Breaking Away – 1979
I’m not entirely sure if I liked this movie or not. It was good enough, though a little predictable. It has been described as a coming of age movie, but I disagree. I’d actually call it a triumph of the human spirit movie. It is generally called a comedy, and while it had a few funny moments, I never once found myself laughing.
It was about 4 young boys, all of whom are recent high-school graduates, come from the wrong side of the tracks, and have no idea what to really do with the rest of their lives, though the film really revolved around 1 of them. Dennis Christopher played Dave Stoller. He is a good kid who has the talent, and the desire to become a world-class cyclist. He is constantly training and wins every race in which he competes. He is waiting for the opportunity to become a champion.
His 3 friends, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher, played by Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earle Haley, each have their own distinct personalities. Mike is the domineering leader of the group who is actually a jerk who would rather hold his friends back from bettering their lives than allow them to leave him, since he doesn’t know what to do with his. Cyril is not terribly bright, but is incredibly loyal to the other 3 boys. And then there is Moocher, a boy who longs for a life of his own, even going so far as to marry his secret girlfriend without telling the others.
That’s all you really need to know about them. 85% of the movie is all about Dave anyway. He lives at home with his parents. His father, Ray, played by Paul Dooley, is a dishonest used car salesman. His mother, Evelyn, played by Barbara Barrie, is a loving but subservient housewife who sometimes dreams about having some excitement in her life.
The family dynamics between Ray, Evelyn, and Dave is supposed to supply most of the film’s comedy. But I’ll be honest. The fact that Ray was a terrible father, constantly calling his son a worthless loser, even when he knew that Dave could hear him, really destroyed a lot of the funny moments for me. That wasn’t funny. It was sad.
Anyway, the bulk of the film follows Dave’s dreams of being a cyclist. He becomes excited when he learns that a famous Italian cycling team will be coming to Bloomington to compete. He enters the race to prove himself to them. In fact, more of the film’s comedy comes from Dave constantly pretending that he is Italian. He speaks to his parents with a fake Italian accent, calling his father “Papa,” much to the man’s consternation. He becomes incredibly fond of Italian opera, playing it loudly in his room like most kids play rock-n-roll. All of this was amusing, but not really funny.
But all Dave’s dreams are shattered when the Italians cheat, causing Dave to crash his cycle and drop out of the race. At the same time he learns just how dishonest his father is, especially in his profession as a used car salesman. Depression follows, but it is the film’s final and climactic race that has caused Breaking Away to be lauded as such an inspirational film, and it all stems from a silly little subplot about a girl Dave falls in love with.
Her name is Katherine, played by Robyn Douglass. She is beautiful and he gets her to fall for him by lying to her, pretending to be an Italian foreign exchange student. Her boyfriend and his cronies end up hating Dave and his friends, and the way the two groups settle their differences is by entering a team cycling race. What a convenient and predictable way for the four boys to prove that they aren’t losers!
To make a long story short, Dave and his friends are the underdogs. Dave cycles most of the race because none of his friends are cyclists. But when Dave gets injured, his friends each take a turn racing until the distraught and depressed Dave sees that his parents have come to the race to support him. He finally gets back on the bicycle and wins the race despite his injuries.
True, it was somewhat based on a true story, but that made it no less predictable. The acting was alright, but nothing to really write home about. I don’t know. Unfortunately, I think the film’s drama, comedy, tension, excitement, and its emotional content were all just too luke-warm to inspire me like it was supposed to.