grade Movie Reviews

• Reviewed by Fella_shibby grade 7 / 10

  Knievel, a true daredevil indeed. My uncle used to do wheelies on his Yamaha RX 100, the 1987 Japanese model.

  And as a teen, I used to continuously ride a bicycle with both arms behind my head.To be honest, i was never aware of Knievel.It was Roger Moore's question "Ever heard of Evel Knievel?" to Sheriff JW Pepper before the epic car stunt jump in The Man with Golden Gun prompted me to check this guy's history including this documentary.This one is very informative n Knievel was truly a daredevil.One needs balls of steel to perform such jumps man.I used to do such stunts while playing Excite Bike game.

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• Reviewed by ronnybee2112 grade 9 / 10

  Good movie about a true maverick

  This is a great documentary of the life and times of the amazing Evel Knievel. Old footage of his iconic motorcycle jumps,old interviews of friends and family interspersed with interviews of the same people now,all make for fascinating viewing. I found it cool that they included George Hamilton and got his observations,and retrospective commentary about the 1971 Evel Knievel film that Hamilton starred in as EK. (I recently re-watched Hamilton's EK movie,it was better than I remember,I saw it as a young kid on tv in about 1975 or so. Seeing it recently,I thought it was very good and Hamilton did a fine job as EK.) No matter how much you may know about EK,you will almost surely see,hear,or learn something about the man that you never knew before. (I never remember hearing anything,ever,about the scene at the snake river canyon jump,for example) Overall a good and important movie,I don't think there is a boy that grew-up in the 70's that didn't crash trying to jump a wagon or garbage can etc on their bicycle. Good times !

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• Reviewed by paul2001sw-1 grade 9 / 10

  It ain't easy 'Being Evel'

  Robert "Evel" Kneivel was a daredevil, a hustler, and a good-looking young man whose motorcycling jumping, attempted without any respect to what we would now call health and safety, thrilled audiences who, as he once said, "didn't want him to die, but wanted to be there if he did". He came to live his own legend, firstly by attempting insanely stupid things (for example, the Snake River "jump") because his reputation demanded it, and ultimately by coming to believe he could make his own rules (something which led him to cheat on his wife, go to prison for assault, and so on). The latter cost him his lucrative endorsements and his later life was lived in the shadow of his earlier fame. On a purely technical level, it could be said that Evel wasn't even especially talented (although his primitive equipment didn't help) - he is after all a man most famous for crashing - but in some ways, the self-promotion is the story, and for those of us who grew up in the 1970s, he remains an iconic figure, a superhero in the flesh. Consider him just a celebrity and the arc of his life, crashing to earth like the Snake River rocket-bike, makes more sense. 'Being Evel' is a fascinating exploration of a complex and iconic figure; and gives you some sympathy for the man, even though he could be a monster. There are easier ways to make a living than he did; and in some ways, simply 'Being Evel' was far harder work than any of his stunts.

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