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The ending of Chomsky's film shows a camera-eye view of the spinning front wheel of
Knievel's Harley - the asphalt of the road speeding under his tires while Knievel does a
voiceover about life's challenges, having guts, living to the fullest, etc. The film cuts
as the wheel approaches the edge of the Grand Canyon - an event that never happened but,
no doubt, would have been great T.V.
The problems for Evel Knievel start with the premise, as spelled out midway through by a man
trying to pitch an Evel Knievel action figure. It's the early '70s and, he tells us, Knievel
is "the most recognized man in America. Men admire him, women want to sleep with him, and kids
want to be like him." Well, maybe, though I seem to remember lots of people in the '70s who
either had no knowledge of Knievel or thought of him as sort of a leather-clad, flag-waving
joke. Even if we accept the premise, Evel does no more than simply state its star's pre-eminence
instead of trying to establish its subject as worthy of our time.
Give the filmmakers this: They're consistent. They apply that same take-us-at-our-word dramatic
shorthand throughout, allowing plot points to rev into view like speeding cycles and rev out just
as quickly.
So shortly after he has met her, Evel is married to Linda (Jaime Pressly) and frightening her with
his plans for his first big stunt. It fails, but that doesn't stop the film from jumping ahead to
Evel as a rising star, preparing to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace. He fails again, in one of
the film's more harrowing scenes, and Linda is told he might never walk again. Except that shortly
after, he's riding again — without any mention of pain, suffering or rehabilitation. He also appears
to be cheating on his wife. And so it goes. He's broken, he's fixed. They're poor, they're rich.
They're happy, they're not.
The weight of the movie falls on Eads, who answers with a performance that is charming and macho
enough to get by. It's not the larger-than-life performance Evel probably needed to hold our
attention, but it's not embarrassing, which is more than one can say for the script.
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Some heroes go to medical school and save lives. Others rescue strangers from burning
buildings, or devote their time to helping the less fortunate. Evel Knievel is about
the greatest and most authentic sort of hero: the kind who gets paid fistfuls of cash
for jumping a motorcycle over 19 cars or the Snake River Canyon. And who better to play
America's greatest hero than George Hamilton, owner of the world's most heroic tan? As
Evel Knievel opens, the Bronzed One is looking directly into the camera, relaying a
heartwarming anecdote about a little boy who said he didn't think Hamilton could jump
19 cars with a motorcycle, but had bought a ticket to see his hero go "splat." Before
revealing whether he disappoints the boy by escaping grievous bodily harm, the film
flashes back to Hamilton's hardscrabble childhood in Montana, where his narration
reveals that an elaborate maze of mines threatens to suck the careless into a vast and
merciless underground. Then, to prove this point, a luckless automobile plummets into
the mines, an event which merits only a bemused expression from the pint-sized
daredevil-to-be. Evel Knievel then flashes forward to his incorrigible early-adult
years, where he amuses a gang of barflies by robbing a store's safe with the accidental
help of a clueless cop, then distributes the cash to amazed onlookers like a tipsy Robin
Hood. Hamilton next delights his public at his first big jump, preceding it with a short
speech in which he wisely distances himself from motorcycle-riding "weirdoes" intent on
"scaring the heck out of anyone who gets in the way." After an ill-fated Vegas jump, a
longsuffering doctor tells him he'll never walk again, but Hamilton somehow works up the
strength to fondle a nurse and crash his motorcycle in the hospital's parking lot.
Nurse-groping aside, Hamilton has a romantic streak, which is revealed through his
motorcycle-jump-intensive courtship of pretty high-schooler Sue Lyon, whom he takes for
a joyride that includes driving on the sidewalk, eluding the cops through a series of
dangerous jumps, and ultimately broken bones and a stint in jail. Following further
flashbacks documenting his dynamite-assisted robbery of City Hall and his kidnapping of
Lyon from her dorm, Hamilton ultimately makes the 19-car jump, disappointing the morbid
little boy, but thrilling his millions of fans.
Evel Knievel stars as Evel Knievel in a film about Evel Knievel.
Gordon M. Douglas' kitsch masterpiece starts as Evel Knievel(as himself) sneaks into an
orphanage at midnight to distribute Evel Knievel action figures. Miraculously, one little
boy casts aside his crutches and begins to walk. The plot kicks in as Evel, heading to a
performance in Mexico, finds himself waylaid by nefarious drug dealers, headed by Stanley
Millard (Leslie Nielsen), who plans to murder Evel in Mexico and then ship the body back
across the border, loaded with drugs. Gene Kelly, of all people, is on hand as Will
Atkins, Evel's sloppy-drunk sidekick.
Whether or not you are a fan of Evel Knievel, the made for television movie has its moments.
Having to rush a story in under 2 hours including commercial time, most of TNT movies fall
short of anything great. The casting of Pressly and Bridges in the movie was great. Although
they are supporting leads, they are what holds the movie together. Beau Bridges is great in
pretty much anything he touches. Jaime Pressly has come a long way from her earlier films she
was casted in for her "assets." Here, she shows her acting talents alongside her beauty. All
in all, Evel Knievel is somewhat of a fun ride that takes you into the story of one of
America's misunderstood daredevils.