The World's Fastest Indian
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| The World's Fastest Indian | |
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| Directed by | Roger Donaldson |
| Produced by | Roger Donaldson |
| Written by | Roger Donaldson |
| Starring | Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Cauffiel, Christopher Lawford |
| Music by | J. Peter Robinson |
| Cinematography | David Gribble |
| Editing by | John Gilbert |
| Distributed by | Magnolia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 7, 2005 (NZL), February 3, 2006 (USA) |
| Running time | 127 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The World's Fastest Indian (2005) is a movie based on the true story of Burt Munro from Invercargill, New Zealand, who personally modified his old 1920s Indian motorcycle into a 200+ mph record-breaking machine. He broke the world land speed record for motorcycles with engines less than 1000cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the 1960s. The film stars Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins and was written and directed by Roger Donaldson.
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[edit] Synopsis
Burt Munro is a friendly New Zealander who has a passion for speed, particularly on his Indian motorcycle. Burt is befriended by the boy next door, Tom (Aaron Murphy). It has been Burt's dream for some time to travel to the Bonneville Salt Flats in order to attempt to set a land speed record. Although there are many setbacks along the way, Burt garners support from the locals of Invercargill and raises enough money to travel to Bonneville.
While in America, Burt meets and befriends many odd and eccentric characters. Much of the movie focuses on his journey to Bonneville, the people he meets, and the problems he faces on his journey. One of these problems is his failing heart, as whenever he feels a pain in his chest, he takes a pill.
Eventually, he arrives at Bonneville but is initially turned away by the Speed Week officials, who cite the fact that he didn't register. After a day of uncertainty, the officials allow Burt to race. On one of his runs, his Indian reaches speeds of over 200 mph, earning it the title of "World's Fastest Indian".
[edit] Trivia
- The scenes showing the motorbike being "unloaded" at Long Beach, CA were actually filmed in Timaru, New Zealand.
- Tim Shadbolt, who played Frank in the movie, is actually the current mayor of Invercargill City and well known amongst New Zealanders for his smile and seemingly enthusiastic approach to everything.
[edit] Fact vs. fiction
The film takes several historical liberties. The real Burt Munro married Florence Beryl Martyn in 1927, and had four children, but they are not seen or mentioned. In the movie, he recalls the death of his twin brother. Munro actually had a twin sister who died at birth. He had been setting speed records in New Zealand as early as 1938, and still held several marks as late as 1970, but these are not mentioned.
The Bonneville run is a composite of several he made, the first in 1956. In 1962, he set a record at Bonneville on his first run at 178.971 MPH. Jim Enz did help out Munro, but in obtaining fuel, not in talking the officials into bending the rules. His fastest-ever officially recorded speed at Bonneville was 190.07 MPH. He never set a record of 201 MPH at Bonneville, but did reach 205.67 MPH on an incompleted run, which he crashed on.
