History Film / BreakingAway

''Breaking Away'' is a 1979 {{Dramedy}} directed by Peter Yates and starring Creator/DennisQuaid, Dennis Christopher, Creator/JackieEarleHaley and Daniel Stern.

-->'''Moocher:''' [[LampshadeHanging Wow. Hey, I didn't think people your age]]...

* Broken Pedestal: The Italians. Dave worshipped them and they deliberately wrecked him in a manner that could've killed him for no reason other than being able to keep up with them.

* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Ray knows something's up with Dave after his race with the Italians when Dave calls him "Dad" again instead of "papa".

* FakeNationality: In-universe; as mentioned above, Dave pretends he's an Italian exchange student named Enrico when he first meets Katherine, and he either speaks Italian or English in an Italian accent.

''Breaking Away'' is a 1979 {{Dramedy}} directed by Peter Yates and starring Dennis Quaid, Dennis Christopher, Creator/JackieEarleHaley and Daniel Stern.

* CrazyAwesome: Dave on the bike; in addition to the scene where he chases down Katherine on the bike (see MeetCute below), he rides to Bloomington on the highway (50 miles away) and manages to keep up with a truck (delivering Italian-made bikes) going ''60 miles an hour''.

'''''Breaking Away''''' is a 1979 {{Dramedy}} directed by Peter Yates and starring Dennis Quaid, Dennis Christopher, Creator/JackieEarleHaley and Daniel Stern.

* MeetCute: While studying Italian outside the campus, Dave notices Katherine. She rides off in her motor scooter, but one of her notebooks falls off. Dave gets on his bike, rides over, picks up the notebook, ''and chases her down on his bike while she's riding the scooter''. She's very impressed.

* FakeNationality: In-universe; as mentioned above, Dave pretends he's an Italian exchange student named Enrico when he first meets Katharine, and he either speaks Italian or English in an Italian accent.

Dave, however, is different in some ways from his friends. He was a sickly boy until he started riding around on a bicycle, and has since become a championship racer. He's also become obsessed with the Italian race team, to the point where [[FakeNationality he starts acting Italian]], to the bemusement of his mother Evelyn (Barbara Barrie) and the consternation of his father Ray (Paul Dooley), a used car salesman. It's also to the point where Dave passes himself off as an Italian exchange student when he becomes attracted to Katharine (Robyn Douglass), a student at the university. Dave is especially excited when he hears the Italian team is coming to Indiana for a major bicycle race. He's less excited when the cutters get entered into the Indiana University Little 500 bicycle race, but events soon change his mind about that.

* MeetCute: While studying Italian outside the campus, Dave notices Katharine. She rides off in her motor scooter, but one of her notebooks falls off. Dave gets on his bike, rides over, picks up the notebook, ''and chases her down on his bike while she's riding the scooter''. She's very impressed.

* SerenadeYourLover: Dave, as Enrico, sings an excerpt from the opera "Martha" outside of Katharine's sorority building. She's visibly touched.

* SmokingIsCool: Discussed and subverted. Mike carries a cigarette around with him, but can't bring himself to light it even though he thinks smoking is cool (his hero is the Marlboro Man) because he still thinks he needs to train to play quarterback again. Also, Dave tries to light Katharine's cigarette for her, but the lighter goes out of control, much to Katharine's bemusement.

* HereWeGoAgain: Dave, now enrolled at IU, meets a pretty French exchange student, and, well...

* RecycledTheSeries: Adapted into a 1980-81 series on Creator/{{ABC}}. Barbara Barrie, Jackie Earle Haley, and John Ashton all reprised their film roles; Barrie was nominated for an Emmy Award, thereby receiving both an Oscar and Emmy nom for playing the same character.

* SlobsVersusSnobs: The relationship between the "cutters" and the IU students has elements of this.

''Breaking Away'' is a 1979 {{Dramedy}} directed by Peter Yates and starring Dennis Quaid, Dennis Christopher, Jackie Earle Haley and Daniel Stern.