Review: Boulder Weekly
Go east, young dude
Local documentarians search for the American Dream
By Dale Bridges (buzz@boulderweekly.com) 
In 1865, newspaper mogul and neck-beard enthusiast Horace Greeley popularized the phrase “Go west, young man!” in a now-famous editorial. This was Greeley’s advice for ambitious males who were chomping at the bit to achieve the American Dream.
Thousands of men and women took Greeley’s words to heart, and, eventually, these strapping, young pioneers traveled all the way to California, where they invented skateboarding and hipsters.
In 2004, Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell decided that they were definitely not living the American Dream that their ancestors had coveted so intensely. They were both working at a software company in Denver at the time, staring listlessly into the abyss of their computer monitors for eight hours a day, five days a week.
“Have you ever seen the movie Office Space?” says Caldwell. “Well, that’s what we did. We worked at Initech.”
Although neither had ever studied filmmaking (Weeks has a degree in political science and Caldwell was a history major), they both shared a passion for cinema.
In May of ‘04, they quit their corporate jobs with intention of making a documentary — although the specifics of the project were fairly vague at that time.
Three months later they were traveling across the country on a two-wheeled contraption known as a Segway at a whopping 10 mph. They took Greeley’s advice, except in reverse, rewinding Manifest Destiny to ascertain if the pioneering spirit was still alive in America. (The answer is, yes, although in forms that you may not expect.)
For those who don’t know, the Segway is an upright human transportation device invented by Dean Kamen, a man who apparently enjoys standing but is adamantly opposed to walking.
“I guess it was the absurdity of taking [the Segway] across country that attracted us to it,” says Caldwell. “It turned out to be really good because everyone was curious about it, and we met a lot of people that way.”
Traveling from Seattle, Wash., to Boston, Mass., the crew was able to film the American landscape from a unique perspective. The documentary moves surprisingly quickly, even if the Segway does not. Caldwell and Weeks keep the story entertaining by introducing the audience to the odd, loveable characters they meet along the way and by demonstrating the financial difficulties of pursuing their passion.
The movie has been shown across the country and has garnered three film-festival awards, including Best Documentary at Boulder’s own Toofy Film Fest.
10 MPH is a quintessentially American story, filled with all the absurdity and tenderness that our country evokes. And these former corporate stooges can hold their heads high, content in the knowledge that Greeley would be proud of their accomplishments.
“We never set out to do anything inspirational,” says Caldwell. “But it’s kind of turned out to be inspirational to some. I’m glad we took the risk.”
On the Bill
10 MPH will play on Aug. 9-12 at Starz FilmCenter, 900 Auraria Pkwy., 303-595-3456.
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