I just love how everyone becomes happier for their interaction with Burt - even the policeman, pulling him over just sees an old guy on an empty road and immediately relaxes. It's a lovely feel-good film.
At that time, the state there, Nevada, didn't have a speed limit, so technically he wasn't speeding/breaking the law. That's why the law is so relaxed.
I’ve been telling people about this movie for years But the true life story of Burt Monroe is far more Amazing. Try to find out what you can about Burt. It will amaze you.
I am a little ashamed to say that I can't make it through this movie without crying. The scene where he finally gets to Bonneville and recounts all the past legends gets me every time. I'm nearly 40, worked construction all my life, lost family and friends to disease and suicide and never shed a tear. But do you think I can get through a movie about a Kiwi taking his bike to Bonneville. Damn you Hopkins! 😂 * Interweb please don't tell anyone
I trucked 33 years.My wife has Alzheimers. I have had a bike of some sort since 1957. I get a break of 3.5 hours once a week and get on my Harley for a ride .As said its something about being on a bike that keeps me going at 83 years old.
A classic of classic movies. Just watched it on Sunday afternoon... such a great movie... when he was leaving for America the young men from the motorcycle club show up to see him off.... that was respect.... Burts attitude and manner was infectious
@@GuppyDundee wave a bottle of beer under a kiwi's nose and he will tell the biggest fairy story's you would never wread in the readers digest then with a pice of fencing wire yes he will then hot wire a vehicle then steal it lol 😨😨😨😨😨😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
My top complement for a film is to own it, and I have this one. I also read Munro's book by the same title, in which he details his life and travels to the US (he spent way more time here than the movie implies). In it, he mentions visiting Nolan White, a fellow Bonneville racer, in Del Mar, California, not 2 miles from where we grew up. When we were growing up, my brother worked at a small business and mentioned seeing a very long and low vehicle, next door, under a cover, and wondered if it might have been a Bonneville car. Said the guy who lived there was named White. It wasn't until reading the book that it hit me who White was, and that Burt had been at his home right near us. Pretty crazy reading a book about some far off adventures, only to discover just how close we were to one of the situations described in it. A shame that we didn't get to meet either of these find gentlemen. Another very entertaining bit from the book was when Munro wanted to see the test aircraft, the X15. He was driving past Edwards AFB and decided to stop in, driving in through a back gate that was apparently unguarded. The guards caught him, but Burt being Burt, and thanks to his motorcycle article in Popular Mechanics, that the commander had read, Burt got his wish. They let him look at the plane, sit in the pilot's seat, and took a picture. Pretty effing cool, that. Oh, and one last bit. I had some tubing bent up for a car project, and had it done at a place in San Diego called Autopower. I briefly talked with the owner, Rick White, and had no idea who his dad was. I also noticed a very long and low vehicle under a cover against a wall. Small world.
I love this scene from the film. Munro clocked at 95 ml/h (152 km/h), and then just rapidly accelerating leaving the other cars far behind. It's a great movie.
Thank you for your passion Burt Monro and Anthony Hopkins for yet another brilliant performance! If you have gasoline in your blood, this movie is pure gooze bumps but it is a brilliant lesson on being passionate about what you do for everybody. RIP Burt.
My favourite thing about this movie is that the Monro family were annoyed at casting Hopkins, because he looked nothing like Burt. Then they saw the early rushes, with Hopkins' speech and mannerisms, and went "Oh my god. He is Burt". Not about how you look - it's about how you act. And Sir Anthony is one of the best.
I got a special edition of this on DVD which included a mini-documentary about the real Burt Munro, including some interview material. It's only when you see and hear the real Burt that you realize just how perfectly Hopkins portrayed him.
I love motorcycles, I love my motorcycles, I love movies about motorcycles This movie is simply one of those flicks that becomes a favorite. I wish my mom was here to watch with me. If she loved a river runs through it, than this too She would have. Love & miss you mom.
Went down to Invercargill in 2019 to see one of the original bikes. Most impressive thing was Burt’s ‘Offering to the Gods of Speed’ wall which was also used in the movie.
@@coopersrace7277 I saw it in 2008. I was living in my minibus doing the backpacker thing and had to get my minibus door fixed. Went to the scrapyard for parts, talked to the owner who knew Burt and we got yapping. He told me to go to the Hardware Store and look at the bike. Well worth it considering I'm a motorcyclist !!!
Probably right too. I also liked the engine which was built as a bet between Burt and his mate who owned the hardware store. The bet apparently was that a motor could not be built using just components found in the shed and on the floor. Amazing ingenuity to make a running engine from everyday junk which were not motorcycle or car parts!
