Breaking Away (1979)

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It is about a group of Bloomington, Indiana friends who are not part of the University of Indiana college crowd. The come from blue color families who are, for the most part, "Cutters," which means they work in the granite quarries cutting out stone. They all have a passion, bicycling. More specifically, bicycle racing. They form a team which does reasonably well, but their chief adversaries are rich college kids who have sponsors and an attitude. One of the riders is enamored with the European bicyclists, specifically the Tour de France racers. He even learns French and impersonates the French to impress a girl. Anyway, we know that at some point a race is going to happen between these guys who call themselves "The Cutters" and the University cyclists. I won't do any spoilers. At times it gets a little contrived, but over all a delight. By the way, the the cinematography is great, especially the summer scenes in Indiana.

When "Breaking Away" debuted in 1979, it made quite a splash. It was a 'small' film that suddenly broke out from the crowd--gaining a lot of critical attention as well as an Oscar. Now, over 30 years later, I decided to watch the film for a second time--mostly because I barely remember it and because it's an important film from this era.The film is about a group of young high school graduates who are not going to college, aren't particularly interested in working and are afraid of growing up. Additionally, they seem to have a chip on their shoulders, as these so-called 'Cutters' are jealous of the local college students. As for the students, they seem to feel the Cutters are beneath them. One way that these so-called losers can finally feel important involves an upcoming bicycle race--and David (Dennis Christopher) hopes to prove something to himself and the community. Can he and his three working-class friends (including Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern) somehow end up winners? While a lot of folks adore this coming of age story, I felt very mixed about it. It was exceptional and some of it I really liked (Paul Dooley's character was great as was Barbara Barrie's), but some I didn't. I particularly had difficulty caring for the kids. The Cutters seemed like jerks--as were the college students. Making any sort of connection with them was tough for me. But, the film did combine nice music, a rousing finale and a lot of nice sports clichés into an enjoyable, though perhaps slightly overrated film.

Four young friends(played by Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earle Haley) who live in the college town of Bloomington Indiana struggle to find purpose in their lives, as they are disrespected by the more wealthy kids of the nearby college, with whom they have periodic brawls. One of them, named Dave, is a dedicated bicyclist who has an obsession with the Italian racing team, who will be coming soon for a big race. Dave is so taken with them that he pretends to speak(and be) Italian, much to his parents(played by Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie) chagrin. His outlook will change with a new romance and first-hand exposure to the Italians...Original drama is certainly offbeat and funny in places, though also stretches credibility and patience after a while. Still, a nice(if slight) film that became a sleeper hit.

One of my favorite genres of movies is sports movies. Usually there is drama, comedy, and often surprising results. For me Breaking Away is certainly one of my top ten favorite sports movies, and quite possibly on my top five list.Breaking Away is a story about a teenage cyclist growing up in Bloomington, Indiana. Somehow he has become obsessed with the Italian cycling team. And whether his motivation is a unique way to meet young coeds at Indiana University or something else, he is an incredible cyclist.The fun part of this movie is his interaction with his mother Evelyn Stoller, who seems very understanding about his Italian cultural ways, and his father Ray Stoller, who doesn't understand why his son thinks he's Italian. Give credit to writer Steve Tesich whose script takes viewers on a humorous and believable adventure in this wonderful small-budget movie.Add in three friends who just graduated from high school, and this story is a fascinating jaunt with coming of age. Dennis Quaid plays a former high school quarterback, Jackie Earle Haley plays the short and defensive Moocher, and Daniel Stern plays Cyril, a student whose father likes to encourage him when he fails. Each of the supporting actors does a great job in helping to convey the story, but you can really see Daniel Stern's strength in comic acting in his first major movie role.The sports rivalry is actually established by the city kids called Cutters, competing for dates against the college male students. Eventually, the two rival groups compete against each other in a bike race called the Little 500. But honestly, the joy in this movie is the journey with all of the characters in the Peter Yates directed movie.As in life, there is humor and sadness, friends and family, rivals and conflict brought out on the big screen. This movie was surprisingly good the first time I saw it, and still enjoyable 30 years after its release. How good is Breaking Away? It won an Oscar in 1980 for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen with Steven Tesich doing a tremendous job in "wordsmithing" the script. The movie also received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Barbara Barrie), and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score (Patrick Williams).Perhaps my best recommendation for Breaking Away is that I consider it better than that other famous Indiana sports movie about High School basketball. That's probably a minority view, but if you haven't seen Breaking Away, you have missed a jewel of a movie.