Being Evel Knievel

0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains some strong language.

0:00:09 > 0:00:13'The following programme is brought to you in living colour.'

0:00:13 > 0:00:17TONIGHT SHOW THEME PLAYS

0:00:17 > 0:00:19'Tonight we have Evel Knievel...'

0:00:19 > 0:00:21Some of you may have seen this film before.

0:00:21 > 0:00:24This is a jump that you made at Caesar's Palace. What happened?

0:00:24 > 0:00:27The motorcycle landed short,

0:00:27 > 0:00:29ripped the handlebars out of my hands

0:00:29 > 0:00:33and, er, I bounced for 60 yards into the Dunes parking lot.

0:00:33 > 0:00:34AUDIENCE GASP

0:00:37 > 0:00:39God. You're an incredible man.

0:00:45 > 0:00:48I know I've been called a lot of things by a lot of people,

0:00:48 > 0:00:49- crazy man or conman...- Mm-hm.

0:00:49 > 0:00:52..but when you head down that long, white line,

0:00:52 > 0:00:55you better have had major peace with God and you'd better

0:00:55 > 0:00:58know what you're doing, because a conman ain't gonna get there.

0:00:58 > 0:01:00MUSIC: 20th Century Boy by T-Rex

0:01:11 > 0:01:15# Friends say it's fine, friends say it's good

0:01:15 > 0:01:19# Everybody says it's just like rock'n'roll

0:01:25 > 0:01:29# I move like a cat, talk like a rat

0:01:29 > 0:01:31# Sting like a bee

0:01:31 > 0:01:34# And babe, I'm gonna be your man

0:01:39 > 0:01:42# And it's plain to see you were meant for me

0:01:42 > 0:01:46# Yeah, I'm your boy, your 20th-century toy

0:01:53 > 0:01:56# 20th-century toy

0:01:56 > 0:02:00# I wanna be your boy

0:02:00 > 0:02:03# 20th-century toy

0:02:03 > 0:02:07# I wanna be your boy... #

0:02:26 > 0:02:29I was a member of the Sportscasters Association of Los Angeles.

0:02:29 > 0:02:33And we used to have monthly meetings on a Thursday.

0:02:33 > 0:02:35Everybody who was anybody came.

0:02:35 > 0:02:38Tommy Lasorda, Billie Jean King was there...

0:02:38 > 0:02:40Muhammad Ali when he was Cassius Clay

0:02:40 > 0:02:42first made his appearance here.

0:02:42 > 0:02:46They were legitimate athletes in their chosen professions.

0:02:46 > 0:02:50All of a sudden, there was this commotion on Ventura Boulevard.

0:02:50 > 0:02:53It was this nutcase going up and down, doing wheelies.

0:02:53 > 0:02:56I didn't even know what a wheelie wasn't until they explained it to me!

0:02:56 > 0:02:59People didn't do wheelies up and down the road. I mean, that was crazy.

0:02:59 > 0:03:02On a real road, on a motorcycle, going 80mph?

0:03:03 > 0:03:06Everybody's stopping, going, "Whoa, look at that!"

0:03:06 > 0:03:11Even the hard-bitten sports announcers of that day and age were taken aback

0:03:11 > 0:03:15by this guy, who of course turned out to be Evel Knievel.

0:03:15 > 0:03:16If you'd told me...

0:03:18 > 0:03:21that he was going to be world-famous, I would say, "You're nuts."

0:03:36 > 0:03:39You know, grandma and grandpa did the best they could do

0:03:39 > 0:03:41and he was just rambunctious, I guess.

0:03:41 > 0:03:44Maybe he didn't have that attention as a young boy when he needed it.

0:03:44 > 0:03:46HE LAUGHS

0:03:47 > 0:03:50Truth is, I think that Bobby was kind of angry with his father

0:03:50 > 0:03:54because he didn't get to stay with him. That's what I think.

0:03:54 > 0:03:56He wanted to be with his father.

0:03:57 > 0:04:01We were up at my grandma's house and he and I were wrestling around

0:04:01 > 0:04:03and I punched him in the mouth

0:04:03 > 0:04:07and he landed on the back of his head and I said, "Bobby?"

0:04:07 > 0:04:10And...nothing. I thought, "Oh, my God, I killed him!"

0:04:10 > 0:04:13And instantly, he had these wild eyes,

0:04:13 > 0:04:15because he knew what had happened.

0:04:15 > 0:04:18And across the kitchen there was a door that was slightly open,

0:04:18 > 0:04:20the pantry door, and he ran at that door

0:04:20 > 0:04:23and slammed it shut with his head.

0:04:23 > 0:04:26And that half stunned him again and he turned around,

0:04:26 > 0:04:30sitting down, and he pointed at me and he said, "Did you see that?"

0:04:30 > 0:04:34"Nobody can hurt me. You can't hurt me, nobody can hurt me."

0:04:38 > 0:04:41I think growing up in Butte, Montana,

0:04:41 > 0:04:46without a father, would be hard to handle, I would think.

0:04:49 > 0:04:53Butte, Montana, was just a tough-ass mining town.

0:04:53 > 0:04:57When the mines were going full, the mines were open 24 hours.

0:04:57 > 0:04:59There was a lot of prostitution.

0:04:59 > 0:05:01There was about 3,000 whores at that time.

0:05:01 > 0:05:04It was just miners, drinking and fighting.

0:05:04 > 0:05:10You had to learn to cope. Sometimes coping meant with your fists.

0:05:10 > 0:05:12You fought, you stood up like a man.

0:05:12 > 0:05:14You fought and you were taught that.

0:05:14 > 0:05:16And that is part of the Butte credo.

0:05:16 > 0:05:17You just don't back down.

0:05:19 > 0:05:22Knievel was a fighter from the get-go.

0:05:22 > 0:05:24Even during grade school.

0:05:24 > 0:05:26He'd get a little obnoxious at times, you know?

0:05:26 > 0:05:28You couldn't settle him down.

0:05:28 > 0:05:31Well, you couldn't dare him. If you dared him, he'd do it.

0:05:33 > 0:05:36I remember when Bob got his first motorcycle.

0:05:36 > 0:05:38I don't know why he had two tyres.

0:05:38 > 0:05:40He always rode around on the back one.

0:05:40 > 0:05:43# I'm a juvenile delinquent... #

0:05:43 > 0:05:46You never knew what he was going to do with that motorcycle in town.

0:05:46 > 0:05:50I mean, he'd be riding it all over greens and raising hell with everybody.

0:05:50 > 0:05:52He liked to have the cops chase him.

0:05:52 > 0:05:56You just couldn't catch him on a bike when you were in a patrol car.

0:05:56 > 0:05:58# ..always acting bad, so now the teacher wondered

0:05:58 > 0:05:59# If I had a mom and dad

0:05:59 > 0:06:02# Cos I'm a juvenile delinquent... #

0:06:02 > 0:06:05One day, a girl ran up to the store and who's up there

0:06:05 > 0:06:07but big bad Knievel, you know?

0:06:07 > 0:06:10He was a character. SHE LAUGHS

0:06:11 > 0:06:14I was scared, but I was kind of flattered, you know?

0:06:14 > 0:06:17"Gee, he's paying attention to ME!"

0:06:17 > 0:06:20And then one day he just said, "Ah, you're gonna marry me."

0:06:20 > 0:06:22SHE LAUGHS

0:06:22 > 0:06:25The story is...that he kidnapped her.

0:06:26 > 0:06:29Well, I don't know if he kidnapped her or not, you know? That might

0:06:29 > 0:06:32have been something that they were planning together anyhow, who knows?

0:06:32 > 0:06:34Yeah, I guess I was kidnapped!

0:06:34 > 0:06:37I think I was just walking home from school that day

0:06:37 > 0:06:39when he said, "Get in the car!" you know?

0:06:39 > 0:06:40SHE LAUGHS

0:06:40 > 0:06:43I don't know... It was just.. Something just...

0:06:43 > 0:06:47Almost, like, overtook me and he drove me down to Dillon.

0:06:47 > 0:06:51And, um, danged if we didn't get married there.

0:06:55 > 0:06:59He had some weird ideas about how life should be lived

0:06:59 > 0:07:04and he thought that he should be at the top of the heap. You know?

0:07:04 > 0:07:09And think that's why he did the stuff he did, and to make money.

0:07:09 > 0:07:11He'd rather there be a shady side to him.

0:07:11 > 0:07:14He was happier if there was something a little shady about him.

0:07:14 > 0:07:15He made up his own job.

0:07:15 > 0:07:19Actually, he started working as a security officer at night.

0:07:19 > 0:07:22He had a route where he used to go round at two o'clock in the morning,

0:07:22 > 0:07:26three o'clock in the morning, and check all the different establishments.

0:07:26 > 0:07:29You'd pay him to be sure the doors were locked and everything

0:07:29 > 0:07:32and if you didn't pay him, you might be robbed, you'd better watch yourself.

0:07:32 > 0:07:34He broke into my place.

0:07:34 > 0:07:37He might have had 40 or 50, something like that, but nothing big.

0:07:37 > 0:07:41Yeah, he was in a racket, no question about that.

0:07:41 > 0:07:45The police called me up and told me that there was a

0:07:45 > 0:07:47known safe-cracker in town.

0:07:47 > 0:07:50I knew they were talking about Evel.

0:07:50 > 0:07:51He was a crook!

0:07:51 > 0:07:53A conman, I guess you'd call him.

0:07:55 > 0:08:00At the age of 19, he starts a semi-pro hockey team and convinces

0:08:00 > 0:08:04the Czechoslovakian national team to come to Butte to play them.

0:08:04 > 0:08:08And the Czechs kill 'em! Like, smoke 'em, 22-3.

0:08:08 > 0:08:11But I don't think Evel was that upset about the score.

0:08:12 > 0:08:15I think he left in the middle of the second period

0:08:15 > 0:08:19and the money disappeared, there was no money to pay 'em, so...

0:08:19 > 0:08:24- You know, draw your own conclusions! Where did the money go? - HE CHUCKLES

0:08:24 > 0:08:29Well, Butte likes people who bounce up against the edges of the envelope.

0:08:29 > 0:08:32They're forgiving about some criminal activity.

0:08:32 > 0:08:35But they don't particularly like criminals.

0:08:35 > 0:08:37He had three kids at the time.

0:08:37 > 0:08:40Threw all of his burglar bags in the river

0:08:40 > 0:08:42and decided to go straight.

0:08:42 > 0:08:47So Knievel gets this job selling insurance for

0:08:47 > 0:08:52Combined Insurance Company and it was run by this guy, W. Clement Stone,

0:08:52 > 0:08:56who wrote a book called Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude.

0:08:56 > 0:09:00I feel healthy, I feel happy, I feel terrific!

0:09:00 > 0:09:03I think it really changed his thinking drastically.

0:09:03 > 0:09:07I mean, he was that way to begin with and it just intensified it.

0:09:07 > 0:09:10He was a legendary salesman.

0:09:10 > 0:09:13When he was selling insurance, he was selling insurance and he was selling a lot of it.

0:09:13 > 0:09:18Remember, he went to the mental hospital in... Maybe it was Deer Lodge.

0:09:18 > 0:09:24And he wrote 271 policies in this hospital, mental hospital.

0:09:24 > 0:09:28It was a super record, nobody had ever written that many policies in a week, ever.

0:09:28 > 0:09:31And he talked to the president of the company at that time

0:09:31 > 0:09:33and said, "I'll break every record in the company,

0:09:33 > 0:09:35"every single one that exists.

0:09:35 > 0:09:38"And you make me a vice president after I do that."

0:09:38 > 0:09:41And Mr Stone says, "Sorry, that isn't going to happen."

0:09:41 > 0:09:43Well, Knievel didn't like that.

0:09:43 > 0:09:47So he picks up his family and moves to Moses Lake, Washington,

0:09:47 > 0:09:51where he gets a job selling Honda motorcycles.

0:09:51 > 0:09:54He was making a good living at it, but it wasn't good enough for him.

0:09:54 > 0:09:59He says, "I think I need to do something weird, some kind of a stunt,

0:09:59 > 0:10:03"so it'll get people to come down here and see the motorcycles."

0:10:03 > 0:10:07So he had this crazy idea about doing this jump.

0:10:07 > 0:10:10He says, "I'm going to jump over cougars and rattlesnakes."

0:10:10 > 0:10:11HE LAUGHS

0:10:11 > 0:10:13I said, "You've got to be kidding me!"

0:10:13 > 0:10:17Well, my part in that mountain lion jump was, I wore a white coat

0:10:17 > 0:10:21like a doctor, and he would introduce me as a veterinarian,

0:10:21 > 0:10:24which was a crock of bull, but...

0:10:24 > 0:10:26So he brings him down, and...

0:10:26 > 0:10:28Put the cougars underneath, and they're scared to death,

0:10:28 > 0:10:30they won't come out.

0:10:30 > 0:10:32They're like kitty cats.

0:10:32 > 0:10:33But the snakes, holy Christ!

0:10:33 > 0:10:38We put them in a big refrigerator carton, and they were pissed off.

0:10:38 > 0:10:41So he goes around the track, and then he goes up the ramp,

0:10:41 > 0:10:43and, well, the minute he went up in the air I could see

0:10:43 > 0:10:46he wasn't going to make it, my God, he's about three feet short,

0:10:46 > 0:10:48his back tyre hits the refrigerator carton,

0:10:48 > 0:10:49the snakes go flitting into the crowd,

0:10:49 > 0:10:53talk about people running and getting out of there, Jesus Christ!

0:10:53 > 0:10:54HE LAUGHS

0:10:54 > 0:10:58The poor guy from Vantage wants us to help catch his snakes!

0:10:58 > 0:10:59HE LAUGHS

0:10:59 > 0:11:02- Said, "you got to be kidding me!" - HE LAUGHS

0:11:02 > 0:11:05And he just rode back on his motorcycle, went up the jump

0:11:05 > 0:11:07and waved at the crowd, he didn't...

0:11:07 > 0:11:10He didn't care about the snakes!

0:11:10 > 0:11:13People started to talk to him, you know, "What can you do next?"

0:11:13 > 0:11:16And he started thinking about that kind of stuff.

0:11:16 > 0:11:19That's when he came up with the idea of starting a stunt show.

0:11:19 > 0:11:22I told him, I said, "They're going to eat you up, boy,

0:11:22 > 0:11:23"you'll never make it."

0:11:28 > 0:11:32I was a bartender at Marty's Bar in Orange, California.

0:11:32 > 0:11:36And this fella comes in, sits at the end of the bar,

0:11:36 > 0:11:38and we start talking.

0:11:38 > 0:11:41Well, he's a motorcycle daredevil,

0:11:41 > 0:11:44and he has jumped rattlesnakes,

0:11:44 > 0:11:48and he wants to do a big ramp-to-ramp jump.

