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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - E 2 Mins Read

    Evel Knievel (1971)

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    This film biography of motorcycle daredevil and human crash-test dummy Evel Knievel offers plenty of action plus a full-length portrait of a larger-than-life figure.

    We first meet Knievel (George Hamilton) in the empty Ontario Motor Speedway where he is soon to attempt hurdling his motorcycle over 19 cars. As the moment of truth approaches, his life unfolds via flashbacks: We see his rambunctious boyhood in Butte, Montana – among other pranks he once tried to dynamite City Hall – his daredevil debut in a medicine show and his calamitous courting of his pretty wife, Linda (Sue Lyon).

    Knievel emerges as a singularly rugged individualist, very much a product of what’s left of the Old West, a man who is funny largely because he is so humourless about himself. Yet the handsome Knievel is really quite likeable because he is so open and bursting with vitality.

    He is also very conservative: his enemies are outlaw bikers, his heroes are Elvis (whom he identifies with) and John Wayne (whom he worships).

    Hamilton manages to be ingratiating yet cocky and Sue Lyon is quite believable as the adoring but clear-eyed girl he woos and wins. Bert Freed, Ron Cameron, Dub Taylor, Ron Masak, Hal Baylor and silent star Betty Bronson (as Linda’s sorority housemother, astounded by Knievel driving a bike through her dorm) all score in support. Cameron is especially funny and poignant as an ageing bronco buster who dies with his boots on.

    Evel Knievel makes good use of natural locales and some authentic Knievel action footage presented in straightforward newsreel fashion (and thus free of the usual matching problems).

    Evel Knievel
    George Hamilton
    Linda
    Sue Lyon
    Doc Kincaid
    Bert Freed
    Charlie Knesson
    Rod Cameron
    Turquoise Smith
    Dub Taylor
    Pete
    Ron Masak
    Sheriff
    Hal Baylor
    Evel at 12
    John Dale McCutchan
    Bill
    Cliff Medaugh
    Bill Jennings
    Henry Olek
    Marge
    Mary Peters
    Sorority House Mother
    Betty Bronson

    Director
    Marvin Chomsky

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