Breaking Away

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In director Peter Yates' 1979 film, Breaking Away, Dennis Christopher plays Dave Stohler, an extremely talented cyclist living in Bloomington, Indiana. Dave is obsessed with the sport, particularly the Italian Cinzano team, so much so that he adopts an Italian persona. When he's not on his bike, Dave spends his time hanging out with his best friends: Mike (Dennis Quaid,) Moocher (Jackie Earle Haley,) and Cyril (Daniel Stern.) Son's of working class father's, the four recent high school grads are at odds with the snobby frat boys from Indiana University, who refer to the local youth's as "Cutters" due to their family history's of working in the local stone cutting factory. When Dave infuriates the frat boys by falling in love with a pretty college student (Robyn Douglass,) and woo's her by posing as an Italian exchange student, tension's rise. While the film centers around cycling, Breaking Away is actually a fantastic coming of age movie, as the four friends face down their futures: Dave has no intention of going to college, Mike is the high school football star who sees no possibility of moving on to the next level, Moocher has impregnated his girlfriend, and poor Cyril has absolutely no prospects at all. The cast is brilliant: Paul Dooley steals the entire movie as Dave's dad, who doesn't understand, and therefore, can't stand, his "weirdo" son. The film's Italian Opera soundtrack is outstanding, and makes the movie that much better. Breaking Away won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, and was named both the 8th most inspiring movie of all time, and the 8th best sports movie of all time by the American Film Institute. It also spawned a short lived television series. Yes, I am a cyclist, so I am sort of obligated to love this movie. However, I loved it when I saw it as a kid in the theater, long before I became a cyclist. It's an all time favorite. (Info verified by Wikipedia)