Customer Reviews

On Any Sunday [VHS]

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I don't like motorcycles but I do like this movie! Bruce Brown's ability to wrap a viewer up in a blanket of entertainment is uncanny. He approaches this documentary about motorcycle racing and recreation with a zeal and thoroughness that leaves you wanting more by the film's end. Featuring Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith and Mert Lawwill - coupled with a snappy and involving music score by Dominic Frontiere (The Outer Limits series), On Any Sunday is sure to please.

On Any Sunday is an outstanding effort by Burce Brown. It combines motorcycle action, humor and an indepth look at the exciting and sometimes dangerous world of professional motorcycle racing. Having recently seen it again for the first time in almost 30 years, I was inspired to write a letter to Mert Lawwill thanking him for some wonderful memories of my own dirt bike riding days and the Harley I owned. In turn, he wrote me back and included an autographed copy of him hanging it out sideways on a flat track in his hay day. What a great deal. My wife even enjoyed it enough to watch it with my twice in the two days we rented it. Rent it, buy it, watch it. You'll enjoy it!

Please, please, please buy this movie as a gift to yourself. Once you've seen it you'll probably buy it for many others. It makes an extremely inexpensive and extremely enjoyable gift for anyone.

My wife is the person least interested in motorcycles in the world. She absolutely loves this movie, along with my 17-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. My 5-year-old twin daughters love it most of all. They call it the "voom-voom-movie" because that's the first sound you hear.

Everyone from grandma to motorcyle freaks to babies will love this film.

It is so much more than just a motorcycle movie. It's about the love of leisurely and competitive motorcycling all around the world. It's about the only superstar actor ever who was a bona-fide competitive motorcycle racer, Steve McQueen. It's about $2.00 parts costing tens of thousands of dollars in prizes. It's about paying for the love of a sport with your life. It's about the poetry of a group of cyclists going incredible speeds within inches of each other. It's about taking a ride on the beach or on a horse trail with your buddies.

It has an original and very catchy 70's sound track which you'll never forget.

I give this movie ten stars. It's the all-time top under-rated film in my opinion.

Seeing On Any Sunday when it was released, was an event of monumental importance for me and my family. My father was a professional Flat track racer in the Midwest for over 45 years, and he only recently retired from racing at the age of 63. I literally grew up with the racers and their families in this film and I had the priviedge of being my dads motorcycle mechanic during each race we were at. I got my AMA mechanics lisence at the age of 16 and this allowed me to be in the "PITS" with all the racers and their teams. I was the only girl mechanic at that time, and I remember very well waiting in line before the races with Dick Mann on one side of me and Jay Springsteen on the other...... this movie brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. I miss those days so much.... The life of a biker family is a special one and this AWESOME FILM captures all the smells and tastes and feels of the race track and the wonderful people who race and live to enjoy the sport of flat track motorcycle racing. If you love any type of motorcycles, whether just riding or racing, there is no other movie that will ever compare to this original version of "ON ANY SUNDAY".

This is a good video by Bruce Brown Films. I Purchased this because I was allready getting into motorcycles and recently purchased a Honda Shadow. Music was a bit out-dated, but strangely enough, I now hum some of the musical themes from the movie. (Very Carpenderish type 70's music). I enjoyed the movie and found myself replaying it over 10 times and it is always nice to come back to it again. I especially liked the last bit at the end where all three bikers are riding around what appears to be a desert area near the coast of California. The music meshed nicely with this part and that old Hammond B3 Organ. The video is a good history account of racing in late 60's early 70's. The theme of the movie appears to be that Motorcycles are both fun and dangerous, and shows the variety of racing approaches to the sport.

What can anyone say about this movie except that it is the definitive documentary about American motorcycle racing circa-1970, before big-bucks changed the sport. Regular guys like Mert Lawill driving along in his Ford Econoline van with his racing bike in the back. On the way to a race they would stop and test their bikes on farmer's side roads! Nowadays racers ride around in Gulfstream jets and their (many) race bikes are hauled around in huge corporate-sponsored semi trucks. As an airline pilot, I frequently fly over what's left of the old San Jose Fairgrounds and I always remember seeing my first Mile there in 1977--the dirt clods from the racer's back tires flying through the cyclone fence at turn one where we were standing! A must-have, especially now that it's on DVD.

If you love beautiful photography, Steve Mc Queen or motorcycles, this is a great DVD. I have had,( and loved), a copy of this film on VHS for many years, but compared to this DVD, it is pathetic. The DVD is so sharp and clear that it is breathtaking. There are minute indications in the DVD that the film stock was starting to deteriorate, thank God it was rescued for posterity by DVD. It includes great features on Steve McQueen and the making of the film. Bruce Brown's beautiful photography alone makes this a work of art worth owning. Buying this DVD is the best way that you can vote for the preservation of great films! Do it!

I saw this a young boy growing up around a motorcycle riding family. This movie continues to take my back to a simpler, more innocent time of my life. I will always treasure the memories of riding on the back of my dad's Honda CB350 on trails where we never should have been able to survive!

My nostrils burning of sweet 'Blenzol'; vibrations in the pit of my stomach as the riders ready at the starting line. (My ex-late husband was a "motocross racer" among other stuff; so I saw it all) He and his pals soaked up renewed energy after seeing the movie; hence, our friends and we drove, bikes in tow, to the Cal Am in Sacramento or any other track or bunch of hills containing mud, dirt, sand, whatever ON ANY/EVERY SUNDAY! (every weekend I rode equipped with boots, gloves, helmut, pads on every corner of my body, kidney belt; tear off's if we played in the mud puddles over in Coyote Hills area; so I related on a personal level) The camera follows Mert and Malcolm and a great bunch of guys through six different kinds of competition. Mert Lawill and Malcolm Smith hang out with Steve and you see the bond and respect they developed over the years. The DVD is excellent. For every soul whose ever sat on a unicycle or a bicycle, tricycle, Yamaha, Bultaco, Honda, or scooter. Seeing it last night brought back my youth; not the grandmother I am. Bad days and dissapointment abound, when I see Jim Rice come back and try to finish the race, it kills me. Riders soak off their casts weeks early to complete....dedication or nut cases; I'm still not sure. Camera shots of ice racing in Canada with two inch spikes spinning at 120mph. Spanish trials, 0-1mph; tons of fun. Guaranteed to excite the whole family. The Widow Maker Run is one of the funniest clips. "G" for GGGGRRREAT.

On Any Sunday is, simply put, one of the best sports documentaries ever produced. It was one of the first movies I saw as I kid, and since then I have watched it whenver I can. Affectionate and witty, OAS gives a clear overview of the sport of motorcycle racing, showing the both its beauty and its brutality. We see motocross, speedway, dirt bikes, desert racing, superbikes, ice racing, hill climbing and trials riding, plus a few things I probably forgot.

Of course, the film was shot about 30 years ago (it can't be that long!) so it only shows the sport as it existed in 1970 or so, but as snapshot of a time and a group of people, it is nothing less than brilliant.

When I saw it was out on DVD I pounced immediately. The only quibbles I have are with the opening titles (cheesy 80's-vintage video) and the sound. The narrator's voice only comes out of the left speaker. Still, considering that this was not produced in dolby surround sound, it's a very minor complaint.