THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN [2005 / 2007] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] A Story of Speed, Daring and Tenacity! It’s Never Too Late For The Ride of Your Life!
Academy Award® winner, Anthony Hopkins stars as Burt Munro, a man who never let the dreams of youth fade.
In the late 1960's, after a lifetime of perfecting his classic INDIAN MOTORCYCLE, Burt Munro sets off from the bottom of the world, Invercargill, New Zealand, to clock his bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. With all odds against him, Burt Munro puts his irrepressible kiwi spirit to the test, braving the new world on a shoestring budget. Burt Munro's quest culminates in an unlikely conclusion and remains legendary within the motorcycle community to this day.
FILM FACT No1: Awards and Nominations: 2005 San Sebastián International Film Festival: Nominated: Golden Seashell for Roger Donaldson. 2006 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards: Nominated: Movies for Grownups Award for Best Actor for Sir Anthony Hopkins. 2006 Australian Film Institute: Nominated: AFI International Award for Excellence in Filmmaking for Roger Donaldson (Producing/direction/screenplay). 2006 New Zealand Screen Awards: Win: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Picture for Gary Hannam and Roger Donaldson. Win: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Sir Anthony Hopkins. Win: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Achievement in Directing for Roger Donaldson. Win: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Screenplay for Roger Donaldson. Win: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Achievement in Editing for John Gilbert. Win: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Achievement in Production Design for J. Dennis Washington and Robert Gillies. Win: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Contribution to a Soundtrack for Gethin Creagh, Michael Hedges and Tim Prebble. Nominated: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Achievement in Cinematography for David Gribble. Nominated: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design for Jane Holland and Nancy Cavallaro. Nominated: New Zealand Screen Award for Best Achievement in Original Music for J. Peter Robinson. 2007 Australian Cinematographers Society: Win: Cinematographer of the Year for David Gribble. Win: Golden Tripod for Features Cinema for David Gribble. 2007 Golden Rooster Awards: Win: Audience Award for Best Feature for Roger Donaldson.
FILM FACT No2: Director Roger Donaldson had been working on this film for over 20 years before he started filming it, and had previously directed a short television documentary about Burt Munro called “Burt Munro: Offerings to the God of Speed” in 1971. Arranging the financing for a full feature film was much more difficult, but a key Japanese investor, and Roger Donaldson and Gary Hannam's own money allowed the film to be made. In interviews, Sir Anthony Hopkins stated that Burt Munro was one of the easiest roles that he has ever played in his career; simply because Burt Munro's view on life was not all that different from his own. Many of the props used for filming were actually owned by Burt Munro, including all the exploded pistons and the piston mould that Sir Anthony Hopkins uses for a scene in the film. These were on display at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery. The location used for Burt Munro's home and workshop in New Zealand took place on an empty section on Lithgow Street in Invercargill, this section was used as the headquarters for the notorious Black Power gang during the 1990s until the house burnt down in 1998. A house has been built on the plot since the film was released.
Cast: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Antony Starr, Craig Hall, Jim Bowman, Alison Bruce, Phoebe Falconer, Charles Pierard, Barry Ryan, Bill Richardson, Mick Rose, Tony Wilson, Todd Emerson, Mark Ruka, Campbell Cooley, James Gaylyn, Latham Gaines, Steve O'Neill, Dan Moody, Carlos Lacamara, Noelle Lee Kaine, Chris Williams (Tina), Kristen Marie Jensen, Paul Rodriguez, Charles Halford, Mark Kolodziej Jr., Morgan Lund, Bill Osborne, Patrick John Flueger, Christopher Lawford, Brian Neal Clark, Kyle Shearing, Alex Cunningham, Aaron Geange, Dallas Ryan, Andrew Tree, Jarn Hayes, Glen Ridd, Jeremy Holmes, Jeff Manson, Tony Morris, John Sievwright, Craig Hubber, Peter Skerrett, Morgan Bickley, Roger Chilton, David Goodall, Alex Gonzales (uncredited), Joseph Daniel Hamilton (uncredited), Jim Jepson (uncredited), Aaron Justesen (uncredited), Thomas McMinn (uncredited), Grant Lee Peterson (uncredited), Aaron Radl (uncredited), Joe Ries (uncredited), J. Owen Rogers (uncredited), Tim Sabuco (uncredited) and Jimmy Stevens (uncredited)
Director: Roger Donaldson
Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Charles Hannah, Don Schain, Gary Hannam, John J. Kelly, Masaharu Inaba, Megumi Fukasawa, Murray Francis, Roger Donaldson and Satoru Iseki
Screenplay: Roger Donaldson
Composer: J. Peter Robinson
Cinematography: David Gribble (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH and Spanish
Running Time: 127 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: This is a highly-personal film for writer/director Roger Donaldson, the unpromisingly-entitled ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ and tells the story of Burt Munro [1899 – 1978], a New Zealander who in the 1960s after his retirement, takes to rebuilding an old motorcycle and ends up setting all sorts of land speed records. It seems a very unlikely project for Roger Donaldson and indeed Sir Anthony Hopkins, who plays the lead, given his mostly action-based past, but has got simply incredibly reviews and ranks as one of the best-reviewed films in several years.
