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The World's Fastest Indian is a better-than-average movie about a small-town eccentric and a near-perfect movie about an outsider earning his place in an American ritual at the height of the Cold War. In between, it's a road movie without a compass or a clue, but that segment is easily forgotten once the action begins. Indian is based on the true story of Bert Munro, who brought a 1920 Indian motorcycle from New Zealand to Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats to set a land speed record for its class. At home, he's an old man who lives in a shed and is the icon of the tiny local motorcycle scene. Once he takes a freighter to the U.S. and heads off from Los Angeles to Bonneville, he's a fish out of water and meets other outsider types along the way, but little of this either rings true or succeeds as comedy. It's after he gets to the shiny dry lakebed that the film really finds its bearings. As an old man in an ancient bike without safety gear, Munro has The Wrong Stuff among the flashy all-American car experimenters. The Speed Week event he wants to take part in embodies the muscular, optimistic America of the early 1960s. Like Cars, Indian will spark nostalgia even among viewers who didn't live through the era. When Munro finally finds a way to prove his mettle, the high-speed scenes are brilliantly shot. But this isn't a really a racing movie or a Rocky-like underdog story. Director Roger Donaldson is less interested in whether Munro reaches his goal than in what makes him strive for it. What makes this approach succeed is Anthony Hopkins' amazing performance as Munro, which achieves a realistic balance of self-confidence, politeness and old-age befuddlement. In a small film that has its share of flaws, Hopkins achieves sublime perfection.