In 1978, Burt Reynolds was one of Hollywood’s top actors, riding high on the success of his smash hit “Smokey and the Bandit.” He was a hot commodity, and another hit film was already in the works, one that would be partially filmed in Alabama.

Filming began in January 1978 on “Hooper,” a tribute to the men and women who worked in stunts.

Click through the gallery at the top of the story to see photos of filming.

Reynolds played the veteran stuntman, Sonny Hooper, while Jan-Michael Vincent portrayed the up-and-coming daredevil, Ski. Sally Field was back from “Smokey” as Reynolds’ love interest and Hal Needham returned to direct.

It wouldn’t be a movie about stunt performers without lots of daring stunts. While the majority of filming took place in California, the film’s climactic scene was filmed in two parts, in Tuscaloosa and in Walker County near Jasper.

‘The destruction of Los Angeles’

Not many people would choose Alabama to double for Los Angeles, even if people do call the southern part of the state LA (for Lower Alabama). But when the “Hooper” location crew was looking for a place it could use to replicate the destruction of an earthquake, it came across an abandoned military hospital in Tuscaloosa.

In the film, Reynolds-as-Hooper is the fictional stunt coordinator on the fictional action flick “The Spy Who Laughed at Danger.” It required the titular spy to ride through the chaos of buildings exploding, collapsing and catching fire, as if in an earthquake. The scene became known to the cast as “the destruction of Los Angeles.”

You can watch the scene below.

In that scene, the buildings from the old Northington General Hospital are clearly visible.

A 2018 article in The Tuscaloosa News said filming began in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 1, 1978. “Needham estimated they spent about $1.2 million, nearly one-sixth of the film’s total budget, on the 14 Northington stunts,” the article said. Stunts included a Volkswagen being tossed 50 feet in the air and the collapse of two massive brick industrial chimneys that narrowly missed the 1978 Trans Am driven by Ski with Hooper as a passenger.

Northington was built as a temporary military hospital during World War II. It operated from 1942 to 1945, when buildings were left vacant. Eventually, the property was claimed by the University of Alabama. According to the Tuscaloosa Area Virtual Museum, the university used part of the property “for supplement housing for veterans returning from WWII and going to school on the GI Bill, and then later for married student housing.”

Another part of the 160-acre property, including some of the buildings, was used for Northington Elementary School. Northington classes continued during filming; students and faculty were warned about the explosions and crashes beforehand.

The “Hooper” crew was given permission to film the earthquake scene there as a way to demolish the dilapidated buildings without the expense. Several buildings remained after filming, however. In 2003, the last eight buildings were demolished to make way for University Mall to be built there.

The only things left standing of Northington General Hospital is its entry gates, which can be seen in Tuscaloosa’s Snow Hinton Park. The white pillars, located off the Hargrove Road side of the park, are monogrammed with “NGH.”

The bridge jump

Although the “destruction of Los Angeles” scene flows directly into a bridge jump in the film, the bridge segment was actually filmed in Walker County and edited with Tuscaloosa footage to look like one scene.

The scene in which the Trans Am jumps across a gorge was filmed at Locust Fork Bridge on U.S. Highway 78. The bridge had recently been damaged when a truck struck it and needed to be demolished before it could be rebuilt.

In the movie, the bridge explodes before Sonny and Ski can cross it, leaving a 325 feet gap to the other side. Ski loses his nerve, forcing Hooper to get into the driver’s seat and make the jump.

The stunt was actually performed by stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker driving a rocket-assisted car, according to Street Muscle.

While only two scenes were filmed in Alabama, locals were in a frenzy while the stars were in town. “Rumors ran rampant of Burt-and-Sally sightings: buying beer at the Bama Mall Kroger, dining at former restaurant hotspot The Landing (where the Olive Garden restaurant is now), and at various homes and residences around the city,” The Tuscaloosa News wrote. The newspaper reported that kids skipped school and adults skipped work to come to the set and try to see the stars. If they couldn’t get close, they became creative. “Young women climbed nearby pecan trees when crowds grew too thick to see through.”