Being Evel Page #7

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i thought what he was doing

was exciting.

so it's never hard to sell

something you believed in.

and i believed in it.

we did a 30-day tour,

which was my idea,

to do press conferences at,

like, literally 90 airports.

how are you?

reporter:
when knievel

flies into town each day

in his two lear jets,

his pilot, whacha macullum,

and his co-pilot wear crimson

crushed-velvet dinner jackets.

you ought to see

our socks and underwear.

every day was a party.

there were close to 2500

press credentials given out.

it was bigger than

any ali fight,

and i did them all.

bigger, bigger than

a presidential entourage.

don e. branker was in charge

of all the logistics.

don e. branker:

i was a concert promoter.

i did acts like the stones,

the doors, the who,

and then evel comes along

with a pay-per-view

closed-circuit--

you know, and this was

the biggest event of its kind

in the history

of entertainment.

the unknowns were magnificent.

this sunday

a daredevil hustler

named evel knievel

will try to cross

a canyon in idaho

riding a rocket.

if he makes it, he'll be

many times a millionaire.

if he doesn't,

he'll be dead.

( laughs )

rivera:
he was a hero of mine

in many ways.

i was a little crazy.

he was a whole lot crazy.

and you just

had to dig his courage.

it just didn't seem to me

that courage would be enough.

( chuckles ) i'm tellin' ya,

that looks a lot further than

i thought a mile would look.

it was the kind of stunt

where you would actually see,

probably,

a guy kill himself.

it was so audacious.

it was so daring.

it was so almost impossible

in many ways

but for his confidence.

what about the g-forces?

i mean, when you start something

that's gonna be going

350 miles an hour,

aren't you gonna be

knocked out almost?

yes, i'll wake up,

see the other side of

the ground way over there,

wherever the hell i'm at,

and i'll pull a rip cord

and open a parachute

behind that sky cycle.

are you saying that

you're gonna be unconscious

when you're up in the air?

to 2,000 feet,

i probably will be, yes.

so that means you

have to regain

your consciousness.

that's right,

but i can do that.

i'll do it.

doug malewicki:

evel had no training.

he had no training

for pulling gs

like a centrifuge

or even in an airplane,

zero parachute experience.

sprow:
he had

a dead stick kind of thing

where it was spring-loaded,

and if he passed out

and let go of the handle,

the parachute would come out.

go!

rivera:
there were actually

three of the steam-powered

sky cycles built.

the original,

called the x1,

was tested without a pilot

about three weeks ago.

it ended up

at the bottom of the canyon.

evel knievel:

that was a test shot.

we made some mistakes.

if i'd have been in it,

i'd have ended up dead,

but i don't think

that's gonna happen.

campoy:

what the press did not know

is that the first one

was designed to fail.

we purposefully

underpowered the rocket

so it wouldn't make it

to the other side.

he wanted it

as a promotional thing.

he wanted it to crash

in the water

and let people see that.

campoy:
eventually,

we did convince evel

to do a real test,

but he'd only do it

if it was done in secret

so the press

wouldn't get any pictures

of it or anything.

we thought it would make it.

but there was a problem

with the parachute.

it deployed early...

and it also landed right

in the middle of the river.

saltman:

knievel was there to see that.

i saw it, and i was wondering

at that time

what was going through his mind.

i was thinking to myself

that he was really looking

at his mortality,

and thinking,

you know,

this might not be

such a good idea.

however, give him credit,

he was going through with it.

branker:
at this point,

we're batting zero for two,

and the world is watching us.

i mean, i-- i felt that.

man:

you'll make it!

you will!

you will!

saltman:
he became

more and more surly,

screeching orders at everybody

that he could,

belittling--

he belittled little people.

he was just mean.

branker:

about a week out

is when we started

sensing things

not going our way

with the press,

'cause the press

is up here living now,

an the press started

to see the real evel.

do one thing for me.

i do not

ask for your respect,

i demand it.

shelly gathered everybody

around evel's trailer and says,

"why don't you just have him

stand up so we can see him?"

'cause there was a big crowd

of people there.

and evel heard that

and came out, and, uh...

- i said have a smile

on your face.

- i don't smile at anybody.

all right, get him out.

get him out. out.

go on, get out of here.

watt:
that's when he came

down the stairs with his cane,

and he grabbed my camera,

and he's a pretty strong guy.

and grabbed my camera

and started pushing me back

and whacking me and the camera

with his cane.

man:
are you going to apologize

to that cameraman

for roughing him up?

i wouldn't apologize,

and if i see the little

son of a b*tch again,

i'll throw him out of here,

how's that?

saltman:

as hard as we tried,

a lot of evel's true temperament

came out to the press.

man:
i think

you should apologize.

well, i wanna straighten

you out right now.

number one, i was in

the sky cycle all day.

number two, you are a guest

of mine in my press area.

do you understand that?

and so was he.

number three,

when i've been up

there all day

and all the blood's come out

of my legs and my feet

and gone to my head,

and i come down

to want to get some rest

and get along with you people,

you don't tell me to come out

and stand up and smile!

if i want to come out

and try and get along with you,

you should at least allow me

to sit down and smile!

so tell him i said

to kiss my ass!

kazikas:
there was a point

where we were all

kind of sitting around

and saying, "the guy's a jerk.

he's just a jerk.

he's a bully.

he's a bore.

what are we doing here?

the rest of the press

can now thank you

because i am going to leave.

how's that, boys?

sayonara.

man:
people started coming in,

and it started getting crazy.

every biker

in the united states

that didn't have a job

was there.

branker:
you have umpteen

different motorcycling groups,

none of which you'd invite

to your house for dinner.

they gonna have a good time.

everyone gets loose around here.

high:
you could say

it was like a woodstock,

but the evil twin

of woodstock.

it was like not a happy

flower children

sitting around in the rain.

those guys were--

i mean, they were really rough.

tonning:
wackos with tattoos

all over their bodies

drinking beer

and screwing in public

and all kinds of--

yeah, it was-- it was bedlam.

( whistle blows )

roach clips! papers!

hash pipes!

come get them while they're hot!

rundle:
they had a marching band

from butte high school

that was there.

it was not a place

for a butte high marching band

to be that day,

i'd have to say.

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