Loaded with footage of his legendary stunts, and packed with anecdotes almost as hair-raising, this warts-and-all portrait of 70s motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel upholds his primacy in the extreme sports pantheon.
What makes Being Evel such a propulsive, rocket-powered kick is that it gets behind the swagger and investigates what drove the man to risk his life, time and time again.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2015
Being Evel 2015
“You may be aware that Evel Knievel is the pre-eminent daredevil of our time, but you might not fully grasp the magnitude of the stuntman’s celebrity and what his fearless spirit represented to so many unless you were alive during his thrilling run throughout the 1970s. Being Evel is a new documentary that aims to educate younger audiences about Knievel’s influence, and it contains plenty of unbelievable revelations that only bolster the legendary mythology surrounding the man in red, white, and blue… Being Evel was produced by Johnny Knoxville – who is also one of the film’s primary interviewees – along with fellow Jackass creator Jeff Tremaine and BMX legend Mat Hoffman. They do a great job of articulating just how influential Knievel was on today’s extreme sports daredevils.” — Ray Bort, Esquire
“While he certainly could have been a better human being, there’s no way on earth, even with all the fighting and drinking and womanizing, that he could have been a better showman. The documentary, like its subject, is unapologetically dazzling.” — Drew Taylor, The Playlist