An evening with an old friend – “Breaking Away”

Last night, five of us from the Mid-Michigan Active Transportation Coalition (MMATC) spent the evening grazing on snacks, enjoying a few beverages, and watching an excellent bicycling movie, Breaking Away.  It had been at least ten years since I last watched this 1979 classic in its entirety.

Aside for the fun and quirky factoids about the movie that one of the members was quoting from the IMDb (Internet Movie Database), I had forgotten how many humorous scenes were contained in the film – most often incorporating Daniel Stern.

The film received a Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical, and an Oscar for best original screenplay. It also had two other Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Best Director.

Of the actors, only a few had notable movie careers after this movie, including Dennis Quaid (The Rookie), Daniel Stern (hilarious Home Alone bad guy), Paul Dooley (father in Sixteen Candles and in Runaway Bride), and Barbara Barrie (Barney Miller’s wife).

If you have never watched Breaking Away, I would highly recommend it, even if you are not a big cycling fan. For the movie is much more than a film about the sport of cycling, it is a film about growing up and moving on after finishing high school. If fact, that is the most endearing aspect of the film – the realization among these four best friends that their lives are never going to be quite the same again.

If you are a native of Indiana, you will particularly enjoy the movie as it was filmed in and around Bloomington. Even us Purdue grads enjoy a good film, despite it being about IU’s Little 500 and life in Bloomington.

Breaking Away was not just the title of the movie, but clearly a metaphor for these four friends entering the next stage of their lives. They were no longer jocks, seniors, or even cool. They were “Cutters.”