plot in the dark. As Knievel prepares for the jump (down a massive ramp and over a fire pit), Jessie—hopped up on drugs—confronts Evel, claiming that he will prove who the best jumper is. Jessie knocks Evel out and dresses in Knievel's signature red, white, and blue outfit. Jessie then successfully makes the jump, however, the bike has been sabotaged and he is killed as he lands (footage from a real Knievel crash was used). While the body is taken away for the drug smuggling plot, Evel wakes up, gets on another bike, and goes to free Will. After breaking out of the psych ward, the two find the mockup trailer, in which, by an amazing coincidence, both Tommy and Kate have been taken hostage. Pursuing the truck, Will and Evel decide to split up: Will will disable the semi, Evel will lead off the gun-toting drug lords riding guard in another car. At the end of several extended chase scenes, the drug lords are defeated, Will and his son are reunited, and Kate has fallen head over heels for Knievel. The film ends with Knievel performing a daredevil jump over a pit of fire, this time successfully. The end jump is stopped in a freeze-frame shot and a color matte, similar to that of the one that appears in the opening credits, appears over Evel in mid-air. The song that plays over the opening credits also plays over the film's end credits. Cast Production The production was done under the Irwin Allen banner, with Allen serving as the uncredited Supervisor Producer. Irwin Allen's wife, Sheila Allen, has a credited role as Sister Charity. For the more dangerous motorcycle stunts, the producers hired the professional stuntman Gary Charles Davis. However, Davis' role in the production was kept under wraps to avoid questions about Knievel himself performing his own motorcycle stunts. The original footage used for Jessie's failed jump was from Evel Knievel's May 1975 crash at Wembley Stadium. To allow for a love interest to occur with Lauren Hutton's character, Evel is apparently single and there is no mention of Knievel's then-wife, Linda, or his (at the time) three children. Popular culture reception The film premiered in June 1977, three months before Knievel and his associates attacked promoter Shelly Saltman with an aluminum baseball bat on September 21, 1977. With Knievel losing most of his sponsorship and marketing deals as