The production behind George Hamilton's Evel Knievel included a petty, theatrical battle over the screenplay that has become a favorite Hollywood anecdote. The original script by Alan Caillou did not satisfy Hamilton, who offered writer John Milius $5,000 to add lines. Milius recalled driving out to Hamilton's Palm Springs home, reading the Caillou draft and deciding it was 'terrible' — so much so that he literally tossed it into the swimming pool and beat it with an oar before writing a fresh script. The stunt is emblematic: Milius' rewrite hardened the character into a more bombastic, sociopathic showman and helped define the film's darker comic tone. The incident also exposed creative tensions — Hamilton later praised Milius' results but Milius' anecdote includes contempt for both the original draft and hints of Hamilton's own self-mythologizing, with Milius calling him 'a wonderful guy... a great con-man.' The story lives on as a piece of New Hollywood lore about writers, egos, and the sometimes literal destruction of bad scripts.
Preparing the daily feature…
AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The Script in the Swimming Pool: John Milius' Brutal Rewrite of Evel Knievel
John Milius / Evel Knievel (1971 film) / 1970s
The production behind George Hamilton's Evel Knievel included a petty, theatrical battle over the screenplay that has become a favorite Hollywood anecdote. The original script by Alan Caillou did not satisfy Hamilton, who offered writer John Milius $5,000 to add lines. Milius recalled driving out to Hamilton's Palm Springs home, reading the Caillou draft and deciding it was 'terrible' — so much so that he literally tossed it into the swimming pool and beat it with an oar before writing a fresh script. The stunt is emblematic: Milius' rewrite hardened the character into a more bombastic, sociopathic showman and helped define the film's darker comic tone. The incident also exposed creative tensions — Hamilton later praised Milius' results but Milius' anecdote includes contempt for both the original draft and hints of Hamilton's own self-mythologizing, with Milius calling him 'a wonderful guy... a great con-man.' The story lives on as a piece of New Hollywood lore about writers, egos, and the sometimes literal destruction of bad scripts.
The daily feature is taking an intermission. There’s still an entire archive to explore.