Viva Knievel!

Plot synopsis:
Daredevil motorcycle rider Evel Knievel stars as himself in this fictional story. The film opens with Knievel sneaking into an orphanage late at night to deliver presents: Evel Knievel action figures. One of the boys casts away his crutches, telling Knievel that he'll walk after his accident just as Knievel had.
Knievel then prepares for another of his stunt jumps. We are introduced to his alcoholic mechanic Will Atkins (Gene Kelly), who was a former stunt rider himself before his wife died, driving him to drink. While signing autographs, Knievel is ambushed by feminist photojournalist Kate Morgan (Lauren Hutton), who has been sent to photograph the jump: if Knievel is killed, it will be a great story.
As it happens, Evel does crash while attempting the stunt, and though badly injured, survives. He berates Morgan, announces his retirement, and is taken to the hospital.
While rehabilitating, Knievel resists all attempts to get back on the horse, including those from Jessie (Marjoe Gortner), a former protégé with mysterious backers who want Evel to do a jump in Mexico. Eventually, though, Knievel relents and agrees.
A subplot develops when Will's estranged son Tommy shows up from boarding school, and asks to join the tour. Will, who is reminded of his dead wife, is cold to Tommy, leaving Knievel to show the boy kindness. Likewise, Kate reappears, apologetic for her previous motives, and now wishes that he will never stop jumping.
Meanwhile, Jessie's benefactor is revealed: Drug lord Stanley Millard (Leslie Nielsen). Millard (without Jessie's knowledge) plans to cause a fatal accident during the jump. He will then have Knievel's body transported back to America in an exact duplicate of the tour trailer, but one that has a massive supply of drugs hidden in the walls.
Will, however, stumbles onto the plot, is drugged, and sent to a psychiatric ward under the control of the corrupt Ralph Thompson (Dabney Coleman) to prevent him from spilling the beans. Evel sneaks into the ward late at night when Will has dried out, but all Will can remember is that someone knocked him out. Knievel leaves him there to keep whoever is behind the plot in the dark.
As Knievel prepares for the jump (down a massive ramp and over a fire pit), Jessie—hopped up on drugs—confronts Evel, claiming that he will prove who the best jumper is. Jessie knocks Evel out and dresses in Knievel's signature red, white, and blue outfit. Jessie then successfully makes the jump, however, the bike has been sabotaged and he is killed as he lands (footage from a real Knievel crash was used). While the body is taken away for the drug smuggling plot, Evel wakes up, gets on another bike, and goes to free Will.
After breaking out of the psych ward, the two find the mockup trailer, in which, by an amazing coincidence, both Tommy and Kate have been taken hostage. Pursuing the truck, Will and Evel decide to split up: Will will disable the semi, Evel will lead off the gun-toting drug lords riding guard in another car.
At the end of several extended chase scenes, the drug lords are defeated, Will and his son are reunited, and Kate has fallen head over heels for Knievel. The film ends with Knievel performing a daredevil jump over a pit of fire, this time successfully.
The end jump is stopped in a freeze-frame shot and a color matte, similar to that of the one that appears in the opening credits, appears over Evel in mid-air. The song that plays over the opening credits also plays over the film's end credits.

Tags: cult

Review:
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!?).
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.
Evel Knievel, the greatest thing on two wheels (despite the fact that he had immense trouble with actually landing!) is on the attack!
Truth, justice & the American way are under threat from some nefarious drug dealers out to use Evels fame as a way to smuggle drugs into the U S of A & then into the innocent hands of the nations youth no doubt!From the opening bars of the theme tune to the closing credits this is non-stop-two-wheeled-high-octane-death-defying-cinema!
See the horror as his best friend is turned into a drug crazed dope-fiend by the bad guys, then rejoice as he is saved & reunited with his estranged son by the one & only Knievel!
In the grand, suspense filled rubber burning finale let out a mighty Huzzah as Evel foils the bad guys & saves the day for all the innocent children of the free world!
Kneivel says he's never taken a drug in his life, which is good so there was plenty enough to go around for the writer, the director and love interest Lauren Hutton.And Kneivel's not even the weirdest guy in the movie!
That honor goes to poor old Gene Kelly who plays Evel's sad excuse for a mechanic.
His performance is quite possibly the worst captured on film; Kelly was playing this either as senile or retarded, though I suppose it doesn't matter which.
In VIVA KNIEVEL, the daredevil foils a drug shipment, charms a Mother Superior, reunites a long-estranged father and son, inspires crippled children to walk, woos a feminist news photographer and makes a 150-foot jump over a cage full of lions.
Not all at once, however.Robert Craig Knievel was one of his era's most singular pop culture figures, an endless self-promoter whose failures (e.g. his aborted 1974 Snake River Canyon jump) drew more media hype than almost anyone else's successes.
A well-marketed, low-budget Knievel biopic starring George Hamilton did great at the box office in the early 1970s, so it was assumed the real Evel would also pack them into the theaters.
