Directed by Ben Steinbauer
Starring Jack Rebney
Runtime 85 minutes - Not Rated (NSFW)
4 Stars (out of 4)
"Winnebago Man" is the pinnacle, nexus, and cornerstone of my Quirky Documentary series. It's available on Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, Fandor, and pretty much every other streaming service you can find. Which means there's no excuse for not watching it.
Starring Jack Rebney
Runtime 85 minutes - Not Rated (NSFW)
4 Stars (out of 4)
"Winnebago Man" is the pinnacle, nexus, and cornerstone of my Quirky Documentary series. It's available on Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, Fandor, and pretty much every other streaming service you can find. Which means there's no excuse for not watching it.
I have posted updates to this review, including some great videos featuring Jack Rebney, on a separate post. You can check it out by clicking here.
When I started doing a series about offbeat documentaries, "Winnebago Man" was actually at the top of my list. Actually, after seeing it again for this review I'm shocked that I haven't written about it before now. It's simultaneously funny and moving. This may be the top film of all time in terms of sheer entertainment value. I'll concede that this documentary won't bring attention to any important social issues, but that doesn't mean it can't make the world a better place. Anything that gives us a better understanding of humanity has real-world value in my opinion.
If you aren't familiar with the subject of "Winnebago Man", Jack Rebney, then allow me to introduce him. This introduction to Rebney has been shared by millions, including the director of this film, Ben Steinbauer.
What makes this video unique is that it was viral long before it was posted to YouTube. Though it looks like a commercial, it's actually an industrial film. That's basically a commercial made specifically for employees of a company, in this case Winnebago. As you can see, Jack Rebney gets a bit frustrated when things go wrong. The other employees working on the film didn't take kindly to Jack's profane outbursts. It was one (or more) of those crewman who put together this video and sent it to Winnebago's corporate offices. Rebney was fired shortly after. The video didn't stop though. It was dubbed on a VHS tape and shown to friends. Those friends dubbed other cassettes and gave those to friends. Before long the video was an underground phenomenon on a national level. It's funny how much this echoes another recent documentary I reviewed called "Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure", which was about pre-YouTube audio recordings that went viral. Both movies are notable for a mind-boggling level of swearing as well.
Steinbauer uses the first act of the film to explore the effect viral videos have on their stars. After all, fame isn't nearly as good when you didn't ask for it and you don't get paid for it. He starts by sharing the story of "Star Wars kid". He made a video of himself pretending to swing a golf club like a lightsaber. A kid using his imagination and playing make-believe isn't all that uncommon. Unfortunately, this kid was on video that got posted to YouTube where it received millions of views. It was basically an indirect form of bullying on the part of his schoolmates. The boy was embarrassed to the point he needed psychiatric care and eventually a lawsuit was filed against his classmates.
The director wonders aloud if Jack Rebney had suffered a similar amount of embarrassment. He sets out to find him and ask him face-to-face. Steinbauer begins his quest the way anybody else would these days; Google. Besides the obvious Winnebago Man results, the only Jack Rebney reference he finds is an ad about yachts. The peculiar wording of the ad is reminiscent of Rebney, but that's not much to go on. The next step is to hire a private investigator. Even with his extra resources, the P.I. finds very little. The only official contacts listed for Jack Rebney are P.O. boxes. It's as if he's hid himself away from the rest of the world. Does the viral video have something to do with it?
Steinbauer sends letters to every P.O. box on the list he received from the investigator. Miraculously, one of them made it to Jack, who responded with a phone call shortly after. They set up a meeting. Jack is living on a mountaintop in northern California where he lives in a tiny cabin and takes care of some campgrounds at a lake. He's the picture of tranquility. No swearing, no anger, just a gentle old man living out his days in the wilderness. It's not what you'd expect after seeing the Winnebago video. It's not what Ben Steinbauer expected either.
After returning home, Ben starts getting regular phone calls from Jack. They chat about mundane topics for a couple of weeks. After they build some rapport, Jack drops a bombshell. It was all an act; a ruse to convince the world that he's content. Jack promises that their next meeting will be much different than the first. This time he's going to keep it real.
