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Viva Knievel!

Viva Knievel!
Viva Knievel!.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Produced by Stanley Hough
Screenplay by Norman Katkov
Story by Antonio Santillán
Starring Evel Knievel
Gene Kelly
Lauren Hutton
Red Buttons
Leslie Nielsen
Cameron Mitchell
Frank Gifford
Dabney Coleman
Marjoe Gortner
Music by Charles Bernstein
Cinematography Fred Jackman Jr.
Edited by Harold F. Kress
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • June 1977 (1977-06)
Running time
106 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Viva Knievel! is a 1977 American action-adventure film starring Evel Knievel (as himself), Gene Kelly, and Lauren Hutton. It is the sixty-sixth and final feature film directed by Gordon Douglas.

Daredevil motorcycle rider Evel Knievel stars as himself in this fictional story. The film opens with Knievel sneaking into an orphanage late at night to deliver presents: Evel Knievel action figures. One of the boys casts away his crutches, telling Knievel that he'll walk after his accident just as Knievel had.

Knievel then prepares for another of his stunt jumps. We are introduced to his alcoholic mechanic Will Atkins (Gene Kelly), who was a former stunt rider himself before his wife died, driving him to drink. While signing autographs, Knievel is ambushed by feminist photojournalist Kate Morgan (Lauren Hutton), who has been sent to photograph the jump: if Knievel is killed, it will be a great story.

“Before I make the jump, there’s something I’d like to say to you, that’s been bothering me for a long time. I go to Indianapolis every year to see the Indy 500. I go there with friends to drive and race. Every year when they go there to qualify, they usually have to go as fast as they possibly can to get a front row position. They put nitro in their cars sometimes, instead of the fuel that is intended to be in the cars so that the cars will go faster…and they do, for five or ten laps. And then they blow all to hell. And you people, you kids, if you put nitro in your bodies in the form of narcotics, so that you can do better, or so that maybe you think that you can do better, you will for about five or ten years, and then you’ll blow all to hell.”

As it happens, Evel does crash while attempting the stunt, and though badly injured, survives. He berates Morgan, announces his retirement, and is taken to the hospital.


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