Region:
Video: Enhanced Widescreen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
DVD Aspect Ratio: Alternate Wide Screen (1.78:1)
Language: English
Subtitles: Spanish, English
Weight factor: 1 item(s)

Plot Synopsis

The true story of a man who never gave up on his dreams of doing something big -- and doing it very, very fast -- provides the basis for this engaging comedy drama. Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins) was born in 1899 in Invercargill, New Zealand. From childhood, Munro had a passion for machines that moved fast, and when he was 21 he bought his first motorcycle, an Indian model with a 600 cc engine. Motorcycles became an obsession that stayed with Munro for the rest of his life, as he constantly tinkered with his beloved Indian machine, modifying the engine and frame, determined to see just how fast he could make it run. In 1967, Munro decided it was high time he proved to himself and the world just what he and his machine could do, and he booked passage for the United States, with the goal of breaking the world's land speed record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. As Munro made his way across America to Utah, he discovered not everyone took his dream seriously, but some did, and he made a handful of friends along the way, including Ada (Diane Ladd), a widow who fell for Munro's rough charm, and Fernando (Paul Rodriguez), a car dealer who offered to help him. However, when he finally arrived at Bonneville, Munro was told his machine was unsafe to participate in the time trials, and -- far worse -- he was too old to ride. It took some intervention from a ranking American driver, Jim Moffett (Chris Lawford), before Munro was given his chance to ride the famous Salt Flats. The World's Fastest Indian was written and directed by Roger Donaldson, who early in his career made a documentary about the real Burt Munro, Offerings to the Gods of Speed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Editorial Reviews:

For a film that celebrates speed, The World's Fastest Indian certainly doesn't move very quickly. At least 30 minutes could have been chopped from the meandering true story of Burt Munro's 1967 attempt to break the land speed record with his Indian motorcycle. Roger Donaldson's film observes the following school of thought: If you don't see Burt brush his teeth, can you really be sure they got brushed? The movie's engine warms up nicely in Burt's New Zealand home, where there's plenty of local character to contextualize this senior-citizen speed fetishist and his tendency to flout convention. But once Burt goes to America, that Kiwi charm is gone, mostly because Anthony Hopkins can't transplant it there himself. Despite peppering his speech with the words "mate" and "crikey," Hopkins sounds more Scottish or even Irish than he does anything else. This isn't to say Hopkins' Burt isn't extremely likable -- he is, and that's what makes The World's Fastest Indian come across favorably as a pleasant little diversion, rather than the tension-free dramatic failure it actually is. Still, this pleasantry steadily begins to suffocate, as Burt meets and spends about five minutes of screen time with one helpful American after another, addressing challenges that turn out to be nothing but minor hiccups. He's shaken down by an immigrant cabbie and a Sunset Boulevard flower saleswoman, but otherwise, numerous nice people bend over backward for this determined old SOB from halfway across the world, and that just seems too easy. What's missing is a palpable sense of why going fast is important to Burt, how he developed his passion for mechanics and racing, and the details of his previous attempts at setting records, of which there were several. In a two-hour film, that could have easily been wrenched in. ~ All Movie Guide