Winnebago Man
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''Winnebago Man'' is a 2009 American
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed by Ben Steinbauer. The film follows the
Internet phenomenon Internet phenomena are social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet, such as Internet memes, which include popular catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly ...
created by a series of twenty-year-old
outtake An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and D ...
s from a Winnebago sales video featuring profane outbursts from a salesperson named Jack Rebney. Originally intended as an inside joke, the video spread across the globe—first on
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
, and then via
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and other online video sites, earning the salesman the title of "The Angriest Man in the World". The documentary explores the story of the clips' origins and how, two decades later, they affected the reluctant star. Steinbauer released a short film entitled ''Extraordinarily Unusual: Surprising the Winnebago Man'' in 2017, documenting his return to visit Rebney on his 87th birthday, bringing some of Rebney's old friends to celebrate. Rebney died on May 10, 2023, at the age of 93.


Synopsis

The documentary starts with Steinbauer's obsession with a widely circulated
viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...
featuring
outtake An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and D ...
s from an RV commercial shoot centered on a cantankerous
pitchman A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether stationa ...
, Jack Rebney, a former broadcast journalist. In the video, Rebney regularly becomes outraged and flustered, cursing in colorful mannerisms. Steinbauer researches the footage and discovers it had been circulating on
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
long before it appeared on the Internet. He tracks down the original crew of the video, who explain that the shoot was a particularly frustrating experience, and, as a result of the outtakes, Rebney got fired, and they never saw him again. With the help of a private detective, Steinbauer ultimately tracks down the infamous "Winnebago Man": Steinbauer visits Rebney at his home in a remote mountain area in California. Steinbauer is surprised to find Rebney calm, congenial, and articulate—in stark contrast to the angry, profane man in the famous video. Rebney claims to be indifferent and amused about the video and its popularity on the Internet. Steinbauer returns home disappointed. A week later, however, Rebney begins contacting Steinbauer and admits that he was not candid during their first encounter. He reveals that he has long been angry about the video and its notoriety because he does not want to be remembered that way. Steinbauer learns that Rebney was once a news broadcaster and editor who left the industry embittered by the decline in “real news” and the rise of opinion-based news and
punditry A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...
; additionally, Rebney reveals that he now has strong political opinions that he wants to share. Rebney invites Steinbauer for a second visit, but before this takes place, local papers report that Rebney had gone missing for a time while taking a walk. When Steinbauer makes his second visit to Rebney's home, a now openly cantankerous Rebney explains that he is now
legally blind Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...
. Rebney gives a series of often profane but articulate interviews to Steinbauer. He refuses to discuss personal matters but instead wants to make political speeches about subjects that make him angry, such as
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
and
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
. Eventually, Steinbauer convinces Rebney to attend the
Found Footage Festival The Found Footage Festival is an American film festival and live comedy event featuring unusual and humorous found footage (pseudo-documentary), found footage clips and films. History Founded in 2004, the Festival originated in Wisconsin and Min ...
in San Francisco. There, fans have lined up for a sold-out screening of the original video featuring Rebney. The fans describe Rebney's positive impact on them. During the screening, the festival organizers invite Rebney onstage as a special guest, and he wittily engages the audience. After the screening, Rebney meets several fans who request autographs and express how viewing the old footage cheers them up after a hard day. Later that night, Rebney muses to an old friend that his fans are more intelligent than he anticipated. The filmmakers and Rebney's friend drive him home the next day. Rebney's friend tells him, "You made a lot of people happy this weekend." Rebney replies by acknowledging that he takes some small degree of pride in how, for many people, he represents the human condition in the face of adversity.


Distribution

The film premiered at The
South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...
in Austin, Texas, on March 14, 2009. Kino International (
Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...
) acquired American theatrical and home video rights in March 2010 and released the film nationally in US theaters on July 9, 2010, and on DVD on November 2, 2010. The movie opened theatrically at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York, before expanding nationally. KinoSmith acquired Canadian and American theatrical, television, and home video rights in May 2010 and released the film nationally in Canadian theaters on September 10, 2010, and on DVD on November 9, 2010. A sixty-minute version of ''Winnebago Man'' was aired in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on
BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002
on August 30, 2010, as part of the Storyville series of documentaries. On August 12, 2011, ''Winnebago Man'' premiered on the Internet for free viewing in the U.S. for two weeks on
Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
and
SnagFilms SnagFilms was a website that offered advertising-supported documentary and independent films. Films were streamed on the website, which contained a library of over 5,000 films. Filmmakers could submit documentaries for consideration as well. The ...
.


Awards

* Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary,
Sarasota Film Festival The Sarasota Film Festival is a film festival located in Sarasota, Florida and held in April. Its mission is "to celebrate the art of filmmaking and the contribution of filmmakers by hosting an international film festival and developing year-long ...
* Audience Award for Best Documentary, CineVegas Film Festival * Top Ten Audience Favorite,
Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...
Film Festival * Founders Prize, Best Comedy Documentary,
Traverse City Film Festival The Traverse City Film Festival was an annual film festival held at the end of July in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival was created as an annual event in 2005 to help “save one of America's few indigenous art forms—the cinema". The event ...
* Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary at the
Edmonton International Film Festival The Edmonton International Film Festival (EIFF) is a nine-day film festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, hosted at Landmark Cinemas at Edmonton City Centre. It is supported by and partnered with Telefilm Canada, Government of Alberta, Alberta ...
''Winnebago Man'' was also in the official selection for IDFA and
Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest; abbr.Sheffield International Documentary Festival or SIDF) is an international documentary Film festival, festival and industry marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The festiv ...
. The
Austin Film Critics Association The Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) is an organization of professional film critics from Austin, Texas, United States. Each year, the AFCA votes on their end-of-year awards for films released in the same calendar year. A special award, ...
named ''Winnebago Man'' the Best Austin Film for 2010.


Critical reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Though it doesn't quite answer all of the questions it raises, ''Winnebago Man'' is nevertheless a fascinating, hilarious, and surprisingly poignant look at a geniunely colorful internet celebrity."


See also

*
Bjorn Rebney Bjorn Rebney is an American businessman who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Bellator MMA from 2008 until June 2014. Background Rebney attended Ohio University on a football scholarship and then attended law school. Rebney did l ...
* '' The Show with No Name'' * *
Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
*
Industrial film An industrial video is a video that targets industry as its primary audience. An industrial video is a type of sponsored film (such as an educational film) which prioritizes pragmatism over artistic value. While the primary purpose of an educationa ...


References


External links

* * {{IMDb title, 1396557 2009 films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films American documentary films American independent films American collage films Documentary films about the Internet English-language documentary films