Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Micransix Crappy film

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Hitchcoc I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It is about a group of Bloomington, Indiana friends who are not part of the University of Indiana college crowd. The come from blue color families who are, for the most part, "Cutters," which means they work in the granite quarries cutting out stone. They all have a passion, bicycling. More specifically, bicycle racing. They form a team which does reasonably well, but their chief adversaries are rich college kids who have sponsors and an attitude. One of the riders is enamored with the European bicyclists, specifically the Tour de France racers. He even learns French and impersonates the French to impress a girl. Anyway, we know that at some point a race is going to happen between these guys who call themselves "The Cutters" and the University cyclists. I won't do any spoilers. At times it gets a little contrived, but over all a delight. By the way, the the cinematography is great, especially the summer scenes in Indiana.

jacobs-greenwood Produced and directed by Peter Yates, this essential comedy (sports) drama features an Academy Award winning story by Steve Tesich, who won the Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Oscar on his only nomination. Yates received his first two (of four unrewarded) nominations as well, for Best Picture and Best Director. Patrick Williams, who wrote the film's Score, also received his only nomination as did Barbara Barrie, who was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category.But the film also features many fine other performances including some of the first from actors who would become more well known over the years for their work. The cast includes: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern (his screen debut), Jackie Earle Haley, Paul Dooley, Robyn Douglass (her feature film debut), and Hart Bochner (among others). #8 on AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Movies list.It's a coming of age story about Dave Stoller (Christopher), an awkward teen who yearns to be a world class cyclist like the Italians he idolizes. Unfortunately for Dave, when he gets the chance to meet and compete with these Italian cyclists (Team Cinzano), he is cheated by them and becomes disillusioned. Mike (Quaid), Cyril (Stern), and Moocher (Haley) are Dave's best friends, all just out of high school with no college or other life plans, sons of blue collar workers that live in Bloomington, Indiana. They're called 'cutters' by the students at the University after the laborers that helped build the town and its institutions by mining and cutting the stone used to construct its buildings. The label is used derogatorily even though it's thought of as a badge of honor by their fathers. Each of the others struggle with their identity too: Mike with his fleeting fame as the star quarterback on his high school football team, lanky brainy Cyril has relationship problems with his father (who's seemingly uninterested in his son), and Moocher with his short height. Dave's solution is pretending to be Italian as he escapes to a peaceful world on his bike; Mike tries to compete with college kids like Rod (Bochner) and though he's overmatched, he refuses to admit it ; Moocher fights with anyone who refers to his shortcomings, and also gets engaged to his sweetheart Nancy (Amy Wright); sadly, Cyril never seems to connect with anyone other than his fellow cutters - the film's ending is particularly poignant for him.Paul Dooley gives a terrific performance playing Dave's confused (by his son) father Raymond, driven crazy by his son's behavior; Barrie plays Dave's understanding mother Evelyn, who provides the glue that keeps the family together, the perfect balance and quiet understanding peacemaker between father and son. Robyn Douglass plays an attractive college girl that catches Dave's eye; he's so taken with her that he pretends to be a foreign exchange student at the university. This leads the cutters onto the campus, some of the college kids had made their way to the cutters swimming hole at the abandoned marble quarry, where a fight breaks out between the rivals. The Dean's solution is to invite the locals to enter into the mini-500 bicycle race around the college's cinder track, against the protestations of the fraternities and their leaders, notably Rod.The climactic race itself, while somewhat predictable in outcome, is thrilling and well staged. There's also a bonus for Dave's parents in the end.

blanche-2 "Breaking Away" from 1979 was directed by Peter Yates, and tells the story of four young men right out of high school, a turning point in their lives. Do they stay in their small town and get jobs? Go to college?The four guys -- Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moocher are played by Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley and Daniel Stern. Someone mentioned that of the four of them, the only one who had any "real" career is Dennis Quaid. He's had the biggest career, but the rest of these guys are still going strong.Having just seen Dennis Quaid in "Truth," seeing him in this was a shock -- a total baby. And I mistook Hart Bochner for Christian Bale. I used to love Hart Bochner, who in the '80s starred in a lot of big TV miniseries.The four guys are best friends. It's summer in Bloomington, Indiana, which is a college town. As locals, they are part of the town's working class, and their parents worked at the limestone quarry. As a result, the boys are known as "cutters." The quarry is now closed and has become a swimming hole.There's a rivalry -- a hatred, really, between the wealthier students and the local kids, which is strange as the locals worked the limestone used to build the university. Now it's too good for them.The guys are unmotivated, without much in the way of ambition or discipline. Dave is the exception. He bicycle race. He loves the Italian cycling team and rides around town practicing Italian and speaking it at home, which drives his grounded father (Paul Dooley) nuts. Then Dave meets an IU student, Katherine, who is dating a hot-shot, Rod (Bochner, who else). To impress her, he claims to be an Italian exchange student.When he learns the Italian cycling team will be racing in Indianapolis, Dave is in heaven, ready to enter and race. But an incident there causes him to rethink his goals.Such a wonderful story about floundering young men - for some reason, it seems to take guys longer to find their way, and these kids are no exception. Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie are hilarious as Dave's parents, really adding to the film.Basically this movie, with its beautiful scenery (all filmed in Indiana) and wonderful bike races is about breaking away from the pack in more ways than one - making a decision not just about a career, but how you will tackle life mentally and emotionally. It's a tough lesson but it's well learned.Highly recommended - certainly one of the best films of the '70s.

claytonchurch1 This is my favorite movie, and has been since about 1983, when I first saw it. Want a movie that's not schmaltzy, but has lots of good, real-life realities and lessons? This is for you. Want to see Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Dennis Christopher as young actors? This is for you. Want to see life in the late 1970s in a small, but not backward, town--what it was like for those who weren't doing drugs and getting drunk? This is for you. This movie chronicles four guys who've just graduated from Bloomington High (Bloomington, IN, in which the whole film was shot), who've made a pact not to work or do anything for a year. This movie is about growing up, about class divisions between the college-educated and the blue-collar (Bloomington is the home of Indiana University, which plays a big role in the film), and about coming to grips with who you are and what's important in life. This is a sweet, sweet (but not corny or feel-good) movie. Yet, it's not tragic. It's just a very good picture of slice of life as a kid (an old kid) in a safe town. Many lines from this movie summarize truths of life, and I've quoted the movie from the mid-'80s to today. Just watched it again (August 2014), and was once again refreshed. A gem of a movie, indeed.