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Breaking Away

  • 1979
  • PG
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
27K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,488
1,054
Dennis Quaid, Dennis Christopher, Jackie Earle Haley, and Daniel Stern in Breaking Away (1979)
Pre
Play trailer2:51
1 Video
99+ Photos
Coming-of-AgeTeen DramaComedyDramaSport

A working-class Indiana teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl while searching for life goals with his friends.A working-class Indiana teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl while searching for life goals with his friends.A working-class Indiana teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl while searching for life goals with his friends.

  • Director
    • Peter Yates
  • Writer
    • Steve Tesich
  • Stars
    • Dennis Christopher
    • Dennis Quaid
    • Daniel Stern
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    27K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    4,488
    1,054
    • Director
      • Peter Yates
    • Writer
      • Steve Tesich
    • Stars
      • Dennis Christopher
      • Dennis Quaid
      • Daniel Stern
    • 138User reviews
    • 71Critic reviews
    • 91Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 11 wins & 14 nominations total

    Videos1

    Breaking Away
    Trailer 2:51
    Breaking Away

    Photos132

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    Top cast44

    Edit
    Dennis Christopher
    Dennis Christopher
    • Dave Stohler
    Dennis Quaid
    Dennis Quaid
    • Mike
    Daniel Stern
    Daniel Stern
    • Cyril
    Jackie Earle Haley
    Jackie Earle Haley
    • Moocher
    Barbara Barrie
    Barbara Barrie
    • Evelyn Stohler - Mom
    Paul Dooley
    Paul Dooley
    • Ray Stohler - Dad
    Robyn Douglass
    Robyn Douglass
    • Katherine
    Hart Bochner
    Hart Bochner
    • Rod
    Amy Wright
    Amy Wright
    • Nancy
    Peter Maloney
    Peter Maloney
    • Doctor
    John Ashton
    John Ashton
    • Mike's Brother
    Lisa Shure
    • French Girl
    Jennifer K. Mickel
    • Girl
    P.J. Soles
    P.J. Soles
    • Suzy
    • (as Pamela Jayne Soles)
    David K. Blase
    • 500 Race Announcer
    William S. Armstrong
    • 500 Race Official
    Howard S. Wilcox
    • 500 Race Official
    J.F. Brière
    • Mr. York
    • (as J.F. Briere)
    • Director
      • Peter Yates
    • Writer
      • Steve Tesich
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews138

    7.726.6K
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    Featured reviews

    10Bree-8

    Charming Sleeper

    I went to see this movie when it first came out. We had decided to go to a double feature of two movies that we had never heard of, knowing that in that day and age, a double feature meant that at least one, if not both movies, had to be pretty awful. The first film was Starting Over with Burt Reynolds, and it was fairly good. So my friends were sure that the other would have to be terrible, but we had nothing better to do, so I convinced them to stay. Before three lines of dialogue I was absolutely hooked. I have seen it at least twenty times and the witty dialogue and rapport of the characters gets me every time. The music accents the film beautifully. The cinematography is gorgeous. But the story is what really matters. Four guys finding there way in a place where they feel little hope for the future, one a dreamer whose dreams are crushed, but he finds the spirit to pick up and start dreaming again. Delightful all the way around.
    The Boz

    Four men try to cope with the growing pains of living in "smalltown" USA.

    This movie is a wonderful depiction of four Indiana men who try to grow up and make decisions about their futures. They all have their own problems to deal with but all need each other in dealing with their situations. Being outcasts in town, they turn to each other for hope and understanding. Being "less privileged" than others their age, they learn to make the best of what they have...each other. This is a great movie about growing up and how everyone deals differently with the obstacles they are dealt with. Dennis Christopher leads this all-star cast in a movie that should be watched by the young and old. It is a compelling saga of how these young men conquer the everpresent problem of trying to fit in.
    10GregRG

    A film to treasure!!!

    Breaking Away is a picture that is better than the sum of its parts. Oh, its parts are wonderful. The writing is sharp, observant, and funny (It won an Oscar!), the acting is superb (how Paul Dooley was nixed a nomination never mind the award I'll never know), and it is a well shot film. But its charms go even deeper. It is the story of four young men in their late teens, who are staring adulthood in the face after a year of leisure in the "small town" of Bloomington, Indiana, and how they deal with watching successful college kids pass them by. It is also about a young man in search of an identity (including that of a Italian bicycle racer), and of a family that is loving and supportive, almost in spite of itself. All these add up to a richly enjoyable, deeply moving family picture that gives us many moments to treasure (a large number include Paul Dooley as the frustrated and confused, but eventually loving father). Like other sports movies (the lead character races bicycles), it has a contest at the end, and like many much poorer ones, it ends with triumph. But we cheer not only for these immensely likeable "cutters," but for ourselves, for being treated to this bittersweet, touching, and wonderful movie.
    brendonm

    Really captures what it means to be young...

