World’s Fastest Indian, The

Where Order Prednisone Free Samples Where Order Neurontin Dosing Where Order Hoodia Weight Discount Seroquel Cheapest Pills Cipro Description Price For Stromectol Get High Lipitor Herbal Erythromycin Get High Where To Get Lipitor Canada Ultram Delivery Natural Toprol XL France Purchase VPXL Austin Generic Cymbalta Overnight Delivery Buy Zithromax Buy Inderal Lansing Price For Neurontin India Prevacid NoRX Where To Get Lipitor Spain Discount Doxycycline Italy Discount Stromectol Online Clinic Taking Topamax Generic Lipitor Concord Price For Antabuse Shipping Generic Accutane Springfield Zithromax Review Price For Cymbalta For Add Discount Elavil Overnight Delivery Where To Get Phentrimine Swaziland Levitra Erythromycin Review Where To Get Lasix Canadian Generic Antabuse Helena Discount Hoodia Review Zelnorm Dosing Where To Get Seroquel Mexico Where Order Celexa Mail Penisole Mail Topamax Dosing Herbal Avapro Side Effects Natural Stromectol Horny Goat Weed Herbal Prednisone Cheapest Pills Price For Prevacid Free Samples Where To Get Flomax Age Nexium Weight Where Order Celexa United States Stromectol Shipping Where Order Aldactone Australia Purchase Plavix Dover Lasix Review Where Order Acomplia Germany

(c) AJMalouin 2006

(Rating: 2 by Al and 10 by Caryl) (2005/New Zealand/USA. Directed by Roger Donaldson.) (2 hrs 7. Rated PG-13 for brief language, drug use and a sexual reference.)

It’s not about speed and it’s not about Indians.

It’s about undying enthusiasm.

New Zealander Burt Munro (played by Anthony Hopkins!!!), is a 60-something tinkerer. He has spent his entire life rebuilding and rebuilding his 1920 Indian motorcycle. He sleeps in his garage/workshop with this Indian. He casts and re-casts its piston heads. He shaves and re-shaves the Indian’s tires to make it faster and faster. According to the movie, this is all Munro/Hopkins does, and it’s all he has ever done. It’s not about speed and it’s not about Indians; it’s about undying enthusiasm.

After looking forward to it for 25 years, Munro/Hopkins finally, in the late 1960s, scrapes and borrows enough money to take a road trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats. It’s a kind of a clumsy, jury-rigged journey and along the way, Munro is helped by (1) his bank-teller girlfriend, (2) a cross-dressing motel clerk, (3) an American Indian living in the desert beside his mobile-home campfire, and (4) a big-hearted female owner of an Arizona junk yard.

Once he finally finally finally gets to Bonneville during Speed Week, Munro/Hopkins— the old codger with the brandy-corked gas tank on his banged-up Indian— becomes the darling of multi-million dollar race teams trying to set land speed records in sleek rocket-powered machines. Although none of the professionals at Bonneville thinks he has a chance at a world’s speed record, they are all nuts about his enthusiasm.

The scenes of the racing community camped out at the Bonneville Salt Flats reminded Al of the winter trips he took to Mexico, to cover southern California’s off-road racers during the Baja 500. All motorcycle riders are nuts in the best possible sense of that word: those who ride off-road in the Baja 500 are also among the best athletes in the world.

This isn’t a macho, guy film about dare-devils nor ne’er-do-wells, nor a man on the fringe of society however. It’s about a guy who never ever lost his enthusiasm for what he set out to do as a very young man.

Hopkins (as always) turns in an outstanding performance. (Al read somewhere that Hopkins said this role was the best one he has ever done. There are many other good performances, as well. Diane Ladd does a great job as the junk woman in the desert. Annie Whittle does a great job as Fran, Munro’s bank-teller girlfriend. Aaron Murphy is wonderful as Tom, the little boy who lives next door to Munro in the town of Invercargill, New Zealand.

Oh, yeah, Munro/Hopkins DOES set a new land speed record for Indian motorcycles. Later (after the movie) Munro went on to set eight or nine more.

It’s not about speed, however: it’s about undying enthusiasm. At one point, long before the first world record, the neighborhood boy looks at the seemingly haphazard status of Munro’s workshop garage and of his Indian motorcycle, and asks, “Aren’t you scared you’ll kill yourself if you crash?”

“No…You live more in five minutes on a bike like this, going flat out, than some people live in a lifetime.”

That’s inspiration for you!

You will stand up and cheer, even IF you don’t like speed, motorcycles, machinery, gear heads, or codgers. You WILL love this movie, even if the only darn thing you care about is a beautifully acted, beautifully photographed, beautifully told story. Whatever you do, do not miss this ride.