0:11:48 > 0:11:50He said, "People will go wild."

0:11:50 > 0:11:53And he just convinced me.

0:11:56 > 0:11:57Somehow,

0:11:57 > 0:12:00I was able to get two pick-ups,

0:12:00 > 0:12:03a tractor and a 40-foot trailer.

0:12:03 > 0:12:06The logo on the side was

0:12:06 > 0:12:10"Evel Knievel and his Motorcycle Daredevils."

0:12:10 > 0:12:11ENGINE REVS

0:12:11 > 0:12:15The name Evel came from his wild years in Butte.

0:12:15 > 0:12:17He was given that name by the cops.

0:12:17 > 0:12:21He was in jail with a guy named Knofel, and he said,

0:12:21 > 0:12:23"Well, better lock up the doors pretty good tonight,

0:12:23 > 0:12:27"we've got Awful Knofel and Evel Knievel in here."

0:12:29 > 0:12:31He heard that, and he liked that.

0:12:31 > 0:12:32He changed it to E-V-E-L

0:12:32 > 0:12:35because he didn't want to sound TOO evil.

0:12:39 > 0:12:42What he did was get a bunch of people working with him.

0:12:42 > 0:12:46Good guys like Swede Savage and Eddie Mulder.

0:12:46 > 0:12:48So he started, er...

0:12:48 > 0:12:50thinking up different stunts to do.

0:12:50 > 0:12:56The flaming boards, we'd soak them in gasoline and light it on fire.

0:12:56 > 0:12:59And it'd hit that first board and just go, boom!

0:12:59 > 0:13:02And the sparks, the stuff would fly in the air.

0:13:02 > 0:13:03And then, boom!

0:13:03 > 0:13:05At the second one, sparks were flying, boom at the third one,

0:13:05 > 0:13:08hit the fourth one and the fifth one...

0:13:08 > 0:13:11Somehow, Bob got this midget...

0:13:11 > 0:13:12Butcher Wilhelm...

0:13:12 > 0:13:15and talked him into joining the show.

0:13:15 > 0:13:21Bob said, "He will do everything I do in miniature."

0:13:21 > 0:13:24And he would crash on every single one.

0:13:24 > 0:13:27So then it looked like when Bob was going to make his jump,

0:13:27 > 0:13:29something terrible is going to happen.

0:13:32 > 0:13:34Knievel was such a crazy son of a bitch,

0:13:34 > 0:13:36he'd do these stunts, and he never tried them before.

0:13:36 > 0:13:40One time he had a motorcycle run at him, about 60mph,

0:13:40 > 0:13:43and he jumped up, but he didn't jump high enough.

0:13:43 > 0:13:47And the motorcycle hit him and flipped him over.

0:13:50 > 0:13:53He was sprained from his waist to his ankles.

0:13:53 > 0:13:54I think at that point

0:13:54 > 0:13:58is when he decided he was just going to stick to jumping the motorcycle.

0:14:11 > 0:14:13The equipment my dad jumped on,

0:14:13 > 0:14:15compared to what's going on today,

0:14:15 > 0:14:17unbelievable.

0:14:17 > 0:14:19That thing weighed 500 lbs.

0:14:19 > 0:14:22It would be like jumping a dump truck over all those cars.

0:14:22 > 0:14:24But he'd do it anyway.

0:14:24 > 0:14:27I was the speedometer for Evel - I had to stand there and watch him,

0:14:27 > 0:14:30say, "You're going fast enough," or "You're not going fast enough."

0:14:30 > 0:14:32I guess you'd call it guesswork.

0:14:34 > 0:14:37Bob jumped further and further with each show.

0:14:37 > 0:14:39The only thing is,

0:14:39 > 0:14:43those stands were not full, not by any means.

0:14:43 > 0:14:47How do you convince people to come to a sport they've never heard of?

0:14:50 > 0:14:52We were 52,000 in debt.

0:14:52 > 0:14:55Bob kept spending money we didn't have.

0:14:55 > 0:14:58And that's when I decided I had to leave.

0:15:00 > 0:15:04Well, of course, then he saw that he didn't need the team.

0:15:04 > 0:15:06He went on his own.

0:15:06 > 0:15:11Now it would just be him, looking for his big break.

0:15:11 > 0:15:13# Friends say you'll be... #

0:15:13 > 0:15:14RADIO CHANNEL CHANGES

0:15:14 > 0:15:16FANFARE ANNOUNCER: 'Spanning the globe...'

0:15:16 > 0:15:20"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport!"

0:15:20 > 0:15:22Four years I kept singing it in my sleep.

0:15:22 > 0:15:24"The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

0:15:24 > 0:15:26'..and the agony of defeat.

0:15:26 > 0:15:28'The human drama of athletic competition.'

0:15:28 > 0:15:30I remember, like, the crazy stuff

0:15:30 > 0:15:31that they would show once in a while.

0:15:31 > 0:15:34Skateboarding was on Wide World of Sports, I remember that.

0:15:34 > 0:15:36'ABC's Wide World of Sports...'

0:15:36 > 0:15:39We were in the business of sports theatre.

0:15:39 > 0:15:42Sports was drama, sports was a story.

0:15:42 > 0:15:44'..the thrill of victory.'

0:15:44 > 0:15:47I loved it. I covered some of the weirdest things myself.

0:15:47 > 0:15:49As long as it brought in an audience.

0:15:49 > 0:15:50America loved it.

0:15:50 > 0:15:52'..the human drama of athletic competition.'

0:15:52 > 0:15:54Everybody rushed home from church

0:15:54 > 0:15:56and watched ABC Wide World of Sports at one o'clock.

0:15:56 > 0:15:58That was the biggest show on TV.

0:15:58 > 0:16:01'ABC's Wide World of Sports.'

0:16:01 > 0:16:04I'd like to introduce to you a most unusual young man.

0:16:04 > 0:16:06This is Evel Knievel,

0:16:06 > 0:16:11and his specialty in sports is to take a motorcycle up over a ramp,

0:16:11 > 0:16:15and leap through the air some 90 feet. That's what he's going to try today, over 15 automobiles.

0:16:15 > 0:16:16You're trying 15 today?

0:16:16 > 0:16:18Well, the parachute's ready, motorcycle's ready,

0:16:18 > 0:16:20and I'm ready, and I'm not going to miss today.

0:16:20 > 0:16:21And he's set to go.

0:16:23 > 0:16:26He'll build up speed as quickly as he can, and here he goes!

0:16:31 > 0:16:32He makes it!

0:16:33 > 0:16:36A beautiful leap as Evel Knievel

0:16:36 > 0:16:38gets wild approval from the crowd here.

0:16:39 > 0:16:41Here we are at this Wide World of Sports,

0:16:41 > 0:16:42biggest race of the year,

0:16:42 > 0:16:45biggest dirt track race of the year, and I won it.

0:16:45 > 0:16:47I won the race, and you think anybody remembered?

0:16:47 > 0:16:49No!

0:16:49 > 0:16:50They know Knievel.

0:16:50 > 0:16:53They remember Knievel out of that whole deal, not me!

0:16:53 > 0:16:55And I won 100 laps, rode my ass off.

0:16:58 > 0:17:02So Evel got his foot in the door, and now he's going to knock it down.

0:17:06 > 0:17:09If you were to think of the most outrageous thing you could do...

0:17:10 > 0:17:11..what would it be?

0:17:12 > 0:17:14It would be jump those fountains at Caesar's Palace.

0:17:16 > 0:17:18I don't know where it came from,

0:17:18 > 0:17:21how a guy would go down to Caesar's Palace Strip,

0:17:21 > 0:17:22look at the fountains...

0:17:22 > 0:17:25What was he thinking, where did that come from?

0:17:25 > 0:17:28So Evel wants to do this stunt in Vegas,

0:17:28 > 0:17:30but no-one knows who the hell he is.

0:17:30 > 0:17:32So he switches into hustler mode.

0:17:32 > 0:17:37This guy called every news outlet, told them that Evel Knievel,

0:17:37 > 0:17:39famed stunt motorcyclist,

0:17:39 > 0:17:43was going to jump Caesar's Palace come Saturday morning.

0:17:43 > 0:17:44Be there.

0:17:44 > 0:17:47So then he calls Jay Sarno, the guy who runs Caesar's,

0:17:47 > 0:17:50and each time he would call as a different person,

0:17:50 > 0:17:53and each time, he would mispronounce his own name.

0:17:53 > 0:17:55I told them my name was Larson, I was with Sports Illustrated.

0:17:55 > 0:17:59I said, "You ever heard of Evel Neevel?" They said, "Evel Neevel, who the hell's Evel Neevel?"

0:17:59 > 0:18:02I waited two more days and called him back and said,

0:18:02 > 0:18:05"It's Dennis Lewin from Wide World of Sports, do you know Evel Knievel?"

0:18:05 > 0:18:09He says, "Avel Navel, Evel Neevel, Evel Knievel, who is this crazy guy? Everybody's calling me about him."

0:18:09 > 0:18:13He said, "I think we've got a deal with him, I don't know, call back!" LAUGHTER

0:18:16 > 0:18:19Like a lot of his stunts, Caesar's Palace was one of those

0:18:19 > 0:18:22that he'd dreamed up and sold before he even knew it was possible.

0:18:22 > 0:18:25And then on the day, he's got the crowds there,

0:18:25 > 0:18:26and he doesn't know if he can make it.

0:18:26 > 0:18:28He's just got to go for it.

0:18:31 > 0:18:33I talked with him for a while before he jumped,

0:18:33 > 0:18:37and he was very unsettled about the jump.

0:18:37 > 0:18:39You could tell he was nervous.

0:18:43 > 0:18:45He was making runs at the ramp, and, you know,

0:18:45 > 0:18:49we could hear the motorcycle, and we could hear the crowd.

0:18:49 > 0:18:50And then the doorman...

0:18:50 > 0:18:53The doorman got on the phone and told us what went on.

0:19:04 > 0:19:05My God.

0:19:05 > 0:19:06It was horrible.

0:19:08 > 0:19:10I thought he was... I thought he was dead.

0:19:10 > 0:19:13I was horrified to watch my friend look like a rag doll.

0:19:42 > 0:19:44I don't think he was unconscious.

0:19:45 > 0:19:47But he was hurting,

0:19:47 > 0:19:49so off to the hospital we went.

0:19:50 > 0:19:55He had a broken wrist, two broken ankles, crushed his pelvis.

0:19:55 > 0:19:57And then, somehow,

0:19:57 > 0:19:59word gets out that he's in a coma

0:19:59 > 0:20:01and might not make it.

0:20:02 > 0:20:05He told that story, but he wasn't in a coma.

0:20:06 > 0:20:09In fact, I flew down there, it hadn't been but like, two days

0:20:09 > 0:20:11since he'd had the wreck,

0:20:11 > 0:20:13and he was awake when I walked into the hospital room.

0:20:13 > 0:20:15HE LAUGHS

0:20:15 > 0:20:17He had all the press come in there and play it up.

0:20:17 > 0:20:19"Oh, I'm about to die, I don't know if I'll make it."

0:20:19 > 0:20:23Well, this was Knievel, this is what he did. He played it up right to the end.

0:20:24 > 0:20:26Pretty soon, the crash footage was everywhere.

0:20:26 > 0:20:30We saw him jump Caesar's Palace, we saw that fall,

0:20:30 > 0:20:34and his body flopping, and his head hitting and, you know,

0:20:34 > 0:20:37all of the agony of that and the broken bones.

0:20:37 > 0:20:40That piece of film was amazing, to see him go over and over,

0:20:40 > 0:20:43and then roll all the way up to the wall, and...

0:20:43 > 0:20:46That's one of the great pieces of footage of all time.

0:20:46 > 0:20:49Boy, he was national news all over the place.

0:20:49 > 0:20:52CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:20:52 > 0:20:54He became instantly famous.

0:20:55 > 0:20:59This guy, somehow, had captured what America needed.

0:20:59 > 0:21:01He came along at the right time.

0:21:07 > 0:21:11There was a certain cynicism throughout the country.

0:21:11 > 0:21:13Society was changing.

0:21:13 > 0:21:15You had corruption in government.

0:21:15 > 0:21:16Well, I'm not a crook.

0:21:16 > 0:21:18# When I look out my window... #

0:21:18 > 0:21:21The country had been battered

0:21:21 > 0:21:24by many years of war.

0:21:24 > 0:21:27America was coming apart at the seams.

0:21:27 > 0:21:32# Must be the season of the witch

0:21:32 > 0:21:36# Must be the season of the witch... #

0:21:36 > 0:21:38We were a little down on ourselves.

0:21:38 > 0:21:41And along comes this kid from Butte, Montana,

0:21:41 > 0:21:45who showed us who we were and wanted to be again.

0:21:45 > 0:21:47# He wears red, white and blue

0:21:47 > 0:21:49# Stars and stripes too... #

0:21:49 > 0:21:53I guess we were looking for some sort of a hero.

0:21:53 > 0:21:57We had Superman and Batman and...

0:21:57 > 0:21:59But this guy was the real thing.

0:21:59 > 0:22:03# ..Evel Knievel's for God and country too... #

0:22:03 > 0:22:05Most motorcycle people wore black.

0:22:05 > 0:22:08That was what Evel wanted to change,

0:22:08 > 0:22:10and that's where the red, white and blue leathers came from.

0:22:10 > 0:22:14He wore red, white and blue because he was patriotic.

0:22:14 > 0:22:17He loved his country.

0:22:17 > 0:22:18But, er...

0:22:18 > 0:22:22He also saw that that would give him a boost to his image,

0:22:22 > 0:22:24and people would respect him more.

0:22:25 > 0:22:27And he came out of those mountains in a star-spangled suit

0:22:27 > 0:22:29with his cane, and he said,

0:22:29 > 0:22:32"I'm going to face death."

0:22:32 > 0:22:34He opened the door

0:22:34 > 0:22:38and invited people to buy a ticket to watch truth.

0:22:39 > 0:22:43For that disenchanted, disillusioned generation,

0:22:43 > 0:22:46where you didn't trust anybody because even the President lied,

0:22:46 > 0:22:49here's a guy, he's going to risk everything.

0:22:53 > 0:22:56COMMENTATOR: He did it! He did it!

0:23:02 > 0:23:04You know, there was three TV stations back then,

0:23:04 > 0:23:06and when Evel was on ABC,

0:23:06 > 0:23:10everyone knew it, that's what you did that night is watch,

0:23:10 > 0:23:14and that's what you talked about for the next few weeks afterwards.

0:23:14 > 0:23:18He was so popular that out of the top 10 rated

0:23:18 > 0:23:21Wide World of Sports shows in the 37 years of the show,

0:23:21 > 0:23:24he holds seven of them.

0:23:25 > 0:23:27- ARCHIVE FILM:- Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel!

0:23:29 > 0:23:32Are you scared before a stunt? Do you have fear?

