Josh Brolin rolling dirty for Pay Dirt Supercross

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

Remember when JAWS, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer, hit screens and changed the way everyone looked at the beach? A few years earlier in 1971, a film by Bruce "Endless Summer" Brown came out that changed the way everyone looked at the dirt. Starring motorcycle buff Steve McQueen, Brown’s On Any Sunday uncorked a two-wheeled frenzy that paved the way for ruts and tracks all over Southern California and beyond.

Now Paul Taublieb’s Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross in collaboration with sponsor Monster Energy, hopes to make another dent in the pop culture psyche with No Country For Old Men’s Josh Brolin narrating all the action from those zany early days through the current sleek mash-up of Motocross and Supercross.

Pay Dirt opens with a very gritty prison phone call to a convicted double-murderer, also known as The Father of Supercross, Mike Goodwin. He lays down the deal on Motocross (outside riding) to the concept of trucking actual loose dirt indoors to make a new sport under the lights known as Supercross. Needless to say, Goodwin maintains his innocence in the hired-hitman killing of his then-business partner Mickey Thompson, plus his wife Trudy Thompson.

“We knew we had a monster” in making the new sport, Goodwin says. That’s just the revving engine start of Taublieb’s sprawling epic documentary that includes every touch point of the range-y outdoor origins of Motocross to the wild-indoor version of the sport. Pay Dirt, intoned by motorhead Josh Brolin, throws in everything from historic references to motorcycle mail carriers in an Ernest Hemingway novel, to all the dirt Superstars on two-wheels, past and present. There’s Bob “Hurricane” Hannah vs arch rival Jeff Emig, star-crossed Ricky Johnson, then-breakout youngster Marty Tripes, living miracle ex-rider Jimmy Button, to classic hero Jeremy McGrath. Button’s insane comeback helped launch the Road 2 Recovery Foundation (see link below).

You’ll find out who was crowned King of Supercross, why Ricky Carmichael was so damn good on bike, how 18 tractor trailers full of dirt fill a stadium and cover the precious grass below.

There’s the Loretta Lynn Ranch child-league riders, Privateers, and Factory Riders. There’s even Monster marketing genius Mark Hall, a lucky motorcycle crash survivor, along with his Monster boss, Chairman Rodney Sacks, second only to Elon Musk in famous exports from South Africa. Both Hall and Sacks have producer credits.

Five-hundred truckloads of history later, Brian Deegan’s genes will ride into the future where Monster Energy will team with a former Ringling Bros executive, now of Feld Motor Sports, to change the thrill-rider game under the bright lights once again. Enter the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championships.

From Monkey Wrench Films, Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross is a look-back through time nostalgic joyride. Catch it on worldwide TVOD/Digital release this week, when “Pay Dirt: The Story of Supercross” should be available on platforms everywhere July 18, 2025.

Pay Dirt will roll out in Theaters throughout the year, from a January early soft launch.

Check Pay Dirt movie for more info, and Jimmy Button’s foundation can be found here.

Now get out and ride a dirt mound near you.

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