Breaking Away (1979)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A group of working-class friends in a university town navigate the divide between their blue-collar roots and the affluent academic world through a passion for bicycle racing.
The story
Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends in the university town of Bloomington, Indiana, who have recently graduated from high school. Considering university unrealistic, they spend their time swimming in an abandoned limestone quarry and clashing with affluent Indiana University students who disparage them as "cutters." Dave is obsessed with competitive bicycle racing and dreams of Italian-style racing. When the university president invites the town to field a team for the annual Indiana University Little 500 race, the friends are persuaded to join, seeking to prove themselves against the elite students.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends in Bloomington, Indiana, who feel like outsiders in their university town. Dave is particularly obsessed with Italian bicycle racing. To woo a university student named Katherine, Dave masquerades as an Italian exchange student, but he is eventually beaten up by her boyfriend's fraternity brothers. Following a university president's invitation to the town to participate in the Little 500 race, the friends decide to enter. An Italian cycling team visits and forces Dave to crash, but he remains determined. Dave's father, Ray, reveals his own history of feeling unwelcome at the university as a stonecutter. During the race, Dave is the only skilled cyclist and rides most of the course alone. After crashing and being injured, he tapes his feet to the pedals to finish the race. He manages to overtake the fraternity team to win. Afterward, Dave enrolls at the university, and Ray takes up cycling for his health.
- Original title
- Bambino
- First release year
- 1979
- Runtime (minutes)
- 101
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Peter Yates
- Writers
- Steve Tesich · writer; Steve Tesich · original screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Dennis Christopher · Dave; Dennis Quaid · Mike; Daniel Stern · Cyril; Jackie Earle Haley · Moocher; Barbara Barrie · Evelyn; Paul Dooley · Ray; Robyn Douglass · Katherine
- Genres
- comedy-drama; coming of age; sports
- Themes
- class barriers; friendship; coming of age; parental relationships
- Tone and mood
- sunny; funny; intelligent; graceful; unpredictable
- Premise and plot tags
- sports; coming-of-age; class struggle
- Source material / true-story basis
- Based on the 1962 Phi Kappa Psi Little 500 champions, specifically the experience of Dave Blase.
- Franchise connections
- A short-lived television series based on the film aired in 1980–1981.
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews upon its release, being described as a 'treasure' and a 'precious cinematic miracle' by Roger Ebert. It was praised for its freshness and performances. It has been ranked as one of the most inspiring and greatest American sports films by the AFI.
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Original Screenplay · 1979 · Won; Golden Globe Award · Best Film (Comedy or Musical) · 1979 · Won; BAFTA Award · Most Promising Newcomer · 1979 · Won
- Production trivia
- The bicycling team is based on the 1962 Phi Kappa Psi Little 500 champions.; The working title of the movie script was Bambino.; The film inspired the song "One for the Cutters" by The Hold Steady.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…