Term of the Day: cowboy switch

cowboy switch-- when a stunt double is brought into do a dangerous stunt for the star, sometimes seamless, sometimes intentionally obvious. From the old westerns of the 1950s. In "Death Becomes Her," a stunt double is brought in several times to do a death defying tumble down the stairs or multiple gymnastic backflips. The cowboy switch was intentionally camp, with the two stunt doubles being a different size than the stars and in one case, even a different gender.