0:23:32 > 0:23:34I am not scared.

0:23:34 > 0:23:36When I go off that jump, I'd say have some concern,

0:23:36 > 0:23:38but I don't think I've ever been afraid of anything.

0:23:38 > 0:23:41If I know something's going to happen, I try and train myself

0:23:41 > 0:23:43to where I have complete control over my mind and my body.

0:23:43 > 0:23:47I relax when I hit instead of freezing up and being scared.

0:23:47 > 0:23:48'He said to me one time,'

0:23:48 > 0:23:50"You know what I was really good at

0:23:50 > 0:23:51"was the takeoff."

0:23:51 > 0:23:54He said, "You know what I was bad at was the landing."

0:23:54 > 0:23:58He said, "It was the bad landings, that's what brought the crowds out."

0:23:59 > 0:24:00You know, Bobby used to say,

0:24:00 > 0:24:05"Nobody wants to see me die, but they don't want to miss it if I do."

0:24:05 > 0:24:08- ARCHIVE FILM:- And just to go up that ramp and take a look at the distance

0:24:08 > 0:24:13that he's got to, in effect, hurdle, aboard his Harley-Davidson machine.

0:24:13 > 0:24:15He knew if he wasn't just perfect, though,

0:24:15 > 0:24:16when he left that ramp,

0:24:16 > 0:24:18something awful was going to happen

0:24:18 > 0:24:22between the time he left there and came down way over here.

0:24:22 > 0:24:25If he told you he was going to do something, he would do it.

0:24:25 > 0:24:27I mean, even if he knew it was going to kill him.

0:24:44 > 0:24:47You know, you were always... The question of whether or not...

0:24:47 > 0:24:49He might not make it alive.

0:24:49 > 0:24:53I would think my dad would die every time he jumped.

0:24:53 > 0:24:56It was stressful, it was hard on us.

0:24:56 > 0:24:59If he crashed, you know, and got hurt, then he'd go out,

0:24:59 > 0:25:02and he was going to do it again, and everybody says he's nuts,

0:25:02 > 0:25:04you know, he got hurt the last time.

0:25:05 > 0:25:07EVEL: Doctors, especially surgeons,

0:25:07 > 0:25:10have been amazed at how I can keep going.

0:25:10 > 0:25:12He had...

0:25:13 > 0:25:17..recuperative powers that were beyond normal people.

0:25:17 > 0:25:20They would say, "You'll have this cast for eight weeks,"

0:25:20 > 0:25:22and he would take it off in three.

0:25:22 > 0:25:25- ARCHIVE FILM:- This may look like just some abstract plumbing.

0:25:25 > 0:25:29This, actually, is the right hip and right femur of Evel Knievel.

0:25:29 > 0:25:32I think I've probably become immune to pain.

0:25:32 > 0:25:36I've learned to live with pain for so long that I think...

0:25:36 > 0:25:39what would hurt an average person doesn't hurt me so much.

0:25:39 > 0:25:43When we were growing up and my dad broke bones and he was in pain,

0:25:43 > 0:25:46he never bitched about it, he never complained about it.

0:25:46 > 0:25:48No, no, I'll be all right, I'm going to jump some more.

0:25:48 > 0:25:51It was just, he accepted that that's what he had chosen to do,

0:25:51 > 0:25:53and it was something he had to deal with,

0:25:53 > 0:25:55and that's the way he dealt with it.

0:25:59 > 0:26:01To be something a little extra special,

0:26:01 > 0:26:03no matter what I want to do, if I like to do it,

0:26:03 > 0:26:05to be a champion or to be the best,

0:26:05 > 0:26:06even though I've been hurt so many times,

0:26:06 > 0:26:10and live like a lot of people do that live in a...

0:26:11 > 0:26:14..a grey, twilight world -

0:26:14 > 0:26:17these kind of people, they don't even know victory or defeat

0:26:17 > 0:26:19because they've never tried anything, and...

0:26:19 > 0:26:21this is something that I feel compelled to do,

0:26:21 > 0:26:23and I'm going to do it.

0:26:29 > 0:26:33I had sort of been brought along the way of a teen idol.

0:26:34 > 0:26:38I had enough star power going, but I kept trying to toughen up my act.

0:26:38 > 0:26:39I thought, "God,

0:26:39 > 0:26:42if I could get a really good Western or I get a good action movie..."

0:26:42 > 0:26:45And I was looking for sort of a modern day Western character -

0:26:45 > 0:26:46who would that be?

0:26:47 > 0:26:51I remember seeing the footage from Caesar's Palace,

0:26:51 > 0:26:53and I thought, "Yeah, that's the movie."

0:26:53 > 0:26:57In my mind, there was only one guy who could do this right.

0:26:57 > 0:27:01John Milius - he'd written Dirty Harry, Jeremiah Johnson,

0:27:01 > 0:27:03and of course, later, Apocalypse Now.

0:27:03 > 0:27:06Milius just wrote it as though he was writing it for pat.

0:27:06 > 0:27:09It had this sort of mythic sound to it, you know?

0:27:09 > 0:27:12And it's got this man who thinks he's a gladiator.

0:27:12 > 0:27:15And I was excited to show Evel this.

0:27:15 > 0:27:18So he tells me to come meet him in Hollywood

0:27:18 > 0:27:21at the Saharan Motel that was up on Sunset.

0:27:21 > 0:27:22He's been up all night.

0:27:22 > 0:27:26Got another huge wound, Kotex pads all there,

0:27:26 > 0:27:29and he's lying there like a pasha in a bad motel.

0:27:29 > 0:27:31And that's when it all got crazy.

0:27:31 > 0:27:35He took a bottle of Wild Turkey, and I heard the snap of the Turkey,

0:27:35 > 0:27:37and he drank half that thing down and he sat down.

0:27:37 > 0:27:40I said, "I want to tell you that we've got a great script,

0:27:40 > 0:27:43"I just brought it to you, and I want you to read it." He said, "You read it."

0:27:43 > 0:27:46I said, "Well, I have read it, and I really love it, I think it's great."

0:27:46 > 0:27:48He said, "No, I want you to read it to me."

0:27:48 > 0:27:50And I just didn't want to read the script,

0:27:50 > 0:27:53I mean, it was just crazy, the idea of me reading the script to him,

0:27:53 > 0:27:56but he was dead serious, and I saw this gun.

0:27:56 > 0:27:58And he put it right to my head.

0:27:58 > 0:28:02And I thought, "He means this," you know, this is really real stuff.

0:28:03 > 0:28:08My performance on reading that script was the best I've ever given,

0:28:08 > 0:28:11and I probably should have got an Academy Award.

0:28:11 > 0:28:13Ladies and gentlemen, you have no idea

0:28:13 > 0:28:16how good it makes me feel to be here today.

0:28:16 > 0:28:19It is truly an honour to risk my life for you. An honour.

0:28:20 > 0:28:23Before I jump my motorcycle over these 19 cars,

0:28:23 > 0:28:25and I want you to note,

0:28:25 > 0:28:27there's not a Volkswagen or a Datsun in the row...

0:28:29 > 0:28:32Evel was not happy with it, I don't believe.

0:28:32 > 0:28:35From what I understand talking to him,

0:28:35 > 0:28:38I don't believe he was at all happy with George Hamilton.

0:28:38 > 0:28:41I don't think Evel appreciated me climbing into his leathers

0:28:41 > 0:28:43and getting on his motorcycle.

0:28:43 > 0:28:46But what happened is, by osmosis,

0:28:46 > 0:28:49when he went to see it in the theatre, when it came out,

0:28:49 > 0:28:52he was saying these things, and they were extraordinary words

0:28:52 > 0:28:54coming out of his mouth that John had written for him.

0:28:54 > 0:28:56They told the Wright Brothers flying was impossible,

0:28:56 > 0:28:59and they probably told Neil Armstrong walking on the moon was impossible.

0:28:59 > 0:29:02They said Shepard and Glenn would never get round the world.

0:29:02 > 0:29:04They said Armstrong wouldn't step on the moon.

0:29:04 > 0:29:07He was using a writer's words,

0:29:07 > 0:29:10and this is the Evel he's become.

0:29:15 > 0:29:17I'm all alone when I jump those ramps.

0:29:17 > 0:29:19There's only two things that keep the rest of them from doing it,

0:29:19 > 0:29:22and that's fear and that big hole in the middle of them.

0:29:22 > 0:29:25As long as I can stand alone and be the best at what I'm doing,

0:29:25 > 0:29:26I want to continue to do it.

0:29:29 > 0:29:32He created a character named Evel Knievel,

0:29:32 > 0:29:34and then tried to live the part.

0:29:34 > 0:29:37He never broke character.

0:29:37 > 0:29:40He had the Evel Knievel persona,

0:29:40 > 0:29:44and that's what he presented to the world.

0:29:45 > 0:29:49We don't want guys in grey hats, we want black and white.

0:29:49 > 0:29:51Evel represented that.

0:29:51 > 0:29:54He definitely thought of himself as the guy in the white hat,

0:29:54 > 0:29:56the good guy.

0:29:56 > 0:29:58If I look like I'm rigging up for a trip into outer space,

0:29:58 > 0:29:59you're right.

0:29:59 > 0:30:02Nobody should ever ride a motorcycle without a helmet.

0:30:02 > 0:30:04I never do.

0:30:04 > 0:30:06He was, er...

0:30:06 > 0:30:10Somebody who was seeking what many of us do in our own way,

0:30:10 > 0:30:13and that's recognition, and...

0:30:13 > 0:30:16If you get into his background, you can understand that.

0:30:16 > 0:30:18He wanted identity, he needed that.

0:30:19 > 0:30:22He just wanted to be loved.

0:30:22 > 0:30:25MUSIC: Show Me The Way by Peter Frampton

0:30:30 > 0:30:32# I wonder how you're feeling

0:30:33 > 0:30:36# There's ringing in my ears... #

0:30:36 > 0:30:37EVEL: Thank you very much.

0:30:37 > 0:30:40Believe me, it's a pleasure to be back here in Portland, Oregon,

0:30:40 > 0:30:43and on behalf of my sponsors, the Mack Truck Company,

0:30:43 > 0:30:45the Harley-Davidson Motor Company,

0:30:45 > 0:30:48and the Train and Steam Company in Milwaukee...

0:30:48 > 0:30:49My dad...

0:30:49 > 0:30:50He invented the licensing business.

0:30:50 > 0:30:53I mean, how many people can you think of

0:30:53 > 0:30:56that had their names on products before Evel?

0:30:56 > 0:30:58I mean, there was a few.

0:30:58 > 0:31:01But he really elevated the art of the licensing business.

0:31:01 > 0:31:05Yeah, he had a deal with everyone, Mack Truck, Harley-Davidson...

0:31:05 > 0:31:08But that's not the one I remember.

0:31:08 > 0:31:10- ARCHIVE FILM:- This is Evel Knievel and his stunt cycle.

0:31:10 > 0:31:14He is the only rider to do so many stunts, mid-air somersaults...

0:31:14 > 0:31:16Evel Knievel has become a legend in his own lifetime.

0:31:16 > 0:31:19When Ideal came out with the Evel Knievel toy,

0:31:19 > 0:31:22the president of Ideal called me aside and said,

0:31:22 > 0:31:25"This is going to be a really big item for us."

0:31:26 > 0:31:28- CHILD:- It's the new Evel Knievel rally!

0:31:28 > 0:31:31For me, there was only one action figure when I was growing up,

0:31:31 > 0:31:33and that was Evel Knievel.

0:31:34 > 0:31:37It was as cool as you could possibly get at the time.

0:31:37 > 0:31:39Came with a motorcycle you could wind up...

0:31:39 > 0:31:41You wind it up and you stop and it takes off...

0:31:41 > 0:31:43That's awesome!

0:31:43 > 0:31:44Wow!

0:31:44 > 0:31:45Going up!

0:31:45 > 0:31:48- ARCHIVE FILM:- The Evel Knievel stunt cycle comes with figure,

0:31:48 > 0:31:50winder, wheelie stand and front flip bar.

0:31:50 > 0:31:51New from Ideal.

0:31:51 > 0:31:54The toy sold out.

0:31:54 > 0:31:57I would say he made more money off the Ideal toy

0:31:57 > 0:31:59than he did off any of his jumps.

0:31:59 > 0:32:02One time, he showed me two royalty cheques,

0:32:02 > 0:32:05and both of them at that time were half a million dollars each.

0:32:05 > 0:32:06Both of them. Two cheques.

0:32:06 > 0:32:08I said to him, "Well, you made it.

0:32:08 > 0:32:09"You're on the pinnacle.

0:32:09 > 0:32:12"You said you were going to be a millionaire. You ARE a millionaire."

0:32:16 > 0:32:19It was an amazing time.

0:32:19 > 0:32:22The money was rolling in by the millions.

0:32:22 > 0:32:24Everywhere he went, he went first class.

0:32:24 > 0:32:26Yeah, my dad liked to spend money.

0:32:26 > 0:32:29All of a sudden, there's five Ferraris, two Lear jets,

0:32:29 > 0:32:31five other aeroplanes...

0:32:31 > 0:32:35He'd get a boat, oh, he needed a bigger boat, oh, how about a yacht? How about another yacht?

0:32:35 > 0:32:37With helicopters on top!

0:32:37 > 0:32:39He's got "Evel Eye I" painted on the side of it.

0:32:39 > 0:32:41- TV ARCHIVE FOOTAGE: - He's no easy rider.

0:32:41 > 0:32:44He's proud of the material things his money can buy.

0:32:44 > 0:32:48His Cadillacs, his 140,000 luxury imported van...

0:32:48 > 0:32:51He took me into his office, opened up a huge safe he had,

0:32:51 > 0:32:55and there was a gold-plated full-sized motorcycle.

0:32:55 > 0:32:57But do you know what?

0:32:57 > 0:33:00You could hardly see it cos it was covered with cash,

0:33:00 > 0:33:02like it'd been thrown in there like confetti.

0:33:02 > 0:33:07He built a big, beautiful home on the 18th green,

0:33:07 > 0:33:10with this huge iron gate

0:33:10 > 0:33:13with a great big "EK" right in the middle of it -

0:33:13 > 0:33:15it was the actual handle.

0:33:15 > 0:33:18For Butte, Montana, that was the stuff.

0:33:18 > 0:33:21I am risking my life for it, I'm going to spend every damn dime!

0:33:21 > 0:33:22CHEERING

0:33:22 > 0:33:25Yeah, my dad had an affinity for clothes.

0:33:25 > 0:33:26He liked to dress with flair.

0:33:26 > 0:33:29He'd walk into a store and see a sweater he liked,

0:33:29 > 0:33:31and he'd just buy one in 20 colours.

