Breaking Away (1979)

Release date: 1979-07-20
Country: USA
Language: English|Italian|French
Director: Peter Yates
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Rating: 7.7/10
Length: 1h 41min

Storyline

Best friends Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moocher have just graduated from high school. Living in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana, they are considered "cutters": the working class of the town so named since most of the middle aged generation, such as their parents, worked at the local limestone quarry, which is now a swimming hole. There is great animosity between the cutters and the generally wealthy Indiana University students, each group who have their own turf in town. The dichotomy is that the limestone was used to build the university, which is now seen as being too good for the locals who built it. Although each of the four is a totally different personality from the other three, they also have in common the fact of being unfocused and unmotivated in life. The one slight exception is Dave. Although he has no job and doesn't know what to do with his life, he is a champion bicycle racer. He idolizes the Italian cycling team so much he pretends to be Italian, much to the chagrin...

Plot Keywords

t shirt, diving, football, sorority house, trophy, weightlifting, bowling ball, car wash, cigarette smoking, cologne, french, mercedes benz, pizza, pregnancy, bowling alley, truck, surprise ending, father son relationship, bicycle race, serenade

Short Review

There are a few moments when the picture's easygoing pace turns into wobbliness, but these are insignificant compared with its many moments of shrewd insight into the lives of amusingly shaded but very recognizable human beings.