Dust to Glory
Description
Don’t be surprised if you feel a dry, tickling sensation in the back of your throat after watching the slam-bang racing documentary Dust to Glory. It’s probably from the lingering sand and silt spewed from the knobby wheels of an array of machines that skitter from one end of the Baja Peninsula to the other. Using 90 cameras in a variety of formats, director Dana Brown captures the giddy danger of the race with truly visceral force. In 1967, a few California thrill-seekers had the Eureka spirit to take their homemade race cars for some whooping-up in the wide-open land just a few hours away. Since then, the Baja 1000 has turned into a party-fueled happening that’s more akin to Burning Man than the Indy 500. It’s billed as the world’s longest nonstop race, running point-to-point for 1,000 miles through the Mexican desert from Tijuana to La Paz–pretty much the entire length of Baja.
Dana Brown is the son of Bruce Brown, whose 1966 film The Endless Summer sparked a surfing craze, and still holds up as an incomparable ode to the existential surfing lifestyle. Dust to Glory is by no means so profound and uses more of a Warren Miller thrill-marketing style (he of the annual throwaway extreme-skiing films). Cameras swoop down from helicopters, careen through silt, and are put into tracks over which vehicles pass at extreme speeds. In spite of the adrenaline rush, Dust to Glory is ultimately more about what people think about the higher implications of the competition.
Additional information
Specification: Dust to Glory
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Marvelous –
One thing is certain in Baja, and that is that nothing is certain. This movie was beautifully filmed, showing some truly mystical moments that one would experience in the race of all races. The only reason why I gave this film a 4 star rating instead of 5, is because I felt the director spent a little too much time following the motorcycles, and not enough time displaying all which trophy trucks go through. I love all the classes of Baja; I don’t think I’m alone on this when saying that Trophy trucks are the climax of the racing day.
So I was somewhat dissapointed when I realized I was only given maybe a solid 15 mins of trophy truck time, but nonetheless I still enjoyed watching this movie very much. For some time now, I’ve kept telling people that I want to race in the Baja 1000 one day, and all I get is negative feedback, on what a challenge it is, or how expensive a race it is to compete in. But I don’t want to let that stop me, these great racers made it, so why can’t I??? This movie made me internalize my feelings towards Baja even more, the landscaping is so beautiful at times with the trucks roaring through, that I felt tear jerking moments of happiness.
This movie really shows what kind of experience it really is, and it made me want to push to make it there myself! Watching this movie in HD with dolby digital made the experience even more enjoyable, but I think anyone can appreciate this film.
Phil of all trades –
As someone who has put on a few thousand miles on a dirtbike in Baja I can say this film does the best it can giving the experience of this awesome place and race through film.
If you love motorsports this is a must see. My girlfriend even likes it.
Well done! I’ve literally have watched it dozens of times.
`jeff buchanan –
V Good as expected very satisfied. Jeff.
S. Morris –
If offroad riding/driving is your thing this movie is one for your collection superb camara shots on board/from the air/trackside showing every thing that goes on during the baja 1000 and just the sheer scale of it all awsome machines.Plenty of other titles out there and this is up with the best no problems with dvd playing on my machine as its region 1 glad i bought it !!!!!
Jonk –
Awesome movie, if u like bikes and racing and adventure you’ll love it. What a mental race
Kevin Hallas –
Brilliant film, captures the event very well. Obviously the Americans don’t think so much of great events outside of the US, but the Baja 1000 does stand up against the Dakar, Le Mans etc as one of the real tests of man and machine.
Gear Head –
WOW! I just watched Dust to Glory… What a freakin awesome film! Two Thumbs up to Dana Brown. This film does a great job of covering the TACATE SCORE BAJA 1000 from beginning to end. Great camera angles and wonderful interviews from several teams from each class. I definitely recommend this DVD to anyone who is even the slightest bit intereted in Off-Road Racing and The Baja or just any gear head in general. It is by far worth every penny spent.
UPDATE!! 11 NOV 2012
I just watched this DVD again for like the tenth time since I purchased it 5 years ago and felt compelled to add to my review. I think I enjoy this film more and more every time I watch it. I even watch all the extras, deleted scenes and behind the scenes every time because I just don’t want the film to end. It is amazing how much dedication, sacrifice, time & love went into making this film a success and you come to realize it when watching the behind the scenes footage.
If you are interested in surfing at all and enjoyed the quality and style of Dust To Glory I would also recommend Dana Brown’s film Step Into Liquid that they had recently finished when they started on this one. It is also a very cool film!
Steve Teske –
I’m a big fan of Offroad racing including Baja and Dakar.
This film is so good you won’t even realize it’s getting oldish. The stories are fantastic and cinematography is superb for this kind of long duration Motorsport event.
I will watch this again and again.
Amazon Customer –
Interesting review of the past
Brooks F. Bossong –
There is a grace and beauty to this film. Yes, at its core it’s about a bunch of guys (and some women) coming together for a grand adventure. Man and machine ripping through the unforgiving Baja landscape. Many of these guys do this year after year and know each other. The film does a good job showing their mutual support, humor, and esprit de corps. While they’re there to compete, they’re also there for the adventure, the camaraderie–something about this race just gets in their blood and keeps them coming back.
The cinematography and musical score are beautiful complements. The long-shot scenes of the lone motorcyclist racing down the beach by the edge of the sea are just stunning. Plenty of jaw dropping footage of the otherworldly Baja landscape. A place where one would expect to see lone, wandering mystics versus machines howling through the countryside. This documentary has that kind of texture.
I can’t emphasize enough the beauty of this film even though, at its core, it is about a high octane endurance race that pushes the racers to their absolute limits. At the end, racers are asked to sum of their experience in a word. One veteran racer describes it as “mystical.” And you get that sense watching this very fine film of this remarkable race.
Richard Parcells –
A great flick. Flawed in that like every other movie or TV coverage of a Baja race, it gives the impression that only a handful of competitors were involved. The truth is that there were hundreds of competitors in this particular event as there are for every offroad race. There are several people in and on each of the various vehicles competing, meaning that there were over a thousand people who were actually competitors on the course in this event. Thousands of others are involved in supporting the vehicles; pit crew members, spouses, family members, friends, those who go to the event just to be involved, course workers and other officials, not to mention the tens of thousands who are there to watch, many of whom live in a different country. None of this keeps this from telling an awesome story of the incredible effort to compete in this tremendous event.