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As the highest paid stuntman in the world, Hal Needham broke 56 bones, his back twice, punctured a lung and knocked out a few teeth. His career has included work on 4500 television episodes and 310 feature films as a stuntman, stunt coordinator, 2nd unit director and ultimately, director. Needham wrecked hundreds of cars, fell from tall buildings, got blown up, was dragged by horses, set a world record for a boat stunt on "Gator" (1976), jumped a rocket powered pick-up truck across a canal for a GM commercial and was the first human to test the car airbag.

Needham on being the stuntman for John Wayne in "In Harm's Way" (1965): "Otto [Otto Preminger] treated the cast like they were dirt, except Wayne. The crew hated him. I thought, 'If I ever become a director, I don't ever want to do that crud. Yeah, I learned a lot of things from those big, big directors. And a lot of it was what I didn't want to do."

When he began directing, Needham's films were usually blasted by the critics but did well at the box office. He once took out an ad in the trade papers quoting his negative reviews but showing a wheelbarrow filled with money to sum up his career.

In 2012, Needham was awarded a Governors Award by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, where he was introduced by Quentin Tarantino. It is said that Needham and his relationship with Burt Reynolds was part of the inspiration behind the Cliff Booth/Rick Dalton friendship in Tarantino's 2019 film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."