Breaking Away (1979)

Rating: 83/100

Mamma Mia! A inspiring coming of age movie about four local kids in a college town with no motivations. That is for everyone except Dave played by Dennis Christopher, who's a champion bicycle racer and wanna-be Italian. Dave likes to train on his bike and speak Italian to anyone who will listen, even his parents who don't. Dave and his friends live in Bloomington, Indiana which is home to Indiana University and the rich students who think they run the town and the Little 500.

In a territorial nightmare where the local "cutters" and college students fight over local restaurants, campus, and the quarries. The University built out of limestone which was collected and cut by the locals, earning them the nickname "cutters", the quarries that were once dug out by them is now filled with water and is where the territory battle starts. Mike played by Dennis Quaid is just as bad as the students because he also thinks the city and the quarry is theirs. When a group of students show up at their favorite swimming spot Mike becomes furious towards the students.

The boys all recently graduated high school and it doesn't help that all their parents are pushing them about whats next in life, certainly not college. All of them want to fight against colleges and the system that stole the limestone buildings from their parents. Moocher played by Jackie Earle Haley, actually wants a job despite Mikes plea. Dave on the other hand doesn't want a job, but wants love. When he sees Katherine played by Robyn Douglass on campus he pretends he is an italian foreign exchange student and his italian finally comes in handy. As Dave and Katherine get closer it causes more fights to break out between them and the students, causing Cyril played by Daniel Stern to get injured in a fight.

​The school gets involved and says that the only way to settle this is for the locals to be able to have a team in the University bike race called The Little 500. Dave the biker of the bunch refuses the idea, while Mike sees it as a opportunity to prove the students wrong. Dave concentrates on the italian biking team coming to Indianapolis, wanting to prove himself to the Italians. After a race plagued by cheating, Mike knows what he must do, which is to race in the Little 500.

Breaking Away was a jumping point for some great actors including Dennis Quaid and even Daniel Stern, which most will know him as the burglar in Home Alone. A coming of age story about the struggles of being from a college town is beautifully directed by Peter Yates, where he demonstrates it not only from the kids point of view but also their parents who feel forgotten about, when they put so much into the University. Some of my favorite scenes come from Dave's parents, seeing how they deal with him acting italian and teaching some great lessons in-between. The score of the film which is littered with italian classics is a great touch as it connects this small college town with the large world of biking racing. The cinematography is great and really launches you into a time capsule from 1979. They do a great job of using long and establishing shots to give the viewer a great sense of awareness of the town and what this town is all about. I might be biased because I graduated from IU and studied Italian there but I really love this movie for all its worth and its balancing of a love triangle and the idea to fight for what you believe in.