Winnebago Man

Just came back from an advance screening by the Cinefamily in Los Angeles. Don't take it lightly when I state this is one of the best documentaries in recent years. It's the portrait of a man known to many simply as "The Angriest Man in the World," and it's a story of redemption, humanity, and oddly enough, an examination of comedy - what we're laughing at and how it affects those that become the object of our amusement.

It's best to simply know the premise and little else going in. Jack Rebney was the star of a viral video titled "Winnebago Man" before there even were such things. His profane tirades were passed around from VHS to VHS for years and are now readily available on YouTube. Documentary filmmaker Ben Steinbauer took it upon himself to find Ben, who was essentially living off the grid, and find him he does. What unfolds is at first funny and fascinating and eventually profound. It's easy to dismiss those in the videos you email back and forth each day, but "Winnebago Man" shows that there might be a compelling story there, and it might not be what you think.

Over the course of the film, Jack more than redeems himself, and his journey becomes our own. This isn't a film where we're made to feel bad about our actions or even feel bad for Jack. It merely asks us to think about the things we do and what they mean to those around us. And if something that we disregard as trivial becomes much more to others, was it ever so trivial to begin with? Should we embrace that? This is just one layer in a movie that is alternately hysterical, sad, and ultimately hopeful. Above all it is humane. I'm not sure who's distributing it or when, but I can't imagine someone walking away from the movie without a smile on their face.

That is, of course, unless you're easily offended by profanity.

Highly recommended.

Winnebago Man is a hands-down great film. For documentary lovers, this is a true winner. It has a great subject, and the emerging story was excellent. It's amazing what an interesting person Jack Rebney is and how much he represents. In a day and age of technology, how does one address the situation of Internet fame (for better or worse)? This film is a great testament to human nature.

Winnebago Man had me literally laughing out loud and also had me holding back tears. Sometimes even just listening to Rebney talk is funny in its own regard. Other moments were touching in how they represented the up and down nature of life.

I think you'd have to be stone-hearted to not enjoy Winnebago Man.

Jack Rebney is the most famous man you have never heard of - after cursing his way through a Winnebago sales video, Rebney's outrageously funny outtakes became an underground sensation and made him an internet superstar.

I confess that I was not aware of Jack Rebney or the "Winnebago Man" clips from YouTube. Of all the memes out there, this one somehow escaped me. But that in no way lessened my enjoyment of this film, because it was only partially about Rebney and more about Internet infamy, and the lives of those who have been shamed on the Internet. (Though, luckily for Jack, he was more honored than shamed.) I would have liked to know more about "Star Wars Kid", but that could easily spin off to be its own documentary, and possibly a far more fascinating one.

Jack Rebney became an early unwitting YouTube sensation when a 1989 tape of outtakes from an RV Promotional film starring him were leaked on the site. Rebney's angry curse-strewn outbursts delighted millions who mocked his misery.

Director Ben Steinbauer decided to track him down. He had seemingly disappeared. The Winnebago company completely disassociated itself from Rebney. The small crew who shot the 80s video remembered the shoot well, but had no idea where he had gone. Finally, a P. I. gave Steinbauer a clue that lead to a meeting. Rebney had retreated to a remote mountain in northern California and lived alone.

About half an hour in, and the Documentary seemed complete. It lays out the backstory. Rebney is found alive and doing well enough. The end? Instead, Steinbauer inserts himself into his subject's life. Poking. Prodding. Asking him to go public. Address his "fans." It can be a fine line between journalism and intrusion.

After MUCH toing and froing, Steinbauer stages a happy ending of sorts. He convinces Rebney to travel down to San Francisco and attend a screening of his Winnebago Man outtakes for a gathering of his superfans at the Found Footage Film Festival. To be fair, Rebney seems happy to be out in public and meet his 'public'. A hermit getting a day out.

Early in the Doc, a pair of other superfans are interviewed. They tell Steinbauer that there is no reason to trace where Rebney has gone to. Why? They ask. Who wants to see the Wizard behind the curtain? As bemused as Rebney seems to be at the end, one has to wonder whether he would have been just a pleased - if not more so - if he had just been left alone.

Some people see documentaries as pointless and boring films that just collect information about a topic "no one cares about." Totally not the case, especially with Winnebago Man. It is easily one of most entertaining documentaries I've seen and probably focuses on one of the quirkiest topics a film in this genre has ever touched on.

For those unfamiliar, "The Winnebgo Man" is a video from the late eighties that was passes around from VHS tape to VHS tape like a virus. The video consisted of a man, presumably in late forties or early fifties, named Jack Rebney swearing between cuts and takes off a commercial him and his crew were shooting over the course of two weeks. Normally, once a take is shot and something fails in the middle of the take, the camera immediately stops rolling. The crew decided they couldn't hit stop just when Jack Rebney messed up and decided to keep the camera rolling just a tad bit longer.

The lines Rebney drops make me laugh just thinking about them. Quotes like "Will you do me a kindness?" "Don't slam the f**king door...no more!" "God, I can't f**king make my mind work!" and "The acutrama that you will need, ACUTRAMA? What is that s**t?" are all just little tastes of the rage Rebney delivers in the four and a half minute clip. In 2005, a video sharing site named "Youtube" opened and the video as uploaded to the site currently boasting over six million views.

The real question was, what happened to Jack? Ben Steinbauer, the filmmaker responsible for this film, is hellbent on trying to answer that question. He calls in a private investigator to try and track down Rebney in hopes that he can answer one of his hundreds of questions. At first, it seems like a lost cause. He has no voting registration, no social networking accounts, and the Winnebago company stated after firing him for verbal abuse to employees they heard nothing from him and they didn't want too.

Ben finally finds Jack on a remote mountain in Northern California living a secluded lifestyle and being "a hermit" as he refers to himself. He has a a dog, he is going blind, and has a George Carlin/everybody's crabby grandpa type attitude towards everything. He is now seventy-eight years old and has published a book called Jousting With the Myth.

Ben is such a fan of "The Winnebago Man" clip that he shockingly did this out of the goodness of pure groupie curiosity. He is a likable guy and even goes into a detailed background about his obsession with the video saying how if he had a bad day at work he'd pop in the tape and also explain how he showed it to his grandmother and his dates.

Winnebago Man was included in a ten pack of Dvds my uncle purchased from the Found Footage Festival, a festival that two average joes named Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher put together showing random clips from VHS tapes they got from garage sales, thrift stores, etc. At the end of the film, Ben convinces Jack to make an appearance at the festival because the two men think of Jack like a movie star.

Being at the festival lands the brightest part of the film; Jack interacting with the fans he thought he never had. The boys ask him "What is an acutrama?" to spice things up. While the actual definition is an add on for something, Jack explains that he didn't know whether it was pronounced "acutrama" or "acutramaw." But he then goes onto say "When you're in Iowa, in a forrest, and it's 100 degrees it's f**king acutrama!" Starring: Ben Steinbauer and Jack Rebney. Directed by: Ben Steinbauer.