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.

Alright, here we go: this is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, on any subject. It's not only for members of the Cult of Rebney (in case you live under a g--damn rock, I'm talking about Jack Rebney: the Winnebago Man, the Angriest Man in the World, the original viral video star, and the greatest swearer who ever lived).

The film has comedy: Rebney is one of the great crotchety old men of all time.

It has mystery: who is this monumental man, where does he live, what's the deal with his anger, what the f--k is this thing?

It has commentary: most Americans have "room-temperature IQs," the Ford Fiesta (or is it Festiva?) is a great car, and Bush-Cheney-Rumseld-Rove all deserve hot pokers up their a--es.

It also has flies, towels, windshields, seat belts, yelling, doors slamming, s--t hitting the fan, all types of "accoutrama"...and, last but not least, Tony! (If you have no clue what any of this means, go to YouTube and search "winnebago man.")

See this film ASAP, ya g--damn jackass. Or you can put it up your fern, if you want to.

NO MORE!

'WINNEBAGO MAN': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A documentary exploring 'viral stardom' (sudden internet fame by accident) focusing on one man, Jack Rebney, and how it's affected his life. The film is co-written and directed by documentary filmmaker Ben Steinbauer, in his feature film debut. Steinbauer's past experience has been in the camera department on other films and he's directed two short films as well. He sets out, with no real plan, to find this man, Rebney, who was made famous by the internet in hopes of finding out who he really is and how he feels about his 'youtube' fame. Once he finds him he sort of aimlessly records video of him in an attempt to get him to open up to the camera, desperately hoping there's a story worth telling.

Rebney is a former CBS news broadcaster who quit when he got fed up with what he believes was the decay of the network. He later took a job on an RV commercial for Winnebago and was fired after a video of him circulated to his employers, by angry co-workers, of him constantly becoming frustrated on the shoot and swearing repeatedly in colorful ways. Copied VHS tapes of the video circulated to the public and Rebney became notorious for them, which later made their way onto the internet, specifically youtube, and made Rebney a star infamously known as the 'Winnebago Man' and 'The Angriest Man in the World.' When Steinbauer finds Rebney he's calm and living a peaceful life in a secluded mountain home in California. Steinbauer leaves and after some time passes Rebney begins contacting him and admits to putting on a show for him and is actually upset about the youtube video. When the director returns he finds Rebney blind and wanting to leave the world with a better reputation and has a lot to say.

The film is extremely funny as well as touching, a tearjerker in ways. Jack Rebney is a fascinating and lovable character who is extremely intelligent, honest and full of colorful dialog. When he really has something important to say he's often cut off by the director though who says no one wants to hear it (I wanted to hear it though and I'm sure others would as well). Steinbauer insists that he needs to open up more and talk about himself when in fact anything he has to say is interesting and entertaining. The film works despite it's flaws because of Jack Rebney and his performance. It could have been so much more though at the hands of a more talented director.

Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntCQhhQwsc

There is only so much to know about people who aren't willing to share who they are, but Ben Steinbauer tried milking every bit of information he could about the reclusive, well-read curmudgeon Jack Rebney, who is reluctantly the star of his own Outtake reel on YouTube. The result is a film, very similar to Alan Berliner's classic "Nobody's Business". In that, a filmmaker tries to get through to a broken down man. Jack Rebney is about as broken down as an old Winnebago, minus the accoutrement. As evident in the clip online, and in this documentary, Rebney hates the 21st century, and stupid people, and Dick Cheney... but mostly Dick Cheney. Jack is an exceptional human being, despite his temperament, and about as wise any elder you know of. Against his will, perhaps, he unravels here with the help of introspective filmmaker. This is a hilarious, fascinating documentary.

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.