{"id":7898,"date":"2015-08-19T04:24:34","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T10:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=7898"},"modified":"2015-08-22T12:52:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-22T18:52:00","slug":"a-man-in-full-documentary-takes-a-close-look-at-knievel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/08\/a-man-in-full-documentary-takes-a-close-look-at-knievel\/","title":{"rendered":"A man in full: Documentary takes a close look at Knievel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"evel\"<\/a>\u201cBeing Evel,\u201d a new documentary about Butte\u2019s most infamous son, works hard to capture Evel Knievel as he really was\u2014a monumental daredevil and self-promoter who could also be a selfish jerk.<\/p>\n

The film presents abundant evidence for his having been a jerk. There\u2019s talk about his pursuit of lowlife crime as a young man, and footage of a surly Knievel cursing at the press corps before his big jump over the Snake River Canyon.<\/p>\n

There is Knievel bragging about his relentless womanizing, despite his decades-long marriage to the former Linda Bork, and Knievel talking unapologetically about attacking his one-time promoter with a baseball bat.<\/p>\n

And yet, when the 102-minute documentary ends, what lingers is a sense of the comic-book extravagance of his one-of-a-kind life, of a striver who invented not only himself but a whole new genre of sports and entertainment.<\/p>\n

One of the producers of the film was Johnny Knoxville, of \u201cJackass\u201d fame, who apparently idolized Knievel but then made a mockery of dare-deviltry, transforming it from a near-mythic assertion of individuality to a collection of frat-boy stunts filmed with a hand-held camera. But Knoxville, who is one of many fans and friends of Knievel\u2019s interviewed for the documentary, is right about Knievel\u2019s place in American history.<\/p>\n

He called Knievel a \u201csuperhero,\u201d the man who singlehandedly invented extreme sports. \u201cThat\u2019s such a large part of our culture now,\u201d Knoxville says. \u201cHe inspired all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knoxville also delivers a succinct, memorable description of Knievel\u2019s career: \u201cIt\u2019s a crazy story. It\u2019s just fast, faster, disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
Knievel movie opens Friday at downtown theater<\/h5>\n

Thanks to the latest theater to open in Billings, Art House Cinema & Pub<\/a>, locals will be among a small group of people able to watch \u201cBeing Evel\u201d when it premieres Friday night.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kabeary, manager of the independent theater at 109 N. 30th St., said \u201cBeing Evel\u201d will open Friday at just 15 theaters in the United States and one in Toronto, Canada.<\/p>\n

Here are show times for the movie at Art House Cinema:<\/p>\n

This week<\/strong>: Friday, 6 and 8:15 p.m.; Saturday, 1:30, 6 and 8:15 p.m.; Sunday, 12:30 p.m..<\/p>\n

Next week<\/strong>: Wednesday, 6 and 8:15 p.m.; Thursday, no showings (Alive After 5, sponsored by Pug Mahon\u2019s, will be on North 30th outside the theater); Friday, 6:15 p.m.;\u00a0Saturday, 2 and 6:15 p.m..<\/p>\n

Final shows<\/strong>: Sunday, Aug. 30, 3 p.m.; Wednesday, Sept. 2, 6:15 p.m.; Thursday Sept. 3, 6:15 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some other famous people do filmed interviews in this movie, including George Hamilton, who portrayed Knievel in a feature film; Frank Gifford, from \u201cWide World of Sports\u201d; Geraldo Rivera, the newsman who was nearly as good at self-promotion as Knievel; and Tony Hawk, the former professional skateboarder.<\/p>\n

But we also hear from some great Butte characters, including Jim Blankenship, Jim Lynch, Bob Rowling, Ray Gunn, Bill Rundle, Bob Kovasich, Mark Lisac and Knievel\u2019s sons, Robbie and Kelly. A fairly large part is played by former Knievel bodyguard (and now a resident of Billings) Gene \u201cJump for Jesus\u201d Sullivan.<\/p>\n

Some of the best commentary is provided by Knievel\u2019s cousin, Pat Williams, and longtime friend, Bob Pavlovich. Though they are not further identified, Williams, of course, is the former U.S. representative from Montana, and Pavlovich is the former Montana House member and owner of the Met Tavern, one of Knievel\u2019s favorite haunts.<\/p>\n

Williams talks about being virtually a brother of Knievel\u2019s when they were kids, and about how tough and bullheaded young Knievel was.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t dare him,\u201d Williams says. \u201cIf you dared him, he\u2019d do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pavlovich mentions, almost in passing, that Knievel once burglarized the Met, as if such a thing was to be expected, and easily forgiven.<\/p>\n