But Knievel, unlike a Babe Ruth or Muhammad Ali, has no genuine on-camera magnetism and many of his line readings are horrid; trying to get Red Buttons to pay up on a debt, Evel says flatly, "You stole from me (long, long pause)...
PROMOTER." A quintessential 1970s cast (in fact, three POSEIDON ADVENTURE survivors appear here) includes a poorly-wigged Gene Kelly as Evel's alcoholic mechanic, a pre-AIRPLANE!
Leslie Nielsen as the drug kingpin, Marjoe Gortner (take my word for it, kids, he was big in the 1970s) as Evel's protégé-turned-druggie and Lauren Hutton as the women's lib photographer who F-stops her way into Evel's heart..
And the "Allen Tradmark" of casting over-the-hill has-beens -- in this case Gene Kelly -- in a 'throw away' role?
Allen's wife played the Mother Superior in the famed scene where the orphan throws his crutches away at the sight of seeing Evel as he sneaks into the orphanage in the middle of the night(!).The story behind this film is that producer Sherrill Corwin (who was the head of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences during the '70s), was a major financial contributor to Irwin Allen's "Poseidon Adventure" and "Towering inferno." Allen needed backing because the studios baulked at the high production costs.
But, by the mid-70s Irwin was 'The Man' and now it was 'pay back time' for Corwin when he wanted to hype Knievel, who by that time was a superstar among the teen-set.
True, Evel Knievel WAS bankable when it came to packing arenas, selling lunch boxes, action figures and toy motorcycles.
Problem was that in the acting department Evel was as wooden as a tree trunk and this movie shows it.Not helping matters was the horrendous screenplay by Norman Katkov and Antonio Santillian (whoever he is), and the ingredients for a GRADE A Turkey were assured.
But then again, he was also one of the primary contributors to the screenplay for another Irwin Allen travesty: "The Return of Captain Nemo" (aka "Amazing Captain Nemo"), a mini-series produced or should I say released the following year."Viva Knievel" is best enjoyed by those suffering from insomnia or otherwise get their kicks from bad-movie marathons..
Viva Knievel has to be one of the worst movies ever made.
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.
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!.
I recently bought a video tape of this film expecting it to be somewhat funny...it turned out to be one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.
And that's saying alot since it was made as a dramatic vehicle for the one, the only, EVEL KNIEVEL.I can't believe all of the negative comments that have been posted for this film.
Sure the acting is bad and the plot is subpar, but overall, this movie is destined for cult status!
This 1 hour and 40 minute film turned into a three hour viewing experience for me since I was laughing so hard at everything, and I knew I was missing more great dialogue and acting...I'd have to stop the video, rewind it, and watch again...and I'd laugh just as hard the second time.
Even now, while writing this review, I'm laughing to myself just thinking of certain scenes...especially the "drug speech."I won't spoil anything for those reading this...Just pop this baby in your VCR and "sit down and take a load off!"And who the hell did Frank Gifford have to sleep with to get his name mentioned so many times in this film?PUT THIS FILM ON DVD in WIDESCREEN!!.
The stunts were great, but I could jump over the plot..
Evel was a great showman, and was incredibly popular in the 1970's.
There are a few stunt scenes that bear this out, including a great two-person tour around and through a small stadium on Evel's bike.But that's about it; the plot is pretty simple, and the criminals are as stereotyped as they come.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
Some films are bad enough to be funny, this one is worse.
What put me off, was the appearance of Gene Kelly, a performer of some standing in my opinion, in this rag.
Do not watch this movie, even when you want to see it for its lack of quality.
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.
Evel Knievel is the world's leading motorcycle jumper.
However Millard, the tour's organiser (Leslie Nielsen) plans to use Knievel to smuggle drugs back over the Mexican border, using Knievel's fame to escape detection.This is very much a star vehicle of it's time - it screams 70's all the way through - from the clothes to the attitude, from the stars to the cheesy theme song it's all very dated.
This is actually a reasonable plot - if a little far fetched - but the 70's definitely produced worse crime thrillers.
That's not to say that it's brilliant - but for an Evel Knievel movie anything that is better than OK is good.
Several times the film slows down and loses the main plot so that Knievel can be kind to kids, or lecture about the dangers of drugs etc.
That said - there are times that this doesn't seem like a star vehicle.
Knievel overall is played as a kind man who is good to kids etc, but quite often during the film he is an unpleasant man - arrogant, rude, selfish and, in one throwaway remark, racist.
It just surprised me that he would let himself be portrayed in that way - unless of course he is like that and didn't see it in the finished film.
For the most part though this is a star film that shows him as a moral, kid loving, God-fearing American.The rest of the support is quite surprising, Gene Kelly plays Will quite well, but overdoes the emotions in his subplot.
Leslie Nielsen is good as the bad guy, pre-spoof days, and plays it straight (read boring) and steady.
Even Red Buttons pops up momentarily as Knievel's organiser.
But most are sidelined as the story focuses on Knievel.Overall a good 1970's crime movie, but both Knievel and the other subplots slow the plot and take away from the film.
Ill-advised starring vehicle for the king of motorcycle jumping, Evel Knievel.
