On Any Sunday

Great documentary about motorcycle racing of all kinds. I still drool over these vintage motorcycles. For the early seventies, it gives you some fantastic footage of what it was like racing on a motorcycle. 

I love documentaries, but I wasn’t sure this one would interest me…but it did. I’m not a motorcycle guy, and I only rode some when I was a teenager, but this 1971 documentary kept me glued. I would recommend this to anyone, young or old. The longer I watched, the more I got hooked.

Steve McQueen is in this film, and he helped finance it because he believed in it so much. He is not in it a lot, but he was a gearhead. It was made by Bruce Brown, the same filmmaker who made “Endless Summer,” an excellent documentary about Surfing. Again, I’m not a surfer by any means, but it was also very interesting. I saw the surfing one first, and I got hooked, so I went to this one. It swapped out surfboards for motocross bikes, waves for dirt trails, and sandy blond beach bums for sunburned gearheads with calloused hands and battered helmets.

This film follows about every kind of motorbike competition you can think of…  it centers on off-road competition rather than road riding. While Steve McQueen was the draw and provided a lot of the backing to the film, the two main motorcyclists they follow are today’s leaders in their field. The two were Mert Lawwill and Malcolm Smith.

Mert was one of the early pioneers in the off-road bicycling world, having introduced the first production mountain bike. He also developed prosthetic limbs for amputees.

Malcolm owns a dealership and runs Malcolm Smith Racing, a producer of off-road rider equipment. Smith was inducted into the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996, and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.

I gained a lot of respect for these men who gave their lives to this sport they loved. They traveled around the country with broken vehicles, raced with broken arms and backs to do something they loved without much pay. Brown didn’t over-explain anything. He just showed it. And that’s the charm. On Any Sunday, it doesn’t try to sell you the sport; it invites you to ride with them.

This documentary helped change the image of motorcyclists. There was a “sequel” to this documentary called On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter in 2014.

After watching it, I wanted a motorcycle really bad…But I let the thought pass by and got a Jeep instead. 

FULL MOVIE

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

35 thoughts on “On Any Sunday”

  2. Pingback: On Any Sunday – MobsterTiger

  3. I don’t think I have seen this Max. My soon to be four year old grandsons favourite Cars movie character is Lightning McQueen. For some reason, like maybe because he’s not even four, he doesn’t care about my stories of the inspiration for the name!

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    1. Oh I like Lightning McQueen! He will get there Randy! This one and the surfing one I would recommend for you. It’s interesting to see what these guys went through.

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  4. A well-made film can let you visit someone else’s world. While I’m not a climber, Free Solo enthralled me. Not that I’d want to do it, but I could appreciate what was involved.

    Were circumstances a little different, I might have toured the US on a motorcycle (I had my eye on a 1959 BMW) instead of a bicycle. My brother rode a Triumph in the late 50s and my nephew-in-law raced until he had kids.

    While I knew of some of the mountain bike pioneers, I hadn’t heard of Mert Lawwill. I just read about him and he is 84 and currently in hospice care in Idaho.

    With the air quality still in the “Unhealthy” range, maybe I’ll watch On Any Sunday today.

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    1. That sounds like it would be a great trip…of course I dreamed about that but I would have to stick to highways and avoid the interstate. I’ve never driven a bike on the interstate.
      Yes…it was a great way to put it…that you visit someone else’s world…I think you will like it. The surfing one by Brown is good as well. It surprised me that I liked both of them a lot.
      1959 BMW….I just looked it up…and I love Triumphs… I like those British Bikes…like a Norton.. if you get to watch it…hope you enjoy it…I think you will. It’s finally cooled down here.

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    1. Thanks CB…I was glued to it when I first watched it…it surprised me. I’ve always liked McQueen…even Wanted Dead or Alive from his early days.

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      2. One more thing…I don’t know if you saw it…but “Endless Summer” is good as well. I’m about as far from being a surfer than anyone…but it holds your attention as well. Brown knew what he was doing.

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  8. Max, I’ve seen, “On Any Sunday” multiple times and was first introduced to it by my ex-boyfriend. It was one of his favorite movies (right up there with another favorite of his, “Natural Born Killers.) He was very much like these riders, very talented, but he never competed (except against himself.) It’s a hella good movie.

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    1. Oh cool! Thanks Lisa I’m glad you know it. Hope you have been doing well…I’m glad it’s Friday…it’s been a long long long week.

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      1. You’re welcome and thanks for bringing it back to me. As much as I’ve talked about the bad things about my ex, he had/has a lot of exceptional qualities.

        I hear you about a long week. It flew by and still a lot left to do. I did get the grass mowed yesterday after it cooled down from the rain. It was very tall and still wet so the mower bogged down a little, but I got it done. Glad you made it through to the fun stuff 🙂

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      2. Yea it started off sucky…I went to the visitation on Sunday and the funeral on Monday and I was a Pallbearer…it was like a high school reunion, which I never go to, saw people I haven’t seen since 1985. It was hard keeping it together when I saw his wife and kids.
        She pulled me aside and told me that Paul thought of me as a brother and of course I did him…it was hard Lisa.

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  10. I will definitely want to watch some or all of this. My uncles were motorcycle riders and gearheads around that time. I remember how scared my mom and their parents were, that they were going to get hurt. Thankfully they got through that phase unscathed. I’m glad you ended up getting a Jeep instead. I loved McQueen from The Great Escape, and with just that mention, I’m picturing him on the motorcycle.

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    1. McQueen was probably the coolest actor I’ve read about. The very definition of cool. I started to watch Dead or Alive in the past few years…his first TV series and maybe only….it was a good western.
      Yea I’m glad I got the Jeep as well…more than the bike.

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  12. Yes, this is a very good doco. I believe the riders had more of a ‘club’ than ‘hard core competition’ vibe back then.

    My brother had one of those now iconic ‘Endless Summer’ original movie posters on his wall, fighting for viewing space between some hot babe in a furry bikini and a poster of a leather clad Marianne Faithful posing on ‘Girl On A Motorcycle.’

    No wonder he always felt hot and sweaty in his bedroom/sunroom.😉

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    1. I left work right after I commented on the Paul post and I saw your comment on the Motorcycle post…but when I got home…it was gone! It was in my spam.
      Anyway… oh I would love to have one of those posters! Girl on a MOtorcycle…I saw that! Yea he had the fever no doubt…and I can’t blame him!

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