Starring: John Ashton, Barbara Barrie, David K. Blace, Hart Bochner, Dennis Christopher Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 29, 2002 Running Time: 100 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1979
Product Description: This charming, Academy Award winner (1979, Screenplay) cycles high on comedy as four friends come to terms with life after high school. When top-notch cyclist Dave (Dennis Christopher) learns that the world's bicycling champions are always Italian, he attempts to turn himself into an Italian, driving his parents (Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley) crazy. But everything changes after he meets the Italian racing team-an encounter that ultimately leads him and his friends (Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley) to challenge the local college boys in the town's annual bike race.
Amazon.com: Peter Yates's flag-waving film stands with To Kill a Mockingbird and American Graffiti as one of the best films about small-town Americana. Steve Tesich won an Oscar for his semi-biographical screenplay about four 19-year-olds who don't know what to do after high school. Dave Stohler (Dennis Christopher) and his three friends--ex-football star Mike (Dennis Quaid), wily comedian Cyril (Daniel Stern), and tough kid Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley)--are doomed to live in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana, where the local kids (nicknamed "Cutters"--a derogatory reference to quarry workers and their blue-collar families) are looked down on by the uppity students of nearby Indiana University.
Stohler escapes into a world of Italian bicycling, picking up the lingo, the accent, and a good share of the talent of his heroes. He is also the scourge of his father's life. The used-car salesman (Paul Dooley) doesn't understand his son's affection for bicycling or, for that matter, his pride in being a "Cutter."
Breaking Away rehabilitates the word heartwarming as Tesich's uncommonly intelligent script gives us well-rounded characters and a potent sense of place. The grandstanding finale--the real life "Little 500" bike race--gives the film a perfect, crowd-pleasing end. However, the film never sacrifices the development of characters for the action. Dooley is especially effective in one of those once-in-a-lifetime roles. The lifelong character actor's place in film history is established with this indispensable performance. --Doug Thomas
Awesome Absolutely fabulous movie. It's funny, warm, entertaining. One of the best sports films ever made.
Breaking Away video Received the video quickly. Although it was shrink-wrapped and listed as new, it has major tracking problems from the beginning of the tape into the first minute or two of the movie. BUT . . . the rest of it is great and I am so glad to be able to find a copy of it! I wish I could get it on DVD! Thanks much.
Great movie for everyone This movie is known as a bike movie, but it's really a movie about growing up and leaving home. It has funny dialogue, good acting and a good plot.
THE ITALIANS ARE COMING! Two words: Dennis Quaid. He's so hot right now! This movie is a classic and anyone who hasn't seen it is a cinematic idiot.
Back home in Indiana Having attended IU my Freshman year ('69/'70), I can attest that Breaking Away was certaingly not filmed on a Hollywood sound stage, but entirely in Bloomington, Indiana as the film's end credits proclaim. It is a delightful movie the whole family can enjoy. It is a relatively short movie with many funny moments (Paul Dooley is fantastic) and for me, reminiscent of my days at IU (the warm waters of the abandoned stone quarries, the beautiful IU library and the Little 500 race to name a few). Wonderful characters make the story extremely enjoyable. It's one of my favorite movies. ...LAP
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