If you don't follow through on your dreams, you might
as well be a vegetable. - H.J. (Burt) Munro, 1967
This is one of those feel good Road Trip movies. It
traces the long journey of Burt Munro from Invercargill,
New Zealand to the Bonneville Salt Flats, dragging the
1920 Indian motorcycle (and thus the name of the movie)
that he'd streamlined and worked on most of his life
with him. He wants to see how fast it'll go, and the
Salt Flats is the only place he can find out. Burt is
68 years old, and with a heart condition.
Tom: Aren't you scared you'll kill yourself if you crash?
Burt: No... You live more in five minutes on a bike like
this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime.
After a long journey, during which he meets many wonderful
people, he arrives in Utah and, despite being laughed at
by most of the people he knows back home and many of the
people there in Bonneville for Speed Week, he sets the
World's Land Speed Record for under-1000cc motorcycles,
190.07 mph. Unofficially, that 68-year-old man got that
48-year-old Indian up to 205.67 mph.
Burt was a real character, and he's played (very subtly)
in the movie by Anthony Hopkins. There's not much mush
or schmaltz in this film, just the plain story of a plain
guy who wanted to achieve a little something before he
died. And who did. It might be an inspiration to those
of us who are...let's face it...approaching Burt's age
and, like him, might still have a few things left to
achieve. The film is well worth a rental, and who
knows...it might inspire you to go out and do
something crazy yourself.
