Every The Fall Guy Action Scene, Ranked By How Dangerous The Stunt Is

David Leitch’s new action blockbuster The Fall Guy pays tribute to stunt performers in the movie industry, and it’s packed with tons of explosive and dangerous stunts which highlight their incredible work. Leitch started his filmmaking career as a stunt performer, doubling for stars such as Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, so he was able to draw on his experience for The Fall Guy. He includes fight scenes, car crashes, huge fires and plenty of other potentially deadly stunts.

Any stunt can be dangerous, and they all require a lot of experience and technical expertise to make them safe enough for stunt performers. However, despite the safety measures put in place, stunt performers always take on a certain amount of risk when they put their bodies on the line. The Fall Guy shows just how dangerous the job can be behind the scenes, and this acknowledgment makes its huge stunts feel even more terrifying.

17

Jody Fights Colt In His Alien Disguise

Jody and Colt’s reunion is a comedic moment

Colt sneaks back onto the set of Metalstorm to reunite with Jody after faking his own death, but he makes the mistake of sneaking up behind her while wearing an alien costume from the movie. The fight in her trailer is played for laughs, but there’s still potential danger due to the small area that the stunt performers have to work in. Director David Leitch started out as a stuntman, so some aspects of Jody and Colt’s relationship reflect him at two different stages of his career.

16

Colt Goes For A Joy Ride In A Parking Garage

Colt decides to get back in the game

After breaking his back on set, Colt takes an uneventful job as a valet at a restaurant. He tries to keep a low profile and forget what happened to him, but someone recognizes him from his past. The humiliation of this meeting, coupled with his phone call from Gail offering a job in Australia, inspires him to blow off some steam. He takes the customer’s car for a spin, reliving his stunt performer days as he does a few donuts outside the restaurant.

15

Colt Fights Off Doone’s Men

The nightclub fight is a piece of beautifully stylized action

As Colt follows the trail that he hopes will lead him to Tom Ryder, he gets a tip to talk to a man named Doone with a leopard-print tattoo on his head. Colt puts on a garish neon suit and approaches Doone in a nightclub, but he soon has to fight off several of his goons while battling the effects of the drugs he’s been given. The nightclub fight seems to reference director David Leitch’s previous work in the John Wick franchise, and also his 2017 action thriller Atomic Blonde.

14

The Sydney Opera House Fight

The Fall Guy’s movie within a movie is a strange sci-fi epic

The Fall Guy takes place in Australia, and it makes good use of its beautiful surroundings. Colt steps in for Tom during the filming of a complex fight scene right in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House. There are a lot of moving parts to the Metalstorm fight scene, and this obviously increases the potential risk that something could go wrong for the stunt team, even if there aren’t any particularly eye-catching stunts.

13

The Fire On The Dock

Colt escapes death more than once

Colt finally finds Tom Ryder alive after a long search, but the actor immediately tries to kill him. This is the final phase of Tom’s plan, but Colt manages to escape just in time by cleverly spitting a mouthful of gasoline on Dressler just as he ignites his lighter. The fire spreads over the entire dock, meaning that multiple stunt performers are on fire at the same time.

12

Iggy Attacks Colt With A Katana

Iggy doesn’t get much screen time, but she leaves her mark

The Fall Guy‘s cast includes some actors who only get one or two scenes, but they still make an impact with their limited screen time. Australian actor Teresa Palmer plays Iggy Star, Tom Ryder’s girlfriend and co-star in Metalstorm. Her most memorable scene comes when she finds Colt snooping around her boyfriend’s apartment, so she attacks the intruder with a sword. As it turns out, the katana is just a prop from a movie, but prop swords like this can still cause serious damage if someone makes a mistake.

11

Colt Gets Hit By A Taxi

Stunt performers are paid to take big hits

Colt often uses his skills as a stuntman to help him find Tom Ryder, but one of his greatest skills is simply his willingness to take a hit. That’s precisely what he does to stop Doone from escaping from the nightclub. His plan to slow the taxi down with his own body isn’t very elegant, but it gets the job done. Colt’s little pep talk that he gives himself is a good example of how Ryan Gosling blends action with humor in The Fall Guy. The movie has all the elements of a potential franchise-starter for Ryan Gosling.

10

Jody Repeatedly Sets Colt On Fire

Jody enjoys taking revenge on Colt

As an act of revenge for ghosting her, Jody uses her power as the director of Metalstorm to put Colt through as much punishment as possible. This involves repeating the same stunt over and over again, which requires Colt to be set on fire and thrown backwards into a rock. Stunt teams use a special fire retardant gel for stunts like these, so they aren’t as dangerous as they look, but doing this multiple times and slamming into a rock would be no picnic.

