Sexual Content/Nudity: Multiple scenes with an openly transvestite male character, dressed in drag, who is portrayed sympathetically and as normal man sleeps with a woman on their first date and later, with another woman he has just met, but no overt sex scenes or nudity. Language/Profanity: A few profanities and obscenities, including one strong one. Would have been nice to see a postscript, saying when Munro died (1978), and something about his family.ĭrugs/Alcohol: Several scenes with drinking and mild drug use. Includes extended interviews with Munro, family members, friends and competitors. Southland: Burt’s Hometown of Invercargill – a view of the town and country that Munro put on the map.īurt Munro: Offerings to the God of Speed – a documentary about Munro, made and filmed in 1972 by Donaldson. Very little about how the film was actually made. The Making of “The World’s Fastest Indian” – consists of interviews with actors and crew. Perhaps that's why this record-breaker, who died in 1978, insisted that “When you’re dead, your dead.” Then again, Munro was a motorcyclist – not a theologian.įeature Commentary with Writer/Director Roger Donaldson Even after his great victory, it’s a neighbor he calls – not a loved one. It’s not clear whether he ever married or had children, but we don’t see any family members in his life, and he appears to be very lonely. Munro also thinks nothing of having a one-night stand with someone he’s just met ( Diane Ladd), just weeks after kissing his girlfriend goodbye.
In the film, another woman repeats this refrain, when she is observed by the neighbors after spending the night with Munro, on their first date. In the documentary, he wears a T-shirt that says, “Dirty old men need love too” – the same thing a young female interviewee says about him, with a grimace. Though his talent, determination and hard work are things we should all admire and emulate, Munro is otherwise perhaps not the greatest of role models. I can’t help but hope that when we strive to reach the top of our chosen fields, however, as believers, we’ll live for others rather than ourselves, as Munro so obviously did. The reward, he explains, is “in the doing of it.” This is a good message, and certainly, God calls us all to excellence. “If you don’t … you might as well be a vegetable,” Munro insists. The message of the film is simple, and that’s to follow your dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem. He then makes a memorable trip to Salt Lake which includes an accident, a one-night stand, an overnight with a Native American and a ride with a Vietnam soldier who explains the “merits” of Agent Orange. Munro arrives in the U.S., wide-eyed and naïve to big city ways, where he stays in a seedy hotel on Sunset Boulevard and befriends a transvestite ( Chris Williams) and a used car salesman ( Paul Rodriguez), who help him purchase a vehicle and make repairs to the Indian. Not only that, but Munro, who has no money save his social security pension, dreams of racing his “Indian,” as he calls it, on the Salt Flats of Utah, where veteran motorcyclists head each year to break land speed records.Īfter a few bumps and starts, Munro puts up his property as collateral and convinces a ship captain to allow him to work as a cook, in exchange for overseas passage. Which is fine, except that it’s 1967 and the antique bike, though fast, is wobbly on a good day. It’s a well-known fact that in emergency rooms across the country, motorcycles are called “donor-cycles.” In this film, it’s easy to understand why.īurt Munro ( Anthony Hopkins) is an aging New Zealander and expert mechanic with a crazy obsession for motorcycles – particularly his 1920 Indian Twin Scout. Rating: PG-13 (for brief language, drug use and a sexual reference)Īctors: Anthony Hopkins, Diane Ladd, Aaron Murphy, Paul Rodriguez, Annie Whittle, Chris Bruno, Bruce Greenwood
Theatrical Release Date: December 7, 2005
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