La guerre des motos

Essex is the most underrated actor we ever produced.The bike was gorgeous,Harry H Corbett and a tale of a British success !Who could ask for more ?If you are a bike fan,as i am,the plot came almost second to that great bike.You cannot the makers to portray an entire season in such a short time,so the single GP format was really the only way to do it.Whats wrong with a sentimental film? On golden pond,Love story,Kramer vs Kramer Love story all seemed to do quite well as I remember.If you Take Essexs acting in That'll Be the day and Stardust,you cannot say that he isn't a master of the craft.I will warrant you,that because of the obvious lack of knowledge on the subject,the directing was not first class,but no movie has everything.Praise where its due,beautiful bike,fair bit of racing footage and Davids love of bikes really came through.Top film,greatly underrated.

Nick Freeman is a talented motorcycle racer but his bike has seen better days and he doesn't have the finances to upgrade it. Then his brother dies and Nick is left the bike he spent the last three years developing. The bike is revolutionary and Nick sees a way to pursue his dream.

Heaps of potential, largely wasted. It is difficult to make an unexciting racing movie, but writer-director David Wickes somehow manages it here. The final racing scenes are great, but just about everything else is mediocre: sub-plots that don't go anywhere, much filler, attempts at humour that are largely silly, implausible plot developments or events and a general cheesiness to proceedings.

Throw in some irritating performances - David Essex and Cristina Raines are okay but Beau Bridges and Clarke Peters are quite cringeworthy - and the film is more miss than hit. Don't get me started on the ridiculous ending...

I first saw the US release version of Silver Dream Racer on HBO in the early '80s. It wasn't until almost 20 years later I saw the original UK version (same film with different editing). As a fan of MotoGP racing, my emotions on this movie are mixed.

Assuming you've never seen the movie or been been exposed to spoilers on the editing differences in the original (UK) versus US release versions, pay attention: THE EDITING DIFFERENCES IN WHICH VERSION YOU WATCH WILL LIKELY HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON IF YOU LIKE OR DISLIKE THIS FILM. When the DVD is re-released in late 2010, it will hopefully give you the option to choose the US edit as the default view.

THE VOTE OF "8" IS FOR THE US RELEASE VERSION. The editing and scene differences make it a much more enjoyable movie. Without injecting a spoiler, the editing differences drop the original UK/European version to a rating of "2" (1, plus an extra point for a decent theme song by David Essex). Based on the US version, the acting is OK (David Essex and Beau Bridges do a better job in front of the camera than most real GP racers being interviewed). The camera shots are decent (remember this was filmed in 1980, long before Hi-Def helmet cams became the norm).

If you're a fan of racing and sport bikes, the US version is worth your time.

Arguably the worst film I have ever seen. All prints of this film should be destroyed. I have been a keen motorcyclist all my life, and was rather looking forward to this film. Although it was released over 20 years ago, I didn't see it until just recently. I wish I hadn't bothered.

When I was younger I loved this film as I was a huge David Essex fan - but you have to be careful what version you watch as far as I know two endings were done - one for the states where he crosses the line a winner and the film has a happy ending - the other a United Kingdom version where he crosses the line a winner then skids, crashes burns and dies - not a brilliant film by any stretch of the imagination but it is over 20 years old now and it did appeal to his die-hard fans