Breaking Away is a dated movie. It reeks of the 70s. Not that that is a bad thing, but I don’t think that it really translates very well for younger folk. Maybe the younger folk will watch it and disagree with me.
The basic story is about a kid who graduates from high school and tries to figure out what to do with his life. He is a very talented cyclist, and has an unhealthy obsession with his Italian cycling heroes. He tries to turn himself into an Italian until he actually meets some.
It took me about half of an hour to get into the movie. I eventually enjoyed watching it through, but it did not seem too relevant to my experiences so I had trouble relating to any of the characters.
I loved this movie when it came out because it’s not so much about athletic ambitions as how money can overshadow true talent. The local “cutter” is deemed unworthy by tight-assed college preps and elitist (and corrupt) Italian cyclists, and he and his teammates show everyone in the end what “class” is really all about.
I got the message. I just couldn’t get into the movie and relate to the characters, because the way that it is presented is rather dated. Had I seen this movie when I was a child, I probably would have liked it more then than I did watching it last week.