The Boys Are Back in Town!

The cast and crew of the iconic motorcycle movie On Any Sunday were reunited to the delight of fans and industry VIPs at the Big Newport movie theater in Southern California to raise money for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and other worthy causes.

Organized by the Orange County Dualies and emcee'd by Tom White and Larry Langley, many of the motorcycle racing heroes of yesteryear who were made famous by their appearances in On Any Sunday were interviewed about how the movie changed their careers and launched the popularity of motorcycling as a legitimate form of sport and recreation in the 1970s.

The central characters featured in On Any Sunday - Malcolm Smith, Mert Lawwill, J.N. Roberts, and narrator/director Bruce Brown rode into the theater's entrance on vintage bikes to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd. The sight of Malcolm, grinning ear-to-ear from his open-face helmet astride a classically-restored Husqvarna 360 desert bike, with his movie mates alongside, was a treat for those who witnessed it.

An impressive gathering of vintage and historic motorcycles were displayed in the parking lot prior to the evening screening of the movie. American Honda brought in some rarely-seen bikes including the factory CR250 Elsinore that Gary Jones debuted to win his National MX championship, and a classic 1966 CL77 305 scrambler. Roland Sands was in the house with a couple of his creations, including the KR / Kenny Roberts' MotoGP-engine roadster which he fired up & revved well into the redline, delighting and deafening the surrounding crowd.

Among the event sponsors was a new publication debuting from Primedia Publishing called Motorcyclist Retro magazine, which editor Mitch Boehm described as covering all the cool street and dirt bikes from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Boehm said, "The modern bikes are amazing, but they don't speak to me the way these old bikes do - and now we have a magazine for them."

Several notable collectible items were auctioned off, including a new very limited Bell Moto-8 helmet signed by Supercross Lites champion Jason Lawrence and the entire Yamaha of Troy team; a rare Giclee print painting by Troy Lee (inspired by his father's racing days), a pit jacket worn in the 70s by Kenny Roberts, a signed photo print by Roger DeCoster from his early CZ racing days, autographed art prints of Gary Nixon and Eddie Mulder by Harry Miller, and several music CDs by the lady who scored the soundtrack for On Any Sunday.

The mood turned somber for a few moments to remember Mission Motorsports' owner John Matherson, a popular fixture in the Southern California cycle scene who passed away just days before the event, and to remind the crowd to send whatever support (financial or otherwise) they can to help out photographer Joe Bonnello, who is battling medical problems and is very short on funds in his condition (visit www.HelpJoeB.com for more information).

After all the bench racing and fundraising, the audience settled in to - what else? Watch the full-length directors' cut viewing of On Any Sunday.

While the OAS Reunion had the theater full, there was a crowd of die-hard Indiana Jones fans gathered outside the door, waiting to get in for the first showing of the latest in the series. The oddest moment of the night was when some guy dressed fully in an Indiana Jones costume wandered in and cracked his bullwhip near the stage to try to move the program along. Apparently, he didn't quite anticipate the unimpressed steely-eyed gaze he would get from dozens of elderly motorcycle legends who really didn't give a rat's behind if the next show ran a few minutes late. Indy wandered back out with a limp bullwhip, and the show wrapped up at its own vintage pace.

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