l_rawjalaurence In 1989 Jack Rebney made a series of videos promoting Winnebago products. The shoot was not a happy one, taking place in Iowa during midsummer, and Rebney became highly frustrated with his efforts. Unbeknownst to him the camera crew edited many of the outtakes together and released them on VHS; they showed Rebney cursing everything and everyone in the basest terms.Due in no small part to the ease of copying tapes, the video became something of a cult with Rebney cast as "The Angriest Man in the World." With the advent of the internet its popularity soared - so much so, in fact, that filmmaker Ben Steinbauer was persuaded to search for Rebney's whereabouts and find out what he had been doing since the videos were made.WINNEBAGO MAN follows a familiar thematic path with Steinbauer at first finding difficulties in his quest, then discovering Rebney; trying to establish a relationship with Rebney; and at the end persuading the reluctant ex-salesperson to appear at a fan convention in San Francisco dedicated to the original video. Steinbauer manufactures a happy ending in which the fans congratulate Rebney, and the old man returns home apparently touched by their affection for him.But that is not how the documentary pans out. Throughout the action there remains the distasteful suspicion that Rebney's sensibilities are being willfully exploited by the filmmaker. Now in his mid-seventies with a glaucoma rendering him almost blind, Rebney uses aggression to compensate for his shortcomings, and by doing so conforms precisely to that sobriquet that has stuck to him ever since 1989. At one point he tries to act calm, but eventually admits that this was nothing more than a form of pretense.In truth it's not Rebney who pretends, but Steinbauer himself. Saddled with the responsibility of making an "hilarious" film for the fans, he willfully allows Rebney to give vent to his anger. The fact that he is now a frail old person seems irrelevant. When the two of them end up in San Francisco, the sight is grotesque: I was reminded of the most notorious sequences in Tod Browning's FREAKS (1932) in which the disadvantaged were presented for our entertainment.The film reveals one of the seamier aspects of fan studies: whereas people of all classes, ages and ethnicities might be devoted to a particular text, their addiction can destroy as well as enhance. This is precisely what happens to Rebney. For all the director's attempts to manufacture a happy ending, the old man's melancholy expression (revealed in close-up at the end), denotes his true state of mind.

Steve Skafte I can't say that I've ever witnessed such a heartwaking and true cinematic representation of a human being in my life. Jack Rebney is shown from every possible angle as a complex, contradictory, and intensely intelligent man. The fact that he works so hard to subvert the form in which he is being captured is what makes this work so well. The documentarian aspects are good enough. But it's the subject on display that brings it together. Rebney isn't just a source of amusement, he's an example of true, real, complete humanity. Someone how achieved some measure of peace and happiness in life through self-acceptance and understanding. The anger is a side issue.This is a great film.

AudioFileZ Ben Steinbauer's documentary about Jack Rebney is an interesting and entertaining piece of filmmaking. I realize there is a huge sub-culture of "YouTube junkies" mind-boggling in diversity and size. Because I do not regularly peruse YouTube videos I was unaware of one of the most iconic characters ever to achieve a kind of mass popularity in cyberspace: "Jack Rebney, The Angriest Man In The World". It is definitely a cultural phenomenon whereby a man who would otherwise be as unknown as any other has become a world-wide star. His dialog, and I'm not just talking about his profanity, has transcended the internet ending up even in Hollywood movies. The industrial video he made for Winnebago probably helped shift some units by helping dealers sell their product...maybe not? But, the outtakes, which originally only went to a few executives at Winnebago and the crew, have transcended time place and product & will "live in infamy" on the internet and within pop-culture.How could one man's frustration shooting an "infomercial" come to this? Who is the man, the so-called "Angriest Man in The World"? What became of him after the video and, more saliently, is he still alive? These are some of the questions that Ben Steinbauer was interested in and he had to expend some effort, indeed, because Jack Rebney had long ago retreated and become a true hermit. Finally when Steinbauer found Jack, Jack was not often not honest, but still capable of great bursts of anger-many times still laced with language more suitable to jail and wartime. Jack is a juxtaposition who finds his notoriety irritating and intoxicating. He seems miffed that he is a kind of cultural icon due to the internet, more specifically due to film he thought shouldn't have ever existed in the first place. Perhaps in his seclusion he has found peace, but you get the feeling that under the surface he's mad as hell still with a lot of it centering around events culminating with the George W. Bush presidency. At one point I think Jack believes Ben's movie will to allow him to profess his manifesto regarding politics (and the general decline of the United States) which, it seems evident, is where Jack thinks his importance to his audience should lie. Ben tries to make it clear he seeking something more like how Jack got to the point he was as when he made the Winnebago video, that is what his fans are more interested in. This serves to irritate Jack and all grinds to a halt for quite some time. Ben does an end-around and finds a way to get back to Jack though and because of that we do end up getting this documentary. As mentioned earlier, the film Winnebago Man is entertaining. We get a slice of Jack Rebney, though not a whole picture of who this man really is. The holes are unavoidable as Jack Rebney has covered his tracks, purposely fell away from the day-to-day trappings of civilization. Who Jack is, perhaps, is truly only known to Jack himself and he is playing his cards close.In the end "Winnebago Man" fans are not terribly interested in Jack's life-story and/or his deeper views. The whole phenomenon rests on actually seeing a man voice "over-the-top" frustration so frequently and with, seemingly, bottomless profanity. Ben Steinbauer succeeds admirably by, first, finding the man behind the expletives who can still get just as frustrated and angry. This is what Jack's fans love him for...he's like us, but he has no need to fit in at all anymore. To coin Jack: "You believe any of that $#!+"?

timerrill Alright, here we go: this is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, on any subject. It's not only for members of the Cult of Rebney (in case you live under a g--damn rock, I'm talking about Jack Rebney: the Winnebago Man, the Angriest Man in the World, the original viral video star, and the greatest swearer who ever lived).The film has comedy: Rebney is one of the great crotchety old men of all time.It has mystery: who is this monumental man, where does he live, what's the deal with his anger, what the f--k is this thing? It has commentary: most Americans have "room-temperature IQs," the Ford Fiesta (or is it Festiva?) is a great car, and Bush-Cheney-Rumseld-Rove all deserve hot pokers up their a--es. It also has flies, towels, windshields, seat belts, yelling, doors slamming, s--t hitting the fan, all types of "accoutrama"...and, last but not least, Tony! (If you have no clue what any of this means, go to YouTube and search "winnebago man.") See this film ASAP, ya g--damn jackass. Or you can put it up your fern, if you want to.NO MORE!