is dropped out of a dumpster truck at a rock quarry and rolls down a huge hill with rocks flying all around him. 




8. Hard Target 1993: Lance Henriksen's coat on fire

This was one of the early American John Woo films and you would expect that he would supply all sorts of crazy gun fights, action, and stunts. With Van Damme as the lead actor, you would think that the most memorable scenes would involve him kicking some Damme ass. Instead, the most memorable stunt involves actor and main baddie Lance Henriksen getting his coat set on fire. 




9. Ong Bak 2003: Tony Jaa flaming kicks

You could literally go through this Thai produced movie and pick multiple stunts that are insane and badass, but not much can beat crazy flaming kicks. This was the first film to really introduce the world to Muay Thai and actor Tony Jaa. There are no wires or special effects, its just Jaa getting himself set on fire and kicking some ass. The fire was so out of control, that it did burn his nose and singe off some facial hair. If you like martial arts and haven't seen this before, it is highly recommended.

10. Supercop AKA Police Story 3 1992: Motorcycle jump onto a train

Hong Kong actress Michelle Yeoh uses a dirt bike to jump onto a moving train. It was actually her and it was totally real, although it took more than just one perfect take to get it done. Despite that lack of total perfection, it's pretty damn badass.





-Raul Vantassle