page_title: The World's Fastest Indian
section_title: Historical accuracy
hierarchical_section_title: The World's Fastest Indian / Historical accuracy
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: La moto utilizzata nel film "The world's Fastest Indian"
context_page_description: The World's Fastest Indian is a 2005 New Zealand biographical sports drama film based on the Invercargill, New Zealand, speed bike racer Burt Munro and his highly modified 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle. Munro set numerous land speed records for motorcycles with engines less than 1,000 cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. The film stars Anthony Hopkins, and was produced, written and directed by Roger Donaldson.
  The film opened on 7 December 2005 in New Zealand to positive reviews, and quickly became the highest grossing local film at the New Zealand box-office taking in NZ$7,043,000; and taking in over US$18,297,690 worldwide. The film was theatrically released on 3 February 2006 in the United States by Magnolia Pictures; and was subsequently released on DVD on 22 December 2006 by Magnolia Home Entertainment.
context_section_description: The real Burt Munro married Florence Beryl Martyn on 6 August 1925; they divorced in 1950/51. While the couple had four children together, no mention is made of children in the film; but it is implied that he was married, and either estranged or divorced. 
  The Munro portrayed in the film recalls the death of a twin brother named Ernie, who died when a tree fell on him. The real Munro had an older brother who was killed when a tree fell on him.  Munro also had a stillborn twin sister. The real Munro had set numerous speed records in New Zealand during the late 1930s through the early 1970s.  However, these records are only implied in the film.  Munro was never known to actually urinate on his lemon tree; film director Roger Donaldson added that detail as a tribute to his own father, who did.
  In reality, Munro's record-breaking run at Bonneville came after several separate visits to the US, beginning in 1956. This was demonstrated, for instance, by a letter published in the May 1957 edition of Popular Mechanics (p. 6), which referred to 'H. A. "Dad" Munro' and his 1920 Indian Scout. The visit to Bonneville shown in the film was a composite of several made by Munro. In 1962 he set a record of 178.971 mph at Bonneville. His fastest complete run there was 190.07 mph. While Munro did reach 205.67 mph on an uncompleted run, on which he crashed, he never set a record of 201 mph at Bonneville (as the film suggests). 
  Near the end of the film, Speed Week participants throw money into 'the hat', and Burt Munro is presented with a bag of cash before he sets the speed record.  In fact, Munro had to take up a collection before Speed Week, as US Customs required a cash bond before releasing his motorcycle.  A photograph of the gathered crowd presenting Munro with the bag of cash, in 1962, was reprinted in a 2006 issue of Hot Rod magazine.
caption: A replica of Munro's Indian used in the movie
exif: {"Image XResolution": "2560", "Image YResolution": "1920", "Image Make": "Samsung", "Image Model": "GT-S7230E", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "V1.0", "Image DateTime": "2011:02:02 15:38:58", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "181", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "320", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "240", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "680", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "48418", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/31", "EXIF FNumber": "13/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:02:02 15:38:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:02:02 15:38:58", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "1843/512", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "4", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "572"}