The World’s Fastest Indian

Hi Aki,

Tonight we watched The World’s Fastest Indian a recent picture written and directed by Roger Donaldson. It’s based on the true exploits of New Zealand’s own Burt Munro, who raced motorcycles on the Bonneville Salt Flats to get a land speed record.

The story has old codger Burt, local clown almost, but a hell of a nice guy, in his small town in New Zealand. He has many pals and mates, but the neighbors don’t like the way he revs up his motorcycle at dawn, or won’t mow his lawn. But their kid Tommy idolizes the guy.

Burt’s dream is to go to America and try for a speed record on his Indian motorcycle, which was originally built in 1925 (time frame of the movie is 1963). Of course Burt has tweaked and modified the machine plenty. With only 5 days before he could take ship to leave, Burt has given up on the idea that he’ll go this year. Then he suffers a heart attack and is told his motorcycle racing days are over.

No way. He takes a loan on his house to get the extra money he needs, and off he goes, serving as cook on the ship to pay passage, buying a car in Van Nuys, helped by a transvestite clerk at the Sunset Strip motel where he’s staying, helped by an old Indian along the way, by an old cowgirl on the way, and others. Everywhere he goes he meets some people who are mean, and some people who are skeptical, but he charms most all of them with his simple honesty and sincerity.

He finally does make it to Utah and the Salt Flats, only to learn that in order to race one must register months ahead of time. No luck. And his motorcycle isn’t safe enough, and he lacks proper safety gear himself, and he’s too old. They won’t let him race! But he makes friends who are just impressed at the notion that this old guy has so much determination, and has come all this way, with so little money. So at last – they let him go.

He has some problems with the bike. He has a lot of problems. He suffers a couple heart attacks just getting to Utah. And nobody back home in New Zealand really thought he could do it anyway.

But he does. He goes 201+ mph, a new speed record (for his class motorcycle). Then he crashes. His leg is badly burned, and he lies there on the salt, muttering, ‘I did it, I made it…’ Then his eyes close…

Back in New Zealand, his neighbors get the call – it’s from Burt! He tells Tommy he broke the record, and when he comes home, he is welcomed by all his neighbors.

A final title card tells us that Burt went back to Utah again, a total of 9 years’ running, and broke many speed records, and that his 1967 record for streamlined motorcycle under 1,000-cc still stands.

A charming movie full of heart, obviously a labor of love for Donaldson. Anthony Hopkins plays the old guy, and his accent isn’t quite New Zealand except for a word here and there. For the accent, Hopkins and Donaldson try an old trick: in the first couple of scenes, Hopkins tries to do the accent right, and of course his fellow actors, all Kiwis, speak their native accent just fine. Now having established this ‘flavor’ of accent as it were, Hopkins reverts back to closer to his normal manner of speaking – well actually he does his patented ‘old codger’ accent, which is less refined than how Hopkins can speak.

This switch in accent might also have something to do with setting: Hopkins might have tried a bit harder to do a Kiwi accent when he was shooting the scenes in New Zealand with the kiwi fellow actors, then relaxed it when shooting the American scenes.

‘Heart-warming’ is the term usually awarded movies like this. Great for old men to watch. No anger to speak of, full of love and trust that people after all are, on the whole, good and will respond to goodness if given half a chance. It might also be a tribute to New Zealand courage and determination and patriotism.

(30 March 2009)