Books, Movies, Music & Entertainment - anyone catch Breaking Away

on Fox movie channel tonight?

anyone else check out Dave's Masi?
I spent lots of time trying to see the bikes the
CinZano team rode, anyone have any ideas?

absolutely in my top 10 of cycling movies.


Marty

When the dad sees his son shaving his legs...what a classic scene!

I have seen this a couple times, its a good movie, although I don't have the VCR tape on this one, the movie is being shown every now and then like reruns....

There are more than 10 movies about cycling? Could someone list them? I haven't actually seen any, but since I'm sitting here in the middle of a blizzard and won't be able to ride today, perhaps I'll trudge on over to the video store before it gets too deep and rent one.

Try the classic Italian film "The Bicycle Thief".

Two that come rapidly to mind are 'American Flyers' and 'Quicksilver'. That's four so far. I'd like to know about some of the others too.

:) American Flyers,Monday 2/17 9:00 am eastern on TNN.

i just the DVD for the holidays past, and can stop motion on the bike components. there is a good scene when he is working on his bike in his room and he has it on a rope/hoist setup and when he puts the bike on the carrack in the carwash scene.

other than that there really is no good 'bike' shots.

Seems that I saw something on the shelves the other day...

Could it be called Beijing Bicycle? Don't know anything about it though. Might not be bike related at all.

'Breaking Away' and 'American Flyer' are EASY to watch. Try sitting through 'Quiksilver' and prove you are a REAL cycling fan:D

Is Quicksilver about bike messengers? I have nothing against bike messengers of course, but I'm not sure I would consider that to be a "bike" movie, more of a "messenger" movie. Looks like kevin bacon on the cover. If that movie is as old as it looks I may have seen it and forgot it. I'm only 34 but I think senility already has it's claws in me. Snow is still piling up here and none of the video stores have any bike movies. What am I going to do now?

There is a few good scenes. Like the race between Bacon and Laurence Fishburne. But they screwed up a chance to make a great movie about messengers.

Check out "Breaking Away" at Best Buy. $17.99 DVD.

Originally posted by D*Alex
Try the classic Italian film "The Bicycle Thief".

Great film...

Originally posted by lotek
absolutely in my top 10 of cycling movies.

are there even 10 cycling movies? I can only think of about 5.... (not counting TDF videos of course ;))

2 seconds. A movie about a French Downhiller that retires and turns into a messenger. Kinda weird. Didn't dig the ending, but the was some actual riding!

Originally posted by lotek
absolutely in my top 10 of cycling movies.
Bought the movie on DVD as soon as it was released. One of my all-time fave's, cycling or otherwise. Lot's of great scenes.

"Refund!?!?! Refund!?!?!"

I enjoy viewing "Breaking Away" even more now than I did 24 years ago. Yes, the protagonist is an aspiring racing cyclist, but this is not a story about that.

I remember reading a film review that lauded the the film's director, an eastern European if I recall correctly, who so poignantly captured the lifestyle of middle class, midwest America in an engaging story with many intertwined themes: coming-of-age, enduring friendship, perseverance in competition, rich vs. poor, etc., - all allegorically delivered in a comical but endearing storyline via bicycle. In short, it's a great film.

If you've never seen the movie, do yourself a favor and rent or buy it. I see secondspin.com has it on sale for $9.

Lotek, you owe me $2.95 in late fees!!!

I couldn't get the movie out of my mind, rented it, 2"-6" of ice and snow on the streets. Watched it several times, AGAIN and now I owe the video store~!!!!

ray liotta rides a USPS Trek in Hannibal; hardly a cycling movie, just wanted to toss it out there.

As for others cycling movies, I found the following doing some research. Don't know where you'd find some of the more obscure ones, but they've gotta be out there somewhere.

I am really bored and I took the time to dig this up. I hope it helps.



Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Zany, endearing comedy about an adult nerd's many adventures while attempting to recover his stolen bicycle. Chock full of classic sequences, including a barroom encounter between Pee Wee and several ornery bikers, and a tour through the Alamo. A colorful, exhilarating experience.

The Bicycle Thief (AKA Ladri di Biciclette) (1948)
A world classic and indisputable masterpiece about an Italian workman who finds a job, only to have the bike he needs for work stolen; he and his son search Rome for it. A simple story that seems to contain the whole of human experience, and the masterpiece of Italian neo-realism. Based on the book by Luigi Bartolini. In Italian with English subtitles.

