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By Colby Malsbury
Many moons ago, I watched a gormy little 1970s movie called Stunt Rock.
The plot? Re-read the title, bro. That’s the plot. A stuntman plies his trade in Hollywood, engaging in many of the fads of the era (dig the hang-gliding scenes!) Because he’s established his awesome bonafides, he is allowed to hang around in his off hours with the rock group Sorcery, a banal combo that makes the Bay City Rollers look like Zeppelin. Their entire schtick is featuring a dude in a cheeseball Merlin costume onstage who causes fireballs to explode every time he waves his arms, because Lord of the Rings and Frank Frazetta were also yuge in the 70s. The entire movie consists of intercutting between Stunty’s stunts and Sorcery’s sorry excuses for prog-metal rock numbers. At the end, Stunty has to come cascading down on a zipline for some reason right into the midst of a Sorcery concert and Merlin really goes apespit hurling fireballs around on account of such audacity. Brilliant stuff. A veritable masterpiece.