Evel Knievel (1971)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Marvin J. Chomsky

Writers:

Alan Caillou (story)
Alan Caillou (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 September 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Drama

Tagline:

For Fame, Fortune and Broken Bones!

Plot:

Biography of the famed motorcycle daredevil, much of which was filmed in his home town of Butte, Montana...

Plot Keywords:

Daredevil | Motorcycle | Biker | Motorcycle Crash | Accident

Cast

George Hamilton	...	Evel Knievel
Sue Lyon	...	Linda
Bert Freed	...	Doc Kincaid
Rod Cameron	...	Charlie Knesson
Dub Taylor	...	Turquoise Smith
Ron Masak	...	Pete
Hal Baylor	...	The Sheriff
Judith Baldwin	...	Sorority Girl
Kathrine Baumann	...	Sorority Girl
Ben Bentley	...	Man in Bar
Alana Stewart	...	Nurse #1 (as Alana Collins-Hamilton)
Joe Davis	...	Showgirl #2
Lee de Broux	...	Wrangler #1 (as Lee De Broux)
Roger Edington	...	Bartender
Frank Ellis	...	Rodeo Clown

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (DVD rating) (2005) | Australia:M | Norway:12 | USA:GP

Filming Locations:

Astrodome - 8400 Kirby Drive, Houston, Texas, USA

Quotes:

[first lines]
Evel Knievel: [speaking to the camera] Ladies and gentlemen, you have no idea how good it makes me feel to be here today. It is truly an honor to risk my life for you. An honor. Before I jump this motorcycle over these 19 cars - and I want you to know there's not a Volkswagen or a Datsun in the row - before I sail cleanly over that last truck...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Evel Knievel (2004) (TV)

George Hamilton plays legendary stunt driver Evel Knievel in this preposterous mess of a movie. Awful, but still a real hoot!

Even though as a kid growing up in the 1970s I thought Evel Knievel was, along with Bruce Lee and Bill Bixby as "The Magician", one of the coolest guys on the planet, I'd for some reason never seen this biopic. Boy, watching this now is a trip! It's a mess of a movie really, but fascinating just the same. Firstly you have the oddball casting of George Hamilton as Knievel. Okay, it maybe isn't as left field as him playing Hank Williams, but it's still very odd. Secondly, Evel comes across as a real idiot, giving long winded egotistical speeches, slamming 'Easy Rider' and those "weirdos" for "giving bike riding a bad name". Thirdly, as an actual biography it's useless. We learn nothing about his life or how he became a stunt rider, let alone WHY he did what he did. Instead you get some utterly preposterous flash backs which include Evel kidnapping his future wife, robbing a store and even City Hall (with dynamite!), making you think you're watching some kind of proto-'Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind'! Hamilton gives a very unnatural, mannered performance, and the supporting cast includes Sue Lyon ('Lolita') as his wife Linda, Bert Freed, who was in everything from 'Paths Of Glory' to 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?' to 'Billy Jack', made the same year as this (he's the guy who says "We got the law here, Billy Jack"), plays his long suffering doctor, and Peckinpah regular Dub Taylor has a nice bit towards the beginning as the promoter who gives Evel his first break at a rodeo. 'Evel Knievel' is in many ways an awful movie but 1970s heads will get a kick out of it. You either dig these kind of Drive In exploitation movies or you don't. If you do, check this one out, it's a hoot!