BMX Bandits (1983)
Three adventurous Aussie teens put their BMX skills to the test when they witness a crime and are pursued by the criminals.

Quicksilver (1986)
A young stockbroker loses all, then quits his job to become a city bicycle messenger.

Rush It (1977)
Bike messengers fall in love.


American Flyers and Breaking Away, of course.

Beijing Bicycle (Shiqi sui de dan che) (2001)
->follows two young men who are brought together by a highly valued bicycle. A messenger needs the bicycle to work and when it is stolen, he searches everywhere to find it, for fear of losing his job. He finally locates the bike in the hands of another boy who recently bought it at a flea market and is now using it to impress his friends--especially girls--and is not ready to give it up when the original owner confronts him.


Off the Mark (1987)
About a young athlete suffering from a childhood affliction that causes spasms in his legs. Facing the ultimate challenge, he must overcome his handicap and defeat a talented woman athlete and a Russian student in a triathlon competition. An unremarkable effort, it had a limited one-week run in theaters.

Rad (1986)
Teenage drama revolving around BMX racing and such dilemmas as: can the good guys beat the bad guys, who's got the fastest bike, must you cheat to win, and should our hero miss his SAT tests to compete in "the big race". Directed by stunt-expert Hal Needham.

Ten Speed (1976)
Two advertising executives compete in a 400-mile bicycle race from San Francisco to Malibu.

2 Seconds (1998)
A champion mountain bike racer named Laurie (Charlotte Laurier) hesitates at the start gate, and the two seconds lost cost her the race--and her place on the team. Forced into retirement, she meets Lorenzo (Dino Tavarone), a cantankerous Italian bike shop owner and former champion himself. Their mutual love and appreciation of cycling draw them together in spite of initial clashes. One night, they decide to face each other in a peculiar duel. Lorenzo shows Laurie how every victory is relative and that -- speaking of relativity -- speed is not the only way to bring time to a halt.


20 Shades of Pink (1976)
A middle-aged house painter, going through mid-life crisis, takes up cycling for exercise and meets up with an attractive young bike racer. The painter thinks she is interested in him on a personal level when she really only wants to help him prepare for an age-group bike race.

Beasts of Burden
It depicts the hard side of the bike messenger's life and society. It may be realism, with emphasis on the unhappy side, but it certainly makes you want to avoid that life. It shows drugs and alcohol, insufficient money, an alienated approach to living, a very hard job. On the other hand, the scenes of cycling in traffic, taken by a bike-mounted camera, are very exciting.

The Day I Became a Woman
Three short stories about women in modern Iran, one of which is about a woman who wants to enter a bicycle race and her husband who is very much against it.

Hugo's Magic Pump
Hugo is the winningest 6 day racer in Italy, beating everyone, incuding the Mafia's 'Fixed' riders. To stop losing gambling monies, the Mafia decides to wear Hugo down by throwing beautiful women at him, hoping to reduce his endurance and stamina. This Adult movie from the late 70's was 'Competive Cycling' magazines choice for best cycling footage in the era before 'Breaking Away'

Joey Brown, 6 Day Racer
A 1940's bike messenger wins the big 6-day race. A hard to find BW film from the 40's. Lots of 6-day footage, starring era comedian, Joey Brown.

Jour de Fete (1949)
In this French film, filmmaker/comedian Jacques Tati plays a wacky bike-riding postman attempting to modernize delivery service.

The Messenger (1999)
Not to be confused with Luc Besson's 1999 movie about Joan of Arc, this Japanese movie about bicycle messengers deserves a looking at by anyone enamored with the bicycle messenger genre.

One Less Car (1991)
A Boston filmmaker profiles people who use their bicycles instead of cars for a variety of transportation uses.

Return of the Scorcher (1992)
This movied was made by bicycle activist Ted White to show the superiority of the bicycle to the automobile, with scenes from all over the world. One of its claims to fame is that it's where the name "Critical Mass" comes from.

Stars and Water Carriers
Scenes of Eddy (The Cannibal) Merckx and how he won so much.The film shows the strain on Eddy's face and clearly shows how much effort he put into his racing. This is a Danish documentary with added English sound track so it sounds a bit funny

Who Owns The Streets/We Are Traffic (1999)
Ted White's documentary traces the unique Critical Mass bike movement from its early days in San Francisco to its growth of thousands of cyclists each months and its spread to more than 100 cities in 14 countries. The movie explores the ideas of reclaiming public space, commercial-free cultural events, and rethinking traditional models of political demonstration.

