Breaking Away (1979)

Why it's here:
Though this is not a super well-known film, I read a number of very positive reviews and comments; plus, a sports theme is always a winner in our house.

Specs:
About an hour and a half. Rated PG

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1-10:
7.5

More about the film and our reaction to it:
Breaking Away has some very common elements found in film: coming of age, parent-child conflict, young people feeling trapped in their small town, clash of classes, as well as several less common ones, like small-town Indiana landscapes, a young man who is obsessed with bicycle racing, and a calm non-exploitative tone that feels relaxed and true.

In fact that calm tone might be part of the reason the film isn't better known. The build up was slow and there were points in the beginning when I thought I'd made a mistake and wanted to turn it off. By halfway through I realized I was falling in love with the film and that my family was all engrossed.

The key pieces that made it come together were the strong script/dialog and phenomenal acting. This is fairly light fare; teenage angst and sports do not often come together in a way that has this much truth and heart but so little melodrama, but that's what this film managed to do surprisingly well.  I never felt jerked around, nor did the story ever feel unnecessarily sentimental.

Modern audiences will enjoy seeing Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern as young men. The film also stars Dennis Christopher as the lead character who is obsessed with both bicycling and Italy. These 3, plus Jackie Earle Haley, play recent high school graduates who are part of the working class culture in Bloomington Indiana, home of Indiana University. They are trying to figure out what to do with their lives and experiencing mixed emotions as they see all the upper class college kids enjoying a very different experience. These roles are so well inhabited by these young actors, you truly feel their insecurity, blustering and childlike awkwardness as they strive to find their place.

The acting was excellent throughout. We especially loved the lead character's parents: funny dad who appeared distant and grumbling, disappointed in his son, but had a deep love for him that became clear by the end and warm, free-spirited instinctual mother who demonstrated a highly appealingbond with her son.

Shot on site in Bloomington, Indiana, the look of the film is beautiful and quintessentially 70s. It should be required viewing for anyone who wants to make a movie set in this time period.

Parent notes are minimal. Although the movie starts out feeling much like any other 'young people stuck in a small town coming of age flick' and I wondered if we were about to get more than we bargained for. But really there was very little racy dialog. The film is almost completely appropriate for families, with the exception being a comment in the beginning as the boys are cruising on the college campus and one comments about college girls tits. There is also a fight scene which is not very intense or graphic by modern standards and a couple of scenes in the quarry swimming hole that feel a bit tense.

Iconic shot: