Viva Knievel! (1977)

Regisseur:

Gordon Douglas

Drehbuchautoren:

Norman Katkov (writer)
Antonio Santillán (screen story)

Premierendatum:

Juni 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Abenteuer | Biographie | Komödie | Krimi | Drama

Werbezeile:

The one and only real live Evel Knievel in his first dramatic movie role.

Plot:

As the legendary stuntman travels to Mexico to prepare for one of his greatest stunts yet, he takes time out of his schedule to meet his fans...

Plot Keywords:

Anti Drugs | Fan | Spectator | Injury | Mechanic

Nutzerkommentare:

God's only begotten sky-cyclist

Besetzung

Evel Knievel	...	Evel Knieval
Gene Kelly	...	Will Atkins
Lauren Hutton	...	Kate Morgan
Red Buttons	...	Ben Andrews
Leslie Nielsen	...	Stanley Millard
Cameron Mitchell	...	Barton
Frank Gifford	...	Himself
Eric Olson	...	Tommy Atkins
Sheila Allen	...	Sister Charity
Albert Salmi	...	Cortland
Dabney Coleman	...	Ralph Thompson
Ernie F. Orsatti	...	Norman Clark (as Ernie Orsatti)
Sidney Clute	...	Andy
Robert Tafur	...	Governor Garcia
Marjoe Gortner	...	Jessie

Alternativ:

Seconds to Live

Länge:

106 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Technicolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

2.35 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Mono

Altersfreigabe:

UK:PG | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Drehorte:

Veterans Memorial Stadium - 508 E. Lew Davis Street, Long Beach, California, USA

Firma:

Metropolitan (MTA)

Dies und das:

Disaster film producer Irwin Allen was a silent partner on this venture. He lent his entire production team to 'Viva Knievel' as a 'thank you' to the producers of the film who -- in the past -- had assisted Allen in securing financing for The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974).

Dialogzitate:

Jessie: End of the line Evel.
Evel Knieval: What did you say?
Jessie: End of the line, man.
Evel Knieval: What are you talking about, your suppose to be at the other end.
Jessie: No. I always have been before, but not anymore. Today is my turn, my shot at the glory, I'm making this jump.
Evel Knieval: What are you talking about. Those people paid their pesos to see me jump.
Jessie: No way, man. I'm jumping. I've always known I was better than you. Today I'm gonna prove it. Now you just get out of my way.
Evel Knieval: Hey! You been smoking something? You're high!
Jessie: Man, maybe you oughtta get high! Hey man, Millard wants to kill you and your buddy Will to. You know, he even thinks he's gonna kill me.
Evel Knieval: Why? Why would he do that?
[...]

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Montiert/geschnitten zu "E! True Hollywood Story: Evel Knievel" (2004)

God's only begotten sky-cyclist

In VIVA KNIEVEL, the daredevil foils a drug shipment, charms a Mother Superior, reunites a long-estranged father and son, inspires crippled children to walk, woos a feminist news photographer and makes a 150-foot jump over a cage full of lions. Not all at once, however.

Robert Craig Knievel was one of his era's most singular pop culture figures, an endless self-promoter whose failures (e.g. his aborted 1974 Snake River Canyon jump) drew more media hype than almost anyone else's successes. A well-marketed, low-budget Knievel biopic starring George Hamilton did great at the box office in the early 1970s, so it was assumed the real Evel would also pack them into the theaters. But Knievel, unlike a Babe Ruth or Muhammad Ali, has no genuine on-camera magnetism and many of his line readings are horrid; trying to get Red Buttons to pay up on a debt, Evel says flatly, "You stole from me (long, long pause)... PROMOTER."

A quintessential 1970s cast (in fact, three POSEIDON ADVENTURE survivors appear here) includes a poorly-wigged Gene Kelly as Evel's alcoholic mechanic, a pre-AIRPLANE! Leslie Nielsen as the drug kingpin, Marjoe Gortner (take my word for it, kids, he was big in the 1970s) as Evel's protégé-turned-druggie and Lauren Hutton as the women's lib photographer who F-stops her way into Evel's heart.