I do wish the movie had a little more Butte in it. There is an attempt to explain Knievel\u2019s crazy ambition as a result of having been abandoned by his parents and raised by his grandparents, but I think Butte itself could have had a lot to do with his outlandish persona. In a town so rich in characters, you had to work hard just to distinguish yourself on your home turf.
\nPossibly there was no explaining Knievel\u2019s unprecedented career. His friend Ray Gunn, without offering any psychological explanations, had this to say in the film:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had some weird ideas about how life should be lived. And he thought that he should be at the top of the heap. That\u2019s why he did the stuff he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe, like Alexander the Great, he simply had an itch to conquer the world. He did nothing by half-measures. He started a hockey team, the Butte Bombers, and not only persuaded the Czech national team to come play them in Butte, but then stole the proceeds without paying the Czechs a dime.<\/p>\n

He tried selling insurance and did extravagantly well (though his success included signing up patients at the state mental hospital), but quit when told he could never make vice president of the company. He took Linda and his three kids to Washington state, where he sold Honda motorcycles, and where he staged his first motorcycle jump as a promotional shtick.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>The event didn\u2019t go quite as planned. Knievel was supposed to jump over some caged cougars and rattlesnakes, but came up short and tipped over the tank of snakes, sending the crowd fleeing in terror. This would set the pattern for the rest of his life: successful jumps were interesting, but disasters made him famous.<\/p>\n

There are slow-motion clips of Knievel\u2019s many falls, including the one from his attempt to jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1967. It\u2019s painful to watch, but it gave Knievel his first big break. As George Hamilton said, \u201cThat\u2019s one of the great pieces of footage of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a related note, Hamilton said he himself delivered an Oscar-worthy script-reading when he visited Knievel to talk about his projected bio-pic. \u201cHe\u2019s lying there like a pasha in a bad motel,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when it all got crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

After drinking half a bottle of Wild Turkey, Knievel asked Hamilton to read him the script. When Hamilton demurred, Knievel pulled out a pistol, held it to Hamilton\u2019s head and asked him again. Hey, you wanna be Evel in a movie, you play by his rules.<\/p>\n

I kept thinking of all the things the movie left out, but I also learned so much about periods of his life I was unaware of, or new details of some of his better-known capers. The story of the Snake River jump deserves a movie of its own, complete with the terrorization of the Butte High School marching band by gangs of drunk, drugged-up, sex-crazed bikers.<\/p>\n

We also learn that out of the top 10 shows broadcast in the 37-year run of \u201cWide World of Sports,\u201d Evel was the star of seven. He made his first real fortune not from stunt-jumping per se, but from the sale of Evel Knievel action figures sold by the Ideal Toy Corp. One observer said Knievel \u201cinvented the licensing business.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he was the motorcyclist in white leather, not black, the self-branded \u201cgood guy\u201d who urged kids to stay off drugs and always wear their helmets. Booze, broads and insane stunts apparently were OK. It was another instance of Knievel\u2019s conception of himself winning out over reality.<\/p>\n

His heyday coincided with some ugly times, with violent fights over civil rights, the Vietnam War and the meltdown of the Nixon administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a little down on ourselves,\u201d Pat Williams says, \u201cand along comes this kid from Butte, Montana, who showed us who we were and wanted to be again.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can believe that, and you can believe it when Johnny Knoxville and Tony Hawk speak in worshipful tones about the man who created jobs for thousands of crazy kids riding skateboards, dirt bikes and snowboards.<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t quite escape the sadness at the core of the movie, in the person of Linda, Knievel\u2019s first wife. She gives Knievel his due and says nothing downright bad about him, but with her strained voice, her hesitation and the tears always welling up in her eyes, she doesn\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was OK before he became Evel Knievel,\u201d she says at one point. And after others testify about how Knievel, after his late-life conversion at the hands of a famous televangelist, tried to make amends with many of the people he wronged, Linda says simply, \u201cWell, first time I ever heard him say \u2018I\u2019m sorry,\u2019 he was pretty much on his death bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to watch a trailer for \u201cBeing Evel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor’s note<\/strong>: Purely by coincidence, former Gazette colleague Jim Hagengruber posted this photo on his Facebook page Tuesday night. It was taken at a meeting of the Butte Press Club at the Knights of Columbus Hall in 2001. I couldn’t resist publishing it here. Also, I have no recollection of why I was making that face.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"E&E\"<\/a>

Jim Hagengruber<\/p>

Ed Kemmick, left, meets Evel Knievel.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBeing Evel,\u201d a new documentary about Butte\u2019s most infamous son, works hard to capture Evel Knievel as he really was\u2014a monumental daredevil and self-promoter who could also be a selfish jerk. The film presents abundant evidence for his having been a jerk. There\u2019s talk about his pursuit of lowlife crime as a young man, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[1346,2950,31,458,2953,2952,147,2951],"class_list":["post-7898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-diversions","tag-art-house-cinema-pub","tag-bob-pavlovich","tag-butte","tag-evel-knievel","tag-frank-gifford","tag-george-hamilton","tag-pat-williams","tag-snake-river-canyon","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}