Customer Reviews

Evel Knievel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have always liked this movie. It stars George Hamilton in the role of Evel Knievel. Actual Footage of Evel Knievel jumps are included in this biographical story. Perhaps the most famous of his jumps is the one from Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas, it is included here in all of its busted up glory.

The only reason I have not to buy this movie is the horrific transfer to DVD. A bad scratchy print was used, washed out color, no state of the art sound and it is not in the widescreen format. Maybe someday a good transfer will be made, until then I wouldn't get your hopes up on this one!

I agree with the previous review. This is a very cool film of the early 70's, clearly designed to promote Evel and his planned jump of the Grand Canyon (he had to settle for the Snake River Canyon in Idaho instead.) But this is quite simply the worst DVD transfer I have ever seen. The video quality is terrible. For a few bucks you might consider snatching this up, but don't expect much quality wise. On the other hand, this is my favorite George Hamilton performance, although he doesn't really look like Evel, he really nails the performance. John Milius co-wrote the script early in his career.

I saw this in a theater, for a "children's matinee"(the original version had some racey stuff in it,and it may have carried an R or at least cautious PG rating, but other versions were edited for the kiddie market), it only ever seemed to play 2nd run in smaller theaters(and 2nd billing at Drive Ins) between 1971 and '73. VERY typical of early 70's filmmaking when just about anyone could make an indie film and get it easily distrubuted to "theaters and drive-ins near you".
This low-end DVD sadly, maybe from the only copy available-on faded 16mm-it is on several other "public domain" labels("Public Domain" is when a film falls out of copyright because it's been edited different ways by different distributors and theaters and the original makers simply lose track of it, or disown it altogether). Still it is a product of it's time. They don't make'em like this anymore! A fun "road" movie from a more fun and carefree time.

This film is a true classic and captures the magic that was Evel Knievel. George Hamilton does a fantastic job portraying Knievel as a larger than life icon--a true American Hero. This is a must see for ALL Knievel or Hamilton fans.

The heavily narrated 1971 pseudo-biography "Evel Knievel" stars George Hamilton as the legendary "king of the stuntmen." This will be entertaining to anyone interested in motorcycles, bike stunts, Knievel, or fans of George Hamilton. I had an Evel Knievel lunchbox when I was very young, and thought this movie might be nostalgically entertaining. It's entertaining enough, though it's not at all like I thought it would be. Hamilton generally does fine with the role, but the portrait painted isn't necessarily flattering, as he comes off as an arrogant controlling part time criminal. (Among his accomplishments is blowing up the vault in the Butte, Montana city hall.) I have no idea how accurate this picture is, but if it is accurate, he seems like a person who was lucky to escape major jail time, and is someone you might think twice before associating with. I presume that it isn't completely off the mark, as much of Knievel's real stunt footage (especially the dramatic spill in front of Caesar's Palace) is used throughout.

Some of the dialogue is amazingly hambone, but given the legend may be closer to the truth than I would have expected. Hamilton's over-the-top performance seems intentionally directed by Marvin J. Chomsky to make the character look maximally manic. Some other directorial choices are questionable: the story is largely told in flashbacks, but the selection and order of the flashbacks seemed almost random to me, likewise character motivations are elusive. Example: there is a lengthy scene about a store robbery that Knievel engineered to work the local populous up and which (after a false police report) sets law enforcement on edge. This contributes absolutely nothing to the storyline, and succeeds only in making the bar patrons of Butte look totally gullible.

The movie makes Knievel look positively neurotic and self-promoting. I can understand the self-promotion as a showman, but the neurotic part seemed bizarre, e.g. when doing a stunt in the west, he was abuzz with worry about an earthquake swallowing up his landing ramp during mid-jump. (Really?) I do believe he would have made claims like "Fear is not a word in my vocabulary," but had to wonder about the wisdom of having Hamilton claim "I'm a master of all sports" as he dribbles and shoots a basketball with stunning awkwardness. I was, on the other hand, particularly entertained by the escape from a hospital on a motorcycle and the presence of Dub Taylor as a huckster promoter. Outside Knievel himself, my favorite character in the film was easily Doctor Kincaid (Bert Freed,) the man with positively the worst bedside manner I have ever seen in any movie. I especially loved how Kincaid would keep doing surgeries to repair Knievel's broken appendages, and would take particular time out to note how well his previous repairs had held up in the latest crash. Priceless.

