Talk:The World's Fastest Indian

Untitled
Having watched the film and read the wikipedia article on Munro, I find that the picture is only loosely based on "the true story" and it is rather a highly dramatized version for commercial audiences.

In particular, he did not achieve the 324Km/h in his first visit to the salt plains, but 5 years later (source: wikipedia). Nor it seems, did he get to this speed the time he slowed the cycle down by sticking his head up, loosing his goggles and crashing down. In the film they have made a collage of these three events: his first visit, beating the speed record, and loosing his goggles.

In my opinion, it would be more accurate to say "based on a true story" or "a highly dramatized account of his achievements". Cgonzalezdelhoyo 19:06, 25 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't really think that's necessary. Generally, I would expect that a film adaptation would play very loosely with the facts (e.g., A Beautiful Mind, Finding Neverland, Apollo 13). It's not like anyone's calling this a documentary... (in fact, the director of The World's Fastest Indian made a documentary on Munro in 1973).--Limegreen 00:00, 26 May 2006 (UTC)


 * He did set a land-speed on his first visit to Utah in 1962 (when the film is set). Then he broke his own records in subsequent years. --Mathew5000 08:06, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

When is the film set? You say 1962, but in the synopsis it is stated that Munro meets someone returning from Vietnam. The Vietnam war started in 1965, though there had been US personnel in the country before then. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.149.164.86 (talk) 15:13, 10 April 2009 (UTC)


 * The soldier says he is in Vietnam helping with the programme to apply Agent Orange; no mention of the war is made though the audience is clearly aware of what was to come. 86.133.210.223 (talk) 16:09, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes he mentions the war. And, he says something like: "We'll have this 'Nam mess cleared up soon". The war started in 1961, even though  US was not fighting there (officially) yet. And, agent Orange was not used until 1965. Again, this movie is a "composite" of not only Burty's races, but, also, apparently the dates he did them, from 1962-1967. It is not to be held chronologically accurate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange70.162.93.21 (talk) 12:42, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Powerpoles
What is an "underground powerpole"? GrahamBould 11:31, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Fix up
I watched this movie and rewrote the entire synopsis in this article. I also turned the "Fact vs Fiction" into a list format rather then a paragraph one. It's easier to read. Suggestions? Feedback is appreciated. --Majinvegeta 00:00, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

You really need to watch the movie again, there are so many inaccuracies in your synopsis its laughable ... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.94.189.34 (talk) 14:59, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

yes you need to watch the movie again and take notes you synopsis is as far from the movie as the movie is from the real munro. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.255.20.143 (talk) 03:34, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

budget & box office
The article currently says: "The film opened in December of 2005 to positive reviews and was hailed as one of the greatest New Zealand films ever made and quickly became the highest grossing film at the New Zealand box-office taking in $7,049,000. and taking in over $11 million overseas." One of the references is now defunct, and another (pointing to boxofficemojo.com) is a little confusing. Surely this film is not really the "highest grossing film at the New Zealand box office" of all time? What about Titanic, the Harry Potter movies, the Star Wars movies, and Jurassic Park, not to mention the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Maybe it means that The World's Fastest Indian was the highest-grossing movie in NZ in 2005? If so it should specify that expressly. Secondly, are the dollar figures US$ or NZ$? That too is unclear. Thirdly, it's unclear what the source is for the statement "taking in over $11 million overseas". The ostensible reference is to boxofficemojo.com but I don't see the $11 million figure anywhere at that site. Fourthly, the production budget for the film was apparently $25-million but its worldwide box office only $18-million. So that means it was a financial failure, right? But the article gives the overall impression that the film was a big success. --Mathew5000 00:47, 13 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I think they're referring to New Zealand films, and using a definition that would exclude LOTR, Narnia, King Kong etc. See ref here . --Limegreen 02:22, 13 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Well they must be using a convoluted definition. Fastest Indian was a NZ/USA coproduction, while according to IMDb the LOTR films were either USA/NZ (the first one) or USA/NZ/Germany (the last two). Plus they were filmed entirely in NZ, weren't they? Also what about my other point that the film was unprofitable, despite doing so well in NZ. Should that fact go in the article? --Mathew5000 07:51, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone else think Anthony Hopkins' impression of a New Zealand accent was ropey? I thought it was certainly very muddled: - it sometimes sounded more like a South African accent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.2.131.26 (talk) 09:22, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Worlds fastest indian.jpg
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How fast, really?
This is unclear (emphasis is mine):


 * He never set a record of 201 MPH at Bonneville as the film portrays, but did reach 205.67 MPH on an uncompleted run, on which he unfortunately crashed.[4] Munro does crash after his 201 MPH record-breaking run, which is officialised unlike the 205.67 MPH run.

Did he set a record of 201 MPH or did he not?

The wording could be better, here, I agree.

My interpretation is:

Although he did reach 205.67 MPH averaged over one mile of one of his runs, it was not officially recognized, because he crashed during the latter part of the run. In the film, he is shown achieving an average speed of 201 MPH (averaged over one mile - the 8th mile) of one of his runs. Officially though, he only ever achieved a top speed (averaged over one mile of the entire run) of 190.07 MPH. Why crashing in the 6th, 7th, or 8th mile would make a recorded average speed in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd mile not count seems a bit silly, would anyone agree? 122.148.138.107 (talk) 10:13, 26 December 2013 (UTC)

Internal conflicts with wikipedia article on records
Having also just watched the movie I went to see where he was listed in wikipedia's article on speed records and he's not there. Not even a mention. According to Motorcycle_land_speed_record, the record of 211 MPH was set in 1956, which seems to predate any of the records Munro was claimed to have set that were over 200, so I'm real confused. --Markseger (talk) 11:52, 4 April 2010 (UTC) Markseger

Twins?
This article says in the "Historical Accuracy" section - "Munro in the film recalls the death of a twin brother named Ernie, who died when a tree fell on him. However, the historical Munro had an older brother who was killed when a tree fell on him. Munro also had a stillborn twin sister." While the article on Burt Munro himself, in the "Early Life" section, states "One of a pair of twins, Burt and his twin Eddie grew up on a farm in Edendale east of Invercargill. Eddie died in an accident aged 4...". Neither of them provide any citations for the statements.--Old Nick (talk) 17:51, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Engine?
The articles mention Burty boosting the displacement of his modified Scout, but it also appears to have overhead valves. A reference to his top end mods would be intertesting; compression ratio, etc. 70.162.93.21 (talk) 12:46, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

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Is the Tina story real?
In the movie he meets Tina, a transvestite/transgender person, and despite the fact he/she told him "I'm a boy," he's still nice to him/her and treats him/her like a lady. Did that really happen or is it fictional? I think it would be interesting to include, because it's a depiction of a trans person in a movie and if it's a true story that's pretty remarkable and worth putting in the Historical accuracy section imo. 2001:1C04:2307:8500:A8DB:33B2:5760:3AB0 (talk) 17:12, 20 July 2019 (UTC)