9

The Boat Chase

Colt knows how to drive boats from his Miami Vice days

Colt narrowly escapes from being set on fire, but he is soon being chased around Sydney Harbor by men with machine guns. The boat chase ends in a remarkable explosion as Colt’s boat flies into some oil tankers, but this happens with nobody on board. There are still several dangerous stunts before then, such as when Colt jumps the boat over a dock while his hands are tied behind his back.

8

Colt & Dan Get Ambushed In Tom’s House

Winston Duke’s Dan Walker is Colt’s closest ally

Dan makes a great sidekick to Colt as he tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Tom Ryder. Winston Duke strikes up a fun comedic dynamic with Ryan Gosling, but they also have a couple of exciting action sequences together. Their finest moment, and the best fight scene in The Fall Guy, comes when they are ambushed by Dressler and his man. Armed with a rubber tomahawk and a gun full of blanks, they somehow manage to fight off their attackers. The fight scene has a few spectacular falls and crashes, which make it even more dangerous than a normal fight.

7

Colt’s Back-Breaking Accident

Colt’s accident is actually not an accident at all

The first stunt in The Fall Guy, aside from an explosive montage of stunts pulled from other movies, shows how dangerous the job can be, and how easily things can go wrong for stunt performers. Colt’s accident isn’t the most dangerous stunt in The Fall Guy, but this just proves that almost any stunt can cause a massive injury if something isn’t quite right. Naturally, Colt gives a thumbs-up as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

6

Dan’s Stunt Team Fight Tom’s Security Guards

The Fall Guy’s big finale is a whirlwind of action

In the chaotic climax of The Fall Guy, Dan’s stunt team orchestrate a plan to catch Tom in a confession, but they have to keep Dressler and the rest of his bodyguards away. The sequence is a dazzling mix of fight choreography, explosives and stunts using both cars and motorbikes. This scene is another tribute to stunt performers everywhere, as the real-life stunt performers get their moment to shine just like Dan’s fictional team.

5

The Helicopter Fight

Colt’s fall is one of the most remarkable stunts in The Fall Guy

Colt has to chase after Tom and Gail before they can escape in a helicopter with the evidence of Tom’s confession, or else his entire plan, and the efforts of Jody and the stunt performers, would be a failure. There’s some great fight choreography as the helicopter tilts and spins out of control, but the most eye-catching moment is when Colt falls backwards from the helicopter and tumbles acrobatically in the air before hitting an inflatable crash pad. David Leitch’s framing shows the amazing stunt in full, which highlights just how far the stunt performer fell from the helicopter. Any miscalculation could have killed him.

4

Colt Chases The Garbage Truck

Jean-Claude and Colt make a great team

Hot on the heels of Tom Ryder, Colt ends up chasing a garbage truck full of men who have kidnapped Alma Milan, played by Stephanie Hsu. Colt takes Tom’s dog, Jean-Claude, into his GMC pickup truck, which is a callback to the 1980s TV series which The Fall Guy is based on. The car chase ends in spectacular fashion, as the truck slams into a parked car and flips over. This scene combines high-speed stunt driving with a huge crash, both of which can be very dangerous. The Fall Guy‘s post-credits scene also references the TV show.

3

Colt & Alma Take Control Of The Truck

Dressler leads Colt on a chase through the streets of Sydney

When Colt eventually pulls himself onto the garbage truck, he has to fight a couple of men in a skip hanging off the back while Alma tries to slow down the driver in the front. This is one of The Fall Guy‘s most ambitious and complex action set pieces, with a fast-paced string of dangerous stunts, including the skip being dragged sideways along the street and Colt tumbling through the truck’s windshield when it comes to a screeching halt. The most memorable image from the sequence comes when Colt skids behind the truck on a sheet of metal like it’s a skateboard.

2

Colt Takes Tom For A Drive

Colt and Jody’s final plan is a big risk

The Fall Guy‘s finale delivers a rapid succession of huge stunts, starting when Colt jumps into the seat beside Tom Ryder and takes him for a terrifying ride around the set of Metalstorm. He barrels along as multicolored explosions go off all around the car, trying to scare Tom into confessing to his crimes on tape. The scene ends with a death-defying 250-foot jump across a ravine, all filmed using practical effects. This is one of many stunts in The Fall Guy that could be potentially lethal if anything doesn’t go to plan.

1

The Fall Guy’s Record-Breaking Roll

David Leitch and his stunt team made history

The most jaw-dropping and dangerous stunt in The Fall Guy broke a world record previously held by the James Bond franchise. The Fall Guy‘s stunt team managed to roll a car eight and a half times, with it eventually landing upside-down in a heap. This beats the record from Casino Royale, when Bond’s iconic Aston Martin went for a tumble down the side of a hill. The stunt used pressurized air to flip the car, and it was an unusual technical challenge to try and go for as many rolls as possible, but it created the most shocking moment in The Fall Guy.