by David C. Terr

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Title: Breaking Away

Director: Peter Yates

Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earl Haley, Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley

Release Date: July 13, 1979

Running Time: 100 min

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Sport

 

Commentary
Breaking Away is an inspiring story of four 19-year old kids from Bloomington, Indiana who live among college kids who make fun of them. The story and acting are quite good, although none of the actors were well-known when the film was released. Dennis Quaid went on to make several other big movies and Daniel Stern became the narrator on the popular '80s TV show "The Wonder Years", but the rest of the actors have remained relatively obscure.

Plot Summary
Breaking Away involves four 19-year old kids from poor families in Bloomington, Indiana. None of them go to college, though they have to deal with frequent bouts from college kids at Indiana University, who call them "cutters". None of them are sure what they want to do, but one of them, Dave Stoller (Dennis Christopher), is an expert biker who often wins trophies from races. Dave is fascinated with Italian culture and speaks and acts Italian. He becomes very excited when he learns that the Italians are hosting a 100-mile bike race. He spends the next several months training for the race. However, during the race, one of the bikers secretly knocks him off his bike, causing him to lose the race. Dave becomes devastated, but nevertheless decides to enter the Little 500 race at IU, along with his three friends who enter as the Cutter team.

Cultural Significance
I've seen many movies dealing with various forms of competition, but this is the only one I know about biking. I find it quite inspirational on several levels. The bike race ends up getting the cutters known and admired by the community at large, including the formely resentful college students. The film is also inspirational in how it deals with the generation gap between the cutters and their fathers, who'd worked as limestone cutters, form where the gang got their name. Dave ends up in college at the end of the film, much to the delight of his parents.

Movie Clips

Here's the scene in which Dave learns that the Italian race is coming and begins training for it.

 

Here's a scene in which he chases a pretty girl on his bike.

 

Here's the fateful Cinzano 100 race.