Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Nice effects though.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Apparently, from what I've read on it, George Hamilton ended up reading this script to the real Evel Knievel while he was in the hospital (again). And from what I've read, the real Evel Knievel ended up taking lines from this film and using them as his own, including him being the new gladiator of the new Rome.I know I saw this movie sometime either in the late 1970s to early 1980s - as a kid to preteen. I also remember seeing him jump on TV - I'm sure it was some marketing thing going on and might have seen him onwhen I was 5 (that would be about the right age that I started remembering things fairly well). Anyway, he was popular in the 1970s and early 80s and I do remember seeing his jumps on TV.The movie is "OK" I guess. It's nothing to seek out as a biography on him, it's really only a loose biography when he and Linda met and married. Apparently the real Evel Knievel approved of the film when the script was read to him - that's just a guess because the film was made.4/10

This film is a comedy and a satire, and as both, it is a double-edged sword - it laughs with it's target audience - 'good ol' boys' and wannabees along the drive-in circuit, primarily in the South - and at them. It is dangerous to laugh at this film, because you may find out you're laughing at yourself - but of course, it is so good-humored, you won't be able to avoid it.This film is not really an Evel Knieval biopic; it is really a study in the culture that makes Knieval possible. The makers of this film - primarily producer-star Hamilton - understand that in the 20th century, Americans developed an unhealthy fascination for 'sports' wherein the performers flirted with death; this could only make sense if some of the performers actually did die. The performers themselves well understood that, but all believed they were invincible, that therefore they were manipulating the secret desire of the audience rather than satisfying it. However, inevitably some - like the rodeo bull-rider early in this film - just did die; no human is invincible, after all.How do film-makers address such a culture without getting cynical or preachy about it? You take one such 'sports'-star and take him on face-value. The ground of this film is the Evel Knieval legend that Knieval himself was hyping at every opportunity - it is simply arraigned in a way that many of his tall-tales reveal themselves as just 'too much' for their own good - even if true, why would anybody do that? Finally, one has to note that this is a fine specimen of a film made specifically for the drive-in circuit: clearly enunciated dialog (those car-speakers), over-lit (has to play against moonlight), fast-paced, careful avoidance of close-ups (only Sergio Leone's were able to hold attention at the drive-in), sweeping scenery, episodic (plenty opportunities for couples to neck), and none too deep.Bottom-line: I first saw this film 20 years ago and only recently saw it again; neither the film nor my opinion of it has changed much all those years - there must be something that still works here.

Evel Knievel purports to be a biography of the life of the real Evel Knievel. The movie presents stories and episodes from different periods throughout his life. We see Evel as a young boy in Butte, Montana. We see him grow to become a local hoodlum. We see him meet, date, kidnap, and marry his wife. We see him on his first paying job as a motorcycle daredevil. We see him in the hospital after his horrific crash at Ceasar's Palace. All of this is presented in a series of flashbacks as Evel prepares himself to make a jump over 19 cars.I have no idea how much of what is presented is true. I feel confident, however, that there are quite a few dramatic licenses taken with Evel's life. For example, I sincerely doubt someone could be responsible for two dynamite explosions in the City Hall on the same night and no one notice who was responsible. Don't you think the police might have asked the local dynamite dealer if anyone had recently made a purchase? I sincerely believe Evel would have spent a considerable amount of time in prison if this episode of his life, as presented, were true.The "Tan Man", George Hamilton (who also produced the movie), plays Evel. And while he may bear no resemblance to the real man, he does a decent job copying Evel's walk and speech pattern.While the movie is not great, there are a couple of moments in the film that make it worth watching at least once.

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!