Breaking Away

Last updated

Breaking Away
Breaking away (film poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Peter Yates
Written by Steve Tesich
Produced byPeter Yates
Starring Dennis Christopher
Dennis Quaid
Daniel Stern
Jackie Earle Haley
Barbara Barrie
Paul Dooley
Robyn Douglass
Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti
Edited by Cynthia Scheider
Music by Patrick Williams
Distributed by 20th Century-Fox
Release date
  • July 13, 1979 (1979-07-13)
Running time
101 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.3 million [2] [3]
Box office$20 million [4]

Breaking Away is a 1979 American coming of age comedy-drama film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It follows a group of four male teenagers in Bloomington, Indiana, who have recently graduated from high school. The film stars Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern (in his film debut), Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley, and Robyn Douglass.

Contents

Breaking Away won the 1979 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Tesich, and received nominations in four other categories, including Best Picture. It also won the 1979 Golden Globe Award for Best Film (Comedy or Musical) and received nominations in three other Golden Globe categories. The film was ranked eighth on the List of America's 100 Most Inspiring Movies compiled by the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2006. In June 2008, the AFI also announced its 10 Top 10—the best ten films in ten classic American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. In that poll Breaking Away ranked as the eighth best film in the sports genre. [5] [6]

As the film's young lead, Christopher won the 1979 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the 1979 Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actor, as well as getting a Golden Globe nomination as New Star of the Year.

Tesich was an alumnus of Indiana University Bloomington. The film was shot in and around Bloomington and on the university's campus.

Plot

Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends living in the university town of Bloomington, Indiana. Now turning 19, they all graduated from high school the year before and are not sure what to do with their lives; attending the university seems unrealistic. They spend much of their time together swimming in an abandoned water-filled limestone quarry. They sometimes clash with the more affluent Indiana University students in their hometown, who refer to them disparagingly as "cutters", referring to locals' common work in the limestone industry. (The term was invented for the film, because the real-world pejorative "stonies" was deemed unusable for its perceived link to marijuana.) [7]

Dave is obsessed with competitive bicycle racing, and Italian racers in particular, because he recently won a Masi bicycle. [8] [9] His down-to-earth father Ray, a former stonecutter who now operates his own used car business (sometimes unethically), is puzzled and exasperated by his son's love of Italian music and culture, which Dave associates with cycling. However, his mother Evelyn is more understanding and prepares Italian dishes for the family, to Ray's annoyance.

Dave develops a crush on a university student named Katherine and masquerades as an Italian exchange student to romance her. One evening, he serenades "Caterina" outside her sorority house by singing Friedrich von Flotow's aria "M' Apparì Tutt' Amor", with Cyril providing guitar accompaniment. Her boyfriend Rod and his fraternity brothers beat Cyril up, mistaking him for the suitor. Cyril wants no trouble, but Mike – a former high school football quarterback – insists on tracking down Rod and starting a brawl. The university president (played by real-life president Dr. John W. Ryan) reprimands the students for their arrogance toward the "cutters" and, over the students' objections, invites the town to field a team for the annual Indiana University Little 500 race.[ page needed ]

When an Italian cycling team comes to town for an exhibition race, Dave is thrilled to compete with them. However, the Italians are annoyed by his challenge to their preordained victory, and force him to crash, which disillusions him. He subsequently confesses his deception to Katherine, who is heartbroken.

Dave's friends persuade him to join them in racing the Little 500. Ray privately tells his son how, when he was a young stonecutter, he was proud to help provide the material to construct the university, yet he never felt welcome on campus. Later, Dave runs into Katherine, who is leaving for a job in Chicago; they patch things up.

Dave is the only skilled cyclist among his friends, so he rides most of the Little 500 without a break, rather than switching riders periodically, like the other teams. Nonetheless, he gains a small lead, but is injured in a crash and comes in for a change. Mike, Cyril, and Moocher each take turns to the best of their ability, but fall farther and farther back. Finally, Dave has them tape his feet to the pedals – which commits him to finish the race himself – and makes up lost ground, overtaking Rod – riding for the favored fraternity team – on the last lap, and winning.