0:33:31 > 0:33:33Come with me and I'll take you on a tour of my office

0:33:33 > 0:33:35and dressing room and show you what you can buy with a few dollars

0:33:35 > 0:33:38if you're willing to jump a motorcycle over 19 cars.

0:33:38 > 0:33:40Evel was very flashy.

0:33:40 > 0:33:42Walked with a cane with diamonds in his cane,

0:33:42 > 0:33:46and his jewellery had diamonds, and he had gold all over.

0:33:46 > 0:33:50He always loved Elvis, and they traded the belt buckle and the cape.

0:33:50 > 0:33:54My dad was a big fan of Liberace for being a showman.

0:33:55 > 0:33:58All the money in the world can't buy your way into heaven, it can't buy

0:33:58 > 0:34:01your way out of hell, it was made to be spent right here, and I...

0:34:01 > 0:34:04I'm going to have the best clothes, the best boots, best diamonds,

0:34:04 > 0:34:07best cars, trucks, motorcycles, booze and women

0:34:07 > 0:34:11on the face of this earth, just as long as I can keep going.

0:34:17 > 0:34:21When he came into money and fame and fortune, it's like,

0:34:21 > 0:34:26the women became almost an equal part of his thrust from day to day.

0:34:26 > 0:34:30Part of it was that women were extraordinary attracted to him.

0:34:30 > 0:34:33I know, because he and I would go out drinking once in a while and...

0:34:33 > 0:34:36hell, they'd line up, and he'd pick the prettiest one.

0:34:36 > 0:34:41He's unbelievable! He's got more fire in him, he's unbelievable!

0:34:41 > 0:34:45He turned the hat-trick half the time, cos I'd see him do three a night for a week when I was there.

0:34:45 > 0:34:46HE LAUGHS

0:34:46 > 0:34:47Hang on.

0:34:47 > 0:34:49ENGINE REVS

0:34:49 > 0:34:51Come on, I mean, back to the '70s.

0:34:51 > 0:34:54Every woman wanted somebody like that.

0:34:54 > 0:34:56I was always mad, cos he was...

0:34:56 > 0:34:59maybe cheating on my mom.

0:34:59 > 0:35:03# I'm the other woman... #

0:35:03 > 0:35:05Belinda was aces.

0:35:05 > 0:35:06Aces!

0:35:06 > 0:35:10I mean, she was the nicest woman that he could have ever married.

0:35:10 > 0:35:14She stood by him, and a lot of times, he didn't treat her right.

0:35:14 > 0:35:16EVEL: Hi, good looking.

0:35:16 > 0:35:17- You going swimming again? - Yeah.- Come on.

0:35:17 > 0:35:19He didn't hide anything,

0:35:19 > 0:35:22and that's probably where I'd get a little upset with him.

0:35:22 > 0:35:24He'd come home with a little lipstick on his collar,

0:35:24 > 0:35:25and I'd get a little ticked off.

0:35:25 > 0:35:27I'd like to take you out to dinner

0:35:27 > 0:35:29somewhere in a real nice quiet little spot.

0:35:29 > 0:35:31Get you swacked and take you home someplace!

0:35:31 > 0:35:32LAUGHTER

0:35:35 > 0:35:37# ..and you know who was first... #

0:35:37 > 0:35:40I'd think, "I married this guy!"

0:35:40 > 0:35:42I don't know, I just...

0:35:42 > 0:35:46You don't leave that man unless he wants you to.

0:35:47 > 0:35:51Say I died and landed in heaven, so I'm there, OK?

0:35:51 > 0:35:54And I'm sitting there in a white robe on a hard marble slab,

0:35:54 > 0:35:57next to JFK, Martin Luther King and some Pope, and what the hell

0:35:57 > 0:35:59would Evel Knievel have to say to any of those three guys?

0:35:59 > 0:36:02I couldn't carry on intelligent conversation with them.

0:36:02 > 0:36:04I want to go to my own kind of heaven.

0:36:05 > 0:36:07It's got draft beer that doesn't make you fat.

0:36:07 > 0:36:10It's got a lot of beautiful girls like you running around,

0:36:10 > 0:36:12and my wife won't get mad if I go out with any of them.

0:36:12 > 0:36:15He was OK before he became Evel Knievel, and then, you know?

0:36:15 > 0:36:19People just can't handle that fame, some of them.

0:36:19 > 0:36:20He was a...

0:36:20 > 0:36:23small-town guy from a small town.

0:36:23 > 0:36:24In...

0:36:24 > 0:36:25Really in the span of seven years

0:36:25 > 0:36:28became one of the most famous people in the world.

0:36:28 > 0:36:30I think that he...

0:36:31 > 0:36:33He forgot how to be Bob.

0:36:33 > 0:36:36And when he became Evel...

0:36:36 > 0:36:38It's like the world took him away from us.

0:36:39 > 0:36:42If you want to be in this business and be the best in the world and wear a red, white and blue

0:36:42 > 0:36:46number one on your back, you have to be man enough to handle the consequences.

0:36:46 > 0:36:48- ARCHIVE FILM:- King of the daredevils, number one,

0:36:48 > 0:36:50Evel Knievel!

0:36:50 > 0:36:51Evel was on top of the world,

0:36:51 > 0:36:54but he was starting to lose his grip a little.

0:36:54 > 0:36:57And that thing with the Hells Angels didn't help.

0:36:58 > 0:37:04Evel was at odds against the Hells Angels and the biker image.

0:37:04 > 0:37:07He used to talk about the Hells Angels a lot.

0:37:07 > 0:37:09Always putting them down.

0:37:09 > 0:37:11They're murderers, thieves and drug dealers.

0:37:11 > 0:37:15I mean, these guys are dogs. They belong in penitentiaries.

0:37:15 > 0:37:18Must've got through to them, you know, they got pissed off, and...

0:37:18 > 0:37:22San Francisco was one of their main areas.

0:37:22 > 0:37:25The announcer was the guy that started the whole thing.

0:37:25 > 0:37:27When he introduced Knievel, he says,

0:37:27 > 0:37:28"If Knievel makes this jump tonight,

0:37:28 > 0:37:31"he's going to set the Hells Angels back 100 years."

0:37:31 > 0:37:33Wrong thing to say.

0:37:37 > 0:37:40He barely made that jump, came back around,

0:37:40 > 0:37:45and I notice a couple of Hells Angels have come out onto the floor.

0:37:45 > 0:37:47And this Hells Angel grabbed him. Well, I'm...

0:37:47 > 0:37:49I'm hoofing.

0:37:49 > 0:37:53The Hells Angels threw him down, just when I got there,

0:37:53 > 0:37:56and I give this guy a body check, and he folded like a, just...

0:37:56 > 0:37:57went out.

0:37:57 > 0:38:00Well, and then the war started, you know?

0:38:02 > 0:38:04Hells Angels come boiling over there,

0:38:04 > 0:38:08and the people come out of the stands and started beating on them.

0:38:09 > 0:38:12They put two of those Hells Angels in hospital.

0:38:17 > 0:38:22After the Cow Palace incident, Evel got a little bit paranoid.

0:38:25 > 0:38:27He said, "Do you have a gun?"

0:38:27 > 0:38:29I said, "Yeah, I've got a couple of them."

0:38:29 > 0:38:31"Well," he says, "Those Hells Angels, you never know,

0:38:31 > 0:38:35"they're going to walk in here with a shotgun, and I've got to be ready for them."

0:38:50 > 0:38:53- ARCHIVE FILM: - Watch that right shoulder.

0:38:53 > 0:38:55Broken right there, the right collarbone.

0:38:55 > 0:38:57- INTERVIEWER:- Are you ever afraid?

0:38:57 > 0:38:59If I am, I'm not going to tell you about it.

0:38:59 > 0:39:00- Why?- I've been concerned.

0:39:00 > 0:39:03I'm Evel Knievel, honey, I'm not supposed to be afraid.

0:39:05 > 0:39:10He was constantly being tormented with the thought of, you know,

0:39:10 > 0:39:13"You're not going to make this one, you're going to die at this one."

0:39:13 > 0:39:16And so he's doing everything he can through alcohol,

0:39:16 > 0:39:18through being flamboyant, through being...

0:39:18 > 0:39:21You know, crude or whatever,

0:39:21 > 0:39:23to get these thoughts out of his head.

0:39:23 > 0:39:25But they were eating his lunch.

0:39:25 > 0:39:27You know, Evel, you're shaking a little.

0:39:27 > 0:39:30Well, if you did what I did, you'd be shaking, too. LAUGHTER

0:39:30 > 0:39:34I could see it in his eyes sometimes, when he'd come back by

0:39:34 > 0:39:36to ask me if he was going fast enough,

0:39:36 > 0:39:38I could see the fear in his eyes.

0:39:38 > 0:39:40I knew he was scared, but...

0:39:40 > 0:39:42he would never...

0:39:42 > 0:39:46He would never say no, you know, he'd go ahead and do it.

0:39:47 > 0:39:49The medicine that he was taking,

0:39:49 > 0:39:53the drugs he was taking for his pain, plus he was drinking...

0:39:53 > 0:39:55He became just...

0:39:55 > 0:39:57schizo, I mean, paranoid.

0:39:57 > 0:40:01He got paranoid about protecting his stuff,

0:40:01 > 0:40:03paranoid about who he let in, and...

0:40:03 > 0:40:06We'd be talking, and almost as if he was schizophrenic,

0:40:06 > 0:40:09he'd flip and become ugly about things.

0:40:09 > 0:40:11I had to stand two guys down,

0:40:11 > 0:40:12who wanted a piece of him,

0:40:12 > 0:40:14and they wanted a piece of him

0:40:14 > 0:40:18because he was being an asshole, he was being a jerk.

0:40:18 > 0:40:19I'm the guy who just...

0:40:19 > 0:40:21You know, was trying to keep the peace.

0:40:21 > 0:40:26I'm the guy protecting the troublemaker from the good guys.

0:40:26 > 0:40:30You know, and I thought, "I can't do this."

0:40:33 > 0:40:35It's really interesting when you...

0:40:35 > 0:40:39You are a man like Evel Knievel, and you've created this myth.

0:40:39 > 0:40:42And once you're defined, it's hard to live up to it.

0:40:44 > 0:40:46He was always reselling what he had already sold.

0:40:46 > 0:40:50How do you get any better than that, how do you get any bigger?

0:40:51 > 0:40:55Throughout his life, he was insatiable.

0:40:55 > 0:41:00Even when he was the most famous daredevil that ever lived,

0:41:00 > 0:41:02he wasn't satisfied.

0:41:02 > 0:41:06He had to make another half a million dollars on a jump.

0:41:06 > 0:41:10He had to find one more woman prettier than the last.

0:41:10 > 0:41:11He couldn't satisfy himself.

0:41:11 > 0:41:14He had to do something else.

0:41:14 > 0:41:15He had a friend that, er...

0:41:15 > 0:41:18They were at the bar talking, and, er...

0:41:18 > 0:41:21This fella just made a comment, "What's your next thing?"

0:41:21 > 0:41:23I think he said, "The Grand Canyon?"

0:41:23 > 0:41:26Well, of course, that started the wheels a-turning.

0:41:31 > 0:41:33One of the favourite pictures of my dad,

0:41:33 > 0:41:36he's on the rim of the Grand Canyon,

0:41:36 > 0:41:38and there's these two Navajo chiefs there,

0:41:38 > 0:41:42and my dad's pointing at the other side of the Grand Canyon,

0:41:42 > 0:41:45and they're just, like, looking at him, like, "This man is crazy.

0:41:45 > 0:41:48My dream was to jump the Grand Canyon.

0:41:48 > 0:41:51The Secretary of the Interior told me that I could.

0:41:51 > 0:41:55I took his word for it, then he changed his mind, so...

0:41:55 > 0:41:59I told him to go get hosed, and I'll buy my own canyon.

0:41:59 > 0:42:01The Snake River Canyon in the state of Idaho.

0:42:01 > 0:42:04And the only way they're getting me out of the air is to shoot me out

0:42:04 > 0:42:08with an anti-aircraft gun, because I am going to go, believe me.

0:42:08 > 0:42:12- ARCHIVE FILM:- The jump across the canyon will be approximately a mile.

0:42:12 > 0:42:15It's somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 feet to the bottom.

0:42:15 > 0:42:19As you can see, Pete, this motorcycle is unlike any motorcycle you've ever seen in this world.

0:42:19 > 0:42:22These rockets put out about 90 lbs of thrust apiece.

0:42:22 > 0:42:24Knievel's original concept was to take a motorcycle,

0:42:24 > 0:42:28put a rocket on it, and that's impossible.

0:42:28 > 0:42:33And so the necessity just required that he make a rocket vehicle.

0:42:33 > 0:42:35Our partner was Bob Truax,

0:42:35 > 0:42:38and he was known as the father of steam rocketry.

0:42:38 > 0:42:42And that was our answer for getting Evel Knievel over the canyon.

0:42:43 > 0:42:48Basically building a hot water tank and uncorking it and letting it go.

0:42:48 > 0:42:50This machine is powered by steam.

0:42:50 > 0:42:53Steam is the most reliable source of power we have in the world,

0:42:53 > 0:42:56and it'll go from zero to 350mph

0:42:56 > 0:42:58from a dead stop in eight seconds flat.

0:42:58 > 0:43:02- ARCHIVE FILM:- The super-stunt, billed as the death-defying event of the century,

0:43:02 > 0:43:04will be viewed by almost two million people,

0:43:04 > 0:43:07most of them watching on closed-circuit movie screens.

0:43:07 > 0:43:10I'd like to say to you what Evel Knievel says wherever he goes,

0:43:10 > 0:43:12and whatever he signs.

0:43:12 > 0:43:14If he were talking to you right now, he'd say,

0:43:14 > 0:43:16"Hey, Jim. Happy landings."

0:43:17 > 0:43:20When there was an event of any magnitude during that period,

0:43:20 > 0:43:23I'd probably get first call to do the promotion.

0:43:24 > 0:43:26I remember, first time I saw Evel Knievel,

0:43:26 > 0:43:30he showed up on Ventura Boulevard doing wheelies on his motorcycle.

0:43:30 > 0:43:31That's when I first met him.

0:43:31 > 0:43:35But I really didn't know him till we did the Snake River Canyon jump.

0:43:35 > 0:43:37I had control of the publicity and promotion.

0:43:37 > 0:43:41'For a brief moment in our dull, mundane life,'

0:43:41 > 0:43:44Here is a man who vicariously we can live through.

0:43:44 > 0:43:47I thought what he was doing was exciting.

0:43:47 > 0:43:49So it's never had to sell something you believe in.

0:43:49 > 0:43:51And I believed in it.

0:43:52 > 0:43:54We did a 30-day tour, which was my idea,

0:43:54 > 0:43:59to do press conferences at, like, literally 90 airports.