So what is the real Jack Rebney like? To quote one of his long-time fans, "I wasn't disappointed at all." The man projects charisma in equal abundance to profanity. His colorful verbal talents are but one aspect of his life. He has a rich history in journalism dating back to the days of Cronkite and Murrow. When classic journalism morphed into the more opinion-based broadcasts that we know today, Rebney decided to quit the profession on principal. He's also knowledgeable, and emphatic, about politics. This was filmed during the Bush/Cheney presidency and Rebney believed that the current administration was flushing the world down the tubes. That feeling may not have been uncommon, but the strength of Rebney's convictions were substantial. The biggest reason he agreed to work with Steinbauer is the chance he may be able to share his political views. He had even sent the director a manuscript from a book he was working on about politics.
So the Winnebago Man was alive, and he wanted to talk. The only problem was, he didn't want to talk about himself. Childhood? "Stick it up your ass." Marriage? "If you keep fucking around we're not doing this." Anything that approached these personal topics is met with such answers.
The aversion to existential discussions made the film a long, arduous journey. We get to learn a lot about Jack in the 85 minutes we spend with him. It took Ben Steinbauer three years to reach that same point. There's a moment towards the end where Jack is forced to confront a world that he had long since disowned. It's a transformative moment in the film and quite possibly in Jack's life. He finds something that he had lost long ago; hope. It turns out that the gap between himself and his fans isn't quite as big as he had imagined. When he's meeting these people who he's been unwittingly entertaining for years, there's a sparkle in his eyes. Maybe I'm the only one, but I found this resolution of the film to be profoundly moving.
Don't underestimate the humor of the film based on my last paragraph. My favorite section of the movie is when Jack is departing on a trip to San Francisco. He has a dog with the extremely ironic name of "Buddha". He's urging Buddha to stay put on the porch while he gets in the car. "Stay Buddha. Buddha Stay. Stay on the porch Buddha. Buddha, porch!" Finally, as he's entering the car, he turns back to the porch and says, "Fuck you Buddha."
The YouTube video of Rebney is often titled "Angriest man in the world." It's simply not true. The swearing is just part of his vernacular and is used to show affection more often than anger. Buddha, for instance, is easily the most beloved thing in Jack's life. He wouldn't curse his dog just for the sake of anger. That's the contradiction that is Jack Rebney. He's a shut-in who lives in a cabin with just his dog. He's got shotguns and rifles. He hates pretty much everything about modern society. If you gave me that description of a man, I'd assume he's to the far right of the political spectrum. Jack is just the opposite. His language is another example. He often speaks in a way that shows an above average intellect only to have his next thought be laced with vulgarities. Sometimes Jack reaches so far into his bag of vocabulary that I suspect he's just making words up. But at some point in history, weren't all words made up?
With that thought I realize that writing a review at 4:30am is probably not a brilliant idea. I'll be proofreading and editing tomorrow and I can only hope to avoid a complete rewrite. I truly hope you seek out this film. It's readily available on most streaming services for free, or at least very cheap. I have a inflated sense of pride in my quirky documentary series and I consider "Winnebago Man" to be my prime source of inspiration. It was one of the earliest examples of offbeat documentary filmmaking that I ran across and certainly the best I had seen. Without it, I would probably still be ignorant of a whole genre. It was an absolute pleasure to re-watch the film for this review and it will be a pleasure the next time I watch it also. The original outtake video that spawned this documentary is my go-to for laughs. It's the only viral video that can bring a smile to my face when I'm in a funk. But when I need some thinking with my laughing, "Winnebago Man" is my ultimate solution.
Steinbauer uses the first act of the film to explore the effect viral videos have on their stars. After all, fame isn't nearly as good when you didn't ask for it and you don't get paid for it. He starts by sharing the story of "Star Wars kid". He made a video of himself pretending to swing a golf club like a lightsaber. A kid using his imagination and playing make-believe isn't all that uncommon. Unfortunately, this kid was on video that got posted to YouTube where it received millions of views. It was basically an indirect form of bullying on the part of his schoolmates. The boy was embarrassed to the point he needed psychiatric care and eventually a lawsuit was filed against his classmates.
The director wonders aloud if Jack Rebney had suffered a similar amount of embarrassment. He sets out to find him and ask him face-to-face. Steinbauer begins his quest the way anybody else would these days; Google. Besides the obvious Winnebago Man results, the only Jack Rebney reference he finds is an ad about yachts. The peculiar wording of the ad is reminiscent of Rebney, but that's not much to go on. The next step is to hire a private investigator. Even with his extra resources, the P.I. finds very little. The only official contacts listed for Jack Rebney are P.O. boxes. It's as if he's hid himself away from the rest of the world. Does the viral video have something to do with it?
