Evel Knievel

No pun intended there - I didn't come up with the wordplay anyway. Actually this movie did not come up with the character. Apart from real life, there are other outings. Which unfortunately I have not seen. And I would not call myself an expert in all things Evel (another pun?).

Still this is a decent movie in my book. Acting is fine, stunts seem insane (as they must have seemed back in the day too) and Jaime Pressly looks a bit like Margot Robbie in this (or maybe it's just me). Interesting movie to say the least, though it may not work as good for those who know more about what went down (and up, ok yes pun intended) back in the day ...

Whether or not you are a fan of Evel Knievel, the made for television movie has its moments. Having to rush a story in under 2 hours including commercial time, most of TNT movies fall short of anything great. The casting of Pressly and Bridges in the movie was great. Although they are supporting leads, they are what holds the movie together. Beau Bridges is great in pretty much anything he touches. Jaime Pressly has come a long way from her earlier films she was casted in for her "assets." Here, she shows her acting talents alongside her beauty. All in all, Evel Knievel is somewhat of a fun ride that takes you into the story of one of America's misunderstood Dare-devils.

I caught this "made for TV movie" Sunday, 8/1/04. George Eads was GREAT in it.

The movie centered on Evel Knievel's life and how he rose from working in the mines to becoming America's #1 daredevil, at least on a motorcycle.

The movie covered his smaller jumps as well as the grand and near impossible ones. The Ceasar's Palace Fountain jump was portrayed very graphically with what I'm guessing was actually footage of the real crash combined with shot footage for the film. You could almost feel Evel's bones breaking when he flew over the handlebars and you could see the emotion in Linda's eyes when the doctors told her that he may never come out of his coma and if he did he would never walk again, much less ride. As we know, he proved them wrong and went on to more daring jumps, such as the attempt at Snake River Canyon.

I wish they had continued with the story, but I guess two-hours was long enough to get the point across. It was nice to see the footnotes at the end telling of Evel's 276 successful jumps and noting that his son, Robbie Knievel is the only person to ever successfully complete the jump over the fountain at Ceasear's Palace in Las Vegas.

I wonder if the real Evel had anything to do with this? Not only was it nothing like what really happened, the movie also used many props that just did not exist! Like the Ceasars Palace jump in '68, Evel is wearing a full-face style of helmet that didn't even exist then! And the music in the background that was playing..Call Me the Breeze, by Lynrd Skynrd was a 1974 song! Was this movie supposed to appeal to todays kids only?

Because if it was, then these important facts don't matter!

Just like the battery flashlights in the 1997 movie Titanic! At least the always scrumptious Jamie Pressley was in it and looking fine!

This is quite an exciting movie with a charming if temperamental lead character who thinks he is the white Muhammad Ali. No, wait, Ali is the black Evel Knievel.

It's not an award-winning movie by any means, but there are some good performances. George Eads is quite talented, for this material, with this unbelievable confidence and charm. Fred Thompson does his usual fine job as the man who runs Caesar's Palace. Evel's nurse has only a couple of lines but Quancetia Hamilton makes the most of them. Jaime Pressly, before she ever won her two Emmys for "My Name Is Earl", certainly showed what she was capable of. I was particularly impressed with a scene where Evel pretends to have an accent while talking on the phone in a phone booth.

As is often the case with biographical movies, this movie puts a little too much emphasis on the angry moments. I'm pleased that they didn't go overboard making Evel's home life look bad. Linda really was committed to the "stand by your man" attitude, for whatever reason. The real footage, while not high quality compared to what is possible today, is quite effective.

I didn't know a lot about Evel before I saw this movie. I actually thought the Grand Canyon stunt had really happened. So I didn't know what was real and what wasn't. After looking up some real information about the man, I see the movie left a lot out and made some things happen at different times than they really did, but for what this movie is, it's pretty entertaining and there's no point in getting too concerned about what they got wrong. The important information is there.

And maybe they didn't get things wrong. Perhaps in 1950, Bobby steals the hubcaps off this amazing car whose radio can play songs that won't be recorded for several more years. Bobby is chased by a cop with a car that won't be available to the general public for eight more years. Years later the same cop is still driving that same car after all these years, but now anyone can get one like it.

Ideal was a company which according to this movie already made Rubik's cubes in 1970, and had a giant unsolved one in a conference room.

It was an entertaining effort.