Being Evel

This is a great documentary of the life and times of the amazing Evel Knievel. Old footage of his iconic motorcycle jumps,old interviews of friends and family interspersed with interviews of the same people now,all make for fascinating viewing. I found it cool that they included George Hamilton and got his observations,and retrospective commentary about the 1971 Evel Knievel film that Hamilton starred in as EK. (I recently re-watched Hamilton's EK movie,it was better than I remember,I saw it as a young kid on tv in about 1975 or so. Seeing it recently,I thought it was very good and Hamilton did a fine job as EK.) No matter how much you may know about EK,you will almost surely see,hear,or learn something about the man that you never knew before. (I never remember hearing anything,ever,about the scene at the snake river canyon jump,for example) Overall a good and important movie,I don't think there is a boy that grew-up in the 70's that didn't crash trying to jump a wagon or garbage can etc on their bicycle. Good times !

Released in 2015 and directed by Daniel Junge, "Being Evel" is a documentary on the rise, glory and fall of the stuntman who started the sport of motorcycle jumping and was the catalyst to widespread daredevilry of the sort.

To let you know how great this documentary is, I decided to check out 15-20 minutes when it was already past my bedtime and I ended up viewing the whole film. It's THAT compelling. The movie contains interviews with every primary person linked to Robert 'Evel' Knievel, including associates, employees, relatives, reporters and those he inspired. It's such a fascinating story of a flawed man who was obsessed with success and recognition to the point he regularly risked life and limb.

Family members point out that they lost Bobby Knievel to Evel Knieval as he conquered the world with his daredevilry and ensuing fame. To cope with the stress of regularly facing death and the ever-increasing pain of his multiple wounds he turned to alcohol, meds and loose sex. By the time of his Snake River Canyon jump he was so anxious he turned on the reporters, which was a bad move since they were the ground laborers that assisted his fame. After his 1977-78 conviction and six months prison sentence for assaulting the writer of his biography (which everyone involved said was accurate and, if anything, too tame), he lost most of his marketing endorsements and deals, including Harley-Davidson and Ideal Toys, which led to his bankruptcy.

Despite his glaring downfall, the movie thankfully ends on a very positive note.

The film runs 99 minutes. GRADE: A+

Without Evel Knievel would we've been treated to such popular events as extreme sports, such shows as Jackass/The Dudeson's and would we've had superstars like Johnny Knoxville, The Crusty Demons and a range of other noteworthy names pushing the boundaries of what's expected from performers and athletes? It's an intriguing question and one that filmmaker Daniel Junge looks to answer in his by the books but insightful examination of Robert Craig Knievel's aka "Evel Knievel" rise and fall.

Produced by Jackass lynchpins Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine, Being Evel is a clear love letter from the two gentleman and in particular Knoxville who was inspired by Knievel as a child so much so that he became the household name he is today. Knoxville spends time in front of the camera speaking about Knievel's impact on his life and the admiration he has for him shines through but Junge's trump card is the amount of Knievel acquaintances he manages to round up to talk intimately about the performer who pushed himself and pushed away those he loved with a prickly, womanising demeanour that eventually drove him off the edge.

Being Evel shows a clear divide between the Evel the thousands upon thousands of crowd members saw and the one that operated behind closed doors and those who believe Evel to be a lovable American flag waver will be shocked by some of the man's behavioural tendencies from an explosive temper, unfaithfulness to his loved ones and desire to push himself no matter the physical or mental costs.

Utilising the talking heads with ample archival footage, Junge collates everything into a clearly decipherable manner but the documentary never strays to far from its TV like roots and there are moments throughout the film where the interest levels will waver but there always bought back around again with Evel's next outlandish actions never too far away.

In the age in which boundaries are being pushed daily through professional and more Youtube like ways, Evel Knievel's antics may now seem a little "so what" but there's little point in denying that his the granddaddy of the showmanship and conceptual ideas of the modern day extreme athletes and performers. Being Evel is a must watch for Knievel fans and an insightful (if overly workmanlike) event for us bystanders.

3 blinged up walking canes out of 5

Robert ("Evel") Knievel grew up in a tough mining community in Bute, Montana, where the prevailing philosophy seemed to be to throw a punch first and ask questions later. Gender roles were well-established there: the men had to be aggressive as well as assertive, while the women simply existed to serve them.

This upbringing had a profound effect on Knievel's subsequent life, which was dominated by the desire to prove he was the best. After a successful, if meteoric career selling insurance and motor-cycles, he decided to become a stuntperson. He began by working as part of a team, but soon discovered there was far more kudos attached to working on his own. The Evel Knievel legend was born. With a combination of brash salespersonship and often crazy stunts - that frequently went wrong - Knievel rose to the top of the celebrity tree, making fantastic sums of Money and appearing regularly on big chat-shows of the Seventies hosted by Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett.

Daniel Junge's documentary also shows that he was a deeply unpleasant person. He was serially unfaithful to his wife, and any member of the press unfortunate enough to cross his path was subject to a torrent of abuse. While certainly suffering from insecurities immediately prior to his various stunts, Knievel was also driven by hubris, prompting him to put his life (and family) continually at risk. No one, it seemed, was more important than himself.

His fall from grace was as rapid as his rise. Sentenced to six months in jail for assaulting his one-time publicity manager, he continued to manipulate the media for his own ends, without realizing that they had turned against him. Lucrative contracts were suspended; the girls, gold and glitter evaporated; and Knievel was left virtually destitute.

In his last years he tried to atone for his past behavior, but the documentary suggested that this was equally driven by hubris: why not manipulate the media in another way, even though you might be on the professional scrap-heap? BEING EVEL told a cautionary tale of a celebrity who quite literally did not understand the limits - either of human endeavor or his close associates' patience with him. Despite his enduring reputation, he came across as a rather sad case.

When I saw it was going to be a 99 minute long documentary about Evel Knievel I was wondering if they could fill all that time with something interesting to watch. As an European I only knew Evel Knievel as a daredevil, like everyone else in the world at that time, but nothing about his day-to-day life. So yes it was a very interesting story to watch, very well made, with a lot of interviews from people that knew him very well. The message was clear that Evel Knievel perfectly knew what he did, he's smarter then you would think, a perfect con-man that knows how to work people and media. Via his stunts (something never did before at that time) he made his money, not only by manipulating the whole circus that he created himself, but also with some crazy stunts that nobody would think of doing. It became clear he wasn't the most pleasant man on earth, you could blame it on not being able to handle the fame even though I think he mastered that, or blame it on the stress and the pain he suffered daily (that seems more plausible to me), but the fact is that he was kind of a bully and that even long before pain and/or fame. That said, everybody loved his stunts, but not everybody loved the man. This documentary is very open about the life of Evel Knievel, it's not only the good things they show, it's the whole package and that made this documentary stand out of the rest. Very well made! Recommended to the fans but also to anybody that likes good documentaries.