Breaking Away

Hanging out at the local quarry the year after high school and much more

The son of a working class family in Bloomington (Christopher Dennis) is obsessed with Italy and bicycling as he hangs with his three “cutter” buds (Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley and Daniel Stern). He deals with his amusing parents (Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie) while chasing a college lass (Robyn Douglass). Everything leads to the Little 500 bicyclist race at Indiana University.

“Breaking Away” (1979) wisely focuses on the characters rather than bicycling and is comparable to “Dead Poets Society” from a decade later. It’s a coming-of-age drama with lighthearted bits, but it’s definitely not a comedy, as I’ve seen it wrongly designated.

It’s about young people facing the rest of their lives just after high school and trying to figure out what they’re going to do with their lives. I can relate because, when I was 19, I spent the entire summer bicycling the landscapes. The longest day-trip I took was 60 miles. I was starting to think I was hot stuff until I met a fellow cyclist the next day who was traveling across several states.

The scriptwriter graduated from Indiana University in 1965 and drew from his experiences there for the story. The protagonist was modeled after David K. Blase, who had an Italian fixation and led his team to victory in the Little 500.

It runs 1 hour, 41 minutes, and was shot in Bloomington, Indiana, as well as nearby highway 37 (due south of there).

GRADE: B