The quality of the DVD is about what you would expect from an early 1970s film with a modest budget, with some bad color reproduction, optical flaws, and notable hiss on the soundtrack. Having said that, nothing was really distracting, so if you're interested in the subject matter it won't be a problem. "Evel Knievel" passes the time quickly, and though the protagonist doesn't come across as a particularly admirable man in some ways, the things he could do on a motorcycle are still the stuff of legend.

I bought this loser on DVD believing I was getting a quality print from celluloid. Wrong! It's a cheap reprint of the same movie I found for free from the Public Domain since the idiots in Hollywood permitted this pretty darn-good movie lapse out of copyright.

This is a review of the Digiview edition. This is a disk from Taiwan and there is no copyright notice on it, nor even an MPAA rating. It looks better than the atrocious Alpha Video DVD, but it still only looks as good as a VHS tape -- it even has video tape aberrations, so a VHS tape might have actually been the source. Although the slim case package says it's "digitally remastered," it only means that they transferred a video tape digitally to a disk master -- you can say the same about any DVD. The picture is watchable, but not especially sharp, and there is a lot of dirt on the original. Technically, it is certainly not up to the standards of the usual DVD. It's a full screen transfer, although the movie was shot 1.85. Here they pulled the matte out so you see things on the top and bottom of the frame that wouldn't have been seen in the theater.

The movie is quite entertaining, and is probably George Hamilton's best performance. Even though the narrative is very loose, there are some enjoyable scenes and some great dialog, written by John Milius. I hope someday, this movie gets the good video transfer it deserves.

I bought it from a marketplace seller for a penny, plus $2.98 shipping -- certainly worth it at that price. At $10, I'm not so sure.

I purchased this DVD because I had hoped it might include a remastered or at least watchable release of the EVEL KNIEVEL movie. It does not! In my opinion, its only value is in the reproduction of the original poster art on its cover. The American Daredevil Icon and his fans deserve better.

EVEL KNIEVEL was a favorite of mine when I was a kid. The idea of someone risking their life for my entertainment didn't bother me then. I was nine after all. Looking back, I think of Evel as an adrenaline freak with major issues, but still respect his right to jump over things. George Hamilton is perfect in the role of Bobby "Evel" Knievel. He captures his smirking attitude toward danger, bodily injury, and death. Hamilton hams it up in a way that only he could pull off, giving life to the legend and the man. We start off in Butte Montana (Knievel's hometown) where a young Evel watches as a car is sucked down into a sink hole. In flashbacks, we are treated to the story (well, small slices of it anyway) of Knievel's life, a tall tale almost as big as Paul Bunyan. I especially liked his obsession with and eventual kidnapping of his future wife (played by Sue Lyon). Hamilton gives us a portrait of a daredevil who knows his own destiny as an american superhero. This is Elvis on wheels, a showman who performs for us, knowing full well that he could splatter at any minute! This guy broke every bone in his body except his neck! The crashes are spectacular and disturbing. I found myself wondering at Knievel's nuttiness and disregard for safety, while marveling at what he actually did. The fact that he survived his many public suicide attempts is a miracle! Watch and enjoy...

From the onset, EVEL KNIEVEL (1971) gave all the signs of being a stereotypical bad movie. An early 1970s biopic. About Evel Knievel. Starring George Hamilton. Sounds wretched, doesn't it?

Surprisingly, the movie isn't that bad at all. But the things that make it a decent movie also contribute to making it an absolutely awful biopic. I didn't really learn anything about Evel Knievel at all except that he's a bit of a nut (I should have seen that coming, really) and that his medical bills must be high (ditto). The story is told as a series of seemingly random flashbacks. There's nothing holding the scenes together and they don't form a coherent story. They do little to educate, but a lot to entertain.

