Being Evel Page #4

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he opened the door

and invited people

to buy a ticket

to watch truth.

rivera:
for that disenchanted,

disillusioned generation,

where you didn't trust anybody,

because even the president lied,

here's a guy,

he's gonna risk everything.

man:

he did it! he did it!

knoxville:

you know, there was three

tv stations back then,

and when evel was on abc,

everyone knew it.

that's what you did

that night is watch,

and that's

what you talked about

for the next

few weeks afterwards.

wilson:

he was so popular that out of

the top-ten-rated

"wide world of sports" shows

in the 37 years of the show,

he holds seven of them.

announcer:

motorcycle daredevil

evel knievel!

hoffman:

he was the talk of the world.

he was the greatest reality show

before reality shows existed.

are you ever scared

before a stunt?

- do you have fear?

- i am not scared.

when i go off that jump,

i will say i have some concern,

but i don't think i've ever been

afraid of anything.

if i know something's

going to happen,

i try and train myself

to where i have complete control

over my mind and my body.

i relax when i hit

instead of freezing up

and being scared.

williams:

he said to me one time,

"you know what

i was really good at...

was the take off.

you know what i was bad at

was the landing."

but he said,

"it was the bad landings,

that's what brought

the crowds out."

you know, bobby used to say,

"nobody wants to see me die,

but they don't

want to miss it if i do."

announcer:

and just to go up that ramp

and take a look at the distance

that he's got to, in effect,

hurdle aboard

his harley davidson machine.

gifford:
he knew

if he wasn't just perfect

when he left that ramp,

something awful

was going to happen

between the time he left there

and came down way over here.

if he told ya he was gonna

do something, he would do it,

i mean, even if he knew

it was gonna kill him.

linda:
you know,

you were always--

the question of whether or not

he might not make it alive.

i would think my dad would die

every time he jumped.

it was stressful.

it was hard on us.

pavlovich:
if he crashed,

you know, and got hurt,

then he'd go out,

he's gonna do it again.

and everybody says he's nuts.

he got hurt the last time.

evel knievel:
doctors,

especially surgeons,

have been amazed

at how i can keep going.

he had...

recuperative powers

that were beyond

normal people.

knievel-dick:

they would say,

"you'll have this cast

for eight weeks,"

and he would take it off

in three.

man:
this may look like

just some abstract plumbing,

but this is actually

the right hip

and right femur

of evel knievel.

evel knievel:
i think i've

probably become immune to pain.

i've learned to live with pain

for so long that i think, uh,

what would hurt an average

person doesn't hurt me so much.

kelly knievel:

when we were growing up

and my dad broke bones,

and he was in pain,

he never bitched about it.

he never complained about it.

no, no, i'll be all right.

i'm gonna jump some more.

it was just he accepted that

that's what he had chosen to do

and it's something

he just had to deal with,

and that's the way

he dealt with it.

to be something

a little extra special,

no matter what i want to do

if i like to do it.

to be a champion

or to be the best.

even though i've been hurt

so many times,

and live like a lot of people do

that live in a...

a gray twilight world--

these kind of people,

they don't even know victory

or defeat because they've

never tried anything,

and this is something

that i feel compelled to do,

and i am going to do it.

i had

sort of been brought along

the way of a teen idol.

mm-mmm.

i had enough

star power going,

but i kept trying

to toughen up my act.

i thought, god,

if i could get

a really good western

or i get good action movie...

and i was looking for sort of

a modern day western character.

who would that be?

i remember seeing the footage

from caesar's palace,

and i thought,

yeah, that's the movie.

in my mind there was only one

guy that could do this right.

john milius,

he'd written "dirty harry,"

"jeremiah johnson,"

and of course later

"apocalypse now."

milius just wrote it as though

he was writing it for patton.

it had this sort of

mythic sound to it, you know?

and it's got this man

who thinks he's a gladiator.

and i was excited

to show evel this.

so he tells me

to come meet him in hollywood

at the saharan hotel

that was up on sunset.

he's been up all night.

got another huge wound.

kotex pads all there.

and he's lying there

like a posh in a bad motel.

and that's when it all

got crazy.

he took a bottle

of the wild turkey,

and i heard the snap

of the turkey,

and he drank half that thing

down and he'd sit down.

i said, "well, i wanna tell you

that we've got a great script,

and i just brought it to you,

and i want you to read it."

he said, "you read it,"

and i said,

"well, i have read it,

and i really love it.

i think it's great."

he said, "no, i want you

to read it to me."

and i just i didn't want

to read the script.

i mean,

it was just crazy,

the idea of me reading

the script to him.

but he was dead serious,

and i saw this gun.

and he put it right to my head.

and i thought,

he means this.

you know,

this is really real stuff.

my performance

on reading that script

was the best

i've ever given,

and i probably should have

gotten an academy award.

ladies and gentlemen,

you have no idea

how good it makes me feel

to be here today.

it is truly an honor

to risk my life before you.

an honor.

before i jump my motorcycle

over these 19 cars--

and i want you to note,

there's not a volkswagen

or a datsun in the row.

( motor revving )

ron wichman:

evel was not happy with it,

i don't believe,

from what i understand

talking to him.

i don't believe

he was at all happy

with george hamilton in that.

hamilton:
i don't think evel

appreciated me

climbing into his leathers

and getting on his motorcycle,

but what happened is,

by osmosis,

when he went to see it

in the theater,

when he came out,

he was saying these things,

and they were

extraordinary words

coming out of his mouth

that john had written for him.

they told the wright brothers

to fly was impossible,

and they probably told

neil armstrong

the walk on the moon

was impossible.

they said that shepard

and glenn would never

get around the world,

and they said that armstrong

wouldn't step on the moon.

you know, he was using

a writer's words.

and this is the evel

he's become.

i'm all alone

when i jump those ramps.

there's only two things

that keep the rest of 'em

from doing it,

and that's fear

and the big hole in the middle,

and as long as i can

stand alone and be the best

at what i am doing,

i'm gonna continue to do it.

wilson:
he created a character

named evel knievel,

and then tried

to live the part.

he never broke character.

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