Viva Knievel!

Review #2320: Viva Knievel!

Cast: 

Evel Knievel (himself), Gene Kelly (Will Atkins), Lauren Hutton (Kate Morgan), Red Buttons (Ben Andrews), Leslie Nielsen (Stanley Millard), Marjoe Gortner (Jessie), Cameron Mitchell (Barton), Frank Gifford (himself), Eric Olson (Tommy Atkins), Albert Salmi (Cortland), Dabney Coleman (Ralph Thompson), and Sheila Allen (Sister Charity) Directed by Gordon Douglas (#663 - Them! and #686 - In Like Flint)

Review: 

You might wonder why I had this movie on my mind. Of course, you might have a curiosity of who Evel Knievel was. Born in Montana in 1938, Robert "Evel" Knievel was a stunt performer and entertainer that did numerous motorcycle jumps after having the aspiration to do so by seeing a daredevil show. He worked in copper mines, rodeos and served in the Army to go along with working in insurance and motorcycle dealer shipping before he became famous. Eventually, he became his promotor to rent out venues and set up a show to get folks to see him do wheelies before jumping stuff such as a box of rattlesnakes or (eventually) cars. Among the most famous of stunts in the early years was a jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on New Years Eve 1967 that actually had him get John Derek and his wife Linda Evans to shoot the jump and landing...whereupon he landed just a bit short of accomplishing a pain-free 141 ft jump and crushed his pelvis and femur among other injuries that one can actually access. In 1971, a biopic of the rider came out that was produced and starring George Hamilton that had him do a monologue about being the "last gladiator in the new Rome" (for his part, John Milius co-wrote the movie and called Hamilton a "great con-man" while Hamilton believed that Knievel became the persona in the movie). Eventually, he went with an idea to jump Snake River Canyon in Idaho that would be closed-circuit TV and broadcast in theaters (to namedrop for fun, it actually had Vince McMahon as an investor while Shelly Saltman served as a promoter) in 1974 with a "Skycycle X-2" that failed to accomplish the jump. Knievel would jump on and off for the rest of his years, whether that involved walking out on his own power in Wembley after breaking his pelvis to having a planned shark-jump lead in him crashing into a cameraman and breaking his arms in rehearsal. Prior to the film being released in June of 1977, Saltman's book called Evel Knievel on Tour came out about the life of Knievel (covering the buildup to the Snake River jump) with interviews that had Knievel speak on the matter of certain subjects. Knievel did not like the book (which was pulled out on threats of lawsuits) and took it upon himself to speak to Saltman. On September 21, Knievel, who apparently had hurt his arms in an accident to the point they were in casts went to the 20th Century Fox lot (Saltman was a studio vice president) and struck him with an aluminum baseball bat that saw a shattered wrist and arm to the point of needing plates for Saltman. This was the first and only film for its star in Knievel; the screenplay was done by Norman Katkov and the story was written by Antonio Santillán. This actually was the last film for its director in Gordon Douglas, who directed a wide variety of movies from Our Gang to Elvis and Sinatra that led to such films as I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951), Tony Rome (1967), and In Like Flint (1967); Irwin Allen was a supervising producer on this film, if you can believe it.

Knievel received a bit of jail time and probation before getting sued in a civil trial. A movie involving a guy keeping his word (like wearing a helmet, for obvious reasons) and playing into his anti-drug image seemed funny when you considered he later assaulted a guy and acted like a bum about paying the guy that he shattered his arm and called it "frontier justice" (Knievel never paid any money to Saltman before dying in 2007). So, you've got two guys who were honored by the Academy with awards (Buttons, Kelly) to go alongside a stunt performer, an ex-Evangelist preacher-turned-actor in Gortner and an actual adversarial role in Nielsen and some sort of weird drug plot after it all started with him breaking into an orphanage to deliver his action figures (take a guess what happened to the market) to children. How exactly was this supposed to be a breathtaking movie for its star when you've got drug-addled guys going around bopping people on the head to take on killer stunts, Monday Night Football's Frank Gifford showing up in a yellow-and-orange suit, and Gene Kelly playing a drunk that doesn't really like his kid? Not to give away the game, but Knievel didn't even do stunts for the film, that fell to Gary Charles Davis to crash on cue (well, except for the one time they use actual archive crash footage). Knievel barely acts at all, as if he was only good on a camera if his hip was fractured rather than showing actual charisma. To say the role Kelly is beneath him seems to understand that his subsequent appearance in Xanadu (1980) was an improvement. Okay, so you might wonder what the idea is with the drugs: after getting Knievel to Mexico and sabotaging his bike so he dies, they will get him back to the States in a coffin with a tour trailer that happens to have drugs in the walls. Nielsen may have been a suitable actor for the occasional drama, but even he can't make this stick to actual credibility, particularly since it practically smells like it should be in a comedy that actually has Knievel lecture the audience about not doing drugs before a stunt in the first half. As a whole, this is a movie filled with enough hokum to batter one into having plates into his arm, inspiring plenty of chuckles in its breathtaking lack of charisma that would be perfectly up your alley for a bad movie night.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 10 stars.

