Motorbike stunt performer Evel Knievel (Sam Elliott), his manager Jack (Noble Willingham) and his mechanic G.R. (Gary Barton) are on the way to what might be their biggest event yet, a "battle of the sexes", where Evel is to compete with female stunt biker Tracy Butler (Karen Philipp), whose talent if not popularity match his own. However, the show seems to be under a bad star from the get-go as the promoter and Tracy's manager, Darrell (Michael Anderson jr), tries to get out of paying Evel's fee, his ramps are not up to the security standards Evel has demanded, and he's just a general asshole, especially towards Tracy, whom he sees as his possession. Tracy on the other hand gets along with Evel just fine, even if she publicly calls him a "stupid chauvinist", and of course it's not long before tender romance blossoms. So it's not long before Evel makes a bet with Darrell, should he lose the "battle of the sexes", he will sign on with Darrell for a year, but if he wins, he gets Tracy's contract. And wouldn't you know it, the night before the event, Evel's bike is damaged, and it takes all of G.R.'s ingenuity to fix it in time, and there are death threats made against both Evel and Tracy ... and yet Evel performs, and when he jumps over a row of cars - his bread-and-butter stunt, several of them explode in an attempt to kill him. Of course they were remote-controlled by Darrell, and of course Evel survives and then chases after Darrell on his motorbike, and of course in the end justice is served.

In the mid-1970's, daredevil motorbike stunt performer Evel Knievel was pretty much at the height of his success, as he had successfully managed to cross over from live performances into mass media, had a toyline based on him and his stage persona, had several endorsement deals, and even a film, also called Evel Knievel, from 1971 about him mwith George Hamilton in the lead.

So probably, an attempt to turn his stage persona into a TV series character fighting crime was inevitable - however, this enterprise wasn't even half as successful as many of Knievel's other ventures at the time, and the series never got past a pilot. And watching the pilot, it's easy to guess why: For one, it's rather poorly written, placing too much of a bet on its lead as a draw to actually afford him an interesting story with mystery, plottwists and the like - instead this one is as straight-forward as TV can get, the good and bad guys are immediately recognizable, Evel and company suspect foul play from square one and are quick to finger the baddie, and the attempt of the villain to get rid of Evel is too blunt and predictable to spark much interest. On top of that, all the motorcycle stunts don't look very impressive on the small screen, especially when cobbled together in typical 1970s TV stunt mode that puts the quick and functional over elaborate spectacle. That said, seen from today's point of view, it's fun TV nostalgia - but nothing more.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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