Entertainment

How the F-bombs fell

For nearly a quarter- century, outtakes from an industrial film showing a spectacularly foulmouthed motor-home salesman have circulated, first on VHS tapes among friends and more recently on YouTube, where more than 20 million people have watched clips of “The Angriest Man Alive.”

“Winnebago Man” is a highly entertaining first-person documentary wherein filmmaker Ben Steinbauer tracks down this unlikely folk hero, a former TV newsman named Jack Rebney.

Well into his 70s and living a seemingly serene, reclusive life on a Northern California mountaintop, Rebney isn’t interested in the documentary, much less Steinbauer’s offer to install a webcam so Rebney can deliver new rants to his international fan base.

But Steinbauer — impressed that Rebney has penetrated so deeply into popular culture that he was quoted by Ben Affleck in “Surviving Christmas,” not to mention Alec Baldwin on “30 Rock” — persists.

The filmmaker interviews the crew of the original industrial film, who recall that Rebney’s profanity stream was far out of proportion to the situation (even though blazing heat and bugs made filming difficult).

What makes Rebney a compelling character is his articulateness — his stream of profanity, including much new swearing captured by Steinbauer, is as classically shaped and creative as that delivered by a fictional character in last year’s “In the Loop.”

Eventually, a very reluctant Rebney agrees to meet his adoring, mostly young public at a film festival in San Francisco — and is surprised to learn they’re not the dopes he expected.

By this point, Steinbauer has largely stepped back behind the camera in favor of Keith Gordon, a corporate jet pilot with whom Rebney has had an intriguingly enigmatic relationship for more than 35 years.

“Winnebago Man,” which appears to be notably less staged than other documentaries of this ilk, doesn’t relentlessly explore all the corners of Rebney’s life — which makes him an even more fascinating subject.