Och’s Weekend Movie: Breaking Away

February 16th, 2008 by ikiro

The third edition of the Tour of California leaves Palo Alto this Sunday and what better way to commemorate that with Hollywoods most successful cycling flick (excluding ET): Breaking Away (1979). Especially when you consider the rumoured and supposed come-back of il Re Leone himself.

In Breaking Away, the focus is on cycling and a boy’s obsession with it. But within the story lies a moral tale. It tells of growing up and learning to see the bigger picture.

Yada yada yada, storyline and stuff. The cycling kid (Dave) manifests his cycling obsession by speaking Italian and listening to Italian opera at home meanwhile driving his father crazy, and acting at school as an Italian exchange student to impress some big-eyed brunette. Funny episode is that when the Italian professional cycling team Cinzano comes over to race and can’t get rid of Dave on his Masi, they decide to throw a pump in his front wheel. Now who thought that inviting Cipollini to the Tour of California was a good thing for American cycling?

Although the movie showcases some cyling Fanta, most of it is not really disturbing. However, chasing the Cinzano truck at 50mph on a 42 tooth inner ring is a bit too much Fanta imho. Anyhow, this is the movie that many American cyclists claim to be their grand motivator for hopping on a bike. Nothing wrong with that atmo. Another curiosity, the movie was shot entirely on location (in Bloomington). A feature that we have seen before here at Och. Enjoy!

Johnny Depp’s Bay | beer game | trailer