Hal Needham Quotes

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Hal Needham

Profession : Director

Birth : March 6, 1931

I know it looks like Burt walks through his movies, but he doesn't; he works hard to make it look that way, and the work is tough.

Hal Needham

Audiences want Burt, John Wayne and others to go on doing the same thing forever. It's critics and the actors themselves who want actors to try different things.

Hal Needham

'Megaforce' is a privately financed army of freedom fighters financed and manned by all the free countries of the world. We don't say the force is American-based, but it's obvious because they are driving Fords, encountering rattlesnakes and they ride a Continental Airlines plane. Also the landscape looks like the American desert.

Hal Needham

You've gotta be careful. People don't want to be reminded of Vietnam and Korea. We lost thousands of fine young men and didn't win either of those wars. Nobody wants to hear about them. 'Apocalypse Now' and 'The Deerhunter' weren't box-office hits.There was too much violence and blood and gore.

Hal Needham

There's a difference between action and violence. Violence isn't fun.

Hal Needham

I was a sharecropper's son. That's as low as you can get on the totem pole.

Hal Needham

I was usually asked to do less than I was capable of by directors who had lost control of their movie.

Hal Needham

When the 55 mph speed limit came in and the oil crisis caused fuel rationing, the truckers began to look like the last American cowboys.

Hal Needham

It's the little added bonus of realism that makes the difference between an adequately done stunt and a really convincing one.

Hal Needham

Certainly, I want to be the first through the sound barrier in a car.

Hal Needham

I was damn sure that I was not going to be a lawyer or a brain surgeon.

Hal Needham

You can only fall so far through a tree before the limbs become abrasive to your body.

Hal Needham

I just knew it would get a big laugh when people saw the 'Flying Nun' throwing the bird to a highway patrolman.

Hal Needham

'Death Car' was shot on a freeway that's under construction. It's called 'Chips' Freeway' because it's where they shoot the NBC series. We bring out our own traffic, too. This is true in all such scenes, even the car chase in 'The French Connection.' You have to work in a controlled situation, otherwise there would be numerous lawsuits.

Hal Needham

I've wrecked a lot of good cars in my day.

Hal Needham

For 'Death Car' I had three vehicles for the leading lady, because you never know when something is going to go wrong. You can blow a tire or start spinning around and hit a lamppost.

Hal Needham

I'd always been a good athlete and I liked getting paid what they paid you for stunts. In those days, they paid you per stunt so I'd try to do as many as I could.

Hal Needham

I hate sequels.

Hal Needham

There ain't a director in town who knows action better than I do. That's not just braggadocio on my part. I've been in the business for 25 years, and I ought to know it by now.

Hal Needham

I'm not sure I have the knowledge, the intelligence or the sensitivity to direct a 'Love Story' or a 'Fiddler on the Roof.'

Hal Needham