Being Evel Page #6

---

from a small town in--

really--

in the span of seven years,

became one of the most

famous people in the world.

i think that he--

he forgot how to be bob.

and when he became evel,

it's like the world

took him away from us.

if you wanna be

in this business

and you wanna be

the best in the world

and you wanna wear

a red, white,

and blue number one

on your back,

you have to be man enough

to handle the consequences.

announcer:

king of the daredevil,

number one, evel knievel!

knoxville:
evel was on top

of the world,

but he was starting to lose

his grip a little,

and that thing with

the hell's angels didn't help.

sullivan:
evel was at odds

against the hell's angels

and the biker image.

he used to talk

about the hell's angels a lot,

always putting 'em down.

evel knievel:
they're murderers,

thieves, or drug dealers,

i mean,

these guys are dogs.

they belong in penitentiaries.

gunn:

must of got through to 'em.

you know,

they got pissed off.

and san francisco

was one of their main areas.

sullivan:
the announcer

was the guy

that started the whole thing.

when he introduced knievel,

he says,

"if knievel makes

this jump tonight,

he's gonna set the hell's angels

back 100 years."

wrong thing to say.

he barely made that jump,

came back around,

and i notice a couple

of hell's angels

had come out onto the floor.

and this hell's angel

grabbed him.

well, i'm--

i'm hoofing it.

the hell's angel threw him down

just when i got there,

and i give this guy

a body check.

and he folded like--

just went out.

well, then the war started,

you know?

hell's angels come

bowling in over there

and the people come out

of the stands

and started beating on 'em.

they put two of those

hell's angels in the hospital.

sullivan:

after the cow palace incident,

evel got a little bit paranoid.

he said, "do you have a gun?"

i said, "yeah,

i got a couple of 'em."

well, he says, "those hell's

angel's, you never know,

they're gonna walk in here

with a shotgun," and he says,

"i gotta be ready for 'em."

knoxville:
the man had crashed

numerous times,

of course

it's gonna add up

mentally and emotionally

in your head.

it has to.

announcer:

watch that right shoulder.

broken, right there,

the right collarbone.

woman:

are you ever afraid?

if i am, i'm not gonna

tell you about it.

- woman:
why?

- i've been concerned.

i'm evel knievel, honey.

i'm not supposed to be afraid.

sullivan:
he was constantly

being tormented

with the thought of,

you know,

you're not gonna make this one.

you're gonna die at this one.

and so he's doing everything

he can through alcohol,

through being flamboyant,

through, being, you know,

crude or whatever to get

these thoughts out of his head,

but they were eating his lunch.

you know, evel,

you're shaking a little bit.

well, if you did what i did,

you'd be shaking, too.

i could see it in his eyes

sometimes when he'd come back by

to ask me if he was going

fast enough,

i could see

the fear in his eyes.

i knew he was scared,

but he would never--

he would never say no.

you know,

he'd go ahead and do it.

the medicine that he was taking,

the drugs he was taking

for his pain--

plus he was drinking--

he became just schitzo...

i mean, paranoid.

gunn:
he got paranoid

about protecting his stuff,

paranoid about

who he let in and...

williams:
we'd be talking,

and almost as if

he was schizophrenic,

he'd flip

and become ugly about things.

i had to stand two guys down

who wanted a piece of him,

and they wanted a piece of him

because he was being an -- .

he was being a jerk.

i'm the guy who just, you know,

is trying to keep the peace.

i'm the guy

protecting the troublemaker

from the good guys.

you know, and i thought,

i can't do this.

hamilton:
it's really

interesting when you--

you are a man

like evel knievel,

and you've created this myth,

and once you're defined,

it's hard to live up to it.

he was always reselling

what he had already sold.

how do you get

any better than that?

how do you get any bigger?

williams:

throughout his life,

he was insatiable.

even when he was

the most famous daredevil

that ever lived,

he wasn't satisfied.

he had to make another half

a million dollars on a jump.

he had to find one more woman

prettier than the last.

he couldn't satisfy himself.

he had to do something else.

he had a friend that, uh--

they were at the bar talking,

and this fella

just made a comment,

"what's your next thing?"

i think he said,

"the grand canyon?"

well, of course that started

wheels a-turnin'.

kelly knievel:
one of

the favorite pictures of my dad

is he is on the rim

of the grand canyon

and there's these

two navajo chiefs there.

and my dad's pointing

at the other side

of the grand canyon,

and they're just looking at him

like this man is crazy.

evel knievel:
my dream

was to jump the grand canyon.

the secretary of interior

told me that i could.

i took his word for it.

then he changed his mind.

so i told him to go get hosed,

and i bought my own canyon,

the snake river canyon

in the state of idaho.

and the only way they'll

get me out of the air

is to shoot me out

with an anti-aircraft gun,

because i am gonna go,

believe me.

the jump across the canyon

will be approximately a mile.

it's somewhere between 1,000

and 1500 feet to the bottom.

as you can see, pete,

this motorcycle

is unlike any motorcycle

you've ever seen in the world.

these rockets put out about

90 pounds of thrust apiece.

knievel's original concept

was take a motorcycle,

put a rocket on it--

and that's impossible.

and so the necessity

just required

that he make a rocket vehicle.

our partner was bob treaux,

and he was known as

the father of steam rocketry.

and that was our answer

for getting evel knievel

over the canyon--

basically building

a hot-water tank

and uncorking it

and let it go.

this machine

is powered by steam.

steam is the most

reliable source of power

we have in the world.

and it'll go from zero

to 350 miles an hour

from a dead stop

in eight seconds flat.

reporter:

the super stunt,

billed as the death-defying

event of the century

will be viewed

by almost two million people,

most of them watching on

closed-circuit movie screens.

i'd like to say to you

what evel knievel says

wherever he goes,

whatever he signs--

if he were talking to you

right now, he'd say,

"hey, jim, happy landings."

when there was an event of any

magnitude during that period,

i'd probably get the first call

to do the promotion.

remember,

the first time

i saw evel knievel,

he showed up

on ventura boulevard

doing wheelies

on his motorcycle.

that's when i first met him,

but i really didn't know him

till we did

the snake river canyon jump

when i had control of

the publicity and promotion.

for a brief moment

in our dull, mundane life,

here is a man who, vicariously,

we can live through.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes