REVIEW: Breaking Away [1979]

Rating: PG | Runtime: 101 minutes
Release Date: July 20th, 1979 (USA)
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director(s): Peter Yates
Writer(s): Steve Tesich

Oh, Dave. Try not to become Catholic on us.

It may be dated and somewhat obvious (Aren’t all feel-good sports films?), but Breaking Away is a pretty great piece of cinema that melds coming-of-age dramedy with underdog athleticism.

Centered on a foursome of childhood friends in Bloomington, Indiana, (where the entire movie was shot), director/producer Peter Yates and writer Steve Tesich share a tale of finding one’s place and identity in life. Always looked upon by their town as outsiders relegated to second-class citizenry because of their stonecutter, blue-collar fathers, these boys also refuse to give themselves a chance. Without a drive for college and their dreams of sport scholarships shattered, each must accept his lot or be brave enough to reach further and break free from the pack.

The star is Dennis Christopher’s Dave, a quiet kid who did well in school without ever figuring out his next step. Asking to take a year off and discover himself, his used car salesman dad complies until seeing the direction he’s headed. Idolizing an Italian cycling team, Dave takes up the sport and dedicates himself to aspiring to reach the caliber of his heroes and earn a chance to race them when they come to town for a sponsor’s local competition.

He takes that lifestyle a bit too far, however. Not only are he and his bike inseparable, but he also adopts the “culture of Italy” by talking with a fake accent. It’s an attempt at method acting to do all he can as an Italian to reach their vaunted status. If that means shaving his legs, speaking to a Catholic God, and learning the language via old vinyl records, that’s exactly what he’ll do. This exotic country is his escape from the failures and disappointments that have followed him around for nineteen years. He can’t actually leave his hometown, so he brings Europe to Indiana.

Dave isn’t the only one too afraid to detach from the safety of adolescence. His three friends lack ambition and courage too. Dennis Quaid’s Mike the worst offender as an ex-star quarterback denied a scholarship and thus resigned to watching everyone else take a shot at a spot he believes should be his at Indiana University. Unable to even light a cigarette in case he is miraculously asked to step in, this confused kid becomes a freeloader picking fights and wasting days swimming while waxing poetic about what “could have been.”

The leader of this generation of local ‘Cutters’, Mike believes they will all just get the same job and waste away to become the bitter shells of men their fathers have. Cyril (Daniel Stern) and Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley) have different ideas, though, going behind his back to weigh their options and move on. Fearful of the consequences of leaving their clique’s self-appointed president behind, they sneak around and apply for college and a marriage license respectively—willing to grow up and take that next step. One that stands for adulthood. A leap forward towards smashing the mold that has been set for them.

It is great seeing guys like Stern and Haley so young and yet so recognizable. These are the wingmen that will do anything for their buddies—often by neglecting themselves. Cyril is willing to help Dave fake his way into wooing a young co-ed named Katherine (Robyn Douglass) with his Italian façade, even taking the beating that was meant for his young Casanova and refusing to snitch the culprit’s name to an incensed Mike at the risk of exposing Dave’s relationship.

And when the chips are down during the showcase cycling match that pits the ‘Cutters’ against the college jocks who’ve continuously put them down, it’s Moocher who steps up to the plate. Dave might be the athlete all their hopes are pinned on, but it’s Moocher who believes in the team with a no quit attitude when their leader goes down with injury. Maybe the world is full of cheaters. Maybe our idols are as fallible and pathetic as we assume we are. But sometimes we must rise above those constraints to reach our true potential. The only person that needs to believe in you is you.

That’s what Breaking Away is about. Dave isn’t a professional cyclist looking to win some championship. He’s just a kid without direction looking for a reason to accomplish something. Anything. All four leads need that kick in the pants to realize their folks worked hard to give them opportunities they didn’t have growing up. They didn’t work sixty-hour weeks cutting stone at the quarry to watch their kids get trapped in the same lifestyle. Every local has a chip on his shoulders—more inclined to stay and do manual labor than get an education to live up to some toxic idea of “strength.” So stubborn that they’ll sabotage their own meal ticket out of spite for an image everyone frowns upon anyway.

They might not get the girls when their college counterparts have money and cars or become valedictorian and secure jobs graduates seek, but sometimes the opportunity to show your enemy what you’re made of—even with a 200-lap bike race—is all you need to finally find faith in yourself. It’s all about that first step and succeeding for your friends and yourself while also making your parents proud that opens the floodgates for limitless possibilities to flow through. Funny, endearing, authentic, and uplifting, message-driven family films don’t get much better than this.