I bought this movie in 2007, it is very interesting movie and Burt munro is very innocent and optimistic person. I like very much him, I never forget his character.
I talked to someone who actually knew Burt Munro when I was in NZ. He said that the Hollywood portrayal of him was quite inaccurate. He was not an old man and didn't have the medical problems portrayed in the movie. Apparently he was very fit and sharp minded (as one would expect). That's Hollywood for you!!
@@pentachronic Thank you dear, I changed my mind to actual Burt Munro through you special reply, He should respectable person in front of the world. His recorded speed was 321.6 km/h in 1967 I am proud of him. Thank you again.
I'm a Kiwi, and Burt is still the most legendary Kiwi to me. My uncle Selwyn Burt was friends with Burt Munro back in the day, my uncle was a bike racer also. This movie is the best and if you haven't seen it yet you should. The bikes and cars used in the movie are still in the Invercargill hardware store for anyone wanting to go check it out.
If old movie don't make it to other country TV it Will be underated back in the day, same with star wars' if that movie don't make it to my tv channel in my country i Will not know that movie exist back then
1:25 "All systems are nominal, Captain!" "Go for warp speed!" "Aye, Captain!" (lifts foot, engages second gear, proceeds to leave chase cars in the dust...)
One of my favourite moments too. They're all encouraging him because he's getting up to decent speed, and then "second gear." You can hear the entire rev range for the previous 40 seconds just slowly getting higher and higher before then, and then "Goodbye."
I love this film it brings back memories of an old bike mechanic I used to know in our town when I was a kid in the 60's and 70's. His workshop was an old WWII aircraft workshop and was a total Alladin's cave of treasures inside. Anyhow, the fastest I've ever ridden is 125mph with my wife on the back, she loved it. If I remember rightly she said, `eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!`
Imagine visiting new zealand in 2005 getting to watch this movie in a private home of a celebrity like anthony hopkins, thatd be a core air conditioned memory
A lot of people won't understand the feeling, but for those of us who get it. 1:15 That's the look of a greyhound/ race horse in the blocks. Driven and trained to do one thing and one thing only. Put in that singular place of purpose and told to hold back. When given the chance to go for it and only themselves holding it back no one's stopping them. The drive to let it rip is palpable in this scene.
I thought the film was some sort of cowboys and Indians film so wasn't much interested. But when I watched it I was blown away. One of the best, most enjoyable films I have ever seen. Has the record Burt Munro set still not been broken?
@@ottokiehl5413 Good move, I don't have any problems with that. Some individuals are of such special character that they and their achievements rightly deserve to be preserved as forever legendary status. Burt Munro is certainly one of those legends.
I just imagine, in the first test run, when burt was out on the salt finally and against All odds. He knew that he was not supposed to hit it, but he was worried it May be his only chance. So he guns it 😁🏍️💨
If I've seen this once I've seen it a million times. Absolute brilliant film totally agree with yeti d. Weird how underrated it is!. Anyone thinking of watching give it ago you won't be disappointed I can promise that.
1990 pulled over by Washington State Patrol I was on my motorcycle he asked how fast I was going I told him around 120 to 125 he asked if I seen him in the rearview mirror I said I was looking what was in front of me not behind me we chatted about the bike for a little bit I didn't have a motorcycle endorsement on my license he said get it off the road we parted ways and that was a cool Trooper
Word is Anthony Hopkins read this role and loved it to wanting to play Burt. It was a good change from his typecast as a psychotic cannibal, and he did great in this film. Even for people not into motorcycles or hotrodding, it's a good film just for being an adventure.