Burt Munro [Sir Anthony Hopkins] attempts to break the world land speed record for bikes with engines less than 1000 cc on his 1920 Indian Scout. Determined old Kiwi coot, Burt Munro decides that the 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle he's been tinkering with for the last 20 years is about ready for the big leagues. With the help of his neighbours, most of whom think he's insane, but he scrapes together enough money to sail to the USA. Once there, he goes about making his way to Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats to compete for the world land speed record.
‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ is a very delightful and engaging film, if occasionally very sentimental, which is nothing wrong in that, but this film is very character driven in the study of one man's will to succeed. If Sir Anthony Hopkins's portrayal of Burt Munro is as accurate as some have claimed, especially according to the IMDb web site in telling us that his performance was so on-the-nail and it reduced Burt Munro's surviving relatives to tears when they visited the film set and then the land speed record breaker was arguably one of the most determined individuals to ever walk the face of the earth.
The film ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ was something of a labour of love for its director and writer Roger Donaldson who apparently took 20 years to bring Burt Munro's story to the screen. While the film is set in 1967, in historical terms it plays more like an amalgamation of the many trips Burt Munro made out to Utah's Bonneville Flats and the first of these was in 1957. While many of the events which take place in the film actually happened, including his terrible crash. But his appearance in the publication “Popular Mechanics” and they even had a whip round with “Speed Week” to help him out of his financial. Purists are also urged to overlook the rather liberal attitude the film has towards portraying historical facts and chief among the inaccuracies is that while it's true that Burt Munro set numerous world records, he never set one of 201 mph as he does in the film.
The film makes much of Burt Munro's cavalier attitude toward his infirmities: an enlarged prostate that forces him to urinate frequently in unlikely places; partial deafness; and angina attacks, for which he stuffs fistfuls of pills down his throat when pain strikes. Yet in his late 1960s, which he looks older, Burt Munro is still an enthusiastic lover who beds two mature women and leaves satisfied glows on their faces. One of them, when observed leaving his house in the morning, cracks: "What are you staring at? Dirty old men need love, too." Little boys look up to Burt. So do auto mechanics. Even his New Zealand neighbours, whom he annoys by revving up his engine in the early morning and by refusing to mow his lawn when pressed, he pours gasoline on it and sets it on fire, forgive his eccentricities. Burt Munro has his own extreme response to the adage that old age is not for sissies. "Danger is the spice of life," he declares. Of racing his bike, he says, "You live more in five minutes than most people live in a lifetime."
The 1920 Indian Twin Scout motorcycle that Burt Munro rides to glory is really his sidekick in a man-machine buddy film. Burt Munro frequently talks to the vehicle, a red, rocket-shaped automotive relic that has no brakes, has to be pushed to get moving and overheats and wobbles dangerously at peak speeds.
Sir Anthony Hopkins plays New Zealand folk hero and land speed record breaker Burt Munroe, Aaron Murphy plays his pre-adolescent sidekick Tom and Annie Whittle plays Burt Munro's love-interest, Fran. To test his limits at the Bonneville Salt Flats is Burt Munroe's lifelong dream. He scrapes up the money to sail from New Zealand to California, where he has upbeat encounters with everyone he meets. Tina [Chris Williams], a warm-hearted transvestite motel clerk who works the night shift at the seedy motel on the Sunset Strip where he stays, oozes sweetness. Fernando [Paul Rodriguez], a slick used-car salesman from whom he buys a beat-up old car to drive to Utah, offers him a job. A fresh-faced soldier [Patrick Flueger] on leave from Vietnam rhapsodises over Agent Orange. A wise old American Indian gives him shelter for the night. Together these good-hearted people make up one of the rosiest cross-sections of American types ever put on the screen. But as anyone who lived through the Vietnam era can attest, America was not Happyland, and there's not a hippie in sight.
Upon reaching the Utah racing ground, Burt Munroe encounters seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The official registration date was months earlier, and his motorcycle has none of the required safety features. But with the help of Jim Moffet [Chris Lawford], a friendly biker with a chipmunk grin who's on good terms with the officials, the rules are bent, and Burt Munro is allowed to race.
The climactic scene, in which he runs his motorcycle to the astounding speed of 201 miles an hour while his fellow racers watch with scepticism that turns to awe and then to euphoria, is the same winner's sequence we've seen a hundred times before. If the film's pushing of the usual feel-good buttons is shameless, it doesn't go as wildly overboard as it might have. But in the end when the final credits roll up the screen, you get a warm glow of satisfaction that you have seen a film that gives you a warm glow of satisfaction.
THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN MUSICE TRACK LIST
YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE (Written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell)
KISS TWIST (Written by Craig Hubber)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – The image presentation for the film ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ is decent for the most part, although in some of the scenes set in Burt Munro's shed are thick with grain and dark, but it didn't stop me enjoying this unusual story. Although the MPEG-2 Blu-ray was an early release for the format, it's actually pretty good. The decision to change from the film's original aspect ratio was the choice of director Roger Donaldson.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is up to the task. It is particularly effective once the story reaches Bonneville Flats and we hear Burt Munro revving the engine to see what the Indian can achieve. The film is shot in such a way that you feel as if you're riding the bike, and the sound completes the effect.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Roger Donaldson: The audio commentary by Richard Donaldson is also very enjoyable. Richard Donaldson's got a very pleasant voice, a charming demeanour, and Richard Donaldson's got wall to wall very interesting and fascinating stories including lots of little titbits about the real Burt Munro as well as his own experiences in America and how they found their way into the film. One neat fact was that they actually opened the film in Invercargill and he talks about the reaction of the people in the town. Richard Donaldson talks about how difficult it was to make things look fast on the sand flats where there was nothing to use around them as a speed reference. Richard Donaldson also touches on making replica bikes, perfecting the script and some history that they were able to implement into the making of the film. All in all, I give this audio commentary a five star rating.
Special Feature: The Making of ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ [2005] [480i] [1.37:1] [45:25] This special feature is "The Making of The World's Fastest Indian" where a second camera follows the cast and crew as they prepare and work on the film. There are sporadic bits of comments here as well but more or less this is a standard feature which isn't as enticing as Roger Donaldson's documentary. The crew spent several weeks at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah before moving to New Zealand to film the rest of the movie over 11 weeks in 2004. Southland's main centre, Invercargill, played host to the film crew of ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ during the New Zealand portion of the film.
Special Feature: Deleted Scenes [2005] [480i] [1.37:1] [4:06] Here you have 4 deleted scenes and they include Grantsville County Clinic; You Crazy or Something, Filler-Up and Be Happy The Way You Are.
Special Feature: The Original Documentary: Burt Munro: Offerings to the God of Speed [1971] [480i] [1.37:1] [27:30] This documentary features very rare historical footage of the real Burt Munro and directed by Roger Donaldson. This documentary was made in 1971 and was, created by Roger Donaldson. Thought made years and years ago, the documentary was very well shot, and it still hits right at home. Burt Munro was born in New Zealand in 1899, he’s most famous for his incredible exploits at Bonneville but in his earlier life he was a professional speedway rider, a motorcycle salesman, a mechanic, and during his active racing years he rose to the top of the New Zealand rankings. There are so many great quotes that Burt Munro said in the documentary for the film ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN.’ This in itself was absolutely fun and very entertaining to see how closely Sir Anthony Hopkins pulled off the accent and the life of Burt Munro. Probably my favourite quote that Burt Munro informs us is, "You can live more in 5 minutes in some of these events, then some people do in a lifetime." You can really get to know Burt Munro, and his passion for racing and speed. This was his life...his main reason to live. This just under 30 minute documentary is a wonderful look into who Burt Munroe was in his own words, he’s now rightly remembered as one of the greatest privateer land speed racers of all time. Directed by Roger Donaldson. Produced by Michael Scott-Smith and Roger Donaldson. Music by John Donaghue and Martin Hope. Cinematography by Geoff Steven, Mike Smith and Roger Donaldson.
Special Feature: Promotional Video: Southland: Burt's Hometown of Invercargill [1971] [480i] [1.78:1] [2:55] This feature video was an interesting promo for Southland, which of course is Burt Munro’s Hometown of Invercargill. It is just a quiet soundtrack that follows some highlights of Southland. Lots of fun excursions like horseback riding, kayaking, and waterfalls. It makes you want to go and visit Burt Munro’s home town of Southland!
Special Feature: Soundtrack Promo: film ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ CD Album Soundtrack, featuring the Original Score by Conductor J. Peter Robinson and Performed by The Hollywood Studio Symphony [Milan Records].
Blu-ray Trailers: ‘The Lost City’ [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:15] and ‘District B13’ [2004] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:45]
Finally, this is a beautiful spirited film about a simple man's desire to live his dream and the film ‘THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN’ is without a doubt Sir Anthony Hopkins' strongest contribution to cinema in well over a decade. Sir Anthony Hopkins impersonation of Burt Monroe is flawless. The Blu-ray package by Magnolia Pictures is of very high-quality presenting the film without any technical sacrifices or omissions. The supplemental materials on the other hand are just as impressive adding additional flavour to an already spectacular Blu-ray disc presentation. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