Evel Knievel is hired to do a jump in Mexico, and his promoter, Leslie Nielsen, plans on getting him killed so he can smuggle a boatload of cocaine into the US in Evel's coffin (which he assumes the border guards will be too respectful to ransack).
At least the action at that point is decent (though apparently Evel was forced to use a stuntman to perform most of the riding).
To classics fans, the film is probably more notable because it contains the penultimate performance by Gene Kelly (Red Buttons is also in it).
is the only film Kelly appeared in which is even more lowly rated than Xanadu.
Actually, much of the plot revolves around Kelly, as the son whom he sent off to be raised elsewhere is reunited with him.
Kelly kind of ignores the boy because his wife died in childbirth, but Evel eventually sets him straight.
There's also a romantic subplot involving a feminist photographer, Lauren Hutton, who is sent to photograph Evel's "last jump".
This is one of numerous movies that were featured on Video On Demand from Rifftrax and it's easy to tell why.
I didn't even know that was the real Evel Knievel.
This film features guys who want to take Knievel's body to smuggle cocaine.
Gene Kelly...one of his last roles..
I realize that the movie was about Evil Knievel, but I was more interested in Gene Kelly.
Gene was a run down, alcoholic who was trying to impress a son he hadn't seen in years.
Knievel starts to show off, and Gene's son looses interest in him.
Gene has to work hard to regain his son's love.
It was a very emotional role for Gene, I enjoyed watching him emote more than I did Knievels stunts.Lauren Hutton was an over the top, harridan of a photographer; and " love interest" for Knievel.
Had Gene Kelly not been in the film, I never would have watched it.
He adds dignity and strength of character to any role he plays.This was not one of Gene's better films, but it was good to see that he hadn't lost his "magic" on the screen.Kitty.
Great Movie.
The strangest part about this movie is the apparent idea that all kids loved Evel Kneivel.
Sure, it would be entertaining but I dont think it will heal my polio or reunite the drunkard Gene Kelly and his son.
This is a great movie though and is a good reminder of the whole AMF/Harley era.
Especially when that theme is played during the film on what sounds like a paper and comb or a kazoo?
Yet expecting a "so bad it's good" experience can only lead to disappointment hereTo be honest I'd quite forgotten what Evel looked like, if in fact I'd seen his face at all.
As it turns out, Knievel looks like a cross between Garry Shandling, 70's Elvis and my Uncle Derrick.
And in case the first two make you think this is a dark-haired raven, then Knievel's hair not only recedes, but is also grey, just like ...
How tasty Lauren Hutton is supposed to find a man attractive when he looks old enough to be her father is beyond me.
Or maybe he's supposed to be charismatic, and it's just Evel's performance that has the charm of a rotting carcass.
Even the illegitimate love child of Chris Rea and Keanu Reeves couldn't produce such a wooden performance.The "plot" involves drug dealers trying to kill Knievel (Not that anyone could tell if he was dead or not) and use his funeral procession to ship drugs.
The use of drugs, and Knievel's reaction to them, is as adult and sophisticated as that in Moonwalker...
Favourite bad lines include: "That kid was your number one fan, why, he'd take on the Supreme Court for you"; "What is this, judgement day?"; "You're chicken, huh?"; "You're supposed to be the head honcho of this hacienda" and "You're the reason I'm walking, Evel!
Just for example, the last line is a crippled child who throws away his crutches upon meeting Evel.For acting, Leslie Neilson playing it straight is far funnier than Leslie trying to be comical.
Only Gene Kelly produces anything approaching a competent performance, though all have their presence sapped by the lifeless direction.
Ultimately, Viva comes across as a TV movie, or one of those kitsch action shows of the eighties.
Sort of like The Fall Guy, but with your overweight dad playing the part of Lee Majors.
Neilson's car crash is hilarious, but generally this isn't so bad it's good...
Basically legendary stuntman Evel Knievel has come to Mexico to perform one of his greatest stunts, and while there preparing he gets to know some of his fans and catch up with old friends.
This includes helping a bunch of orphans, getting his alcoholic mechanic Will Atkins (Gene Kelly) to put things right with his son Tommy Atkins (Eric Olson), and getting to know photographer and journalist Kate Morgan (Lauren Hutton).
While all this is going on, villainous drug lord Stanley Millard (Leslie Nielsen) plans to have Evel killed in his stunt so that he can get a replacement biker and smuggle a massive supply of drugs through.
Evel is seen to do one jump prior to the main one, but when it comes to the big one he finds out about this plot, goes ahead with the jump, and after recovering there are some chases and stuff to which he saves the day in the end.
The critics rate this film two stars, the extra star is probably just from the fact that it is Evel Knievel and there are two stunts in the film, but the supporting one or two big names are wasted, especially Kelly and Nielsen, the story is ridiculous, over the top cheesy and predictable, I can never see myself watching this garbage again, a stupid action thriller adventure.
Staring Knievil himself,a gang of drug smugglers try to use his custom rig to smuggle drugs from Mexico to America.This is a neat,anti drug movie.