... The movie sounded like something rather different to the kind of movie that he normally does, being a more light hearted family movie. From what I read/heard about it, it sounded like a good movie and I liked the fact that its based on a true story, an uplifting true story by the sounds of ... Read review
A movie that exudes affection and goodwill,The World's Fastest Indianis an unabashed mash ... more
note to a lovely character from New Zealand's recent past. Burt Munro, played by Anthony Hopkins, is a cantankerous Kiwi with an obsession: he's been tinkering wi...
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Anthony Hopkins stars as Burt Munro, a man who never let the dreams of youth fade.After a ... more
lifetime of perfecting his classic Indian motorcycle, Burt sets off from the bottom of the world to test his bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. With all t...
A movie that exudes affection and goodwill,The World's Fastest Indianis an unabashed mash ... more
note to a lovely character from New Zealand's recent past. Burt Munro, played by Anthony Hopkins, is a cantankerous Kiwi with an obsession: he's been tinkering wi...
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It's Never Too Late For The Ride Of Your Life. Academy Award'‚ Winner Anthony Hopkins ... more
stars as Burt Munro a man who never let the dreams of youth fade. In the late 1960s after a lifetime of perfecting his classic Indian motorcycle Burt sets off ...
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Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Drama - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Shelagh Fraser, Barbara Flynn, Keith Drinkel, Felicity Kendal, Pam Ferris, Colin Douglas
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Advantages: Interesting story, good performance from Hopkins, funny and touching Disadvantages: Not too fast paced for those expecting a movie full of constant racing footage, I suppose
...released a few years ago. The movie sounded like something rather different to the kind of movie that he normally does, being a more light hearted family movie. From what I read/heard about it, it sounded like a good movie and I liked the fact that its based on a true story, an uplifting true story by the sounds of things, so I thought I'd add it to my rental list, as I do like a good, well made, true story movie!
- Main Credits ... .../>
This tells the story of a retired motorcycle racer called Burt Munro (played by Anthony Hopkins), from New Zealand. He races in an indian motorcycle called The Scout. He's known around town and the local community comes together to hold a raffle and dance, hoping to raise enough money to pay for Burt to travel to the US, where he wants to try and break the land speed world record at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, a dream he's had for ... more
- Introduction -
I remember seeing Anthony Hopkins promoting this movie on TV when it was first released a few years ago. The movie sounded like something rather different to the kind of movie that he normally does, being a more light hearted family movie. From what I read/heard about it, it sounded like a good movie and I liked the fact that its based on a true story, an uplifting true story by the sounds of things, so I thought I'd add it to my rental list, as I do like a good, well made, true story movie!
- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) - Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/fullcredits)
Director - Roger Donaldson Writer - Roger Donaldson Executive Producers - Megumi Fukasawa, Charles Hannah, Masaharu Inaba, Satoru Iseki, Barrie M. Osborne Producer - Roger Donaldson, Gary Hannam, Co-producer - John J. Kelly Line producer (New Zealand) - Murray Francis Line producer (Salt Lake City) - Don Schain Cinematography - David Gribble
- Story (incl. main acting cast) -
This tells the story of a retired motorcycle racer called Burt Munro (played by Anthony Hopkins), from New Zealand. He races in an indian motorcycle called The Scout. He's known around town and the local community comes together to hold a raffle and dance, hoping to raise enough money to pay for Burt to travel to the US, where he wants to try and break the land speed world record at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, a dream he's had for some twenty five odd years.
One day, he suffers from chest pain and is taken into hospital, where he's told that he suffered from an attack of angina and there's really nothing that they can do for him, given his age. Knowing that he may suffer another attack of angina, he decides to hurry up and head off to the states, to live out his dream while he still can, so thats what he sets out to do. Is he successful? well of course you'll have to see the movie to find out.
- Genre/Themes/Issues -
This is a biographical drama, with a good measure of light hearted comedy and, of course, the sporting element in it too. It explores the themes of being out of your depth (among people of other ages and as in being in a totally alien country), being the underdog and trying to prove your ability. It explores the theme of having a passion for something and of attempting to see it through.
- Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information -
This movie is set in the 1960s and is all about one mans love of speed and racing and his hope to break the land speed world record. This movie is based on a true story, which has taken some twenty five years to finally be made, as the 'making of' documentary explains. This adds to the movie, to know that such a person exists. No I don't know enough about the reality behind the true story to really say what accuracy there is but I presume it does pretty much cover what really happened.
