Burt Munro

Anthony Hopkins is simply astounding. The man can disappear inside of characters so diverse and capture you so completely, that you have to wonder if his well of talent has a bottom.

This film is at turns charming, bawdy, fascinating, riveting, nerve wracking, hilarious, heartwarming and heartbreaking. As Burt Munro -- an aging New Zealand man losing his hearing, short on money, living in a shed surrounded by weeds, considered a lovable if eccentric oddball by all who know him except one small boy, and obsessed with making a 45 year old motorcycle capable of breaking the land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats -- Hopkins takes us along for the ride every minute of this movie. The fact that this film is based on the true story of Burt Munro makes it all the more captivating, but a lesser actor than Hopkins might very well have lost us along the way. It is no wonder that the children of the real-life Burt Munro were moved to tears by Hopkins' portrayal.

There's a clever ongoing bit about the taste of Burt's hot tea, and you will also wonder a bit about how his lemonade might taste. Every scene is a jewel in this movie, and the cumulative effect proves that extraordinary films do not have to cost bazillions of dollars and take two years of computer-generated special effects to WOW their audience.

Burt is challenged by every imaginable obstacle standing between him and his speed dream: his failing heart may give out any minute, the journey around the world to transport the 1920 Indian motorcycle to the USA seems insurmountable, he has no machine shop or whiz-bang tools and equipment to work his engineering miracles, etc. What he DOES have is an indomitable spirit that will never, ever stop trying. Whether he's battling young ruffians who diss his ancient motorcycle or banking, bureaucrats and red tape, he is a wrinkled but worthy warrior.

The supporting cast is as beautiful and bizarre as it gets, and the audience becomes inordinately fond and just about every one of them except for a nasty foreign cabdriver (Carlos Lacamara), but hey, somebody had to be disliked. Great actors in small roles abound, including Diane Ladd as Ada, a frontier gal that's been lonely a while, Saginaw Grant as Jake, an "Indian" with a really distasteful solution to Burt's prostate problems, and Paul Rodriguez as Fernando, a human and humane used car salesman. Perhaps the best scene -- and heart -- stealer is Chris Williams as Tina, a cross-dressing front desk night clerk at a fleabag hooker hotel. You gotta love him. Or her, as the case may be. Stellar performance, and Hopkins' Burt treats Tina with such dignity it defines friendship.

Don't miss this fine, fine film. And if there is justice in the boffo box office world, The World's Fastest Indian will be a true Oscar contender in 2006.

I must admit, on this particular day I was dragged to the cinema with no prior knowledge of the characters, plot and had no awareness of the historical basis upon which the film is based. After a minute or so, I realized my partner (a fairly new motorcycle rider himself, making me a motorcycle widow of course) had lured me into a film about motorbikes. I rolled my eyes at him, yawned and prepared for the worst ...

What I got instead was the best film I've seen for quite some time.

Anthony Hopkins totally blew me away. His accent was really very strong (it should be noted that the Invercargil accent is pretty distinct from the rest of the South Island of NZ) and he managed to maintain the audience's interest though some pretty dialogue-heavy scenes. All of the supporting characters did a brilliant job defining a diverse physical and emotional landscape for the protagonist. The cinematography was economical and meaningful and assisted the humorous moments beautifully. The story unfolded very nicely and - thanks to some great editing - the small moments of tension were plentiful and kept the story moving along nicely.

With all the cynicism and politics in contemporary cinema, it is so refreshing to see a film that is very pure, that speaks volumes about kindness and passion and friendship without saying anything at all. This film didn't try to make any big statements, there were no lengthy diatribes about 'acceptance' and 'tolerance', and I loved that.

I left the cinema with a huge grin on my face. I'm so glad I was dragged along for the ride.

It's a good thing I took my wife, because as all men know the only way not to cry is to look over at your wife/girlfriend and make fun of them for crying.

Seriously, I am a motorcycle aficionado but I truly think this movie transcends that. It's not a "guy's film" at all but a serious look at the life of a man that was average by his own reckoning - by ours he's a hero. When you find yourself looking at that and saying "I would have quit" and it was only the beginning of the movie, well, that's some tough stock Burt Munro came from.

And it's not tedious, not an uphill struggle all the way against insurmountable odds, none of those clichés. It's a great movie about a real guy and I can't imagine someone watching it and not being entertained, moved, and frankly, impressed.

I took a look at this film with a slightly wary eye, the title being rather ambiguous and misleading initially. I almost passed it by to watch one of the many screener DVD's I had to view. for possible inclusion in the BAFTA awards. I presumed it was about a runner or maybe an Indian astronaut, possibly. I had no idea initially the "Indian" referred to a great American motorcycle,rather than a particular type of human.I am so glad I wasn't thrown by the title, and started watching. There unfolded a most delightful story about Bert, an instantly rather charming eccentric old character (superbly played by Anthony Hopkins), who built an old 1920's motorcycle in his garden shed. He then attempts to break the world-land speed record on a machine designed to originally travel about 90mph. The plot develops into a most charming and beautiful story of Bert's determination to get to the race event and the journey is as much of the story as the event itself. Obviously I shall not divulge the result or the events that happen, suffice it to say that Bert becomes an instantly likable character by everyone he meets. Bert's charm shines through and he takes everyone he meets at face value and welcomes all with a smile and a shake of the hand. He meets various "characters" along the way who he befriends like long-lost friends,which is a fresh in these days of prejudice and alienation. This was a very innocent time in 1967 for a New Zealander going to America, and there is one of the films most delightful and charming moments when Bert realises all is not quite what it seems when he meets one certain character......... MAKE SURE YOU SEE THIS FILM, it will have you laughing, crying and will uplift you, which is quite uncommon in these days in the movies of blood, killing, violence and savagery. I would be very surprised if Anthony is not at least nominated for his starring role as Bert. Lovely film which needs a different title to me, but then again "it does what it says on the tin", as they say. Go and see it. Great

I saw this film on a plane - I know, I know, the worst place to see any kind of film - and thought I would just fall asleep as I didn't expect it to catch my interest enough to put up with the bad audio and small screens. In any case I dislike feel-good movies, and all the Kiwi-innovator stuff makes me cringe, Kiwis don't have the monopoly on being resourceful. And I'd never heard of Burt Munro. So I was surprised to find within a few minutes I was entranced.

Anthony Hopkins has made a brilliant job of the role, his accent wasn't too bad, and I loved the way he said "Invercarrrrrrgill". Hopkins' talent really shone - without him saying a word or changing his expression, you just knew how Burt felt when confronted by an apparently insurmountable obstacle (I won't spoil it) and his placid acceptance of the inevitable falls, tumbles and injuries told you that for Burt these were a fact of life. The other cast were also flawless, for me there wasn't a weak point in any of the acting. The humour was delivered in the main by Hopkins and with the lightest possible touch. The cinematography was beautiful and conveyed the journey from long quiet light of Munro's idealism in Invercargill, murky 'orribleness of the necessary evil of passing through LA and laying your dream on the line in the harsh open glare of Utah.

Hopkins has done a few of these slightly-disreputable, love-em-when-you-get-to-know-em characters but this is the best. And I'm not a motorcycle fan, and no Kiwi-made-good fan, but I will confess to a tear (almost) at the end when the text came up about Burt's unbeaten record.

If you watch this film at home you won't want to be disturbed by other people talking - you'll want to catch every word, every nuance.