Breaking Away

Everyone loves an underdog…especially the Academy Awards. And Breaking Away (1979), the story of a tight-knit group of Bloomington, Indiana townies who go toe-to-toe against a well-trained team of frat boy bicyclists, is a perfect companion piece to Rocky, which won Best Picture just three years earlier. So even if the film’s five nominations weren’t exactly unprecedented (it took home only Best Original Screenplay), director Peter Yates’ production still feels like a breed apart from all the sports films that came before and after.

Obsessed with all things Italian, Dave Stoller (Dennis Christopher) dreams of racing at the highest level, despite his “son of a stone-cutter” background in an economically depressed small-town. He and his other “Cutter” buddies (including Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley) face an aimless future after high school, a fact that the local college jocks are only too keen to rub in their faces. But Dave’s remarkable racing ability gives them a chance to come out on top when the college opens up the field of competitors at the annual Little 500 to include local teams. The odds, and most of campus, are against them. But the stage is set for a Cutter upset.

Yates, who was still best known for the chase sequence in Bullitt (1968), works wonders with the racing scenes here as well, but with a different agenda. The finale hits all the expected high notes, but it’s an early training scene, with Dave challenging a Cinzano truck on a rural highway, that sets the playful tone. It’s a genuine “feel good” moment that uses music, images and skillful editing to communicate the character’s competitive spirit in a way words never could. Yates makes us feel as exhilarated and exhausted as if we were pushing the pedals ourselves.

But Breaking Away digs much deeper into the hidden class system and social pitfalls lurking under the façade of the American dream. Dave’s father is resentful of his son’s quirky aspirations, while his mother quietly offers support (that the film splits time evenly between both generations is one of its less appreciated accomplishments). Meanwhile, each of the Cutters is at a crossroads that will determine their success or surrender. That this one race represents a single shining moment in their uncertain futures is a fact not lost on them…or the audience cheering along. It’s exactly makes Breaking Away so special.

Twilight Time’s 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray gives Yates’ film its best presentation to date, marvelously capturing the sepia-toned late ‘70s film stock that makes Bloomington seem almost timeless. Extras include several tone-deaf trailers that market the film as an Animal House-style comedy plus an isolated score track and fact-filled audio commentary with Dennis Christopher who never seems to take a breath. Get yours exclusively at .