Le casse-cou

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! You will witness the sheer power of Evel as his mere presence causes crippled children to walk - "You're the reason I'm walking, Evel! YOU'RE THE REASON!" Feel the love as he woos a captivating female reporter, what a dame! 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! Viva Knievel indeed!!

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!

No one noticed the influence of Irwin Allen in this wretched production? The "Poseidon Alumni" of Red Buttons and Leslie Nielsen? The casting of Eric Olsen and Cameron Mitchell (two holdovers from Allen's poorly received "Swiss Family Robinson" series)? And the "Allen Tradmark" of casting over-the-hill has-beens -- in this case Gene Kelly -- in a 'throw away' role? Allen even threw in one of his old 'stand-bys', Albert Salmi (Captain Tucker, the space pirate from two episodes of "Lost In Space").

Almost the entire production crew is from the Irwin Allen camp including legendary special effects man L.B. Abbott (what for you ask -- I didn't see any 'special effects?). Even Allen's costume designer, Paul Zastupnevich, is along for the ride. 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. It is surprising that Katkov co-penned such a bad script since he was also responsible for the famous "Blood and Orchids" mini-series of the early '80s. 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.

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.