On Any Sunday

On Any Sunday starred Steve McQueen who in his own right was a motorcycle man, and directed by Bruce Brown was nominated for an Academy Award in 1972 as documentary feature. The film is based on an assortment of motorcycle enthusiast that lived for the rush of riding their bikes on different circuits around the world - whether on speed tracks or off road. This was the first documentary of its kind, a cult cycle classic that's so fascinating on many different levels. The narration throughout is spot on.

What is hard to wrap the mind today was the fact that this movie was produced on a $313.00 budget, unbelievable. From start to finish - this documentary even to the casual or non-cycle enthusiast can be appreciated for it's passion that is delivered at a high level. The film runs a bit over an hour and a half and due to the non-stop seamless action, it seems a lot shorter than that. The awe-inspiring beauty of this movie was its simplicity for the fact that it doesn't take much to have fun, just you and a motorcycle.

The film captures scenes of riders going through mud, rain, climbing incredibly steep hills. Cameras were posted on helmets - shots of Grand Prix racing in breath-taking up close slow motion and because of budget limitations - improvised high speed cameras were created by placing 24 volt batteries into a 12 volt capacity camera that did the job. On Any Sunday was a breakthrough movie in regards to action / adventure filming genres that set the future groundwork for other projects of this type. And in the end - they took their bikes on the beach in a most envy invoking scene and drove off into the sunset. The film was truly ahead of it's time because of its innovative film sequencing in capturing the sport of cycling and as for a motorcycle documentary, it been credited as one of the best that's ever been made.