That spin around in that old cruiser was sexy!!! Love the old siren and red beacon 🚨 on old black and white police/Sheriff cars!! Yes…I am an Andy Griffith Show fan. But Andy and Barney hardly used their siren and red light on the show. But when they did it was sexy. The armored truck episode where Andy was chasing the money truck with Barney Fife in the back was bad ass!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
All the years the legendary Burt Munro was at Bonneville, from 1956-1975. 1956- Burt's 1st time at Bonneville, (spectator) 1957 - Burt's 2nd time at Bonneville,(spectator) 1959- Burt's 3rd time at Bonneville, ( still as a spectator), also in 1959 Burt first met the young Mickey Thompson, Mickey and Burt instantly warmed up to each other and became good friends. Burt then decided to debut with his Indian in either 1961 or 1962, it ended up being speed week of 1962. 1962- Burt's debut year - his Indian was 853cc, twin cam ( tail was 3 finned), S-A 883cc record at 178.971 mph (average). Burt's best measured mile was well over 180 mph. Burt also turned in speeds at over 171 mph, 175 mph and 179 mph, though for those 3 runs he wasn't going all out with his Indian. But Burt did eventually go full bore with his Indian for the first time ever at the salt that year. He was also named Sportsman of the year, and in total Burt did 53 miles on the salt in just 1962 alone. 1963- Burt made some big upgrades to his bike before Bonneville 1963, like converting his Indian to a 4 cam instead of the old 2 cam configuration from 1962. He also lowered the nose of the fiberglass streamIiner body for down force. Burt's Indian now has a large single mono- tail fin instead of the triple fin from the previous year, his qualifying went well at 183.673 mph, after the qualifying run Burt was jittery with excitement, since in his own words the engine was going like a bomb and the stability issues were a thing of the past, he knew he would be breaking 200 mph really soon. Burt's outward run was going very well at first as he was clearly exceeding his previous best speed. The salt was whizzing by so fast under the nose of his bike that it wasn't even blurred anymore, it was featureless. Burt compares the salt at speed to an ironed tablecloth, because the salt is just moving so fast that features cannot be seen. At that point he was doing over 190 mph, exhilarating at the fact that in any moment he was about to shatter the 200 mph mark which he had been working towards when unfortunately disaster struck, the front connecting rod broke, blowing the v-twin to pieces and ending his S-A 883cc record attempts for 1963. Burt got his Indian stopped in 1.5 miles with a total 3.5 miles of track used up as she blew up only 2 miles into the run. Burt was disappointed but just for the moment, when the timekeepers said he had averaged 184 mph in the mile and was doing a 195 mph plus at the end, Burt was pleased as 184 mph and 195 mph is faster than he had ever gone before. Many years later in an interview in 1974, Burt talked about how the AMA said he recorded 195.5 mph on his 1963 blowup run. The Indian was still at 853cc. 1964- Burt enlarged the Indian to over 870cc, the Bonneville track was rough and terrible in 1964, doing a mere 40-50 mph Burt was taking a serious beating, he had to go low gear for a while then he put her in 2nd for another mile, slowly winding the throttle up, she started weaving as well so Burt kept sitting up to stabilize the bike while the Indian was getting faster and faster and faster. Burt still managed to coax enough control to qualify at 184 mph but bad weather the next day ended his chance of running for the record. Speed week 1964 was a total wash out, only 4 days of running before bad weather ended speed week for good. 1965- a zero year for Burt, he had some low speed runs in the 160 mph range. At the end of 1965 Burt decided to run in the 61 inch class, 1000cc, instead of the 55 inch class, 901cc. Burt said himself he probably only qualified once in 1965. 1966- S-A 1000cc record at 168.66 mph(average), qualifying at 172 mph, unofficial top speed at 212 mph, Burt's Indian was 905cc. Burt was not happy with such a slow average, considering he was doing way above a disappointing and low 168 mph on his runs when the Indian was at the speed wobbles. Still he had to take it as it was another record. 1967- Burt arrived in America in late June of 1967. He went to his friend Sam Pierce’s shop in San Gabriel California to work on the Indian. Burt lengthened the Indian’s tail fin and cut a nearly 10 inch diameter hole into the nose cone which directed air into the body through a 10 kilogram lead tunnel casted from the old weight he had attached to the front of the frame. He also created outlets towards the rear of the shell hoping the modifications would reduce the pressure wave coming off the front which he thought had prevented the tail from stabilizing the machine. Burt also hoped the extra weight would help his bike run true like an arrow. Burt also enlarged the v-twins displacement to 953cc. S-A 1000cc record at 184.087 mph(average), best measured mile at 188 mph, qualifying at 184/190.070 mph, he upped his old record by nearly 16 mph, earning himself top record breaker of 1967 and American motorcyclist of the year. He was still a little disappointed though. Burt knew the Indian had enough power to push it past 200 mph like it had done the year prior in 1966, but one of the problems was the salt which was unfortunately wet and heavy. He estimated on every run that there was about 110 pounds of salt caked on the bike, which was enough to slow the Indian down to well below it's potential top speed. 