Ray is proud of his son and takes to riding a bicycle himself, for his health. Dave later enrolls at the university, where he meets a pretty French student. Soon, he is extolling to her the virtues of the Tour de France and French cyclists.

Cast

Production

Inspiration

The Little 500 bicycle race that forms the centerpiece of the plot is a real race held annually at Indiana University. A reenactment of the race was staged for the film in the "old" Memorial Stadium on the IU campus, which was demolished in 1982, four years after Breaking Away was shot.[ citation needed ]

The team is based on the 1962 Phi Kappa Psi Little 500 champions, which featured legendary rider and Italian enthusiast Dave Blase, who provided screenwriter and fellow Phi Kappa Psi team member Steve Tesich the inspiration for the main character in the movie. [10] Blase, together with team manager Bob Stohler, provided the name of this character: Dave Stohler. [11] In the 1962 race, Blase rode 139 out of 200 laps [10] and crossed the finish line as the victor, much like the main character in the film. Blase appears in the movie as the race announcer. [12]

The working title of the movie script was Bambino, written in 1978, which originally had Dave's family name as "Blase", which was later changed to "Stohler" for the film. [13]

Filming

Dave's house Lincoln Street South, 756, Breaking Away House, Bryan Park SA.jpg
Dave's house
Rooftop Quarry, originally named Sanders Quarry, near Bloomington SandersQuarryIndiana.JPG
Rooftop Quarry, originally named Sanders Quarry, near Bloomington

Location filming in and around Bloomington [14] took place during the summer of 1978. Many of the scenes were filmed on the campus of Indiana University; glimpses of the Indiana Memorial Union are in the background of Dave's ride through the campus. Dave Stohler's house is at the corner of S. Lincoln and E. Dodds Streets. The used car lot ("Campus Cars") that Dave's father owns was at 1010 S. Walnut Street, and was a real used car lot for many years, but now has two small commercial buildings on the property. Pagliai's, the pizza restaurant in the film, is now Opie Taylors on the east side of North Walnut Street. Other scenes were filmed outside the Delta Delta Delta sorority house at 818 E. 3rd Street and along Jordan Street. Two scenes were filmed on W. 7th Street: one at Fairview Elementary, the other three blocks east near the intersection of W. 7th Street and N. Madison (the old railroad tracks have since been removed). Dave runs a red light in front of his father at the southwest corner of the Monroe County Courthouse, at the intersection of College Street and W. Kirkwood Avenue.

The starting-line scene of the Cinzano 100 bicycle race was at the intersection of Indiana State Roads 46 and 446 on the city's eastern edge. Dave's "ecstasy ride" on the wooded road after first meeting Kathy (where his bike tire blew) was filmed on the "West Gate Road" in Indiana's Brown County State Park, 14 miles (23 km) east of Bloomington on State Road 46.

The abandoned limestone quarry where Dave and his friends swam, called Rooftop Quarry by locals, is at the end of East Empire Mill Road off old State Road 37 in Perry Township, south of Bloomington. Trespassing and safety are problems, and its owner, Indiana Limestone Company, has bulldozed dirt and trees to eliminate launch points to discourage jumping into the quarry and taken other steps to make access more difficult. [15]

The film features music by Felix Mendelssohn, Gioachino Rossini and Friedrich von Flotow. The music was adapted by Patrick Williams.

Prior to filming, cyclists Ira Schaffer and Gerry Bretting spent several weeks helping introduce Dennis Christopher and Hart Bochner to the world of bicycle racing after director Peter Yates met Bretting at the Wilshire West Bicycle store.

Tesich and Yates worked together again on Eyewitness (1981) and Eleni (1985). In 1977, Yates had directed Tesich's play Passing Game at the American Place Theatre. Tesich later wrote the cycling-themed film American Flyers (1985).

