Breaking Away by Peter Yates 1979
...he town, including the college. After a brawl between the Cutters and college kids it was decided that the local kids were allowed to compete in the ‘Little 500’ a bicycle race the university holds every year. This movie is a coming of age story that delivers messages on many levels. From the internal conflict within Dave to find himself, to the relationship between himself and his somewhat cynical father, this film makes the grade in portraying the struggles of teens after high school. The underlining theme of this film would be to find oneself, whether sticking to the town tradition of becoming a stone cutter or a world class bicyclist. We see Dave as a passionate young man who works hard at his dream of becoming a world class bicyclist while trying to live with his fathers constant pushing. At first it is apparent that the relationship is rather sour between father and son due to the constant conflict between them. Dave’s father at that point was getting rather tired of Dave’s indecisiveness in choosing what to do with his life. Yet as the story progressed we saw the gradual understanding that came up between the two as they shared a mutual respect. Dave takes us on an exciting ride throughout the whole movie. At first we see the leisurely pace of swimming at the old quarry while just relaxing with his friends. As the story develops we see Dave ‘fall in love’, although he woos here by acting as an Italian exchange student, with a sorority girl from the university. We feel the excitement as he serenades her in the middle of the night with a rather touching Italian song. Things were looking very bright for Dave as his heroes, the Italian bicycle team, were going to race in Indianapolis and Dave finally had an opportunity to compete and ride with them. Yet things didn’t turn out as he had expected. Towards the end of the race the image of his heroes was shattered when they cheated and caused Dave to crash when he was neck and neck with them. A change occurs within Dave when we see him admit to his new found love that he is not Italian after all and as he finally listens to his father to get a job. We see much frustration within Dave and all his friends as a fight breaks out inside a local diner with the college students. The university sees this conflict and offers the opportunity for the town to assemble a team for the ‘Little 500’, a bicycle race. This is the chance for the gang to prove themselves and to everyone that they are not just Cutters. The climax occurs within the last seconds of the last lap when the group comes back together to show everyone that they ar...