An underdog, coming-of-age saga without a trace of sappiness or sentimentality, Peter Yates’ Breaking Away is a lovely, engaging little film. A first-rate cast coming as close to portraying real-seeming people as it’s possible to get gives the movie its strongest reason to be. Yes, there’s a bicycle race or two to get the adrenalin pumping, but that’s actually the most ordinary thing about the movie. Elsewhere, the amusing, individualistic characters going about their daily lives have plenty of truths to convey and do so in the most ingratiating manner possible.
Studio: Fox
Distributed By: Twilight Time
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HDMA (Mono)
Subtitles: English SDH
Rating: PG
Run Time: 1 Hr. 41 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
keep caseDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: All
Release Date: 01/20/2015
MSRP: $29.95
The Production Rating: 4.5/5
Steve Tesich’s Oscar-winning screenplay (which also won prizes from the New York Film Critics, the National Society of Film Critics, and the Writers’ Guild) is awash in purposeful character-building scenes which convey much about each of the film’s main characters. It also allows Paul Dooley’s beleaguered father character to carry most of the comedy burden for the film allowing the drama of the conflict between the rich and the poor (resulting at one point in a fight in the college dining hall that the “Cutters” have temporarily invaded), between Dave and his father who’s convinced his son is a weirdo, between Dave and his buddies when it becomes clear they’re starting to drift apart, and the romantic tension between Dave and Katherine with whom Dave has masqueraded as an Italian exchange student to get her attention to develop interestingly. Peter Yates has staged so many treasurable sequences: Dave riding idyllically through the countryside in the golden afternoon light, Dave training for his marathon races by taking to the highway and getting speeds up to sixty miles per hour, and a heart-rending father and son talk when Dave’s eyes have been opened to the cruel realities of the world (his cherished Italian racers are snobs and cheaters). The climactic race is, as stated before, a rush even with a most predictable conclusion, but the result offers a kind of temporary catharsis for the town where for a few precious moments social class doesn’t matter as much as sportsmanlike competition and honest hard work does. For a brief amount of time, all is right with the world.
It’s a great starring role for Dennis Christopher who gets many spotlight moments and makes the most of them as Dave turns the corner from child to young man right before our eyes. Dennis Quaid also gets one of his best early chances to score as the townie with a definite chip on his shoulder having to accept that his years as BMOC in high school are over. Paul Dooley (who won the National Board of Review Best Supporting Actor prize) and Barbara Barrie (who was Oscar nominated) excel as the concerned parents: he with more exasperation and frustration at his son’s eccentricities and she with more motherly understanding and calm. As Dave’s two other best friends, Jackie Earle Haley has the feisty quality of a bantam rooster when his lack of height is mentioned, and Daniel Stern scores as the more thoughtful and intelligent one of the pack, often working out problems in the group once they’ve surfaced. Hart Bochner makes a fine snobbish villain, and Robyn Douglass who’s introduced in the film does well enough as the girl both he and Dave are in competition for.
Video Rating: 4/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4.5/5
Special Features Rating: 3.5/5
Isolated Score Track: the music track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo.
Dennis Christopher’s Fellini Story (12:53): this audio only excerpt is a follow-up to a comment Christopher made in the commentary about working with Fellini telling an entertaining anecdote about the fluke that was his time on the movie Fellini Roma.
Teaser Trailers (each 0:32, SD): two teaser trailers for the movie, one with the theme of impending adulthood and the other touting its five Oscar nominations.
Theatrical Trailer (2:57, SD)
Six-Page Booklet: contains a series of color stills, original poster art on the back cover, and film historian Julie Kirgo’s lively analysis of the movie.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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