Reception

The film received positive reviews upon its release. Roger Ebert called it "a wonderfully sunny, funny, goofy, intelligent movie that makes you feel about as good as any movie in a long time. It is, in fact, a treasure ... Movies like this are hardly ever made at all; when they're made this well, they're precious cinematic miracles." [16] The New York Times 's Janet Maslin wrote that, even though "the cast is unknown, the director has a spotty history, and the basic premise falls into this year's most hackneyed category ... the finished product is wonderful. Here is a movie so fresh and funny it didn't even need a big budget or a pedigree." [14] A Variety magazine review concluded that "though its plot wins no points for originality, Breaking Away is a thoroughly delightful light comedy, lifted by fine performances from Dennis Christopher and Paul Dooley." [17] Critic Dave Kehr, however, gave a later, somewhat dissenting opinion: "Released at a time when any small-scale film earned critical favor simply by virtue of its unpretentiousness, Breaking Away probably looked better in context than it does now." [18] However, he conceded that "Peter Yates lends the film a fine, unexpected limpidity, and the principals are mostly excellent." [18]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 42 reviews, with a rating average of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "At once a touching, funny coming-of-age story and a compelling sports film, Breaking Away is a delightful treat." [19] On Metacritic—which assigns a weighted mean score—the film has a score of 91 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [20]

The film grossed approximately $20 million in North America. [4]

The New York Times placed the film on its Best 1000 Movies Ever list. [21]

NBC paid $5 million to screen the film on television on May 5, 1980, bypassing HBO and significantly shortening the normal window between theatrical release and screening on broadcast television, which was generally three years at the time. [22]

Accolades

AwardCategoryRecipientResultRef.
Academy Awards Best Picture Peter Yates Nominated [23]
Best Director Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Barbara Barrie Nominated
Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen Steve Tesich Won
Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score Patrick Williams Nominated
British Academy Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles Dennis Christopher Won [24]
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Won [25]
Best Director – Motion Picture Peter YatesNominated
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Steve TesichNominated
New Star of the Year – Actor Dennis ChristopherNominated
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen Steve TesichWon [26]
Young Artist Awards Best Motion Picture Featuring YouthNominated [27]
Best Juvenile Actor in A Motion Picture Dennis ChristopherWon
AFI's 10 Top 10 Sports films8th Place [28]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers Most inspiring films of all time8th Place [29]

Legacy

A short-lived television series based on the film, also titled Breaking Away , aired in 1980–1981 and starred Shaun Cassidy. Barrie, Haley and Ashton reprised their roles in the prequel series.

The film inspired the song "One For the Cutters" by The Hold Steady, which appeared on their 2008 album Stay Positive .

The 1992 Bollywood film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar , starring Aamir Khan, has certain similarities to Breaking Away. [30] However, the director Mansoor Khan stated that he only became aware of Breaking Away after the likeness was brought to his attention. Both films have several thematic similarities, including friendship, class barriers, bicycle racing, and parental relationship, but are distinctly different films, with different narratives, characters, motivations, treatment and racing rules. [31]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe County, Indiana</span> County in Indiana, United States

Monroe County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 1910 the US Census Bureau calculated the nation's mean population center to lie in Monroe County. The population was 139,718 at the 2020 United States Census. The county seat is Bloomington. Monroe County is part of the Bloomington, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloomington, Indiana</span> City in Indiana, United States

Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, United States. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 census. It is the seventh-most populous city in Indiana and the fourth-most populous outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. It is the home of Indiana University Bloomington, the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Established in 1820, IU Bloomington enrolls over 45,000 students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana University Bloomington</span> Public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.

Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and its largest campus with over 40,000 students. Established as the state's seminary in 1820, the name was changed to "Indiana College" in 1829 and to "Indiana University" in 1838.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Tesich</span> Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist (1942–1996)

Stojan Steve Tesich was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the film Breaking Away.

