Ended on 7/29/2010
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WINNEBAGO MAN -
(unrated)
2010 - USA - English - 85 minutes - Kino International
Directed by: Ben Steinbauer
Featuring: Jack Rebney, Ben Steinbauer, Keith Gordon
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showtimes and tickets
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 Jack Rebney is the most famous man you’ve never heard of — an RV salesman whose hilarious, foul-mouthed outbursts circulated underground on VHS tapes in the 90s before turning into a full-blown Internet phenomenon in 2005. Today, the “Winnebago Man” has been seen by more than 20 million people worldwide, and is regarded as one of the first and funniest viral videos. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer goes in search of Rebney — and finds him living alone on a mountain top, unaware of his fame. WINNEBAGO MAN is a laugh-out-loud look at viral culture and an unexpectedly poignant tale of one man’s response to unintended celebrity.
Today, the "Winnebago Man" clip continues to attract new fans from around the world, including a notable following in Hollywood. The "Winnebago Man" has been quoted in movies and on TV by everyone from Ben Affleck to Alec Baldwin to SpongeBob SquarePants. Conan O’Brien named the “Winnebago Man” video as one of his all-time favorites on YouTube, and Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are) is rumored to have sent out copies of "Winnebago Man" as Christmas gifts. Iron Man 2 features a scene with Tony Stark’s dad, inspired by the Winnebago Man outtakes. There’s even a painting of Jack Rebney – as Shrek – that hangs in offices of Dreamworks Animation!
"A curious young helmer tracks down the profanity-spewing subject of a two-decade-old viral video with results at once scabrously funny and uncomfortably poignant."
-Variety
"Steinbauer’s eagerness to draw information--and, let’s face it, exclusive new clips--out of his recalcitrant subject borders on exploitation at times, but the smart, cagey Rebney has an agenda of his own that Steinbauer can’t entirely control or define. The documentary gives him a forum to be his funny, irreducible self, which is a luxury the accidentally famous are rarely afforded."
-The AV Club
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