The Yellow Jersey
A PBS Documentary from the Early 70's, showing the trials of the American team at a stage race in Canada.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)
This version is set sometime in the late 19th Century, and has lots of bicycles in it. While adhering to Shakespeare's dialogue, it manages to work bicycles into the plot.

Brainstorm
No bicycle plot, but Christopher Walken commutes on a recumbent and scenes of him arriving at work and at home on it are pretty cool.

Key Exchange
The play on which this movie was based used bicycles as scene transitions. The male star waxes rhapsodic about cycling around Central Park.

The Tall Blonde Man With One Black Shoe (1972)
A power struggle at the French Secret Service spills into the life of an innocent concert violinist who fiddles obliviously while rival spies and hit men try to set him up for a final bow. Not entirely innocent, as he carries on an affair with a fellow musician while her husband is out bicycling every weekend.

Time Chasers
Not only does the hero of the movie ride a bike as a major form of transportation (though he uses an airplane to make his time machine), but when he travels into the utopian future there are tons of bicycles, along with buildings made out of recycled material.

Un Affaire D'Hommes (1981)
Jean-Louis Trintignant is an architect and joins a bicycle racing group where a detective (Claude Brasseur) is member. He uses this friendship to cover the murder of his wife. The film includes several scenes of the group's weekly race (which also plays a part in the murderer's alibi), and the final confrontation is done using bikes, not guns.


Some documentaries:

Golden Colorado Circuit Race
How would you like to watch a bicycle race in first person? Meaning, from the perspective of the bike! Thanks to John Bickmore, you can. Bickmore is a professional racer and films the races as he's riding. (What dedication, since the added weight of the camera has to slow him down a bit and hurt his ranking a bit.) Here's his description of the movie of the Golden Colorado Circuit Race: "You race at the front the entire race, up and down the hill on top of Table Top Mountain. You are fighting the wind and the racers and attacking each other! Even Vaughter's attack is sucked up in just 1/2 a lap. The first 800m of the race is the calm before the storm. Then the speed goes up and the attacks try, and try and try the remainder of the race. In-between attacks, a group of 4 get away and near the end a group of 2 hold a gap to the line. You field sprint for 7th place."

Critical Mass (2001)
We have exclusive video of a Sept. 2001 Critical Mass ride in Austin in which a motorist intentionally ran over a cyclist.

Bike Like You Mean It (2002)
a documentary by Susan Kirr and Rusty Martin about Austin's bike community.


Other movies with significant bicycle scenes:
Better Off Dead (1985)
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Goonies (1985)
National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
New Jack City (1991)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)

Originally posted by lonestarcyclist
...
Other movies with significant bicycle scenes:
Better Off Dead (1985)
...

I want my 2 dollars....

:D

I am really bored and I took the time to dig this up

You must really have a lot of time on your hands. That's a lot of movies. Now if you have any time left- Where can one get a copy of "The Bicycle Thief". :)
Thanks,

Blake

On a similar note.
There was a TV series "Breaking Away" filmed in Athens, Ga. in the early eighties. It had a short run and I never actually saw any episodes. Anyone know where I can scarf a copy of an episode?

Blake

Originally posted by lonestarcyclist
... I am really bored and I took the time to dig this up. I hope it helps... Hope this helps? :eek:
Hope this helps? :D
Your post is a frikking gold mine! :) Thank you many times over! :beer:

as for finding a copy of the bicycle thief, try amazon.com or ebay: some dude is auctioning a vhs copy for $9.99

greg360,


you are most welcome. research is one of my fortes. now if I could just find my darn socks...

Originally posted by Bikedud
On a similar note.
There was a TV series "Breaking Away" filmed in Athens, Ga. in the early eighties. It had a short run and I never actually saw any episodes. Anyone know where I can scarf a copy of an episode?

Blake

Shaun Cassidy as Dave Stohler. I remember the show. You can find some information on it at IMDB.com (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080203). It is not, apparently, available on video.


Originally posted by lonestarcyclist
you are most welcome. research is one of my fortes. now if I could just find my darn socks...