    ...and unsure of your future. Other reviewers have given good summaries of the film, so I won't go into it. It's interesting though that of the four principle actors, only Dennis Quaid had any kind of career after this, which is very surprising since they were all such strong performances. "Breaking Away" really captures that limbo period right after high school when you're not sure what the future holds. I identified strongly with Dennis Christopher's character - I though I was going to just pump gas or flip burgers for a year before my mom pushed me to go to college. In other words, this is a realistic, character-driven movie - you'll probably find a bit of yourself in one, or several, of the characters. There's also real chemistry here between all the actors. And the photography really captures the beauty of the Midwest (some of you, no doubt, are scratching your heads after reading that). This is a gem - don't pass it up at the video store or when it appears next on TV.
    9roghache

    Endearing hero, fabulous music, heartwarming coming of age film

    This is my absolute favourite coming of age movie! It has an endearing teenage hero, an engaging story, a touching theme, an amazing musical score, and an abundance of humour. The story revolves around Dave Stoller and his three buddies, four misfits who have just graduated from high school.

    Dave recently received a bicycle as a gift, has become a good racer locally, and his heroes are the Italian Cinzano racing team. To the consternation of some, his life begins to revolve around his dreams of becoming a racing champion, to the extent that he basically tries to turn himself into an Italian. He learns the language, absorbs the culture, listens to its operas, and gives his cat an Italian name Fellini! He even pretends to be an Italian exchange student in order to impress a pretty sorority girl named Katherine, whom he calls Caterina and feels would otherwise be beyond his reach.

    Dave makes an appealing hero, wonderfully portrayed by Dennis Christopher, vulnerable but with an amazing joie de vivre. His hilarious attempts at becoming Italian, for example shaving his legs like their men but not their women, proved one of the highlights of the movie. The scene where he serenades his Caterina at her sorority house has to be one of the most charming in all filmdom. I was also bowled over by his endearing enthusiasm when he discovers "The Italians are coming!", that his racing heroes will soon be arriving in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana where the entire tale is set, culminating in the Indiana Little 500 cycling race.

    Dave is a kid who doesn't think he is good enough for college, lives in a fantasy world of Italian cycling, and wants to break away from his own aimless, mundane life. This is a typical coming of age movie in that he learns a lot about himself and the realities of life, especially from the behaviour of his heroes, the Cinzano racing team. His three sidekicks are a sympathetic bunch -- the rebellious, angry Mike, the short, feisty Moocher, and the goofy, appealing Cyril who seems to have no family. Through competing against the college crowd in the Little 500, they learn lessons in self esteem and team spirit, believing in yourself and striving toward reachable goals.

    Breaking Away is a movie with obvious social class themes. Dave and his friends are "townies" called Cutters, named for the stonecutters from the town's quarries. The students at the nearby college campus look down their noses at these Cutters. However, Dave's father, who is a car salesman lacking a college education himself, teaches his son to take pride in the name, that it was stonecutters who built these impressive college buildings.

    The film is refreshingly unusual in having a major sympathetic role played by Dave's parents. I absolutely loved the father, portrayed by Paul Dooley, the source of much of the film's humour, announcing for example that he doesn't want anything in his house that ends with 'ini'! Mr. Stoller despairs of his son's Italian phase, fearing verbally that Dave is going to wind up an Italian bum! Both the marital relationship between Dave's parents and the bond between father and son are captured with poignancy as well as humour.

    When I first saw this movie after its original release, the thing that remained with me besides the charming joie de vivre of its hero was the wonderful Italian music, from Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony and a Rossini opera. This musical score provides magnificent accompaniment to the bicycle racing sequences, especially one in which Dave is racing the Cinzano truck on a highway heading toward Bloomington!

    This is a heartwarming movie that no one should miss. It may be almost thirty years old but its characters and story are as engaging as the day it was released. I won't give it away, but that last scene is priceless!

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Steve Tesich based the Dave Stoller character on David K. Blase, who had once led a team to victory in the Little 500 and had an Italian fixation. Blase had a cameo as the race announcer in this movie.
    • Goofs
      When Dave is drafting behind the Cinzano semi-truck, his bike is on the small chain-ring and he is managing to travel at 50+ miles per hour. An earlier shot shows him in the large, and correct, chain-ring behind the semi.
    • Quotes

      Dad: What is this?

      Mom: It's sauteed zucchini.

      Dad: It's I-ty food. I don't want no I-ty food.

      Mom: It's not. I got it at the A&P. It's like... squash.

      Dad: I know I-ty food when I hear it! It's all them "eenie" foods... zucchini... and linguine... and fettuccine. I want some American food, dammit! I want French Fries!

      Mom: [to the cat] Oh, get off the table, Fellini!

      Dad: Hey, that's *my* cat! His name's Jake, not Fellini! I won't have any "eenie" in this house!

      [to the cat]

      Dad: Your name's Jake, you understand?

    • Crazy credits
      Introducing

      Robyn Douglass
    • Connections
      Featured in Sneak Previews: Just You and Me, Kid/The Frisco Kid/Goldengirl/The Villain/Breaking Away (1979)
    • Soundtracks
      Symphony No. 4 in A major (Italian Symphony), Op. 90
      (uncredited)

      Music by Felix Mendelssohn

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    FAQ19

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • July 20, 1979 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Italian
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Los muchachos del verano
    • Filming locations
      • Empire Mill Road, Bloomington, Indiana, USA(quarry)
    • Production company
      • Twentieth Century Fox
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,300,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $16,424,918
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $17,702
      • Jul 15, 1979
    • Gross worldwide
      • $16,424,918
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 41 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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