First of all, I should mention George Hamilton's performance as Evel Knievel. You know, I've seen Hamilton in countless commercials, and I've seen his increasingly orange glowing face being interviewed more times than I care to think about. But I'm not convinced that I've ever actually seen him acting in a movie. So color me surprised when I thought his performance was quite good. I have no idea what the real Evel Knievel is like (a refrain you will see me revisit more than once during this review), but Hamilton is very believable in the role.

The supporting actors matter less. The only person who may stick in the memory is the character of Knievel's doctor/surgeon (played by Bert Freed) who has the unenviable job of regularly putting Humpty Dumpty back together again after each spectacular crash. I enjoyed watching this surly doctor patiently sewing Knievel's limbs back on (while admiring his previous repairs), wondering if the next crash will be the last one, and not really caring all that much. (A lot of movies would have had the doctor as a grumpy guy with a heart of gold. Deep down he really wouldn't anything bad to happen to Knievel. But not here. This guy genuinely doesn't seem to give a damn about his patient, which I found delightful.)

The only other real character of note is Knievel's girlfriend/wife. I know nothing about the real life couple, but this scrawny, skinny woman wouldn't have been what popped into my head if ever I had spent a moment of my past pondering what Evel Knievel's wife would be like. I would have pictured a more substantial woman. Someone a little sturdier. Someone he could leap off a building onto without damaging. I mean, that just makes sense, doesn't it?

The film has little plot to speak of. The (then) present day Knievel is waiting to execute his most extraordinary stunt ever and while putting in time he endures a series of flashbacks. Most of these flashbacks are entertaining, but they each seem to exist in an independent universe. They're fun because each one decides that it will be the light and goofy flashback and the heavier stuff will be handled in other scenes. Except there are no weighter scenes, so the whole thing ends up being very insubstantial.

While this leads to a frustrating biography, it also results in a fun enough movie. I can't, for example, think of too many other movies where an exciting and tense chase sequence is accompanied by comedy tuba music. Or a film where the leading lady loses her virginity to a man wearing ice-skates. Or a biopic that dares to show the hero dynamiting his way into the City Hall men's room.

Speaking of the City Hall, I should point out that this movie is the earliest movie listed on IMDB to have done location filming in Butte, Montana. I didn't realize when I spent my dollar on this DVD at Wal*Mart that I'd be looking at beautiful Butte, Montana footage. Despite this, Butte, Montana doesn't come across as all that exciting of a place. Apparently, all you have to do is walk into a bar, tell people that "something big is going to happen", and you'll work up all the Butteans into a frenzy, get them running in the streets, and causing all kinds of chaos. (Butte, Montana seems to have undergone a cinematic revival in the past two years. IMDB lists ten total movies as having been filmed there, five of which were shot in 2004 or 2005. Food for thought.)

As for the accuracy, I'm not too interested with that, but I didn't notice any "authorized by Evel Knievel" in the credits. Perhaps this explains the portrayal of Knievel as a screaming, nitpicky neurotic. He comes across as an extremely unpleasant person, and one's sympathy instantly rests with whoever is unlucky enough to be in a room with him. And yet there is something likable about this lunatic. Just as long as you don't have to nurse him, be married to him, talk to him or be within five hundred yards of him. Watching his biopic is about as close as I ever want to be.

But as fun as the movie is, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Why did he fall in love with his wife (we see their early dating life, but no indication of what he saw in her)? Why did he get into stunt-riding? Why is his name spelled "Evel"?

In case I haven't made this clear by now: this is not a film you want to take in any way seriously. But then, you probably figured that when you saw the title and the star. Much of the entertainment comes from the "this is so goofy; I can't believe I'm watching this" factor, but just try to get yourself into the right frame of mind. I'm honestly not sure how seriously the filmmakers were taking this, but as long as the audience doesn't take it seriously, you should enjoy it.