0:44:00 > 0:44:04- ARCHIVE FILM:- When Knievel flies into town each day in his two Lear jets,

0:44:04 > 0:44:07his pilot, Watcha McCollum, and his co-pilot,

0:44:07 > 0:44:10wear crimson crushed velvet dinner jackets.

0:44:10 > 0:44:12You ought to see our socks and underwear.

0:44:12 > 0:44:13Every day was a...

0:44:13 > 0:44:15Was a party.

0:44:15 > 0:44:18There were close to 2,500 press credentials given out.

0:44:18 > 0:44:21It was bigger than any Ali fight, and I did them all.

0:44:21 > 0:44:22Bigger.

0:44:22 > 0:44:25Bigger than a presidential entourage.

0:44:28 > 0:44:32Don E Branker was in charge of all the logistics.

0:44:32 > 0:44:35I was a concert promoter, I did acts like the Stones, The Doors, The Who,

0:44:35 > 0:44:39and then Evel comes along with a pay-per-view, closed-circuit...

0:44:39 > 0:44:42You know, this was the biggest event of its kind

0:44:42 > 0:44:43in the history of entertainment.

0:44:44 > 0:44:46The unknowns were magnificent.

0:44:47 > 0:44:51- ARCHIVE FILM:- This Sunday, a daredevil hustler named Evel Knievel

0:44:51 > 0:44:54will try to cross a canyon in Idaho, riding a rocket.

0:44:54 > 0:44:57If he makes it, he'll be many times a millionaire.

0:44:57 > 0:44:59If he doesn't, he'll be dead.

0:45:01 > 0:45:02ENGINE REVS

0:45:08 > 0:45:09HE LAUGHS

0:45:10 > 0:45:13He was a hero of mine in many ways.

0:45:13 > 0:45:16I was a little crazy, he was a whole lot crazy,

0:45:16 > 0:45:19and you just had to dig his courage.

0:45:19 > 0:45:22It just didn't seem to me that courage would be enough.

0:45:22 > 0:45:23HE LAUGHS

0:45:23 > 0:45:24I'm telling you,

0:45:24 > 0:45:27it looks a lot further than I thought a mile would look.

0:45:27 > 0:45:32It was the kind of stunt where you would actually see, probably,

0:45:32 > 0:45:34a guy kill himself.

0:45:34 > 0:45:36It was so audacious, it was so daring,

0:45:36 > 0:45:41it was so almost impossible in many ways, but for his confidence.

0:45:41 > 0:45:43What about the G forces?

0:45:43 > 0:45:46I mean, when you start something that's going to be going at 350mph,

0:45:46 > 0:45:48- aren't you going to be knocked out, almost?- Yes.

0:45:48 > 0:45:51I wake up, see the other side of the ground way over there,

0:45:51 > 0:45:52wherever the hell I'm at,

0:45:52 > 0:45:55and I'll pull the ripcord and open a parachute behind the Skycycle.

0:45:55 > 0:45:58Are you saying you're going to be unconscious when you're in the air?

0:45:58 > 0:46:02- To 2,000 feet, I probably will be, yes.- So that means you have to regain your consciousness?

0:46:02 > 0:46:04That's right, but I can do that. I'll do it.

0:46:04 > 0:46:05Evel had no training.

0:46:05 > 0:46:07He had no training for pulling Gs,

0:46:07 > 0:46:09like a centrifuge, or even in an aeroplane.

0:46:09 > 0:46:12Zero parachute experience.

0:46:12 > 0:46:16He had a dead stick kind of thing, where it was spring-loaded,

0:46:16 > 0:46:19and if he passed out and let go of the handle,

0:46:19 > 0:46:20the parachute would come out.

0:46:20 > 0:46:21Go!

0:46:21 > 0:46:23ENGINE ROARS

0:46:23 > 0:46:27- ARCHIVE FILM:- There were actually three of the steam powered Skycycles built.

0:46:27 > 0:46:31The original, called the X-1, was tested without a pilot about three weeks ago.

0:46:31 > 0:46:33It ended up at the bottom of the canyon.

0:46:40 > 0:46:42That was a test shot. We made some mistakes.

0:46:42 > 0:46:44If I'd have been in it, I'd have ended up dead,

0:46:44 > 0:46:46but I don't think that's going to happen.

0:46:46 > 0:46:51What the press did not know is that the first one was designed to fail.

0:46:51 > 0:46:54We purposely underpowered the rocket

0:46:54 > 0:46:56so it wouldn't make it to the other side.

0:46:56 > 0:46:58He wanted it as a promotional thing,

0:46:58 > 0:47:02he wanted it to crash in the water and let people see that.

0:47:02 > 0:47:06Eventually, we did convince Evel to do a real test,

0:47:06 > 0:47:09but he'd only do it if it was done in secret,

0:47:09 > 0:47:13so the press wouldn't get any pictures of it or anything.

0:47:15 > 0:47:17We thought it would make it.

0:47:18 > 0:47:21But there was a problem with the parachute - it deployed early...

0:47:24 > 0:47:26..and it also landed right in the middle of the river.

0:47:27 > 0:47:29Knievel was there to see that.

0:47:29 > 0:47:30I saw it,

0:47:30 > 0:47:34and I was wondering at that time what was going through his mind.

0:47:35 > 0:47:39I was thinking to myself that he maybe was looking at his mortality,

0:47:39 > 0:47:43and thinking, "You know, this might not be such a good idea."

0:47:44 > 0:47:48However, give him credit, he was going through with it.

0:47:50 > 0:47:52At this point, we're batting zero for two,

0:47:52 > 0:47:57and the world is watching us, I mean, I felt that.

0:47:57 > 0:47:58- REPORTERS CLAMOUR - Can you make it?

0:47:58 > 0:48:00INDISTINCT

0:48:00 > 0:48:02You will, you will.

0:48:02 > 0:48:05He became more and more surly.

0:48:05 > 0:48:08Screeching orders at everybody that he could, belittling the...

0:48:08 > 0:48:11He'd belittle little people. He was just mean.

0:48:12 > 0:48:16About a week out is when we started sensing things

0:48:16 > 0:48:19not going our way with the press, cos the press is up here living now,

0:48:19 > 0:48:21and the press started seeing the real Evel.

0:48:21 > 0:48:23Do one thing for me.

0:48:24 > 0:48:27I do not ask for your respect, I demand it.

0:48:27 > 0:48:30Shelly gathered everybody around Evel's trailer, and says,

0:48:30 > 0:48:33"Why don't you just have him stand up so we can see?" You know?

0:48:33 > 0:48:35Cos there was a big crowd of people there.

0:48:35 > 0:48:36And...

0:48:36 > 0:48:39Evel heard that and came out, and...

0:48:43 > 0:48:46- I said have a smile on your face. - I don't smile at anything.

0:48:46 > 0:48:47All right, get him out, out.

0:48:47 > 0:48:48Out.

0:48:48 > 0:48:50Go on, get out of here.

0:48:50 > 0:48:52That's when he came down the stairs with his cane,

0:48:52 > 0:48:55and he grabbed my camera, and he's a pretty strong guy.

0:48:55 > 0:48:57And...grabbed my camera, started pushing me back,

0:48:57 > 0:49:00and whacking me and the camera with his cane.

0:49:00 > 0:49:04Are you going to apologise to that cameraman for roughing him up?

0:49:05 > 0:49:07I wouldn't apologise, and if I see the little son of a bitch again,

0:49:07 > 0:49:09I'll throw him out of here, how's that?

0:49:09 > 0:49:11As hard as we tried,

0:49:11 > 0:49:14a lot of Evel's true temperament came out to the press.

0:49:14 > 0:49:17- I think you should apologise. - Well, I want to straighten you out right now.

0:49:17 > 0:49:19Number one, I was in the Skycycle all day.

0:49:19 > 0:49:21Number two, you are a guest of mine in my press area,

0:49:21 > 0:49:23do you understand that? And so was he.

0:49:23 > 0:49:25Number three, when I've been up there all day

0:49:25 > 0:49:28and that blood's come out of my legs and my feet and gone to my head,

0:49:28 > 0:49:31and I come down to want to get some rest and get along with you people,

0:49:31 > 0:49:34you don't tell me to come out and stand up and smile.

0:49:34 > 0:49:37If I want to come out and try and get along with you,

0:49:37 > 0:49:40you should at least allow me to sit down and smile,

0:49:40 > 0:49:43so tell him I said to kiss my ass!

0:49:43 > 0:49:47There was a point where we were all kind of sitting around and saying,

0:49:47 > 0:49:50"You know, the guy's a jerk. He's just a jerk!

0:49:50 > 0:49:52"He's a bully, he's a boor.

0:49:52 > 0:49:54"What are we doing here?"

0:49:54 > 0:49:58The rest of the press can now thank you, because I'm going to leave.

0:49:58 > 0:49:59How's that, boys? Sayonara.

0:50:04 > 0:50:07People started coming in, and it started getting crazy.

0:50:07 > 0:50:10Every biker in the United States who didn't have a job was there, I believe, you know?

0:50:10 > 0:50:13We had umpteen different motorcycle groups,

0:50:13 > 0:50:15you know, none of which you'd invite to your house for dinner.

0:50:15 > 0:50:18They have a good time, everyone's just loose around here.

0:50:18 > 0:50:22You could say it was like Woodstock,

0:50:22 > 0:50:24but the evil twin of Woodstock.

0:50:24 > 0:50:29It was, like, not happy flower children sitting around in the rain.

0:50:29 > 0:50:31Those guys were... I mean, they were really rough.

0:50:31 > 0:50:34Wackos with tattoos all over their bodies,

0:50:34 > 0:50:37drinking beer and screwing in public and all kinds.

0:50:37 > 0:50:38It was...

0:50:38 > 0:50:40It was bedlam.

0:50:40 > 0:50:41WHISTLE BLOWS

0:50:41 > 0:50:46Roach clips, papers, hash pipes, come get 'em while they're hot!

0:50:46 > 0:50:49They had a marching band from Butte High School that was there.

0:50:49 > 0:50:51It was...

0:50:51 > 0:50:54not a place for a Butte High marching band to be that day,

0:50:54 > 0:50:56I'd have to say!

0:50:56 > 0:51:00Right when we pulled in, there was a man and woman naked, you know,

0:51:00 > 0:51:03having sex, right there under a tree.

0:51:03 > 0:51:07I saw all the people that were drinking and smoking pot, and...

0:51:08 > 0:51:10..they were pretty wild.

0:51:10 > 0:51:13MARCHING BAND PLAYS

0:51:13 > 0:51:15We fired up the band,

0:51:15 > 0:51:18it's like the whole place...

0:51:18 > 0:51:19arose.

0:51:19 > 0:51:21Oh, the crowd went wild.

0:51:21 > 0:51:25Yeah, absolutely. They were totally prepared for a celebration.

0:51:25 > 0:51:28The crowd just started mingling,

0:51:28 > 0:51:29and just...

0:51:29 > 0:51:31wanted to play our instruments,

0:51:31 > 0:51:33they tugged and pulled,

0:51:33 > 0:51:35and the next thing you know, we're separated,

0:51:35 > 0:51:38a good hundred yards away from the rest of the band.

0:51:38 > 0:51:40So we were basically fighting for our lives,

0:51:40 > 0:51:41as far as I was concerned.

0:51:41 > 0:51:44At that point, they just stuffed my tuba full of everything.

0:51:46 > 0:51:49Beer bottles, popcorn, peanuts, rocks,

0:51:49 > 0:51:51I pulled a bra out of there...

0:51:51 > 0:51:53It... I never played a note.

0:51:55 > 0:51:58We also had with us the drill team,

0:51:58 > 0:52:00and the drill team's name was the Purple Bees.

0:52:00 > 0:52:03And a good friend of mine, they tore her dress right off.

0:52:04 > 0:52:06Totally tore her dress off.

0:52:07 > 0:52:10I guess we all thought of this as something different

0:52:10 > 0:52:12than what it was really going to be.

0:52:14 > 0:52:17The crowd were given beer,

0:52:17 > 0:52:19and when the beer was closed up,

0:52:19 > 0:52:21that's when it got kind of rowdy.

0:52:21 > 0:52:24They actually rolled the beer trucks over, the semis,

0:52:24 > 0:52:27over on their side, shot the locks off,

0:52:27 > 0:52:30and everybody was walking through the camps with cases of beer.

0:52:30 > 0:52:33Next thing you know, they took the outhouses, they took them down,

0:52:33 > 0:52:36and started just dumping them over, and they lit them on fire.

0:52:36 > 0:52:39The place was absolutely out of control at that point.

0:52:40 > 0:52:44Things got as bad as they could get without somebody dying.

0:52:44 > 0:52:47It's as simple as that. It was as bad as it could be.

0:52:47 > 0:52:50I can hear, out in the darkness,

0:52:50 > 0:52:53I can hear the girls being raped, I can hear fights going on,

0:52:53 > 0:52:57I can hear gunshots going off, you know, but there's nothing I can do.

0:52:57 > 0:52:59I reached a point when I said,

0:52:59 > 0:53:01"You know what, I'm going to call the National Guard in."

0:53:01 > 0:53:03So I called them up, and he said,

0:53:03 > 0:53:05"Don, I'm sorry, but our men are split up,

0:53:05 > 0:53:08"and I just can't come out there to help you, you're on your own, son."

0:53:08 > 0:53:11And I hung up that phone, and I felt like crying.

0:53:12 > 0:53:15- ARCHIVE FILM:- There are more than 33,000 paid admissions.

0:53:15 > 0:53:18As you can see, they needed control, they were perilously close

0:53:18 > 0:53:20to the edge of the canyon, some 600 feet straight down.

0:53:20 > 0:53:23What I was concerned about is that there is this canyon,

0:53:23 > 0:53:25there's this killer canyon in front of you,

0:53:25 > 0:53:28and they've put up a standard cyclone fence,

0:53:28 > 0:53:30I mean, just push it and it would fall off.

0:53:30 > 0:53:32And I thought to myself,

0:53:32 > 0:53:35everybody's going to rush to the edge of the canyon

0:53:35 > 0:53:37to see what happens.

0:53:37 > 0:53:39And you're going to have people pushing from behind,

0:53:39 > 0:53:40and like lemmings in the sea,

0:53:40 > 0:53:42they're going to go right over the edge.

0:53:43 > 0:53:48I thought it was pretty ironic to have Don solve the security problem.

0:53:48 > 0:53:50He went down where the Hells Angels were camped,

0:53:50 > 0:53:53and hired them to come up and provide security for us.

0:53:53 > 0:53:56I went and I explained what I'd do, "Here's what I'll do.

0:53:56 > 0:53:58"I've got 1,000 in cash, and I want you to guard the fence

0:53:58 > 0:54:01"and keep the people on that side of the fence."

0:54:01 > 0:54:04And the guy said, "Are you bullshitting me?"

0:54:04 > 0:54:06I said "Am I going to bullshit with you guys?"

