HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''On Any Sunday'' is a 1971 American
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
about
motorcycle sport Motorcycle sport is a broad field that encompasses all sporting aspects of motorcycling. The disciplines are not all races or timed-speed events, as several disciplines test a competitor's various riding skills. Motorcycle racing Motorcycle ra ...
, directed by Bruce Brown. It was nominated for a 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.NY Times: On Any Sunday.
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' via
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
. Archived October 14, 2012.
Brown tried to show the unique talents needed for the different forms of racing. For instance, the motocross riders were typically free-spirited types, while desert racers were often loners. In Grand National racing, Brown showed widely differing personalities, such as the business-like approach to racing displayed by
Mert Lawwill Mert Lawwill (Born September 25, 1940) is an American professional motorcycle racer, race team owner and mountain bike designer. He competed in the AMA Grand National Championship from 1962 to 1977. Lawwill is notable for winning the 1969 AMA Gran ...
versus the carefree approach that
David Aldana David Aldana (born November 26, 1949) is an American former professional motorcycle racer who specialized in dirt track oval racing and road racing. In the 1970s, he was one of the more colorful racers in the A.M.A. Grand National Championship ...
became known for. In addition to Lawwill,
Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...
is featured in the film, along with Malcolm Smith and many other motorcycle racers from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Motorcycle brands featured in the film include Triumph, Montesa, Husqvarna,
Harley Davidson Harley may refer to: People * Harley (given name) * Harley (surname) Places * Harley, Ontario, a township in Canada * Harley, Brant County, Ontario, Canada * Harley, Shropshire, England * Harley, South Yorkshire, England * Harley Street, i ...
,
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
,
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization esta ...
,
Suzuki is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal c ...
, BSA, CZ,
Bultaco Bultaco was a Spanish manufacturer of two-stroke motorcycles from 1958 to 1983. In May 2014, a new Bultaco was announced. Origins The origin of the Bultaco motorcycle company dates from May 1958. Francesc "Paco" Bultó was a director of the ...
, and Hodaka.


Production

The film was financially backed, in part, by McQueen through his "Solar Productions company", which received credit in the final seconds of the film. Some of the more dramatic shots were extreme closeup slow-motion segments of the Grand National races. From his surfing movie days, Brown was used to working with super
telephoto A telephoto lens, in photography and cinematography, is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a ''telephoto ...
lenses. The budget didn't allow the expense of high-speed cameras, so Brown improvised by using 24-volt batteries in the 12-volt film cameras. The result was a makeshift high-speed camera. Brown also used a
helmet camera A helmet camera, otherwise known as a micro video camera, is an action camera, usually a closed circuit television camera, attached to a helmet allowing someone to make a visual record from their point of view ( POV), while keeping their hands and ...
on some of the riders, which had not been widely attempted previously due to the bulk of film cameras of the day. Regarding his filming method, Brown said:
At times I'd have a particular shot in mind. For example, I wanted to shoot a muddy motocross race and show the riders with mud all over them. First you have to be at a motocross race when it rains, then you have to find a good location to shoot. We tried and tried to get a shot with a rider caked with mud. We finally did get the shot, but for a while it seemed like we never would.
At one point, Brown found a perfect location for a sunset beach riding shot—
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...
.
I figured there would be no way to get approval to film on the Marine base," Brown recalls. "Steve McQueen said he'd see what he could find out. The next day he called and was told to contact some General and the next thing you know we are shooting the beach sequences. It was pretty amazing the doors he was able to open.


Critical reception

''On Any Sunday'' is often credited as the best and/or most important motorcycle documentary ever made."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
says it "does for motorcycle racing what '' The Endless Summer'' did for surfing". Ebert praises the film's high level of artistry in accomplishing the impressive footage of motorcycle races (which he says are difficult to film), and he also credits the film for not bothering viewers with the technical details of how the filming was done.


Impact

During the opening sequence, children are seen riding their
bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...
s on a dirt track, in imitation of motorcyclists. Thanks to this scene, ''On Any Sunday'' is thought to have popularized
BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...
biking across America; previously it had only been observed in Southern California. Brown himself also believed the film changed public perception of motorcycle racers from "bad guys" (as depicted in popular films like ''
The Wild One ''The Wild One'' is a 1953 American crime film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. The picture is most noted for the character of Johnny Strabler, portrayed by Marlon Brando, whose persona became a cultural icon of the 1 ...
'') to popular heroes. Malcolm Smith credits his appearance in ''On Any Sunday'' with giving him the worldwide recognition that enabled him to become a leading entrepreneur in the off-road motorcycling business. Several follow-ups to the film were produced: * ''On Any Sunday II'' (1981), starring
Bob Hannah Robert William Hannah (born September 26, 1956) is an American former professional motocross racer. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 1975 to 1989, most notably as a member of the Yamaha factory racing team. He was one of the ...
and Larry Huffman * ''On Any Sunday: Revisited'' (2000), by Dana Brown * '' On Any Sunday: Motocross, Malcolm, & More'' (2001), by Dana Brown * ''On Any Sunday, The Next Chapter'' (2014), by Dana Brown


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 0067527, On Any Sunday
''On Any Sunday'' at Hulu
American auto racing films American sports documentary films Motorcycle racing films Films scored by Dominic Frontiere Films directed by Bruce Brown Documentary films about auto racing 1971 documentary films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films