Burt is a really nice guy, if not just a little naive and he has some funny encounters, when he first arrives in the US, driving on the wrong side of the road, giving a car salesman, Fernando (played by Paul Rodriguez) a scare and becoming acquaintences with a transvestite, Tina (played by Chris Williams), that works in a Hollywood motel. It seems that everyone who meets Burt becomes enamoured with him, which makes you want him to do well. Its a pretty slow movie really but its funny and touching/sentimental throughout and I wouldn't say that its too boring but don't expect it to be full of fast paced racing footage, its more about the man himself, his journey across the US and the people he meets.
Anthony Hopkins is well cast in his role of Burt, he certainly portrays him as a kind, loveable old guy with a biy of a glint in his eye. Its sad to see when his health problems flare up, it makes him more determined to complete his task and make everyone he's met proud, I think.
The music score is quite emotive and adds to the film well, not being too overly powerful or really unmemorable either. There are some nice landscape scenes at times and otherwise the camerawork is quite good, especially during the racing scenes.
I'm sure that anyone who does race would be able to relate, at least in part, to Burt, when he talks about the thrill of racing and shows a young boy fan of his, back at home in New Zealand, his photo album and shows that his life has been all about racing, for the last forty years or so.
I thought that it was quite a good family type movie, really I have no complaints about it at all, other than that some may think it doesn't show enough racing scenes perhaps but I certainly enjoyed it.
- Certificate -
The World's Fastest Indian is rated 12 in the UK. This is due to some brief bad language, drug use an a sexual reference, according to IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/ - under 'MPAA' below 'additionial details'). To be honest, I really don't remember any drug use, unless its referring to Burt using the nitro glycerin tablets that he's given to help combat his bouts of angina, perhaps, otherwise I can't think of any real scenes of drug use, so im not sure about that, I'd hardly say that its full of graphic drug taking scenes, put it that way! of course one of the characters in this movie, as I have said previously, is a transvestite, so some may not want younger children to watch it because of that, if it would cause awkward questions perhaps and she/he does explain to Burt that, well, 'she' is a 'he', so that is one sexual reference and there may have been a very brief mention with another character but other than that, it really isn't offensive, in my opinion certainly and there's no nudity or violence and no really strong language or anything like that, so I think it should be fine to show for slightly older children and adults alike.
- DVD -
On my rental copy, it came with the following extras - a theatrical trailer (the name says it all really) and the making of documentary. The documentary explores the story behind the movie and how long the movie took to be made (a long time!), cast and crew talk about the movie, the character of Burt and Anthony Hopkins, as well as the script generally, the director and so on. It lasts for about 37 minutes and is quite an in-depth documentary, I thought it was quite interesting, an interesting documentary about an interesting movie and real story!.
Subtitles on my rental copy were only available in English for the hard of hearing.
- Official Website -
The official UK site doesn't appear to be working but there is also this official site, from the US:- http://www.worldsfastestindian.com/ Here you can find information on the story and cast and crew. You can also read reviews from the press and there's multimedia, including film stills, a photo gallery, video clips and interviews (with Anthony Hopkins and Roger Donaldson).
- Conclusions -
This, I felt, is a very good movie, one thats pretty much safe for all the family to watch. Hopkins dies very well as Burt and in general I feel the movie was very well made, with good camerawork and musical score and an interesting story based on a true story, what more could you want? this movie I definitely recommend.
I hope that this review is useful and thanks, as always, for reading!
Advantages: Great Charactersm Great Story Disadvantages: None
The Worlds Fastest Indian is another film that I have meant to see ever since its cinema release a few years and have only just got round to seeing and how glad I am that I did !
The film is based on the true story of Burt Munro a man now in his 70's, lives in a small village in New Zealand where he has spent many, many years modifying his 1920's Indian motor bike with the aim of making it the fastest bike possible with his pipe dream being to take ... ...is his garage, he makes the pistons for the bike himself and generally the bike is held together with whatever else he can find.
A few things happen to Burt to make him realise that be may not have too many years left in hi, so he partially reportages his house / garage to get some money to take himself and his bike to Bourneville. The film charts every step of the journey, the people he meets and the tribulations he has getting there on a shoestring ...
CarlG 10.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The World's Fastest Indian (DVD)
Advantages: great story Disadvantages: none really
...movie! This a review of the DVD version. Take the wonderful Sir Anthony Hopkins who is a fellow Welshman & we share the same birthday! Have him playing Burt Munro, a man who wants to ride his 1920's Indian Motorcycle faster than 200 mph ot the Bonneville Saltflats. He isn't a young man, in his 70's and his bike is rebuilt and held together with anything he can find. This is the story of his trip to America and across the country in his quest to ride ... ...him like everyone else at the Salt Flats. This is a true story but I would have liked to have known how many things in the film really are true (like the policeman letting him off after speeding in Nevada). My only real gripe with the movie is the accent of the taxi driver who takes Burt to Hollywood, his accent comes and goes which annoyed me a little bit. Watch it with an open mind and be enthralled. ...
atytyut2434 17.07.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The World's Fastest Indian (DVD)
Advantages: Great cast, feel - good movie Disadvantages: none i can think of....
