REVIEW OF THE MOVIE: THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN

The World's Fastest Indian (2005), is a film based on the Invercargill, New Zealand speed bike racer Burt Munro and his highly modified Indian Scout motorcycle. Munro set numerous land speed records for motorcycles with engines less than 1000 cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. Some suggest his records may never be broken.
The film stars Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins and was written and directed by Roger Donaldson. The film opened in December 2005 to positive reviews[1] and quickly became the highest grossing local film at the New Zealand box-office taking in $7,043,000;[2] and taking in over $11 million

PLOT

Burt is loved in his community for his friendly and charming personality and for being featured in Popular Mechanics magazine (May 1957 p6) for having the fastest motorcycle in Australia and New Zealand. However, that recognition is contrasted by his exasperated neighbours, who are fed up with his un-neighbourly habits such as urinating on his lemon tree every morning, neglecting his yardwork, and, most of all, waking up before sunrise to rev his bike.
When Burt arrives in Los Angeles, he experiences bureaucracy, scepticism and the coldness of big city people. It is his blunt but gregarious nature which overcomes each hurdle. He wins over the hardened motel clerk, a transgender woman named Tina, who assists him in clearing customs and helps him in buying a car. The car salesman allows Burt to use his shop to make a trailer and later offers him a job after Burt fixes one of the cars on the lot. Burt declines the offer, however, and shortly afterwards begins his long trip to Utah.
Along the way, Burt meets many people, including a Native American who aids him when his trailer fails, a woman named Ada who helps him repair his trailer and becomes his lover and an Air Force pilot who is on a leave from his military service in Vietnam.
He is further assisted by various competitors in the Bonneville series, and is eventually allowed to make a timed run. In the 8th mile, he achieves over 200mph then falls with the bike and skids to a stop. His leg is burned by the exhaust, yet he has succeeded in his quest.

CAST

Actor
Role
Anthony Hopkins
Burt Munro
Jessica Cauffiel
Wendy
Joe Howard
Otto
Chris Williams
Tina (Transvestite motel clerk)
Paul Rodriguez
Fernando (Used car salesman/dealer)
Christopher Lawford
Jim Moffet
Annie Whittle
Fran
Aaron James Murphy
Tom

PRODUCTION NOTES

Director Roger Donaldson had been working on this movie for over 20 years before he started filming it. Many of the props used for filming were actually owned by Munro, including all the exploded pistons and the piston mould that 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 workshop in New Zealand took place on land once 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.
In interviews Hopkins has stated that Munro was one of the easiest roles that he has ever played in his career, simply because Munro's view on life was not all that different from his own.

[edit] Historical accuracy
The historical Munro married Florence Beryl Martyn in 1927, whom he later divorced. The couple had four children together. However, no mention is made of children in the film, but it is implied that he was married and either estranged or divorced.
Munro in the film recalls the death of a twin brother named Ernie, who died when a tree fell on him. However, the historical Munro had an older brother who was killed when a tree fell on him. Munro also had a stillborn twin sister.
The historical Munro had set numerous speed records in New Zealand during the late 1930s through the early 1970s. However, these records are only implied in the film.
The Bonneville run in the film is a composite of several runs Munro made, the first in 1956. In 1962 at Bonneville, he set the record of 178.971 MPH.
Munro's fastest complete run at Bonneville was 190.07 MPH. He never set a record of 201 MPH at Bonneville as the film portrays, but did reach 205.67 MPH on an uncompleted run, on which he unfortunately crashed.[4] Munro does crash after his 201 MPH record-breaking run, which is officialised unlike the 205.67 MPH run.
Munro was never known to urinate on his lemon tree; film director Roger Donaldson added that detail as a tribute to his own father, who did.
The May 1957 edition of Popular Mechanics (p6) has a letter to the editor about H.A. "Dad" Munro and his 1920 Indian Scout
At the end of the film, Speed Week participants throw money into "the hat" and Burt Munro is presented with a bag of cash after he sets the speed record. In fact, Munro had to take up a collection before Speed Week as U.S. Customs required a cash bond before releasing his motorcycle.[5]

[edit] Hopkins' portrayal of a New Zealander
The Welsh-born Hopkins did not employ the kind of Kiwi accent which the real Munro would have had — the review in The New Zealand Herald said that "his vowels swoop from the Welsh valleys to the high veldt without ever alighting in Southland" [Munro's home region of New Zealand]. Nevertheless the same reviewer said Hopkins gives a "generous, genial and utterly approachable performance … he nails the backyard eccentric genius dead centre … he has inhaled the nature of a mid-century Kiwi bloody good bloke and he inhabits the part to perfection".[6]