<i>The Muppet Movie</i> 1979 film directed by James Frawley

The Muppet Movie is a 1979 musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley, produced by Jim Henson, and the first theatrical film to feature the Muppets. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film was written by The Muppet Show writers Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns. Produced between the first and second half of The Muppet Show's third season, the film tells the origin story of the Muppets, as Kermit the Frog embarks on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, encountering several of the Muppets—who all share the same ambition of finding success in professional show business—along the way while being pursued by Doc Hopper, a greedy restaurateur with intentions of employing Kermit as a spokesperson for his frog legs business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Joseph's College (Indiana)</span> Catholic liberal arts college in Rensselaer, Indiana, U.S.

Saint Joseph's College is an unaccredited private Catholic college in Collegeville, Indiana, with a Rensselaer postal address. It was founded in 1889 and suspended academic operations in 2017 with approximately 1,100 students enrolled. In 2021, the college began offering some courses and certifications at the Rensselaer campus in the fields of business management, cybersecurity, and health science.

<i>Deadly Blessing</i> 1981 film by Wes Craven

Deadly Blessing is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven. The film tells the story of a strange figure committing murder in a contemporary community that is not far from another community that believes in ancient evil and curses. It stars Ernest Borgnine, Maren Jensen, Susan Buckner, and Sharon Stone in an early role. AllMovie comments that the film "finds director Wes Craven in a transitional phase between his hard-hitting early work and his later commercial successes."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little 500</span> Track cycling race

The Little 500, is a track cycling race held annually during the third weekend of April at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It is attended by more than 25,000 fans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Banks</span> American actor (born 1947)

Jonathan Ray Banks is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Chillum Heights, Maryland, Banks did theater while attending Indiana University Bloomington. In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles where he began playing supporting roles in films and television. His breakthrough came with the role of FBI Special Agent Frank McPike in the television series Wiseguy (1987–1990). For his role, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Christopher</span> American actor (born 1950)

Dennis Christopher Carrelli is an American actor whose film credits include Breaking Away (1979), Fade to Black (1980), Chariots of Fire (1981), It (1990), and Django Unchained (2012).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Yates</span> English film director

Peter James Yates was an English film director and producer. He is known for directing such films as Bullitt (1968), John and Mary (1969), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), Breaking Away (1979), and The Dresser (1983). He received nominations for four Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Armstrong Stadium</span>

Bill Armstrong Stadium is a 6,500-capacity soccer-specific stadium and velodrome located in Bloomington, Indiana. The stadium is home to the Indiana Hoosiers men's and women's soccer teams. It also hosted the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship in 1988, and is home to the annual Little 500 cycling race, which was featured in the 1979 Oscar-winning movie Breaking Away.

Tenth Street Stadium was a stadium in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. Originally named Memorial Stadium, it was primarily used for college football, and was the home field of the Indiana University football team between 1925 and 1959, prior to the opening of the new Memorial Stadium. The stadium held 20,000 people and was built in 1925. It replaced Jordan Field which had been the home field for the program since 1887. The stadium was renamed Tenth Street Stadium in 1971. It was later used to host the Little 500 and was used in the 1979 movie Breaking Away. The stadium was demolished in 1982 and the site on which it once stood is now a green space and recreation fields in the center of campus known as The Arboretum.

John William Ryan was an American academic administrator who most notably served as the President of Indiana University for sixteen years.

<i>Breaking Away</i> (TV series) American comedy-drama television series

Breaking Away is a 1980 American comedy-drama television series that was based on the 1979 film of the same name. It was created by Steve Tesich, who wrote the original film, and the film's director Peter Yates served as Executive Producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roadmaster (bicycle company)</span>

Roadmaster is an American bicycle brand currently owned by Pacific Cycle, which in turn is owned by Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Blase</span> American cyclist

Dave Blase is an American cyclist whose story served as the inspiration for the film Breaking Away.

The 14th National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on January 3, 1980, honored the best filmmaking of 1979.

