DVD Review: The World’s Fastest Indian

By Jeff Swindoll Jun 14, 2006, 11:58 GMT

Anthony Hopkins stars as Burt Munro, a man who never let the dreams of youth fade. After a lifetime of perfecting his classic Indian motorcycle, Burt set off from the bottom of the world to test his bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. With all odds against him, he set a new speed record and captured the spirit of his times. Burt Munro’s 1967 world record remains unbroken ...more

Rollie: What about your leg and the heat?
Burt: Screw it, got a spare one.

Based on one hell of a true story.

This is a movie about two men with obsessions.  One is Burt Munro whose obsession is making his custom 1920 Indian Motorcycle to go as fast as he can.  The other is director Roger Donaldson whose obsession is telling the tale of Burt Munro.

The year is 1967 and Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins) is in his hometown of Invercargill, New Zealand.  He’s your favorite crazy neighbor.  He lawn is unkempt, he begins each morning by pissing on his lemon tree, and he bloody well gets up occasionally at 3am and revs up his motorbike.  Burt makes all the parts for his bike himself from a variety of items.  His dream is to get the money together to go to the United States to the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.  The great salt flat is smooth, flat, and goes on enough that he can open ‘er up and see what his Indian can do. 

The townsfolk are helping out with a fundraiser when some local tough guys come in and challenge the “old coot” to a race.  Burt races them on the beach and gets a false start and it appears that all is lost.  He gets a push, opens up and blows the punks away, but can’t make the turn and ends up loosing the race.  He hooks up with the local bank teller Fran (Annie Whittle) who convinces him he should get a loan for the remainder of the money he needs to get to America.  He does it and commissions Tom (Aaron Murphy), the lad next door, to keep up the place and piss on the lemon tree every morning.

He makes it to California on the Sunset Strip to a hotel, with hourly rates.  Luckily, he makes fast friends with Tina (Chris Williams) - the transvestite behind the registration desk.  He need to buy a cheap car and gets one from Fernando (Paul Rodriguez) and head towards Utah.  Along the way he encounters Jake (Saginaw Grant), a real American Indian, Ada (Diane Ladd), a widow, and several other characters who help Burt out in one way or another.  He finally makes it to Utah to the event called Speed Week being held at the salt flats.  Burt seems to have not known about this little complication of needing to register to compete.  He finds a sympathetic ear in Rollie (William Lucking), Jim Moffet (Chris Lawford – the spitting image of his father Peter), and eventually wins the support of the whole racing camp.  Will the judges let the old man race and can does his homemade bike have the stuff to do anything in the trials?

The Indian in motion

The World’s Fastest Indian is just a great movie, plain and simple.  I thought it ranks as “one of those they don’t make anymore” - meaning it harkens back to the classic films of yesteryear.  It’s really a feel good movie and infects you with the Kiwi never quit spirit that Bill Munro brims over with.  Hopkins is excellent.  I thought the whole movie was expertly cast and all perform wonderfully.  I especially liked the bits with Munro and the transvestite clerk.  Okay, that doesn’t sound right, but just his acceptance of “Tina” and Chris Williams’ performance made it work for me.  I also liked the fact that this guy was looked down upon by most of the other drivers as a crazy old coot and when he gets to prove his mettle he blows the whipper-snappers away.  Damn whipper-snappers! (smashes cane down on table). 

The World’s Fastest Indian is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  The biggest special feature is the inclusion of the 1971 documentary “Offerings to the Gods of Speed” made by Roger Donaldson.  It runs 27 minutes and has footage of the real life Bill Munro.  Writer/director Roger Donaldson provides an audio commentary.  This film was truly a passion of his and his commentary is full of great anecdotes of the film and the real Burt.  There is also a 45 minute “making of” feature. 

It has interviews with director Roger Donaldson, Anthony Hopkins, actor Bruce Greenwood, Annie Whittle, Chris Lawford, Aaron Murphy, Chris Williams, actress Tessa Mitchell, actress Jessica Cauffiel, William Lucking, and Tim Shadbolt (Mayor of Invercargill and who has a part in the movie, he has some reminiscences about the real Burt).  Next are about 6 minutes of deleted scenes.

What do you mean I can't rev up my bike at 3am

My favorite of which is called “Grantville County Clinic” (40 seconds) and is when Burt stops in a clinic in the states (he has heart trouble) and when told how much it will be a day, he walks out and says that he’d rather die in the back of his car.  There’s also a 3 minute “commercial” called “Southland: Burt’s hometown of Invercargill.”  It plays like tourist video of all the bits of scenery with musical accompaniment.  Next we have a soundtrack promo with is just a still picture of the CD case.  Finally there’s a trailer for another Magnolia film, The Lost City (Andy Garcia’s directorial debut).

I’m not really an old man (don’t worry I’m getting there), but hate it when people are judged to be washed up because of their age.  Burt sure as hell didn’t let anything stop him from accomplishing his goals and left the young bucks with their mouth’s hanging open when he sped past.  A really excellent movie.  The inclusion of Donaldson’s first film about the real Burt is an excellent extra. 

The World’s Fastest Indian is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a July 3rd release. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.