0:54:06 > 0:54:08"OK, you've got a deal, mister."

0:54:08 > 0:54:09HE CHUCKLES

0:54:12 > 0:54:15BAND PLAYS AMERICAN NATIONAL ANTHEM

0:54:19 > 0:54:21On the morning of the jump,

0:54:21 > 0:54:23I looked at him,

0:54:23 > 0:54:25and I saw a very pensive,

0:54:25 > 0:54:27very reflective,

0:54:27 > 0:54:29very quiet man.

0:54:29 > 0:54:31He didn't look comfortable.

0:54:31 > 0:54:34I don't know why he WOULD look comfortable,

0:54:34 > 0:54:38climbing into a tin can to fly over a canyon.

0:54:38 > 0:54:41- ARCHIVE FILM:- There is Bob Truax himself, the chief engineer,

0:54:41 > 0:54:42testing the wind.

0:54:42 > 0:54:45The 50mph wind was not the right direction.

0:54:45 > 0:54:48We recommended to Knievel he delay the launch.

0:54:48 > 0:54:51I just said, "You know, Bob, I don't think you ought to do it, you know?

0:54:51 > 0:54:55"I think this is crazy, I think this thing isn't going to make it."

0:54:55 > 0:54:57He says, "I can't back out now, too much has been said,

0:54:57 > 0:54:59"they'll call me a coward."

0:54:59 > 0:55:01He says he's not going to do that. "I'm going, and that's it."

0:55:02 > 0:55:07I've got a team behind me with Mr Truax and all the boys that are 100%

0:55:07 > 0:55:08and I think we'll do it.

0:55:08 > 0:55:12I wish the wind wasn't blowing so hard, but I think we'll do it.

0:55:13 > 0:55:17There was no braggadocio, there was no bravado.

0:55:18 > 0:55:23As the time counted off, he'd said to his family, "Let's pray."

0:55:26 > 0:55:30I remember when my dad brought me in the trailer, in the...

0:55:32 > 0:55:35..truck. The whole family.

0:55:38 > 0:55:41And he hugged me and says, "I love you."

0:55:41 > 0:55:43He didn't know what was going to happen.

0:55:43 > 0:55:45He was like, "God, take care of me."

0:55:45 > 0:55:47Linda and the children were crying.

0:55:49 > 0:55:51Especially the little girl.

0:55:53 > 0:55:56Yeah, that was a very sobering moment.

0:55:56 > 0:55:59You know, suddenly I realise,

0:55:59 > 0:56:01"Have I had a hand in getting a man killed?"

0:56:04 > 0:56:06- COMMENTATOR: - There he goes up the ramp

0:56:06 > 0:56:10toward the launch site and toward the vehicle

0:56:10 > 0:56:12and he is being introduced to the crowd now.

0:56:12 > 0:56:13CHEERING

0:56:13 > 0:56:18I've never been afraid in my life of dying.

0:56:18 > 0:56:22I think that man was put here on Earth to live, not just to exist.

0:56:23 > 0:56:26And today is the proudest day of my life.

0:56:26 > 0:56:28I'm living a dream

0:56:28 > 0:56:31that they thought could never be done, but it'll be done.

0:56:34 > 0:56:37And then, instead of a roar,

0:56:37 > 0:56:40a silence, like an eerie silence,

0:56:40 > 0:56:43fell over the crowd, cos this guy

0:56:43 > 0:56:45truly might be going to his death.

0:56:45 > 0:56:50DRAMATIC WESTERN-STYLE MUSIC

0:56:56 > 0:57:00Evel got out of the crane and into the Skycycle

0:57:00 > 0:57:03and the whole time, patriotic music is being played

0:57:03 > 0:57:06and at that time, even I got emotional a bit.

0:57:07 > 0:57:13We strapped him in and got a couple of pictures of him

0:57:13 > 0:57:15in the cockpit.

0:57:15 > 0:57:18He looked a lot different than he did when he started this project.

0:57:18 > 0:57:20His hair was grey and he was real serious.

0:57:20 > 0:57:25We had a big clock - ten seconds, nine seconds...

0:57:25 > 0:57:26..eight, seven...

0:57:26 > 0:57:29You look out at the audience - no-one's even breathing.

0:57:29 > 0:57:31..five, four...

0:57:31 > 0:57:33- COMMENTATOR:- ..three, two, one...

0:57:39 > 0:57:42Immediately, something failed.

0:57:42 > 0:57:43It fizzled.

0:57:43 > 0:57:45It went down like a bullet.

0:57:45 > 0:57:49- There's a fire.- The main chute is out, there she goes.

0:57:49 > 0:57:50It's going to crash.

0:57:53 > 0:57:55It's just cleared the rocks.

0:57:55 > 0:57:57David, I can't see anything.

0:57:57 > 0:58:00I had my camera. I'm taking - click, click, click, click, tsssh! -

0:58:00 > 0:58:01right into the canyon.

0:58:01 > 0:58:05I turn around and the first fence just goes flat.

0:58:05 > 0:58:06Just - shwoop!

0:58:06 > 0:58:09It was a stampede, is exactly what it was.

0:58:09 > 0:58:11I saw bikers pluck people out of the sky.

0:58:11 > 0:58:14It was right out of a movie, you know.

0:58:14 > 0:58:16- COMMENTATOR:- Robert Craig Knievel

0:58:16 > 0:58:18appears to have landed in the Snake River.

0:58:18 > 0:58:21Evel definitely tried to get out, but he couldn't.

0:58:21 > 0:58:23David, I am very scared.

0:58:23 > 0:58:25I thought, "He's gone.

0:58:25 > 0:58:28"We're not going to get to him in time, he's going to drown."

0:58:30 > 0:58:33There was people running up and looking over the edge.

0:58:33 > 0:58:36Linda was scared and the boys were scared.

0:58:36 > 0:58:39I thought my dad was dead. I was screaming, crying.

0:58:40 > 0:58:44I get into my helicopter, get over the canyon and there,

0:58:44 > 0:58:47from the muddy banks on the side of the river...

0:58:49 > 0:58:52..was Evel waving and I said this -

0:58:52 > 0:58:55"Thank God that son of a bitch is alive."

0:58:55 > 0:58:57- COMMENTATOR:- Evel Knievel is standing in the boat and waving.

0:58:57 > 0:58:59He is alive and well.

0:59:01 > 0:59:04I know the well-wishers are anxious to support that helicopter.

0:59:04 > 0:59:06Evel's off, he's on the ground now

0:59:06 > 0:59:08and he's being mobbed now by the crowd.

0:59:08 > 0:59:11VOICES CLAMOUR

0:59:11 > 0:59:13I don't know what happened, Dave, I don't know what happened.

0:59:13 > 0:59:16It's just, I think... I don't know, I just can't say.

0:59:16 > 0:59:18I'll have to let Bob and the fellas examine it.

0:59:18 > 0:59:20Bob, what happened?

0:59:20 > 0:59:25Well, this right here is the cover to the parachute canister.

0:59:25 > 0:59:28It obviously came loose much too soon, right on the pad.

0:59:28 > 0:59:31What had happened is, as it went up,

0:59:31 > 0:59:34I knew immediately that the chute had been deployed.

0:59:34 > 0:59:37It came off because of a mechanical problem with the design.

0:59:37 > 0:59:41You didn't do a damned thing wrong. The can is still on the thing.

0:59:41 > 0:59:44- It blew off right there on the launch.- Blew off by accident?- Yeah.

0:59:44 > 0:59:49- It was our fault. - It's not your fault, it's...

0:59:49 > 0:59:52We should have run one more test.

0:59:52 > 0:59:55It was clear to me, or to us, that it was a mechanical failure,

0:59:55 > 0:59:59but there was another story being bandied about back at the press tent

0:59:59 > 1:00:03that perhaps Evel had released the chute early.

1:00:03 > 1:00:05I told people that that's what happened.

1:00:05 > 1:00:07When I went to the press tent after the jump

1:00:07 > 1:00:11and the press was asking for me to come and make a statement,

1:00:11 > 1:00:14I told the press that his hand came off of the bar.

1:00:16 > 1:00:18I really liked the rocket crew.

1:00:18 > 1:00:21They were a bunch of nice guys. I just knew the MO

1:00:21 > 1:00:24of how he treated people - nothing was ever his fault.

1:00:25 > 1:00:27I told people that that's what happened.

1:00:27 > 1:00:31If, by chance, that took a little bit of the pressure

1:00:31 > 1:00:33off of the rocket team, then so be it.

1:00:33 > 1:00:36So it got out that it was Evel's fault.

1:00:36 > 1:00:40But the nagging question remains - was this the legitimate attempt

1:00:40 > 1:00:44of a brave man, or was it the great rip-off of 1974?

1:00:44 > 1:00:48Then the press tore him up.

1:00:48 > 1:00:52Cos they think that he, along with me, had perpetrated a fraud.

1:00:52 > 1:00:56Hero or hustler, or, for Americans, are those the same thing?

1:00:59 > 1:01:02It was Evel Knievel against the Snake River Canyon

1:01:02 > 1:01:05and the canyon was the sentimental favourite.

1:01:05 > 1:01:09Evel would have liked his jump to have been huge, front-page news,

1:01:09 > 1:01:13but it was overwhelmingly squashed by the big news of the day,

1:01:13 > 1:01:17which was the pardon of Nixon by President Ford.

1:01:17 > 1:01:20That was a major transition in the country.

1:01:21 > 1:01:25Maybe he had outlived his novelty,

1:01:25 > 1:01:28because I think people might have got tired listening to it.

1:01:28 > 1:01:33That's when he came back to Butte

1:01:33 > 1:01:36and I don't know if he was depressed or what.

1:01:36 > 1:01:38Huh, he just...

1:01:40 > 1:01:45I felt sure he'd just give up after that, say, "Well, I'm done."

1:01:45 > 1:01:48MUSIC: England Swing by Roger Miller

1:01:51 > 1:01:54# England swings like a pendulum do

1:01:54 > 1:01:57- # Bobbies on bicycles... # - He'd never been to England before.

1:01:57 > 1:02:01He thought, "A new crowd, a new group,

1:02:01 > 1:02:04"I can snow them a little more than I can the Americans."

1:02:04 > 1:02:07Yeah, well, they hadn't heard the Teddy Roosevelt speech,

1:02:07 > 1:02:10"Be good to your parents, wear a helmet."

1:02:10 > 1:02:14# Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben... #

1:02:14 > 1:02:16- REPORTER: - Evel Knievel is alive, well

1:02:16 > 1:02:19and back in action in famed old Wembley Stadium, London, England,

1:02:19 > 1:02:23for a jump that will be made over 13 London buses.

1:02:23 > 1:02:25When he arrived in London,

1:02:25 > 1:02:29he had only sold 3,000 seats for a 100,000-seat stadium

1:02:29 > 1:02:32and he was in trouble. There was some press there to meet him,

1:02:32 > 1:02:35he looks at the press and what did he do?

1:02:35 > 1:02:37"I'm so glad to be here in England,

1:02:37 > 1:02:40"where we came and won the war for you."

1:02:40 > 1:02:41"Wha...?"

1:02:41 > 1:02:43- IN EXAGGERATED ENGLISH ACCENT:- "Oh?"

1:02:43 > 1:02:44And they start writing.

1:02:44 > 1:02:48He knew his job, which was to get people in Wembley Stadium.

1:02:48 > 1:02:51We drove around London, just making friends.

1:02:51 > 1:02:53How are you doing? What's your name?

1:02:53 > 1:02:54Steven Bower.

1:02:54 > 1:02:58- REPORTER:- So the Yankee Pied Piper collected the young and the old

1:02:58 > 1:03:01and led them all to Wembley Stadium.

1:03:01 > 1:03:03Thank you.

1:03:03 > 1:03:0680,000 people showed up to watch the man do it.

1:03:08 > 1:03:13We walked into the arena at Wembley, where the buses lined up

1:03:13 > 1:03:16and he said, "I can't do that."

1:03:17 > 1:03:18I said, "What do you mean, you can't?"

1:03:18 > 1:03:21"Pull a few buses out of there, it won't hurt a thing to do that."

1:03:21 > 1:03:23I go over and grab our producer, I said,

1:03:23 > 1:03:26"Doug, Evel says he can't do that."

1:03:26 > 1:03:30He really didn't think he was going to make it.

1:03:32 > 1:03:35So we went over to talk to Evel and talk him out of it.

1:03:35 > 1:03:38He was in a trailer, we knocked on the door,

1:03:38 > 1:03:42and he said, "Oh, no, no, I'll give it a go, I'll give it a go."

1:03:42 > 1:03:44It was always, "I'll give it a go."

1:03:45 > 1:03:47He was afraid he couldn't make it.

1:03:48 > 1:03:52- STADIUM ANNOUNCER: - Here is Evel Knievel!

1:03:52 > 1:03:55- REPORTER:- You know, Evel, one has to wonder, after Snake River,

1:03:55 > 1:03:58one has to wonder why you continue.

1:03:58 > 1:04:02Well, I sometimes think that maybe I should quit,

1:04:02 > 1:04:04but you always want to keep going

1:04:04 > 1:04:06and I'm kind of proud of that red, white and blue number one

1:04:06 > 1:04:09I wear on my shoulder and I want to keep it on there.

1:04:09 > 1:04:10I'm glad you're here today.

1:04:10 > 1:04:13- I've never had an accident when you're around.- Good luck.

1:04:13 > 1:04:15CHEERING

1:04:15 > 1:04:19He told me earlier that outside of the jump at Caesar's Palace

1:04:19 > 1:04:20where he was severely injured,

1:04:20 > 1:04:24that this will probably be the most difficult jump he's ever made.

1:04:25 > 1:04:28Hurt himself at Indio,

1:04:28 > 1:04:311967 at Caesar's Palace. Here he goes,

1:04:31 > 1:04:32and he will go.

1:04:49 > 1:04:51It was almost eerie, though.

1:04:52 > 1:04:54The motorcycle was ghostly.

1:04:54 > 1:04:57It was tumbling after him, sort of.

1:04:58 > 1:05:01Then it eventually landed on him.

1:05:10 > 1:05:11- COMMENTATOR:- He's down and he is hurt.

1:05:11 > 1:05:13Oh, my God.

1:05:17 > 1:05:19The man you now see leaning over Evel, he is John Hood,

1:05:19 > 1:05:21that's his chief mechanic.

1:05:21 > 1:05:24I knew, well, he's got to be hurt on this one

1:05:24 > 1:05:27and I knelt down and said, "Are you OK?"

1:05:27 > 1:05:29I got his helmet off and he said, "Help me up."

1:05:29 > 1:05:31He wanted the microphone.

1:05:31 > 1:05:33I want to stand up and walk, help me up.

1:05:33 > 1:05:36He's something else, he wants to talk, he's going to talk.

