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Cameo (2)
Stunt man Dar Robinson, doubling for Henry Silva at the end of the film, dropped 220 feet, setting a record for the highest wireless free fall jump from a building in a film. However, only a brief part of the start of the jump is included in the final film as the next shot clearly shows a dummy falling.
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Most successful movie at the international box-office from a film directed by Burt Reynolds.
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This movie was made and released about three years after William Diehl's novel "Sharky's Machine" was first published in 1978.
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After William Diehl's "Sharky's Machine" novel was published, three people sent Burt Reynolds a copy of it. They were Tom Culla, novelist Sidney Sheldon and the author of the book himself, William Diehl
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William Diehl, the author of the "Sharky's Machine" book, has said that he had Burt Reynolds in mind when he wrote the novel.
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A remake of this movie, Sharky's Machine, was first announced in April 2006. 'Variety' reported that it was not expected that the remake would be set in Atlanta. Phil Joanou was slated to direct with Stephen Levinson and Mark Wahlberg' acting as executive producers with the latter possibly starring.
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The characters and actors who are the members of "Sharky's Machine" include Burt Reynolds as Tom Sharky, Brian Keith as Papa, Bernie Casey as Arch, and Richard Libertini as Nosh. Sharky's boss, Friscoe, played by Charles Durning, is the character who pen's the name "Sharky's Machine" and is arguably a member of the group as well.
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Though Burt Reynolds has made a number of police thrillers and played a cop or private detective a number of times, it is this one only movie that is filmed with a very similar tone and style to the "Dirty Harry" series.
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This was the first major movie for actress Rachel Ward who had previously only worked in television and on one smaller film, Night School.
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The romantic sub-plot of this movie's storyline has been likened to that of the classic 'film noir' Laura.
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When Clint Eastwood made the comedy Every Which Way But Loose, Burt Reynolds reportedly said to him, "Clint, you're getting into my territory [comedy], and if it's a success, I'm going out and make 'Dirty Harry Goes to Atlanta'!". When Sharky's Machine went into production, Eastwood sent a telegram to Reynolds saying, "You really weren't kidding, were you?" Reynolds has described this movie as 'Dirty Harry Goes to Atlanta' whilst many reviewers and critics have likened it to the 'Dirty Harry' franchise.
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Dar Robinson doubled for Henry Silva in the dramatic conclusion to this movie where Silva's hit-man character is blasted by cop Sharky (Burt Reynolds) through a plate glass window and falls to his death from an Atlanta, Georgia skyscraper. In reality, Robinson took the dive out the window and landed an on an airbag many floors below to break his fall.
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Most people think the scene with the person falling from the very tall hotel was filmed at the Westin Peachtree Plaza. It in fact was filmed at the Hyatt Regency Downtown which has a very similar, though not near as tall, tower as part of the hotel.
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Cameo
Forrest Sawyer:
The newsreader of CBS, ABC and NBC Nightly News fame as a news announcer appearing near the end of the film. All of the newsreaders in the film are local Atlanta newscasters.
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William Diehl:
The author of this movie's source novel "Sharky's Machine" in a small role as Percy, Dominoe's pimp.
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