<i>One Day in April</i> 2015 American film

One Day in April is a 2015 feature-length documentary produced by Life Is My Movie Entertainment. The film follows four teams of college cyclists as they prepare for the Indiana University Little 500, a collegiate bicycle race held each year in Bloomington, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadja Tesich</span> Serbian-American writer, filmmaker, actress and activist

Nadja Tesich was born in Yugoslavia and reared in East Chicago, Indiana. Best known for her starring role in Éric Rohmer’s early film Nadja à Paris (1964), she was the author of the play After the Revolution (1980), followed by the novels Shadow Partisan, (1996), Native Land (1999) and Far From Vietnam (2012) and the literary memoir To Die in Chicago (2010). She was the writer and director of Film for my Son (1975) and wrote, acted or worked on numerous films, including Four Friends (1981), I Am the Cheese (1983) and The Love Lesson (1996). Her brother was Steve Tesich, the playwright, novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Breaking Away and other films. She taught film at Brooklyn College and was a lifelong political activist for workers and the oppressed people of the world.

References

  1. ↑ "BREAKING AWAY (A)". British Board of Film Classification. May 24, 1979. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  2. ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p259
  3. ↑ A Hot Director Breaks Away From the Mainstream By SHAUN CONSIDINE. The New York Times, 15 July 1979: D17.
  4. 1 2 Breaking Away, Box Office Info. The Numbers. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  5. ↑ American Film Institute (June 17, 2008). "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on August 18, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Top 10 Sports". American Film Institute . Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  7. ↑ Ksander, Yaël (February 5, 2007). "Breaking Away". Indiana Public Media. Minute of Indiana History. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Retro review: recreating the 'Breaking Away' Masi bike". Ride Media. October 31, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Behind the Scenes: Dennis Christopher Talks "Breaking Away," Part I | RKP". redkiteprayer.com. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Jim Schwarb. "Pedaling Through 50 Years of Little 500 History". Indiana Alumni Magazine. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  11. ↑ Jim Caple (May 3, 2007). "Nothing little about IU's Little 500". ESPN Sports.
  12. ↑ Zoroya, G. (April 7, 2000). "Breaking 50 in Bloomington, Ind., The Little 500 Bicycle Race Outpaces Even Its Own 'Breaking Away' Myth". USA Today. p. 01D.
  13. ↑ Bambino by Steve Tesich. 1978. The Script Lab. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  14. 1 2 Janet Maslin (July 18, 1979). "Breaking Away (1979)". The New York Times.
  15. ↑ "These New Photos Show Rooftop Is Inaccessible But Not Destroyed". Limestone Post Magazine. May 16, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  16. ↑ Roger Ebert (January 1, 1979). "Breaking Away".
  17. ↑ "Review: 'Breaking Away'". Variety magazine. December 31, 1978.
  18. 1 2 Dave Kehr. "Breaking Away". Chicago Reader .
  19. ↑ "Breaking Away (1979)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Breaking Away Reviews". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  21. ↑ The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made. The New York Times via Internet Archive. Published April 29, 2003. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  22. ↑ Fabrikant, Geri (April 16, 1980). "NBC Pays $5 Mil For Fox' 'Breaking Away' In Hopes Of Bolstering Its Ratings". Daily Variety . p. 1.
  23. ↑ "52nd Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  24. ↑ "33rd BAFTA Awards". BAFTA.org. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  25. ↑ "37th Annual Golden Globe Awards". GoldenGlobes.org. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Writers Guild Confers Awards". Los Angeles Times. April 4, 1980. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  27. ↑ "1st Annual Youth in Film Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  28. ↑ "AFI's 10 Top 10: Top 10 Sports". American Film Institute.
  29. ↑ "AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time". American Film Institute.
  30. ↑ "We list down 7 Bollywood films inspired from Hollywood".
  31. ↑ "Classic Revisited: Aamir Khan's coming-of-age in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar". Rediff . Retrieved November 13, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.