1:05:36 > 1:05:38CHEERING

1:05:41 > 1:05:43Ladies and gentlemen

1:05:43 > 1:05:46of this wonderful country...

1:05:48 > 1:05:49..I've got to tell you...

1:05:51 > 1:05:53..that you...

1:05:53 > 1:05:57are the last people in the world

1:05:57 > 1:05:59who will ever see me jump,

1:05:59 > 1:06:02because I will never, ever, ever jump again, I am through.

1:06:11 > 1:06:15That crash was one of the worst as far as injuries would go.

1:06:16 > 1:06:20He broke his hand, back, he broke his pelvis.

1:06:21 > 1:06:25After Wembley, I went home to edit. Phone rang.

1:06:25 > 1:06:28"Hello, Doug. Evel." He's calling me from his hospital room in London.

1:06:28 > 1:06:31"Doug, you can't use that quote."

1:06:31 > 1:06:32"What do you mean, Evel?"

1:06:32 > 1:06:36"You can't use that quote, the quote where I said I wouldn't jump again."

1:06:36 > 1:06:39I said, "Well, why?" He says, "Cos I may jump again."

1:06:39 > 1:06:41When the jump was over in London,

1:06:41 > 1:06:44I said that I'd never jump again.

1:06:44 > 1:06:48That was the pain in my body overpowering the brains

1:06:48 > 1:06:50that I'm supposed to have in my head.

1:06:50 > 1:06:52I will jump again,

1:06:52 > 1:06:53but 13 is an unlucky number.

1:06:54 > 1:06:57This time I'm going to jump 14 buses.

1:06:57 > 1:07:00Somehow, he gets the idea, "I am not going to go out with a crash.

1:07:00 > 1:07:02"I'm going to go back to the United States

1:07:02 > 1:07:04"and I'm going to jump 14 buses."

1:07:05 > 1:07:07That's just who he was.

1:07:07 > 1:07:09You can't do it and say you're the best in the world,

1:07:09 > 1:07:11then fall off and get up and say, "I quit."

1:07:11 > 1:07:13Not if you're Evel Knievel, you can't.

1:07:13 > 1:07:16- REPORTER:- The Kings Island family entertainment centre,

1:07:16 > 1:07:19located just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio,

1:07:19 > 1:07:22is jam-packed with people who have come to watch Evel Knievel

1:07:22 > 1:07:27out of retirement and here he comes right now, Robert Craig Knievel.

1:07:27 > 1:07:28Evel.

1:07:28 > 1:07:32A lot was riding on this jump. It was a different Evel.

1:07:32 > 1:07:34He actually did practice jumps.

1:07:35 > 1:07:36I'm going to go, Frank.

1:07:36 > 1:07:40There's no wind going to stop me, not even a hurricane.

1:07:41 > 1:07:42It was a very gutsy jump.

1:07:42 > 1:07:46The doctors told him, "Just don't ever do that again."

1:07:46 > 1:07:50One little slip, wrong thing, and he'd probably have been paralysed.

1:07:50 > 1:07:52- COMMENTATOR:- Well, everything is going...

1:07:58 > 1:08:02Total concentration now is getting that bike off the approach ramp

1:08:02 > 1:08:04and onto the landing ramp.

1:08:04 > 1:08:07DRAMATIC WESTERN-STYLE MUSIC

1:08:11 > 1:08:14And he's not hesitating, he'll go.

1:08:19 > 1:08:22CHEERING

1:08:32 > 1:08:33Boy.

1:08:33 > 1:08:36Busted the motorcycle right now, Frank.

1:08:36 > 1:08:38Boy, it did come apart, didn't it?

1:08:38 > 1:08:40Boy, did I hit hard.

1:08:42 > 1:08:44Thank you.

1:08:45 > 1:08:48This motorcycle is the finest machine in the world

1:08:48 > 1:08:51as far as I'm concerned. It broke in half,

1:08:51 > 1:08:54but it held me up and all I can say is thanks to Number One,

1:08:54 > 1:08:55thanks to Harley-Davidson,

1:08:55 > 1:08:59you've been so good to me through the years.

1:08:59 > 1:09:01I would like to tell all of you something now,

1:09:01 > 1:09:06that as far as I'm concerned, I have jumped far enough.

1:09:06 > 1:09:09Today I'm going to walk away from here with you.

1:09:09 > 1:09:12I feel that's being a professional, that's what I'm going to do.

1:09:12 > 1:09:14CHEERING

1:09:14 > 1:09:18Kings Island was the longest jump of his career.

1:09:18 > 1:09:20It was the biggest television audience he ever had

1:09:20 > 1:09:24and it was the highest-rated episode of Wide World Of Sports ever.

1:09:26 > 1:09:29He did some small jumps after that, but he never went that big again.

1:09:31 > 1:09:36Kings Island was the gunfighter putting away his pistols.

1:09:46 > 1:09:48If you're on a bike, you do stupid shit.

1:09:49 > 1:09:52But you do stupid shit in the name of Evel Knievel.

1:09:57 > 1:09:59There's no way that a youngster

1:09:59 > 1:10:02is not going to want to try to do what his hero does.

1:10:02 > 1:10:04I don't think there's anything wrong

1:10:04 > 1:10:06with a kid wanting to be an Evel Knievel

1:10:06 > 1:10:08any more than he'd want to be an OJ Simpson or Frank Gifford

1:10:08 > 1:10:10or any kind of a professional athlete.

1:10:10 > 1:10:13- Do you view him as a hero? - Yeah.- Do you really?

1:10:13 > 1:10:15Yeah, he's one of the greatest heroes.

1:10:15 > 1:10:18He was a hero to so many kids,

1:10:18 > 1:10:20but his own son was his biggest fan.

1:10:22 > 1:10:25- COMMENTATOR:- This is Robbie. Look at this little guy go.

1:10:25 > 1:10:28Wouldn't you know it would be the young one who would steal it?

1:10:28 > 1:10:31He's the one that's got to have the longest wheelie.

1:10:31 > 1:10:36He totally saw me in him. It was like, "I'm going to be you, Dad."

1:10:36 > 1:10:38And the legend continues.

1:10:38 > 1:10:40I want to jump the fountains at Caesar's Palace

1:10:40 > 1:10:41before I end my career.

1:10:50 > 1:10:52That was for you, Dad.

1:10:52 > 1:10:54Yeah, Robbie broke all of his dad's records.

1:10:54 > 1:10:57I mean, hell, he could jump 14 buses with no hands.

1:11:01 > 1:11:04But Robbie was jumping on lighter, more powerful bikes

1:11:04 > 1:11:06that were designed for jumping.

1:11:06 > 1:11:09He could jump further and longer than Evel and all that stuff,

1:11:09 > 1:11:10but it didn't matter.

1:11:10 > 1:11:13Robbie couldn't tell a story. He was not a showman.

1:11:13 > 1:11:15Knievel is the ultimate showman.

1:11:15 > 1:11:19I guy could sing longer and louder than Elvis Presley,

1:11:19 > 1:11:21but who gave a damn?

1:11:21 > 1:11:23He was Elvis Presley.

1:11:23 > 1:11:25My dad was Evel Knievel.

1:11:26 > 1:11:28AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

1:11:28 > 1:11:31APPLAUSE

1:11:31 > 1:11:32Even when Bobby wasn't jumping any more,

1:11:32 > 1:11:34he still wanted to be in the spotlight

1:11:34 > 1:11:38and he had to find other things to do to get himself attention.

1:11:38 > 1:11:40Yeah, one of his projects was Hollywood.

1:11:40 > 1:11:42- # Viva - Viva!

1:11:42 > 1:11:43# Viva Knievel... #

1:11:43 > 1:11:47In the end, there was one guy meant to be Evel Knievel

1:11:47 > 1:11:48and that was Evel.

1:11:50 > 1:11:52Evel had a movie star quality about him.

1:11:52 > 1:11:56There's no doubt about it. Not when he tried to act.

1:11:56 > 1:11:58Look at you, you're trying to destroy yourself.

1:11:58 > 1:12:00If you don't believe me, here's the proof.

1:12:00 > 1:12:03I'm not going to let you commit suicide around me.

1:12:05 > 1:12:08Uh, he performed for the audience,

1:12:08 > 1:12:10but when it came to the acting part,

1:12:10 > 1:12:12I guess there's a difference.

1:12:12 > 1:12:13..too far!

1:12:13 > 1:12:16- Stop it!- All right... - Stop it!- ..any way you want it, man!

1:12:16 > 1:12:17Stop it!

1:12:17 > 1:12:21Once it came out, it was a movie that wasn't really well received.

1:12:23 > 1:12:25# Viva! #

1:12:25 > 1:12:28I guess the exciting part's the jump, huh?

1:12:29 > 1:12:31HE EXHALES

1:12:32 > 1:12:34You know, we've got the Wallendas on the high wire

1:12:34 > 1:12:37and a mentalist at the edge of the canyon in a motorcycle, so...

1:12:37 > 1:12:40'When I knew I was going to take on the Snake River Canyon event,'

1:12:40 > 1:12:43I decided something very important -

1:12:43 > 1:12:45that I would write a book,

1:12:45 > 1:12:50a legacy that people could read about the Evel Knievel promotion

1:12:50 > 1:12:52of the Snake River Canyon.

1:12:52 > 1:12:55And Knievel, he was my 50/50 partner and he says,

1:12:55 > 1:13:00"Don't forget, just tell the truth," so with permission,

1:13:00 > 1:13:04I carried an audio cassette recorder during the Evel Knievel tour.

1:13:13 > 1:13:16If you listen to the tape, you can form your own opinion.

1:13:44 > 1:13:48So when I wrote my book, I kept out a lot of things,

1:13:48 > 1:13:49stuff I would never write about,

1:13:49 > 1:13:52cos, remember, when the book was coming out,

1:13:52 > 1:13:54I was still protecting his image.

1:13:54 > 1:13:56Evel's attorney, he checked everything,

1:13:56 > 1:13:59told me that it had Evel's approval in writing,

1:13:59 > 1:14:01then the book was published.

1:14:02 > 1:14:07I was at Evel's compound when he throws me this book.

1:14:07 > 1:14:11He says, "Here, keep this. May be worth some money some day."

1:14:11 > 1:14:15I open it up - here's all his footnotes in there.

1:14:15 > 1:14:19The first part of the book, "X-Rated Evel,"

1:14:19 > 1:14:21he writes in there, "Constitutes adultery."

1:14:23 > 1:14:25So right from the get go, you could tell he was mad.

1:14:25 > 1:14:29It just starts and you can tell, the farther it gets in the book,

1:14:29 > 1:14:32the madder he got. "This is a lie and not accurate."

1:14:34 > 1:14:35"Lies, lies, lies."

1:14:36 > 1:14:40I read the book and you know what? I said, "Yeah, what's the problem?"

1:14:41 > 1:14:45He could have said a lot more worse stuff.

1:14:45 > 1:14:48I read the book a couple of times and I didn't see anything in it bad,

1:14:48 > 1:14:53nothing. It was very factual, very, very, very factual.

1:14:53 > 1:14:58I think that Shelly that wrote it was, uh, accurate.

1:14:58 > 1:14:59And...

1:15:01 > 1:15:02..it made him really mad.

1:15:05 > 1:15:07I was on the 20th Century Fox lot

1:15:07 > 1:15:10and all of a sudden I saw Evel with a big smile coming at me,

1:15:10 > 1:15:13loping along.

1:15:13 > 1:15:16I was actually glad to see him. The book was out and I was like,

1:15:16 > 1:15:19"Maybe I can even talk him into doing some promotion with me."

1:15:19 > 1:15:20I said, "Hey, Evel!"

1:15:20 > 1:15:24And all of a sudden, my hands were held behind my back,

1:15:24 > 1:15:26they tell me it was two men, I don't know,

1:15:26 > 1:15:30it may have been one, it may have been two, and he came at me

1:15:30 > 1:15:33with a bat, an aluminium baseball bat.

1:15:33 > 1:15:36He said, "I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch."

1:15:36 > 1:15:39I did everything I could to defend myself

1:15:39 > 1:15:41and I remember putting my hand up and said,

1:15:41 > 1:15:43"What are you doing, what are you doing?!"

1:15:43 > 1:15:45I was fighting for my life and he was whaling on me

1:15:45 > 1:15:47and then I passed out.

1:15:50 > 1:15:52- REPORTER:- Knievel came to court

1:15:52 > 1:15:54accompanied by his wife Linda and his attorney.

1:15:54 > 1:15:57The 38-year-old daredevil faces charges of felony assault

1:15:57 > 1:15:58in the baseball bat attack

1:15:58 > 1:16:01on television executive Sheldon Saltman.

1:16:01 > 1:16:02Knievel could have gotten away with it.

1:16:02 > 1:16:05He could have if he would have just stopped being Knievel

1:16:05 > 1:16:06for ten minutes.

1:16:06 > 1:16:10It was a very interesting hour in Division 91 of municipal court

1:16:10 > 1:16:12in which Evel Knievel fired his attorney

1:16:12 > 1:16:14and entered a plea of guilty.

1:16:14 > 1:16:16He fires them and says to the judge,

1:16:16 > 1:16:20"Judge, I did it and I'd do it again. Do what you will with me."

1:16:21 > 1:16:24This old frontier justice thing.

1:16:25 > 1:16:28You know, in Butte, Montana, you settle things out in the street.

1:16:28 > 1:16:31You don't settle them with lawyers

1:16:31 > 1:16:37and Evel always settled it with his fists, or sometimes a tool helped.

1:16:37 > 1:16:39Not with a baseball bat.

1:16:40 > 1:16:42That's not Butte.

1:16:42 > 1:16:45I never knew of anybody in Butte that did that.

1:16:45 > 1:16:48If I did not think there was a much stronger judge some day

1:16:48 > 1:16:50that I will stand before called God than the judge

1:16:50 > 1:16:53I stood before in that courtroom in Santa Monica, California,

1:16:53 > 1:16:55I would have killed that lousy little bastard.

1:16:55 > 1:16:57I broke his arms with a baseball bat

1:16:57 > 1:16:59and I think that's just what he deserved.

1:16:59 > 1:17:00I'll guarantee one thing -

1:17:00 > 1:17:02he doesn't write anything else about me.

1:17:02 > 1:17:05- LAUGHTER - Well, but, I mean...!

1:17:05 > 1:17:08I think I was a sophomore at high school at the time

1:17:08 > 1:17:11and I was not proud of my dad for doing that.

1:17:11 > 1:17:12At all.

1:17:12 > 1:17:14Stuntman Evel Knievel got a jail sentence

1:17:14 > 1:17:18yesterday for beating his former press agent with a baseball bat.

1:17:18 > 1:17:21The judge told the 39-year-old motorcycle daredevil that

1:17:21 > 1:17:24while as a judge he found Knievel's admission of guilt

1:17:24 > 1:17:27as "refreshing", at the same time, Rafeedie said,

1:17:27 > 1:17:30"Long ago we abandoned frontier justice in California."