I didn't know anyone darned socks anymore. Thanks for a great list of bike related movies. The Joey Brown 6 Day Racer movie is one that I have looked for for a long time. A forgotten comedian and a forgotten form of race. Both were once popular.

thanks, Regular Guy.

Aspen Extreme has a cheesy scene involving mountain bikes.

Not that the rest of the movie isn't cheesy...

Oh, and Dead Poets Society too.

There's also a great scene at the end of Creator (1985) (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0088960) where everyone's biking to work.

Sorry I haven't been around to list my 10 favorite films
most have been listed but ya'll left out one of the better ones
"A Sunday in Hell" documentary type of film about
Paris-Roubaix and Eddy. . .
Highly recommended.
I take no responsibility for any charges (video) which this
post may cause you to incur.
10ld, I'll pay up at HHH!
Marty

WHOO WHOOO WHOOO!!!! <police siren sounds>

I just saw they're going to have American Flyers with Kevin Costner on ESPN tonight at 9pm EST....

I DARE anyone to watch that one! ;)

Koffee

WHOO WHOOO WHOOO!!!! <police siren sounds>


I just saw they're going to have American Flyers with Kevin Costner on ESPN tonight at 9pm EST....

I DARE anyone to watch that one!


Hey, What do you mean, Koffee? I only own four videos and one of them is American Flyers. :D

I'm sure that Rae Dawn Chong was veeeeeeeeery dramatic too... :D
She should have won an academy award, right?

She was robbed!


Koffee

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
WHOO WHOOO WHOOO!!!! <police siren sounds>

I just saw they're going to have American Flyers with Kevin Costner on ESPN tonight at 9pm EST....

I DARE anyone to watch that one! ;)

Koffee

I rented and watched both Breaking Away AND American Flyers after reading this thread.

:p

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
I just saw they're going to have American Flyers with Kevin Costner on ESPN tonight at 9pm EST....
Mmmmm... Alexandra Paul... Yummy!!! :D

originally posted by Psycle MannIs Quicksilver about bike messengers? I have nothing against bike messengers of course, but I'm not sure I would consider that to be a "bike" movie, more of a "messenger" movie. Looks like kevin bacon on the cover. If that movie is as old as it looks I may have seen it and forgot it. I'm only 34 but I think senility already has it's claws in me.

Andy,

you should definitely check out Quicksilver! made in 1986 - i think i saw it back then when i was in high school and it made me want to be a messenger.

anyhow, there is actually a lot of bike footage with a big bike/car chase scene through the streets of the city, plus some old style "bike-tricks" from street performers.

i'd definitely call it a bike movie as the main star (Kevin Bacon) and his love interest are both cyclists and they show them riding a lot!

i saw it again 2 or 3 years ago for the 3rd time or so and still really enjoyed it.

I'll add "Triplets of BelleVille" to the list since it is now out on DVD since this thread was last updated.

The film Breaking Away was about a group of Indiana townies who enter the annual Little 500 bike race at Indiana University, actor Dennis Christopher rode a 1978 Masi GranCriterium. ‘‘It floats over small bumps... as if the bike is barely touching the ground.’’

The following is from Tom Schwoegler, who was the technical adviser on the 1977 movie "Breaking Away."

"We purchased 2 Masi's from Faliero (or was it Alberto... the one who was building in California at the time). We also had 2 extra forks. One fork was bent to simulate the wreck when the pump is put in the front wheel. I bent the fork and it was not easy. We also had a Sears Free Spirit painted and hand decaled to look like a Masi. We had to hand-paint the decals because Masi would not give us an extra set. The Sears bike was mounted on a special platform for the close shots of Dennis Christopher. You can tell if he is on the Sear bike because it had Weinmann brakes and the brake cable came down on the opposite side when compared to the Campy brakes.

Both Masi's returned to California after the film was shot. Steve Tesich ended up with one of them (he was the one who insisted on getting Masi's for Dave and Colnago's for the Italian Team. We only had to buy 2 Colanago's as two of the guys who played those riders already had Colnago's (one of the guys was Christian VanDeVelde's dad, John). I still have one of those bikes, a gift from Director Peter Yates and the other was sold to a friend of mine in Indianapolis who later sold it. I also ended up with the bent fork from the "wrecked" Masi." – Tom Schwoegler

I haven't seen it yet, but what about "Overcoming", where they follow Team CSC through a cycling season?

"How can you be sick, Marcus... look at you... you've got a mustache."