Peter Yates’ charming 1979 film, Breaking Away, is the first selection for Classic Tuesdays for the year and will be screened next Tuesday at 6 pm, at the National Gallery, Castellani House, Vlissengen Road, Georgetown.
Touching and hilarious in turn, writer Steve Tesich’s multiple award-winning screenplay tells the story of four high school graduates, locals in the Indiana University town of Bloomington, who spend another carefree summer, reluctant or unable to find jobs or go to university. One of them, however, lead character Dave (Dennis Christopher), is an obsessed and highly gifted racing cyclist who eats, sleeps and pretends to be Italian in honour of his heroes, the Italian national cycling team, and to impress a pretty university student – to the constant exasperation of his father, a used car salesman, and with the support of his gentle but resilient mother.
When the Italians come to town Dave gets a rude awakening about life, and has to decide, like his friends, to move on into the adult world by making tough choices. Leaving fantasy and illusions behind they face up to the challenge of entering the Indy 500 cycle race as the first locals competing in this annual event against university teams.
Young Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley and Daniel Stern (who later acted as Marv in the popular films Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) play Dave’s friends, with Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie perfectly cast as his parents.
The film’s running time is approximately 1 hour 40 minutes. The public is cordially invited to attend this event and admission is free. Arrangements will be in place at the National Gallery in the event of inclement weather or a power outage.
