The World’s Fastest Indian

For 25 years, in a remote corner of New Zealand, a real-life character named Burt Munro tinkers away on his beloved 1920 Indian motorcycle. He dreams of taking it to Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats to see how fast she can go. In 1967, when heart disease threatens his life, Burt decides to go for it. He mortgages his house, signs on as a ship’s cook, and makes his way to the USA. In Los Angeles Burt buys an old car, builds a rattletrap trailer, and begins a road trip to the salt flats — charming everyone he meets along the way. Will they let an old guy compete in the land-speed trials on an ancient cycle with bald tires, no brakes, and no chute? You can probably guess the answer. No matter. The racing sequences are thrilling, but it is the trip there that makes this such a great ride.

The films stars Anthony Hopkins and is directed by Roger Donaldson.

“Burt encounters all kinds of people from Los Angeles to Bonneville, and somewhere, midway, the lovely thing happens: The movie takes on a magical quality. … Donaldson finds a pleasant, measured rhythm and makes a viewer feel as if it would be quite all right to watch Burt’s journey for hours and hours. He is, after all, the only unself-conscious man in America, and we look upon him in the same way as most people do in the movie, with bemusement, at first, then fascination, and then affection.” — Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“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. … 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.” — Lee In KC, International Movie Database.

The film is rated PG-13 for brief language, drug use and a sexual reference. Running time: 127 minutes.

Friday, Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m. Community United Methodist Sanctuary

777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street)

On the Web:

www.hmbfilm.org