La guerre des motos

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

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.

I saw this or part of it last night (21-09-99) and the only reason I was interested in it was when I saw {Cristina Raines .... Julie Prince} - she is certainly an extremely beautiful woman and as far as I am concerned makes this film well worth watching.

Forget the cheesy scences on the bike or Essex jogging with his perma-grin - just focus on the lovely Cristina and you'll easily get through it!

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.

I used to love watching this years ago with my dad and this film got me into bikes too!!! When it was released on DVD i was so chuffed, but unfortunately it had a different ending, gutted! But i finally got a copy on laser-disc with the "unhappy" ending and i love it just as much now as i did then, i don't care if i'm in the minority. This film as lasted the test of time in my books and its great! Surprisingly enough the bike still looked good too after all these years, loved the sound track too! To be honest i wasn't much of a David Essex fan until i watched this film, but now have great respect for him and his work (acting and singing) and no before everyone thinks it I'm not an 85 year old lady who loves him, for the record i'm 23. So all in all a great film for all ages, as long as you watch the crash ending anyway!!! Love the film, love the bike and love the soundtrack!!!

Sarah