...asked to do - watch The World's Fastest Indian.
The movie started off quite pleasantly and I figured I was going to have such a bad time after all.
The movie took me by surprise - I really wasn't prepared to watch such a great movie... Anthony Hopkins is fabulous in this movie, and does a captivating job portraying Munro as the calm yet eccentric man obsessed with his motorcycle.
The movie shows how he makes a trip to America - a gritting journey ... ...The movie focuses on his charming personality and interactions with people - a story of endurance and triumph..!!!
So if you're looking for a feel-good, heartwarming true story that makes you smile with tears in your eyes, this film is for you.
And to think i almost decided not to watch the movie - what was I thinking ????
Go ahead, watch the movie - you'll love it !!! ...
sammy4u 23.11.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The World's Fastest Indian (DVD)
Advantages: Awesome acting by Hopkins Disadvantages: A little slow at times
I saw this movie for the 1st time when I was doing my undergrad and it is undoubtedly one of the finest movies I've seen for a long long time. Directed by Roger Donaldson, this movie has Anthony Hopkins(playing Munro) in the lead.
A spellbinding road movie about a man with a dream, The World's Fastest Indian tells not only a true story but introduces us to a priceless original. Donaldson's script is well paced and the tension builds as the stakes ... ...the opportunity to realize his goals, we are willing him to succeed. We feel the thrill of driving with him at full throttle along the stark white salt flats that extend into forever, and the rewards are high. There are highs and lows and a superbly judged performance by Hopkins.
The film's best parts come late, after Burt has left Invercargill. But this shouldn't be so: we should have been involved and enthused earlier, as we were getting to know ...
murtagh 31.10.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The World's Fastest Indian (DVD)
Advantages: Excellent plot and acting, it has it all: adventure, pathos, tragedy, humour Disadvantages: None
...movie! It is one of the best stories I have ever seen on film.
It's the tale of one man's obsession with making his vintage motorcycle go faster than any other. Burt Munro is an old age pensioner who has spent over 25 years tuning and modifying a 1920 Indian motorcycle to make it go faster than any other in its class. Less than 1000cc engine capacity if you're interested.
At the age of 69 he has the opportunity to take his motorcycle to the Bonneville ... ...to say he scrapes together the minimum necessary and works his passage on a ship to Los Angeles. There he buys an old banger and constructs a trailer to take his bike to Bonneville.
There are several mishaps on the way, but this is a great story with brilliant acting from Anthony Hopkins and the rest of the cast.
I rented the DVD, but liked it so much I'm really tempted to buy it. ...
SteveF48 30.04.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The World's Fastest Indian (DVD)
Reunited with the director some 20 years after the two worked together on THE BOUNTY. Hopkins savors every bit of business as his Burt charms everyone in his path (Entertainment Weekly, )
This is a film that wears a smile button on its sleeve along with its happy heart. It believes that most people are absolutely wonderful, and it is well enough made so that a dusting of that dogged optimism is bound to rub off on you (New York Times, )
Quite irresistible, largely thanks to the most cherishable performance that Anthony Hopkins has given in years (Sight And Sound, )
DVD Description
The life and triumph of Burt Munro, the elderly Kiwi man who, at the far from sprightly age of 68, broke motorcycle racing records in Utah, has fuelled director Roger Donaldson's creative energy for years. In the early 1970s, just a few years after Munro's incredible triumph, Donaldson directed OFFERINGS TO THE GOD OF SPEED, a documentary on the sensational senior. Here, with the help of the fine actors Anthony Hopkins and Diane Ladd, the director brings the story to vivid, dramatic life yet again, constructing a gripping and inspirational narrative. Hopkins's Munro is a rich and magnetic character, a man who wears his notable physical ailments (which include an embarrassing prostate condition and deficient eardrums) like quirky idiosyncrasies rather than debilitating defects. An active playboy, Munro is a lovable character in his small New Zealand town, an attractively unique old man with a zest for life and a love of his vintage motorcycle a bright red 1920 Indian model. After racing his own times obsessively every day, he becomes determined to live out his dream of participating in the annual Speed Week motorcycle event at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Through local support and innovative fundraising, Munro is finally able to afford the long nautical journey across the world to Mormon-land and, beating all the incredible odds, not only enter the race but break its records with a jaw-dropping speed of 201 miles an hour. Besides telling a classic tale of individual triumph, THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN offers a sociological look at the American West of the late 1960s, an iconic landscape peppered with colourful characters that include a wizened Native American and a generous drag queen, both of whom help the eccentric elder on his quixotic quest.
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