Winnebago Man
Winnebago Man
NR | 09 July 2010 (USA)
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Jack Rebney is the most famous man you've never heard of - after cursing his way through a Winnebago sales video, Rebney's outrageously funny outtakes became an underground sensation and made him an internet superstar. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer journeys to the top of a mountain to find the recluse who unwittingly became the "Winnebago Man".

Reviews
Limerculer

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

TaryBiggBall

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

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Invaderbank

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

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Verity Robins

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

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SnoopyStyle

Ben Steinbauer has been one of the many fans of the bootleg outtakes on VHS tapes of a Winnebago industrial promotional film. He is obsessed with the angry Jack Rebney swearing his way through the filming. Jack seems to be a tough man to find until Ben finds him as a zen-like caretaker of a remote fishing camp in northern California. Later, Jack reveals his true foul-mouthed angry old guy persona as Ben convinces him to meet his fans.I didn't see the found footage tapes before this movie. After watching this film, I watched the footage and can see why it has gathered such a cult following. It's hilarious. The non-stop flow of expletives builds to a funny short. His angry tirades just keep coming. As for this documentary, it takes that tape and does the expected route of tracking Jack down. He doesn't disappoint. He's a grumpy old man and everybody knows at least one in real life. He has a quaint charm and one can't hate on the old guy going blind. Although the narrations could be cut back.

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hte-trasme

The concept for this documentary was intriguing and filled with promise, and the piece of film that inspired it was not only very funny but mysteriously appealing beneath its surface. While we watch Jack Rebney the RV salesman, we simultaneously feel on the one hand that he sounds like a an angry, overbearing, foul-mouthed, pompous blowhard -- and on the other hand we feel for him being trapped in a horrible, humiliating situation, and appreciate him for colorfully expressing the mountainous frustration that we come to feel along with him. With this documentary, history repeats itself. Jack is placed in just as frustrating a situation, and is just as eloquently, extraordinarily, literately uncouth about it. And that makes it an entertaining film -- inadvertently. In the end, "Winnebago Man" is not a deliberate success, but it's ironically a mesmerizing vehicle for the strangely interesting man that Jack Rebney is in the same way as the corny Winnebago ad that inspired it. And you get the sense that Ben Steinbauer is rightly as irritating to Jack as Tony, the hundred-degree heat, and the flies were in 1989. Steinbauer wants to find the man in the video and make a film about him, but despite this he seems to make no effort to understand him. In fact, he almost seems determined not to understand him. Jack is a literate, opinionated man who wants to express his views about the world. Steinbauer says Jack sent him columns and the draft of a book, but doesn't say anything that even suggests he read them. He says he wants to understand Jack, but asks him quests he specifically doesn't want to answer, and ignored he organic attempts to talk. I can't help but think that more would have been achieved by letting the cameras roll as the subject was allowed to relax and speak his mind. Instead Steinbauer condescendingly tries to drive him to town so that he can buy a video camera (which, owning a computer, I expect he could have already acquired if he wanted it) to post on YouTube (a medium he hates). In the end, there are some moments that consist mostly of what Steinbauer has filmed occurring at a live stage event, and Rebney does get to speak his mind rather insightfully if briefly about the appeal of the video itself. Some points have to be awarded for this being an entertaining film -- but the only credit the filmmaker gets for that is for physically finding an entertaining subject and owning a video camera. His lack of curiosity about the man he finds seems to miss the entire point of this kind of film.

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robocopssadside-1

*mild spoilers* Ben Steinbauer takes us on journey into the mountains of California in search of an internet cult icon.In 1988, Jack Rebney was filming a marketing video for Winnebago. It was a two-week shoot in the heat of summer, and the guy just simply goes bananas (if you have never seen it, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWUWPx2VeQ). While the edited video gets sent off to Winnebago to be used as a sales pitch, a 4-minute VHS outtakes reel is being passed around by crew-members; it eventually ends up in the hands of collectors and is copied an uncountable amount of times. Years later, the internet blows up and gives birth to video sites i.e. Youtube, and Jack Rebney is instantly a viral superstar.The quest is for Ben to find out how Mr. Rebney, now twenty years older, feels about being dubbed the Winnebago Man, aka The Angriest Man in the World; or to see if he knows of his popularity at all.Jack Rebney is a person everyone in life has most likely known at one point or another. He is the older man that pulls off being grumpy and charming simultaneously. He is a wizard with profanity, and uses body language that demonstrates his disdain. For many of us, he is the anti-hero we long to be during those times of stress and irritability.Ben Steinbauer has created something hilarious and moving with "Winnebago Man". His efforts in finding someone that is a legend to some are truly sincere. The deeper this documentary goes into Ben's pursuit, the more you learn about a person that is slightly different from what you would expect. There are a few moments where I felt Ben was prying too much with things involving Rebney's life, but I do not think he was trying to be nosy, just overly enthusiastic. This would be perfect to watch back-to-back with "Best Worst Movie". A high recommendation to fans of comedy documentaries.

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ianfarkas9

Summary: If you are like me, one of the greatest days of your life was the day you discovered "The Winnebago Man", a compilation of outtakes from a promotional video gone horribly awry. The reason for the brilliance of the video is a man named Jack Rebney, a man who forgot his lines, mercilessly harassed the crew, and commented on the idiotic nature of his own dialogue. After recovering from the epidemic of laughter that swept through the land, America was left with just one question: Who is Jack Rebney? Ben Steinbauer, a documentarian with nobility in his heart and courage in his mind, decided to step up to the plate and take the daunting task of tracking down Mr. Rebney. After multiple Google searches and a visit to a private detective, Steinbauer finally finds the true Jack Rebney, although the results are initially disappointing. A sweet, well spoken old man who lives a life of monk-like solitude in a remote cabin expresses remorse at his coarse language and attitude he adhered to in the past. Steinbauer, seemingly defeated, retreats back home, only to be contacted by Rebney a few weeks later with a startling confession: the innocent Jack Rebney Ben had met before was a charade, and the real Jack was dying to get out. From this point, we begin to see Jack Rebney as he truly is: a bitter, cantankerous, but somehow lovable old man who has an affinity for cursing. Review: Over the next hour, we begin to see a genuine relationship grow between Ben and Jack, and this relationship is easily the strongpoint of the movie. Ben's patience and gentle nature acts as a perfect antithesis to Jack's short-fused attitude and explosive personality. As the two begin to bond, the audience takes a trip through Rebney's mind, finding potential clues as to why The Winnebago Man is the disgruntled, frustrated shell of a man he is now. Although the movie never probes as deep into Rebney's psyche as it ought to, leaving many questions posed at the beginning unanswered, it still provides a fascinating look at a terminally angry man. Although this journey through the mind could end up being dark and depressing due to the somewhat tragic nature of its subject, Rebney throws in enough absurdist quips throughout the movie to keep things light and entertaining, creating the perfect mix of comedy and drama. And yes, the movie is quite funny at certain points (a live appearance by Rebney at a comedy club left me in stitches.) Overall, Winnebago man fails on some level by sidestepping some of the darker elements of Rebney's character, but it more than makes up for it with a great dynamic between the two leads and some genuinely funny moments.

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