max5480

i like america, but as i said, what a bad movie. The bikes are beautiful, and so are many of the people, but worst movie ever. I'm sticking with Breaking Away and the Flying Scotsman. Red Allezs are cool, but what a terrible movie!

DRietz

It's good in a cheesy sorta way.

But I agree. Breaking Away and the Flying Scotsman surpass it by many standards.

On the climbing stage in Americans Flyers they went up and down the same part of the Colorado National Monument like four times. I learned those roads like the back of my hand over the summer and just shook my head when I saw that part.

Drillium Dude 

Yeah, it definitely is cheezy (however, I admit to having my own copy on VHS). At times it seemed like one long McDonald's commercial.

One scene that was totally authentic and really hits the "it can happen" button: when one rider wipes out after missing his line into a long left-hand bend. He slides to the outer part of the curve, starts to kick up dust and then goes a**-over-teakettle into the sagebrush. That's during the mountain stage in the movie. Pretty neat how they caught that on film completely by accident.

To this day, every time I hear our National Anthem I keep seeing Alexandra Paul's...um, what were we talking about?

DD

DRietz

That's probably the best summary of the movie right there.

cudak888 

If you didn't care for American Flyers, you NEED to see this parody. It'll take that bad taste out of your mouth and make you glad you saw it - if only to get most of the jokes in the spoof:


-Kurt

531phile 

I thought Flying Scotsman was your run of the mill sports biopic. But Breaking Away should have won an Oscar for best Motion Picture.

cudak888 

I believe you're thinking of this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/707035

-Kurt

oldmuthariley

that spoof is much better than the real thing! The russian looked like captain haddock with that beard ...
why were the ruskies wearing skateboard helmets in a bike race?

531phile 

Because they were all drunk on vodka, they needed the extra protection.

cudak888 

You've never seen my helmet

-Kurt

snarkypup

The problem is that Breaking Away is one of the greatest movies of all time, so everything else pales in comparison. I once showed it to two classes of eighth graders, and they went around for weeks yelling "no -ini foods!"

The scene where the dad removes his pocket protector is so funny it's almost painful. In fact, every scene with the dad is like that. And every time I get even a whiff of speed on my road bike, I hear Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony in my head. I haven't tried to draft behind any semis recently, however. I am also tempted to name my next cat "Fellini."

redneckwes

I just can't grasp how the rest of the world sees Breaking Away as all that great of a film. It had it's moments I guess but I found it pretty corney and hard to watch. Flyers was no worse IMO than Breaking Away.

Doohickie

I've never seen any of those movies.

cudak888 

+1.

American Flyers gave the bikes more screen time. Breaking Away was 1 hour of quarry, 20 minutes of racing, 10 minutes of fistfight, 10 minutes of crying, 10 minutes of stupidity, and 5 minutes of a serenade that looks like it was dragged from a YouTube Poop.

-Kurt

David Newton

Right-o, though I do like Breaking Away.
All the good bike movies are European. "The bicycle thief" and "Jour de fete" are my picks.

T-Mar

Those aren't skateboard helmets. They are typical bicycle helmets from the late 1970s and very early 1980s. They're a bit dated for the mid-1980s when American Flyers was released, but companies like Bailen and Vetta were still offering similar products. Using slightly dated products was probably intentional, due to American stereotyping that all Russian products utilized antiquated technolgy.

Far from it! One title that routinely get passed over is Key Exchange from 1985. Bicycle racing and nudity, including what not to do on your Bianchi. I'd post a video link, but it would undoubtedly violate forum rules.

cudak888 

And entertaining, despite being camp(y) as heck.

Too bad Gertz dragged it down to the quality of a bad high school play whenever she was on screen. Talk about people who cannot act.

-Kurt

Amesja

Nothing can spur on a FDGB like a video-camera.

Picchio Special

I'm with Kurt. I actually prefer American Flyers, flawed though it obviously is. I can't tell you how many times on a weekend group ride, it's been useful to be able to say, "Enough of this Sunday stroll! Let's hurt a little!"

tashi

Not a chance! You're forgetting RAD, my personal favorite.

redneckwes

If Flyers comes on TV, I'll stop and watch it. Breaking Away just gets turned off, once was enough.

snarkypup

Philistines!

gridplan

I've never seen the Flying Scotsman, but I couldn't agree more with your assessment of American Flyers. I found it to be eye-rollingly bad; a huge disappointment after seeing Breaking Away. From the cardboard characters and achingly predictable story arc, it was nearly unwatchable. If you look through the American Film Institute's web site, you will (I think justifiably so) find Breaking Away. Not surprisingly, you won't find any mention of American Flyers.

DiabloScott

Yup, I think they were Brancales -




Before ~1986 when the hardshell helmet rule (USA) came to racing the helmet choices were pretty slim.
Racers had leather hairnets, some with more padding than others, but virtually nobody wore one of those except when actually racing. The Brancale was an attempt at offering something better than the hairnet to the racer market. The helmet rule required ANSI or Snell certification and the Brancale didn't cut it. The helmet rule also is mostly responsible for helmet design improvements since then for all cycling markets.

Picchio Special

Yet Amazon.com's ever-astute reviewers award American Flyers 4 out of 5 stars. Go figure.