Evel Knievel | |
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Based on | Evel Incarnate: The Life and Legend of Evel Knievel by Steve Mandich |
Screenplay by | Jason Horwitch |
Directed by | John Badham |
Starring | George Eads Jaime Pressly Lance Henriksen Fred Thompson Beau Bridges Matt Gordon Peter MacNeill |
Composer | Stewart Copeland |
Country of origin | United States Canada |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Nancy Cotton Clara George |
Cinematography | Ron Stannett |
Editor | Frank Morriss |
Running time | 91 minutes |
Production companies | Icon Productions Jaffe/Braunstein Films ApolloProScreen Filmproduktion |
Original release | |
Network | TNT |
Release | July 30, 2004 |
Evel Knievel is a 2004 American drama film directed by John Badham and written by Jason Horwitch. The film stars George Eads, Jaime Pressly, Lance Henriksen, Fred Thompson, Beau Bridges, Matt Gordon and Peter MacNeill. The film premiered on TNT on July 30, 2004. [1] [2] [3] The movie is well known for its many gaffes and inaccurate portrayal of Knievel and his career.
The film begins with Knievel preparing to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace in front of a large audience. A flashback to Butte, Montana in 1950,12 year old Bobby Knievel steals some hubcaps and then escapes on his bicycle before being caught and arrested. In 1958, while working for the Anaconda Mining Company, he observes the lung damage affecting the older miners and resolves to make a living performing motorcycle stunts instead. He meets Linda Bork, whose friends advise her to stay away from him. They marry and have two children as Knievel's reputation as a stunt rider grows.
Knievel makes a deal to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace on New Years Eve 1967 (subtitled with the incorrect date of 1968 and using Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1974 song, Call Me the Breeze ). John Derek and his wife Linda Evans film the event. Knievel's assistant Bill tries to keep alcohol away from him but Knievel finds it and drinks some. He clears the fountains but tumbles off of his motorcycle from the force of the landing. He breaks many bones, including his pelvis, and falls into a coma. Linda stays with him at the hospital until he awakens. The doctors tell her that they have inserted metal rods to hold his bones in place and that Knievel will never be able to jump again but when he leaves the hospital he continues to tell the press that he will jump the Grand Canyon. Knievel fights with Linda over his desire to return to doing stunts.
In 1970, an employee of the Ideal Toy Company attends an event where he witnesses Evel Knievel get into a fight with bikers after one throws a tire iron at him. Knievel's fans attack the bikers and injure several. Recognizing his broad appeal, Ideal creates a line of Evel Knievel action figures. During a rafting trip, Knievel, his two sons, and his father-in-law John Bork fall out of the raft. Knievel is unable to reach John, who is carried away by the river and dies.
On August 20, 1974, at the Canadian National Exhibition, Knievel has his sons Kelly and Robbie ride as part of the performance. Unable to get a permit to jump the Grand Canyon, Knievel conducts test jumps over Snake River Canyon using rockets. The jump is broadcast on closed-circuit television on September 8, 1974, and Knievel gets into a fight with one of the reporters before the jump. He ultimately uses the Skycycle X-2 for the jump but the parachute deploys early and the drag prevents Knievel from reaching his intended landing spot. He instead crashes into the river bank at the bottom of the canyon but manages to survive. The public is dissatisfied and the media criticizes his effort.
In October 1975, Knievel performs his second stunt since the failed jump over Snake River Canyon. He jumps fourteen buses at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio to break his previous record. He retires from Jumping in 1980 and retires to Florida. The film ends with a compilation of footage of Knievel's jumps and crashes.
Robert Craig Knievel, known professionally as Evel Knievel, was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida, in 2007, aged 69.
Robert Edward Knievel II was an American motorcyclist and stunt performer. He had also used the stage name Kaptain Robbie Knievel.
The Skycycle X-2 was a steam-powered rocket owned by Evel Knievel and flown during his Snake River Canyon jump in Idaho in 1974.
The I. B. Perrine Bridge is a four-lane truss arch span over the Snake River in the western United States. Located in southern Idaho just north of the city of Twin Falls, it carries U.S. Highway 93 over the Snake River Canyon, connecting Twin Falls County with Interstate 84 in Jerome County.
Michael Metzger is an American freestyle motocross rider.
Viva Knievel! is a 1977 American action film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Evel Knievel, Gene Kelly and Lauren Hutton, with an ensemble supporting cast including Red Buttons, Leslie Nielsen, Cameron Mitchell, Frank Gifford, Dabney Coleman and Marjoe Gortner.
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Sheldon Arthur "Shelly" Saltman was a promoter of major sports and entertainment events including the worldwide promotion of the Muhammad Ali / Joe Frazier heavyweight championship boxing matches, creating the Andy Williams San Diego Golf Classic and helped to arrange the independent NFL Players Association games during the 1982 NFL season strike. Saltman was perhaps best known to the public as the man who Evel Knievel tried to beat to death with a baseball bat in 1977.
Dale Charles Buggins (1961–1981) was an Australian stunt motorcyclist who had built a national and international reputation by the age of 20. At 17, Buggins broke a world record previously held by American stuntman Evel Knievel when he jumped 25 cars with a Yamaha dirt bike, in 1978.
Richard Hammond Meets Evel Knievel is a one-off television documentary presented by Richard Hammond and first broadcast on 23 December 2007 on BBC Two. The show was produced by Visual Voodoo and the executive producer was Ben Devlin.
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Seth Enslow is an American motorcyclist and stunt performer most notorious for his big jumps and equally big crashes.
Evel Knievel is a 1971 American biographical film starring George Hamilton as motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel.
Lathan McKay is an American producer, historian, actor, writer and co-founder of the Evel Knievel Museum. As a former professional skateboarder, he has amassed the largest collection of Evel Knievel memorabilia in the world. The collection now resides at the official Evel Knievel Museum alongside Historic Harley Davidson.
Doug "Danger" Senecal, born March 31, 1962, in Palmer, Massachusetts, is known as Doug Danger. He is an American motorcycle jumping world record holder and stunt performer and Stage 4 cancer survivor who lives in Oak Hill, Florida.
The Evel Knievel Museum is a non-profit museum located in Topeka, Kansas, United States. The museum houses the largest collection of authentic Evel Knievel memorabilia in the world, including interactive experiences. It is 13,000 square feet and two stories. The museum is located adjacent to Topeka's Historic Harley-Davidson and opened in June 2017.
Stuntman is a 2018 American documentary film, written and directed by Kurt Mattila. The events of the movie follow stunt performer Eddie Braun's recreation of Robert "Evel" Knievel's failed Skycycle X-2 jump over Snake River Canyon in Idaho.