1968- Burt had carburetor issues, the Indian kept insisting on running rich, even with the main jet nearly closed she still wouldn't run right. Like Burt said himself he could only coax a lousy 155 mph from his machine. It was still a very interesting year though because Burt's good friend Mickey Thompson was on the salt post speed week 1968 with his 1200 horsepower 1969 Ford Mustang. Also Mickey gave Burt a ride at 11 pm one night in the Mustang. The speed was building up pretty quickly with Burt in the passenger seat she started fishtailing at over 140 mph but Mickey pulled her back, after the litttle run Burt never got in a car with Mickey ever again but he was happy to watch his friend run though. After Burt got the Indian to where it seemed to be running like it's old self he decided to test his bike on the highway in Nevada that ran through Reno which had no speed limit at the time, he got pulled over after passing a cop at well over 100 mph, when the cop asked Burt on how fast he was going Burt replied with he was doing a lousy 160 miles an hour at best. Burt also told the officer that he had already run at over 200 miles an hour and doing 160 is like a stroll in the bloody park. After that Burt gave up for 1968 because the Indian was not running good and it was pointless to run it any further on the salt. 1969-For this speed week Burt was more prepared than any other year prior, he ran a qualifying run at 191 mph and his first run again at 191 mph but on his return run the Indian started blubbering and surging again like it did the year prior in 1968, Burt kept adjusting the fuel mixture, doing 14 runs on the salt in 4 days, but unfortunately to no avail. Burt figured out it was a bad magneto in the Indian that was causing all the running issues. In 1970 Burt decided to run a different fuel, so he switched from his traditional methanol which he always ran the Indian off of to nitromethane. Even with all the adjustments he made to run his Indian on nitro, the v-twin still burned out all his spare pistons. It was now unfortunately over for Burt who was 71 years old. 1971- Burt's 13th year at Bonneville and 10th year running his Indian, which was his last. Ran a very lousy run at 148.51 mph without the shell due to strict rules, without the shell the Indian was now seriously over geared, he did another run with the shell on going full bore for the last time ever. Burt never ran his bike there again. New Zealand film director Roger Donaldson and his crew were also on the salt in 1971, they filmed Burt doing some runs on his Indian for the documentary about him called Offerings to the God of Speed, (1971). It's a phenomenal documentary that i highly recommend people to watch. 1975 - Burt's 14th and final year at Bonneville, (Spectator). Though Burt did have the Indian with him, he never ran it. The AMA also said Burt could no longer officially run at Bonneville anymore. After Bonneville 1975 Burt said his goodbyes to all his good friends before permanently sailing back to New Zealand. In 1975 Today Burt's actual 1920 Indian Scout is in two different countries. The original but highly modified 1920 chassis plus the final version of the Indians fiberglass shell, used from 1967-1971 at Bonneville are in America, (restored) and owned by the Pierce family, the v-twin they have is a different one, not the original/ record setting one. In New Zealand, E Haynes and Son hardware has the original and built 1920 record setting v-twin which Burt modified all his life, that sits in Burt's 1924 Indian chassis( the frame which was never used in America, only in New Zealand). And they also have Burt's other bike he worked on as well, the 1936 single cylinder Velocette mss 650. In January of 1978 Burt passed away peacefully at home, age 78. 200 people came to his funeral. Losing Burt was a massive loss to New Zealand even in America as well. Indian motorcycles themselves were really saddened by the news of Burt's passing but they were also really proud of him.
love this movie, I have a 1999 n honda valkyrie, when I first got it I hauled ass east bound from Fernley NV , hit 130 and caught caught. Didn't get a ticket but go rear end chewed off. lol
1st time I ever went over a 100MPH was on a Triumph Tiger TR7R. It was my BIL's and he KNEW I wanted to ride it really bad. (19yr old) So one still summer night he gave me the keys. The road in from of his farm was dead flat-straight for about 4-5 miles. I made several passes back n forth. One the last pass I had it bumpin a 105. Wound it down and brought it in. No helmet, jeans, t-shirt and sneakers. Different time/Different world.
I've listened to this bike fire up at the Greenwich Concours, but this reminds me of the time my father got roller wheels for his sunfish sailboat back in the 1970's. Being a mechanical engineer and living on a back road, he couldn't help himself--he took it onto public pavement to see what she could do. The town cop was on patrol, pulled a u-ey, and when my father got the hand brake to finally work, the town cop walked up and simply said, "I'd just LOVE to see what type of license you have for this device" My father decided honesty was the best policy. and the cop laughed, "well, now that you know what it can do....I don't EVER want to hear you're doing it again". that winter my father got some ice blades for it since there was a pond nearby, and I can tell you from youthful experience...ice doesn't freeze smooth as you'd think it does.
It's a badass flick, do check it out. Motorcycle enthusiasts will find this movie pumpin' in high velocity... go man go! Cpl. Cano Honorably Discharged U.S. Marine Corps Veteran
That is a fantastic movie It’s a true story which makes it even better advance of the salt flats it’s amazing place and this guy did 208 miles an hour with 47 Indian I love the movie
You should've included the remark he made after the follow cars cought up and showed their amasement about his speed; "I couldn't get it out of first gear"... Absolutely killed me!!
The scene where Burt is testing the bike on a highway out in the middle of nowhere and he passes the cop and the cop turns around with the siren and roller light on… I started laughing hysterically. By the time the cop caught him Burt was in the next zip code and the bike was shut off for a few minutes haha