Steinbauer sends letters to every P.O. box on the list he received from the investigator. Miraculously, one of them made it to Jack, who responded with a phone call shortly after. They set up a meeting. Jack is living on a mountaintop in northern California where he lives in a tiny cabin and takes care of some campgrounds at a lake. He's the picture of tranquility. No swearing, no anger, just a gentle old man living out his days in the wilderness. It's not what you'd expect after seeing the Winnebago video. It's not what Ben Steinbauer expected either.
After returning home, Ben starts getting regular phone calls from Jack. They chat about mundane topics for a couple of weeks. After they build some rapport, Jack drops a bombshell. It was all an act; a ruse to convince the world that he's content. Jack promises that their next meeting will be much different than the first. This time he's going to keep it real.
So what is the real Jack Rebney like? To quote one of his long-time fans, "I wasn't disappointed at all." The man projects charisma in equal abundance to profanity. His colorful verbal talents are but one aspect of his life. He has a rich history in journalism dating back to the days of Cronkite and Murrow. When classic journalism morphed into the more opinion-based broadcasts that we know today, Rebney decided to quit the profession on principal. He's also knowledgeable, and emphatic, about politics. This was filmed during the Bush/Cheney presidency and Rebney believed that the current administration was flushing the world down the tubes. That feeling may not have been uncommon, but the strength of Rebney's convictions were substantial. The biggest reason he agreed to work with Steinbauer is the chance he may be able to share his political views. He had even sent the director a manuscript from a book he was working on about politics.
So the Winnebago Man was alive, and he wanted to talk. The only problem was, he didn't want to talk about himself. Childhood? "Stick it up your ass." Marriage? "If you keep fucking around we're not doing this." Anything that approached these personal topics is met with such answers.
The aversion to existential discussions made the film a long, arduous journey. We get to learn a lot about Jack in the 85 minutes we spend with him. It took Ben Steinbauer three years to reach that same point. There's a moment towards the end where Jack is forced to confront a world that he had long since disowned. It's a transformative moment in the film and quite possibly in Jack's life. He finds something that he had lost long ago; hope. It turns out that the gap between himself and his fans isn't quite as big as he had imagined. When he's meeting these people who he's been unwittingly entertaining for years, there's a sparkle in his eyes. Maybe I'm the only one, but I found this resolution of the film to be profoundly moving.
Don't underestimate the humor of the film based on my last paragraph. My favorite section of the movie is when Jack is departing on a trip to San Francisco. He has a dog with the extremely ironic name of "Buddha". He's urging Buddha to stay put on the porch while he gets in the car. "Stay Buddha. Buddha Stay. Stay on the porch Buddha. Buddha, porch!" Finally, as he's entering the car, he turns back to the porch and says, "Fuck you Buddha."
The YouTube video of Rebney is often titled "Angriest man in the world." It's simply not true. The swearing is just part of his vernacular and is used to show affection more often than anger. Buddha, for instance, is easily the most beloved thing in Jack's life. He wouldn't curse his dog just for the sake of anger. That's the contradiction that is Jack Rebney. He's a shut-in who lives in a cabin with just his dog. He's got shotguns and rifles. He hates pretty much everything about modern society. If you gave me that description of a man, I'd assume he's to the far right of the political spectrum. Jack is just the opposite. His language is another example. He often speaks in a way that shows an above average intellect only to have his next thought be laced with vulgarities. Sometimes Jack reaches so far into his bag of vocabulary that I suspect he's just making words up. But at some point in history, weren't all words made up?
With that thought I realize that writing a review at 4:30am is probably not a brilliant idea. I'll be proofreading and editing tomorrow and I can only hope to avoid a complete rewrite. I truly hope you seek out this film. It's readily available on most streaming services for free, or at least very cheap. I have a inflated sense of pride in my quirky documentary series and I consider "Winnebago Man" to be my prime source of inspiration. It was one of the earliest examples of offbeat documentary filmmaking that I ran across and certainly the best I had seen. Without it, I would probably still be ignorant of a whole genre. It was an absolute pleasure to re-watch the film for this review and it will be a pleasure the next time I watch it also. The original outtake video that spawned this documentary is my go-to for laughs. It's the only viral video that can bring a smile to my face when I'm in a funk. But when I need some thinking with my laughing, "Winnebago Man" is my ultimate solution.
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