Four friends have spent their lives sharing adventures, and acting as if they were as close as the Three Musketeers. Almost every thing they do, though, shows these teens going in four different directions. The changes started to happen when one of them won an Italian ten-speed bicycle.

In Breaking Away, Dave Stoller (Dennis Christopher) not only won the bike, but has become obsessed with bike racing and Italian culture. He goes around his house speaking with an Italian accent and listening to the arias of opera singer Enrico Gimondi. Dave gets most excited when he learns that the Team Cinzano bikers are coming to Indianapolis to race the locals. He's learned bike riding quickly, and done well in local races. Those obsessions give his father, Raymond (Paul Dooley) fits. Raymond and his wife, Evelyn (Barbara Barrie), have allowed Dave to take a year off after high school, even though the Stollers live in Bloomington, Indiana, and Dave can attend college in town, at Indiana University.

He spends most of his spare time with his three best friends. Mike (Dennis Quaid) used to be the star quarterback in high school, and wants all of them to keep doing everything together. Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley) is becoming serious with his girlfriend, Nancy (Amy Wright). Cyril (Daniel Stern) wonders if there's a niche for him in life when he sees that nothing he really wants goes his way. They had worked at the local supermarket, but when Mike was fired, the others quit in a show of solidarity.

While riding around the campus, Dave meets Katherine Bennett (Robyn Douglass), an IU student, and pretends he is an Italian. Katherine is taken by Dave's charm, and pays a surprise visit to her dorm to serenade her, with Cyril playing a guitar his father thought he'd never learn to play. A fellow student named Rod (Hart Bochner), an IU student athlete who thinks highly of himself, doesn't like Dave's ploy, and comes with friends to the dorm, causing trouble for Cyril. Mike wants to exact a measure of revenge, and takes Cyril and Moocher with him to a student establishment to confront Rod. Dave is there on a date with Katherine, but she gets him out of there when Rod provokes a fight. The police come to stop the brawl, which lands Rod in court.

As punishment, the court orders the University to add a team from the town to their Little 500 bicycle race. Rod is in the race as a part of his fraternity's team. It's a perfect opportunity for Dave and his friends to show they the college kids what they can do, but Dave need persuading before he agrees. He also starts to work for his father at the used car lot Raymond owns. He and Cyril also take the IU entrance exam. Dave also makes the decision to be himself when things go wrong at the Team Cinzano race. Even before the race, the boys understand that their plans are not nearly as rock solid as the quarries where they like to swim.

Breaking Away featured a cast of relative unknowns. Barrie and Dooley had done many TV shows and movies prior to this film, and Haley appeared in the original Bad News Bears film series. It was the first big film for Quaid, and the first film of any kind for Stern and Douglass. All of them turn in very effective performances, and Barrie was the one cast member who was nominated for her work. The movie was a quiet surprise when it was released in the summer of 1979. Film critics praised Breaking Away for its honest portrayal of teens, college life, and family life, and I discovered that all of those descriptions hold a great deal of truth. I didn't see the film, though, until it was re-released to theaters following its multiple Oscar nominations. Breaking Away, in addition to its nomination of Barrie, was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director for Peter Yates, a former race car driver from England who has had film success on both sides of the Atlantic. Yates captures the excitement of the racing in the bike sequences. He brings the same excitement to all of the story lines with Dave, his family and friends. Off the bike, Yates shows that Dave and the people in his life are in a different race to separate destinations. Yates also benefits from location shooting in Bloomington, and a beautiful interpretation of classical and operatic music by Patrick Williams.

The movie also garnered notice in my part of the world as the first produced screenplay of its writer, Steve Tesich, who spent his adolescence living in East Chicago, Indiana. Some of his screenplay is based on his experience at Indiana University and his participation in the Little 500. There's a gentle humor to the story, as well as some gentle irony. While Dave has been racing for himself, he doesn't look at the Little 500 as the chance for one final teenage adventure with his friends. Also, while Rod and his friends dismiss the town's team as cutters, after the workers who cut stone in the quarries, the boys have almost no chance in becoming cutters in that sense, since many of the Bloomington area quarries have closed. The boys are, in fact, sons of the cutters. Yet, when Dave and his friends adopt a team name, they are the Cutters, a name they wear proudly on their plain white T-shirts with plain black lettering. There's a sadder irony when Dave lets Katherine know of his pretending.

While Rod tells a judge he thinks the locals aren't good enough to compete with the school, each of them wants to be good at something. All of the teens understand that the years ahead mean they have to make names for themselves, and leave the company of one another. Moocher has to make a decision about staying with Nancy or moving to Chicago with his parents, as his father found a job there. Moocher makes that decision in one of the funniest moments in the movie, as he and Nancy pool their monies to make a major decision. The movie also celebrates culture, both American and foreign. Dave may not be leaving home, but he's learning about the world, which ultimately has an effect on his parents. The Little 500 race begins with the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner," which brings the whole crowd to their feet. Tesich even fits in a mention of the first American city he called home. Although he wrote just five more screenplays (two of which were directed by Yates), Tesich also wrote stage plays and books until his death in 1996. His screenplay of Breaking Away would be the only Oscar win for the picture.

With the exception of Douglass, the key members of this ensemble continue to work as actors. Christopher, in one of his few leading performances, is wonderful as a teen who has found a niche as a student and athlete of his own world. Even though he's no Enrico Gimondi, he is not deterred from serenading Katherine. He found several passions, and wants to see where each one takes him. Barrie is just as good as Evelyn, who has found herself in the position as an intermediary of sorts between Dave and Raymond. She knows both men make points about life, and does her best to find a way to understand both sides. Dooley has a great deal of comic bluster as Raymond, who's always openly complaining about Dave, no matter what he does. Yet, he tours the campus with Dave, and lets his son know that he encourages Dave to make some life for himself that is more rewarding that cutting stone or selling used cars.

Quaid is the gruff one of Dave's friends, and the one who wants most to take the IU students on in a fight. He acts as the leader of group activities, yet also has to be careful not to cause too much trouble for his police officer brother (John Ashton). Haley likes to be more easy-going as Moocher, but he can be just as hard-nosed as Mike if someone makes fun of his height. Stern is the most awkward one of the bunch as Cyril. On one hand, he plays guitar with proficiency, and gets into Dave's serenade almost as much as Dave does. On the other hand, he manages to get his fingers caught in a bowling ball, and wants to find some other endeavor where his father won't be able to sympathize when he fails. Ashton is interesting in his brief scenes that pre-date the same sort of role that got him even more acclaim in the Beverly Hills Cop movies. Quaid's then-wife, P. J. Soles, also makes a brief appearance as one of Katherine's trouble-making sorority sisters. The only DVD extras are the movies theatrical and TV trailers for the movie, as well as trailers for other 20th Century Fox DVDs. The movie can also be watched in widescreen and pan and scan versions.

It's never easy to move from one part of life to the next, especially when it means moving on from family and friends. Moocher says what Dave, Mike and Cyril secretly know - at some point, every one of them makes a break from the pack. Breaking Away is a humorous, touching, and winning look at that time in life. Dave and his friends may have graduated high school a year earlier, but they have yet to really say goodbye to that phase of their lives. Breaking Away is a glorious journey to the end of a road four boys have travelled together. Soon, they are going to be four adults, racing toward new goals and new adventures that will define them as men.


This is an entry in the Good Movies Write-Off hosted by captaind. Please click on the hyperlink to see how some of us at Epinions define a good movie.

Thanks as always Dave.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older