Dust to Glory (2005)

In Dust to Glory, director Dana Brown attempts to do for souped-up cars and trucks and motorbikes and the daredevils who drive them what he did for the surf lords of Step Into Liquid. Every year since 1967, in the desert of Mexico, racers of every stripe have gathered for the Baja 1000, a full-throttle endurance race in which teams of badasses power any vehicle they choose along a thousand vicious miles of rocky, winding wilderness road. Anyone who wants to can enter, so that even though the contest is headlined by professionals with corporate sponsorships, the Baja 1000 has never quite lost its dune-buggy-to-hell aura of '60s anarchy. It turns out, however, that speeding along dirt roads isn't nearly as photogenic — or as varied — as surfing is. Brown fragments Dust to Glory past all continuity, and his relentless gosh-wow! narration makes you wish he had taken the full leap from fan to filmmaker.

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