Hal Needham - The Director

Hollywoods' "Billion Dollar Director"

In 1975, Needham broke out of the ranks of stuntmen to begin directing full-length feature films. The first film he directed was "Smokey and the Bandit" starring Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed and Sally Field. The movie, an action packed CB radio story produced by Universal Studios, was developed from a script that Needham had wrote himself. To date, it is one of the highest grossing pictures ever made, bringing in over two hundred fifty million dollars.

His second directing assignment again teamed Needham and his ex-roommate Burt Reynolds in "Hooper", the story of a Hollywood stuntman (with overtones of Needham's own life included). The other stars in the film were Brian Keith, Sally Field and Jan-Michael Vincent.

Needham's third film was a 'live' version of the cartoon "Roadrunner" done with real people called "The Villain" and starred Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margaret, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a coined a western filled, with hilarious stunts, flavored with cameo appearances by Jack Elam, Ruth Buzzi, Mel Tillis, Foster Brooks, and Paul Lynde. It was a Raystar production, presenting a Hal Needham Film, distributed by Columbia Pictures.

In between features, Needham also found time to do some television. He wrote, directed, and starred in two syndicated television shows entitled "Hal Needham's Wild World of Stunts." He also directed nine movies of the week. For CBS, it was "Death Car On The Freeway" starring George Hamilton and for ABC, he directed "Stunts Unlimited", which was a pilot based on the stunt group he had founded by the same name. He teamed with his ex-roommate Reynolds to direct ''B.L. Stryker" for ABC and "Hostage Hotel" for TNT. Needham also directed a pilot film "The Stockers" with Terry Bradshaw and Mel Tillis. Needham was Executive Producer/Director of four 2-hour movies of the week starring Brian Bloom for Universal Studios called "Bandit".

Then it was back to features with a sequel to his first, called "Smokey and the Bandit II" that saw the return of all the original stars. Next, Needham teamed with Al Ruddy who produced "The Longest Yard" and "Godfather". Together they turned out the hugely successful "The Cannonball Run" starring Burt Reynolds and a cast that read like a Who's Who: Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Mel Tillis, Terry Bradshaw, and Adrienne Barbeau, just to name a few. Then, once again, it was Needham and Ruddy to the rescue. Their film "Megaforce" brought 'good guys' back to the screen. "Megaforce" was about a group of elite military men who are self-proclaimed defenders of democracy and the free world. Barry Bostwick segued from his successful run as the Pirate King in the "Pirates of Penzance" to star in "Megaforce". Needham's next film was again with Burt Reynolds. This time it was a story about N.A.S.C.A.R. racing which is very close to Needham's heart. The film, "Stroker Ace". starred Loni Anderson, Ned Beatty, Jim Nabors, Parker Stevenson, and Bubba Smith. Following the success of the original, The "Cannonball" sequel featured an even more outstanding group of stars. The sequel, "The Cannonball Run II", was joined by such talent as Frank Sinatra, Jackie Chan, Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Charles Nelson Reilly, and many others. It is one of the biggest and most exciting groups of entertainers ever put together.

 
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