I love you too much to let you off Turkey Week without one more surprise tonight: Atlas Shrugged: Part I.

Buck and the Preacher.

Review #2179: Buck and the Preacher.

Cast: 

Sidney Poitier (Buck), Harry Belafonte (Preacher), Ruby Dee (Ruth), Cameron Mitchell (Deshay), Denny Miller (Floyd), Nita Talbot (Madame Esther), James McEachin (Kingston), Clarence Muse (Cudjo), Enrique Lucero (Indian Chief), Julie Robinson (Sinsie), and Lynn Hamilton (Sarah) Directed by Sidney Poitier.

Review: 

Admittedly, first-time directors have a tough task upon them, and it is harder when one is also the star of the film as well. Joseph Sargent was the original director in mind for this film, which had a screenplay done by Ernest Kinoy (who had done the script for Brother John (1971), which had Poitier as star), although it had been refined by him and Poitier prior to production beginning. Poitier wasn't fresh to Westerns, as evidenced by his starring role in the 1966 Western Duel at Diablo, although he was second-billed next to James Garner. Sargent had directed a variety of television films and a handful of films such as Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970). However, Sargent was replaced early into production because Poitier (and Belafonte, a friend of Poitier ever since they met at the American Negro Theater years ago) felt that it was focused on just being a Western rather than one that honed to certain values near to them (Sargent wasn't hurt as a filmmaker - perhaps ironically, his 1972 production of The Man went from TV movie status to being released in theaters); note that within values of basically doing a buddy film in the clash of escape within hate is two prominent Native American characters being played by, well, the spouse of Belafonte and a man named Lucero. Poitier took over the production (as done in Mexico such as Durango) and did well enough that Columbia Pictures did not interfere in his filmmaking.  Poitier would be a director for over a decade, directing such films as Uptown Saturday Night (where he starred with Belafonte again) and the highly successful Stir Crazy (1980) before closing it out with Ghost Dad (1990); Poitier died in 2022 at the age of 94.

It is a curious movie to say the least. There had been a handful of Westerns with black actors in prominent roles before this film, such as say, Two Gun Man from Harlem (1938), a musical, or ensemble films like 100 Rifles (1969) or Skin Game (1971 - incidentally, that featured Garner...billed before Lou Gossett). In fact, this wouldn't even be the only Western with black leads, as The Legend of Black Charley was released a few months after this film (incidentally this was also the same year that Black Rodeo, a documentary about an all-African American rodeo that happens to feature Muhammad Ali was released). Really this is probably a bit more familiar to those with experience enjoying Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). It always helps to have film spring to mind actual history such as "Exodusters", which were African Americans that were moving along to places such as Kansas from states along the Mississippi River that started in 1879 (the film is actually set around the late 1860s while dealing with migration attempts out of Louisiana, but you get the idea). Liberation never felt so fun when it comes to the clash of men trying to deal with who they are with or without the gun. Poitier does pretty well in showing the vulnerability that comes with trying to be a man of one's word, which results in an engaging dynamic with Belafonte (a famed singer who acted in roughly over a dozen films). That clash of wills in terms of dogged truth and some form of faith (beyond just saying a huckster) work out well for gripping entertainment in 102 minutes. Scenes such as watching the first meet up with the natives and the two or one involving a distraction-shooting work best in that regard. Mitchell makes a suitable adversarial presence in malice that stokes that flame of fear desired for a film like this, which goes for Dee in quality timing as well. As a whole, the movie works best in the presentation attempt of showing the clash of wills between the races of people that each have belief in their way of life (whether that involves setting for Kansas, wanting to retain cheap labor through fear or living among the land as Natives) that works out on the basis of a confident filmmaker at work. It tells a useful story with two leads that had appreciation for the material put to them for a quality show that carved a useful place as a true Black Western.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.