Viva Knievel!

Oh, what an incredible trashy bad movie from the '70's this is, starring none other than Evel Knievel himself and Hollywood celebs from the 'old' days Gene Kelly, Red Buttons and Leslie Nielsen as a villain.

The movie has a real shaky plot that doesn't make an awful lot of sense. I don't know it has something to do with an evil Leslie Nielsen wanting Knievel death so he can smuggle drugs with Knievel's death body as a cover. Meanwhile there are also several side-plots that makes you wonder why they are even in there. It makes the movie often disjointed to watch and halve of the time you don't know what is going on, also because there is often very little actually happening in the story.

The movie was an obvious attempt to launch Evel Knievel a movie career. He was known for his daring motorcycle jumps stunts but he is perhaps even better known because of his inability to land. He crashed- and broken more bones during his stunts than a regular race-car driver would in his entire career.

Evel Knievel is in this movie presented as an all American hero. He is loved everywhere, he gets the girl and also does charity. Meanwhile he also gives important life lesson's to kids. by telling them they will eventually blow up once they start using drugs. He gets a standing ovation as well from the crowd after this inspiring speech.

The only last month deceased Evel Knievel just wasn't much good as an actor. It also didn't really helped him that he had Hollywood-cannon's Gene Kelly and Red Buttons opposite him. He turns all the more pale in comparisons to them. It's true that Kelly's and Buttons' careers already had their best time and the same goes for Leslie Nielsen, who in this movie plays one of his last 'serious'. This is basically also the only reason why those three appear in this movie. It was a bit weird to see Kelly as an 'old' man, mainly of course since I'm used to seeing him in only just '40's and '50's movies.

I can name at least a dozen movies out of the top of my head that are way worse than this one. So perhaps this movie is not entirely deserving it's title of 'one of the worst movies ever made' but nevertheless, this is a great example of bad movie making, which at the same time also makes this movie some delicious bad trash from the '70's to watch. Viva Knievel!

3/10

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Oooh... Leslie Nielsen is trying to sabotage Evel's bike. Will Lauren Hutton discover the plot in time?

And can Evel convince his mechanic to give up the bottle, and be a good father to the son he has heretofore ignored?

Will Evel and Lauren give up their adversarial flirting and get together?

DOES ANYBODY CARE?!?!

I am a fan of bad, cheesy movies. And even this one had me snoozing. Although I do give it thumbs up on the marvelous transition from the final jump to the closing credits.

Evel Knievel delivers toys to orphans one day and makes a death defying jump the next. Will Atkins (Gene Kelly) is his drunk manager. Kate Morgan (Lauren Hutton) is a photojournalist. Ben Andrews (Red Buttons) is a greedy crooked promoter. Stanley Millard (Leslie Nielsen) has an evil plan luring Evel to Mexico.

Evel, the character, does not come off that appealing. He's a bit misogynist towards Kate. He's a bit callous towards Will. If he's really worried about his drinking, he would keep all booze away from him. He needs to make small calibrations to his character which he already does with the orphans. He stops the momentum when he makes the anti-drug speech. He's trying to project machismo which doesn't look good like a middle age salesman with a fast sports car. He would be better off being humbled since his real life stunts already speak for his manhood. He may not be capable of projecting much else as an actor. His acting needs to round out the rest of him and I doubt he has it. He is self-righteous when he doesn't deserves it. As for the evil scheme, it's mostly non-sense and meaningless. It's bad writing and it needs to be explained well ahead of time. The flash photography premise is silly. Overall, Evel is a limited actor even if he is not the worst. His character has unappealing flaws. The story has unappealing flaws. It is bad but it could be worst.

I LOVE this movie!! Ok, it is a terrible, terrible film, but that's what makes it so great! Back in high school, I can't begin to tell you how many beers my buddies & I downed whilst laughing our tails off at this movie. We would rewind scenes so many times that even years later, when we reunite, we can still recite some of these scenes verbatim. It's a classic. First of all, just consider this plot: a mob boss, played straight by Leslie Nielson of all people, wants to assassinate good ol' Evel in Mexico so he can use his stunt trucks to smuggle drugs back to the U.S., because no one is going to stop a "funeral procession for a hero." Try to follow THAT logic!! Another priceless moment comes when Evel delivers an anti-drug speech warning kids that if they use dope - just like race car drivers who use nitro in their cars - they too, will "blow all to hell!" (well, at least after "5 or 10 years" by his estimation anyway). I've never seen Gene Kelly looking so disgruntled and tired, and what would be complete without a way-over-the-top Red Buttons (classic line delivered to a groggy Evel: "What is this, Judgement Day!?). Where's Charro when you need her? And let's not forget that kid at the orphanage who literally throws his crutches to the floor and says, I kid you not, "you're the reason Evel! You're the reason I'm walkin'!" Evel Knievel: miracle man...ordained healer. And then of course there's that catchy theme song. I can't figure out why it was never a hit.

Viva Knievel has to be one of the worst movies ever made. But like like Plan 9 From Outer Space, it is so bad that it makes for a hilarious night. If you like bad movies, this is a must see. In the film Knievel is presented as some sort of cross between Elvis and Jesus. One scene at the front of the film even has Evel seeming to heal crippled children by presenting them with Evel Knievel model kits. He's shown as being a beacon of hope in a dark world, yet he's also shown nearly threatening the life of Red Button's character because Red hasn't paid him his money yet. By the way, how on Earth did people like Red Buttons, Gene Kelly, Lauren Hutton, and Leslie Nielson end up in this turkey?!? If you can't appreciate an incredibly bad movie, stay as far away as you can!