1:17:30 > 1:17:32With that, Rafeedie sentenced Knievel to six months in jail

1:17:32 > 1:17:34and three years' probation.

1:17:34 > 1:17:37The judge is a good judge and he's a fair judge.

1:17:37 > 1:17:39Of course, when he was in jail,

1:17:39 > 1:17:43it was like, I think, in his own way,

1:17:43 > 1:17:45he played it as a game.

1:17:49 > 1:17:51So he's in jail, but he's on work release,

1:17:51 > 1:17:54so he's only in there at night

1:17:54 > 1:17:57and he would have his chauffeur pick him up every morning

1:17:57 > 1:17:58and take him to the bar.

1:17:58 > 1:18:01- REPORTER:- Knievel believes in sharing the wealth,

1:18:01 > 1:18:03so this morning he hired a dozen limousines

1:18:03 > 1:18:07to transport his fellow work release inmates to their jobs.

1:18:07 > 1:18:12You know, putting him in jail, he got more press

1:18:12 > 1:18:13than anything else.

1:18:13 > 1:18:16There was no end to the shenanigans that guy would pull.

1:18:16 > 1:18:18- REPORTER:- The inmates were amazed,

1:18:18 > 1:18:21but the authorities were not so enthusiastic.

1:18:21 > 1:18:22Well, the judge got pissed

1:18:22 > 1:18:26and he revoked Evel's work release privileges.

1:18:26 > 1:18:28I was pissed off at him.

1:18:28 > 1:18:31He started believing the hype, that he was totally impervious

1:18:31 > 1:18:33and he could get away with anything.

1:18:33 > 1:18:35I don't think he thought about the public.

1:18:35 > 1:18:39Maybe if he did, he thought, "That's what they expect of me."

1:18:39 > 1:18:42The Ideal Toy Company, which manufactures the Evel Knievel toys,

1:18:42 > 1:18:45says it has already lost 1.6 million

1:18:45 > 1:18:47since Evel Knievel went into the county jail.

1:18:47 > 1:18:50We had a meeting at Ideal the next day or the day after.

1:18:52 > 1:18:59I said, "You know, we don't sell toys of murderers or gangsters

1:18:59 > 1:19:00"and stuff like that,

1:19:00 > 1:19:05"so therefore we are going to suspend sales in the United States."

1:19:07 > 1:19:08On the toy front,

1:19:08 > 1:19:12it may not be a merry Christmas for daredevil Evel Knievel.

1:19:12 > 1:19:17The contracts were cancelled and he lost a lot of money, yeah.

1:19:17 > 1:19:19It all started coming apart.

1:19:19 > 1:19:23# Any more it doesn't matter... #

1:19:23 > 1:19:26- REPORTER:- Knievel says his experience in jail was a good one,

1:19:26 > 1:19:29but that it has set him back financially.

1:19:29 > 1:19:34I hated to see him lose everything he'd worked for

1:19:34 > 1:19:35in ten minutes.

1:19:35 > 1:19:39When it was falling apart, it fell apart very quickly.

1:19:39 > 1:19:41The cars, the boats...

1:19:41 > 1:19:45..the Learjets, Ferraris, everything to go down the drain,

1:19:45 > 1:19:46that was hard.

1:19:46 > 1:19:50The house that we all loved got repossessed,

1:19:50 > 1:19:53because my dad didn't pay the property taxes.

1:19:53 > 1:19:56The bank came and got it and the IRS sold it.

1:19:56 > 1:19:59We loaded up all the furniture, everything of any value,

1:19:59 > 1:20:02from the saddles to guns and we would just bring

1:20:02 > 1:20:06so much out at a time and we'd have a garage sale.

1:20:06 > 1:20:09The arc of the Skycycle is like what happened to his career.

1:20:09 > 1:20:11He was at the pinnacle,

1:20:11 > 1:20:13then he destroyed his whole life.

1:20:15 > 1:20:17I just dropped out of sight and played golf.

1:20:17 > 1:20:20I just completely withdrew from the public.

1:20:21 > 1:20:25When I met him, he was in a bit of a low point.

1:20:25 > 1:20:29He was kind of just getting by, hustling golf.

1:20:29 > 1:20:32He might make a couple of hundred here, a couple of hundred here.

1:20:32 > 1:20:34He lived day to day at that time.

1:20:34 > 1:20:37He didn't keep the fact that he was married a secret or anything

1:20:37 > 1:20:41and in two weeks, I packed up what I wanted to take with me

1:20:41 > 1:20:43and we went on the road.

1:20:43 > 1:20:45# It's over... #

1:20:45 > 1:20:47And I just let it go at that.

1:20:47 > 1:20:49To heck with it, you know?

1:20:49 > 1:20:52After 38 years of somebody telling you what to do...

1:20:54 > 1:20:56..I didn't like him.

1:20:56 > 1:20:57# It's over... #

1:20:57 > 1:20:59I didn't like him.

1:21:01 > 1:21:05# Nobody wins. #

1:21:13 > 1:21:15You could see that his health was declining,

1:21:15 > 1:21:17he was getting worse all the time.

1:21:17 > 1:21:22He had a hip replacement, a pelvis reconstruction, a spinal fusion,

1:21:22 > 1:21:25a liver transplant, seven or eight bouts of staph infection.

1:21:26 > 1:21:29I have hepatitis C and I've got to do blood transfusions

1:21:29 > 1:21:32and I've been told by the doctors five years ago

1:21:32 > 1:21:34that I didn't have five years to live.

1:21:34 > 1:21:36I'm taking it one day at a time.

1:21:36 > 1:21:39Yeah, you felt sorry for him. I did, really.

1:21:39 > 1:21:41I thought, "You're really hurting."

1:21:41 > 1:21:44MUSIC: If You're Gonna Be Dumb... by Smut Peddlers

1:21:44 > 1:21:48# If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

1:21:48 > 1:21:52# When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up

1:21:52 > 1:21:55# I ain't the sharpest rig in the ten pack but I know enough...

1:21:55 > 1:21:59# To know - if you're gonna be dumb you gotta be tough... #

1:22:01 > 1:22:05Then the '90s come around and motorcycle jumping was just one part

1:22:05 > 1:22:10of this whole new, huge thing called "action sports".

1:22:10 > 1:22:12It's amazing how quickly the sports progressed,

1:22:12 > 1:22:15the multimillion, motorcycle-jumping,

1:22:15 > 1:22:17skateboard-riding, surfing industry.

1:22:17 > 1:22:21It's definitely come a long way from daredevils to professionals.

1:22:23 > 1:22:24In 2006, I was able to land

1:22:24 > 1:22:27the first double backflip on a dirt bike.

1:22:27 > 1:22:29No-one ever thought that that was possible.

1:22:29 > 1:22:32The bikes have evolved, the riding has evolved.

1:22:32 > 1:22:35They have coaches, they have schools, they have camps,

1:22:35 > 1:22:36but the spirit will never die

1:22:36 > 1:22:39and Evel was the one that set our foundation for the future.

1:22:39 > 1:22:40MUSIC: Fun Fun Fun by Big Boys

1:22:40 > 1:22:43# Fun, fun, fun, that's what we play

1:22:45 > 1:22:48# Fun, fun, fun, no matter what they think... #

1:22:49 > 1:22:52Evel Knievel was always in the back of my mind,

1:22:52 > 1:22:55and it wasn't like we had forgotten about him.

1:22:55 > 1:22:57We just didn't really know what he was up to

1:22:57 > 1:23:00and I think that people started asking what he was up to.

1:23:00 > 1:23:04- ANNOUNCER:- ..and the one and only OG, Evel Knievel!

1:23:04 > 1:23:07It was great to see a new generation understand

1:23:07 > 1:23:09how important he was to us.

1:23:09 > 1:23:11Somehow, we raised his profile again,

1:23:11 > 1:23:13but he deserved that all along.

1:23:13 > 1:23:17He greatly appreciated that the kids paid their respects to him

1:23:17 > 1:23:19and they did and he was amazed.

1:23:19 > 1:23:21Don't ever forget,

1:23:21 > 1:23:25you can fall many times in life,

1:23:25 > 1:23:30but you will never be a failure as long as you try to get up.

1:23:31 > 1:23:34I think my dad liked his role as an elder statesman

1:23:34 > 1:23:35at the end of his life.

1:23:35 > 1:23:38He thought it was really cool and where he deserved to be,

1:23:38 > 1:23:39deservedly so.

1:23:39 > 1:23:43I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next 20 years

1:23:43 > 1:23:45if I'm so lucky to live that long.

1:23:45 > 1:23:49I had to have a hip replacement, a complete hip replacement,

1:23:49 > 1:23:50I had to have a...

1:23:53 > 1:23:55You guys, I'm really having problems.

1:23:57 > 1:23:59Why don't we...?

1:23:59 > 1:24:00Please.

1:24:01 > 1:24:04After a lifetime of injuries and surgeries,

1:24:04 > 1:24:07the thing that really kicked his ass was lung disease.

1:24:09 > 1:24:14If you'd asked him, "Would you rather have lived this long, Bobby,

1:24:14 > 1:24:16"and be this sick,

1:24:16 > 1:24:20"or died at the end of the ramp?"

1:24:20 > 1:24:22I think he would have chosen the end of the ramp.

1:24:24 > 1:24:27The last couple of years of his life were hell.

1:24:27 > 1:24:31He was having trouble breathing and being in that living hell...

1:24:32 > 1:24:35..he put his life in perspective.

1:24:36 > 1:24:40I think he probably thought a lot about the things he'd done

1:24:40 > 1:24:43and thought about how badly he'd treated some people.

1:24:47 > 1:24:50He was preparing for the end on every level.

1:24:50 > 1:24:54He righted a lot of wrongs with people,

1:24:54 > 1:24:56because he felt like that was important.

1:24:56 > 1:24:58It became important to him.

1:25:01 > 1:25:03He told me that he had led a life

1:25:03 > 1:25:05that he was ashamed of in a lot of ways

1:25:05 > 1:25:08and he was just trying to talk to the people

1:25:08 > 1:25:12that had "truly meant something to him," is the way he put it,

1:25:12 > 1:25:13and put it right.

1:25:15 > 1:25:19He said to me, "I was so sick."

1:25:19 > 1:25:22He said, "I was just a sick person

1:25:22 > 1:25:25"with women, I was so wrong."

1:25:25 > 1:25:28And I said, "Aw, Dad, it's so good to hear you say that."

1:25:30 > 1:25:34He tried to make amends with people at the end, and that's great,

1:25:34 > 1:25:36but it's kind of tough to put the toothpaste

1:25:36 > 1:25:38back in the tube at that point.

1:25:38 > 1:25:39He caused a lot of hurt.

1:25:41 > 1:25:44Well, first time I ever heard him say, "I'm sorry."

1:25:44 > 1:25:47He was pretty much on his deathbed.

1:25:47 > 1:25:49Yeah.

1:25:49 > 1:25:51He just said, "I'm sorry," that was it.

1:25:53 > 1:25:58Do you know, the most important thing in life

1:25:58 > 1:26:00that really counts?

1:26:00 > 1:26:02Your scorecard with God.

1:26:02 > 1:26:05The real Bob Knievel, the Bobby Knievel,

1:26:05 > 1:26:09that's the guy that I knew and that's the guy that I loved.

1:26:10 > 1:26:14And that's the guy that was emerging back out of the slime.

1:26:14 > 1:26:17And... And, uh, I was moved by it.

1:26:22 > 1:26:24I talked to him the night before he died.

1:26:24 > 1:26:28He said, "You gotta do me a favour." I says, "OK, what?"

1:26:28 > 1:26:31He said, "Say a prayer for me once in a while."

1:26:33 > 1:26:35I said, "OK, all right, all right,"

1:26:35 > 1:26:37and he says, "Hey, I'm worse than you think."

1:26:39 > 1:26:43I was on the phone with Evel and he started coughing.

1:26:44 > 1:26:46And the phone dropped

1:26:46 > 1:26:48and he went unconscious.

1:26:53 > 1:26:55- TEARFULLY:- So that was it.

1:26:55 > 1:26:56Mmm.

1:26:58 > 1:27:00But it was hard.

1:27:00 > 1:27:02I wasn't ready.

1:27:05 > 1:27:07But he was ready.

1:27:09 > 1:27:10And that's what was important.

1:27:18 > 1:27:23You just never thought that Evel was going to die.

1:27:24 > 1:27:28You know, he was indestructible, and then...

1:27:29 > 1:27:31it...

1:27:31 > 1:27:33It just reminded you that he was human.

1:27:36 > 1:27:39I didn't lose the daredevil.

1:27:42 > 1:27:45I lost this little kid who at one time I thought was my brother.

1:27:48 > 1:27:51That's the indelible Knievel to me.

1:27:54 > 1:27:57I still think he's a superhero.

1:27:59 > 1:28:02Yeah, I know a more complete story now

1:28:02 > 1:28:06and some of the stuff is really heartbreaking, you know?

1:28:06 > 1:28:09But to me, what he did

1:28:09 > 1:28:11transcends that.

1:28:12 > 1:28:15Most of us don't take chances in our lives.

1:28:15 > 1:28:17Most of us aren't willing to lay it on the line,

1:28:17 > 1:28:19so to speak, like he was.

1:28:20 > 1:28:26What my dad did, nobody's ever going to do again.

1:28:26 > 1:28:28But there's a little Evel in all of us.

1:28:30 > 1:28:33I guess I'd like to have him remembered as...

1:28:35 > 1:28:38..a man who, when he was down, got back up.

1:28:40 > 1:28:42You know? He never quit.

1:28:46 > 1:28:48I think, in fairness to him,

1:28:48 > 1:28:54they should not remember the evil that Evel did.

1:28:54 > 1:28:58Instead, he should be remembered for the good things he did.

1:29:00 > 1:29:01In times of stress,

1:29:01 > 1:29:06I believe somebody on a white horse wearing a white hat will arrive.

1:29:06 > 1:29:09That's the American way.

1:29:09 > 1:29:10Life's pretty tough.

1:29:12 > 1:29:15Life can be pretty fucking tough and, uh...

1:29:18 > 1:29:20..you need your heroes, man.

1:29:24 > 1:29:26He used to always say to me, he says,

1:29:26 > 1:29:28"That canyon has not moved one inch

1:29:28 > 1:29:31"and I do not see a big, long line of daredevils waiting to jump it."

1:29:31 > 1:29:37MUSIC: Show Me The Way by Peter Frampton

1:29:48 > 1:29:51# I want you

1:29:51 > 1:29:55# Show me the way

1:29:55 > 1:29:58# I want you

1:29:58 > 1:30:02# Show me the way, yeah

1:30:02 > 1:30:05# I want you

1:30:05 > 1:30:09# Day after day... #