I’d never seen this. It’s sweet as hell. I wonder if it was intentionally marketed as a film “for the whole family” when it was released, or if it just ended up that way…
Though all four of the main characters (known by the pejorative “Cutters” as in stonecutters, which was the local industry) have enough of a backstory to understand their situations, we don’t get enough from them. Daniel Stern in particular gets the short shrift on his life story, and David, the main character, with his wannabe-Italian kitsch, might actually be the least interesting of the bunch, definitely the one that grows tiresome most quickly. I’m no fan of sports movies and last second victories, but this really did have me in its clutches through the end. I do vaguely remember as a kid that scene of David riding his bike on a highway in the slipstream of a semi-truck carrying Cinzano, with the driver giving him hand signals letting him know how fast he’s going – 60 mph at one point. Dennis Quaid looks like one of those half-nude Abercrombie & Fitch catalog models durng the “swimming hole” scenes – and Hart Bochner (!!!) of all people, looking a lot like Luke Wilson’s guest spots on That 70s Show, is better than decent as the ass-hole frat-boy.
The Townie/College battlelines seemed a little drastic, but maybe at that time, in Blomington, Indiana, it wasn’t that far off base. I can find plenty to pick at in the movie, but it doesn’t detract from being almost entirely enjoyable. And as it was shot in Bloomington, it reminded me of all the things I enjoyed about living in a Big 10 town, like old stone buildings, and how completely the green-world of nature takes over once you’re a mile or two away from the main drag.
It also made me recall the last movie I watched with my parents, The Fastest Indian in the World, another movie which should have made me cringe all the way through it, but managed to suck me in and enjoy it from beginning to end. I’m no fan of the semi-retired paycheck-collecting acting style of Anthony Hopkins, but I had to grant him this one.
Are films like these two part of a sub-set of “kids” movies? There’s nothing offensive in these films, but they also don’t play down to what a studio head or producer imagines to be the kids’ level of storytelling. There are simply not many films like this being made. Did Night at the Museum qualify at some level? I’m guessing it was filled with fart jokes, despite the gravitas of Mickey Rooney’s towering presence.
And spekaing of the polar opposite, I loved Grindhouse. Particularly Tarantino’s gab-fest smash-em-up.
who holds back the electric car?
who makes steve guttenberg a star?
we do! we do!
I love both films Mauer talks about here. Breaking Away has always been a favorite of mine. For some reason, it was on TV a lot as I grew up, and I remember watching it every single time it came on. Actually, a lot of Yates’s films were on TV a lot when I was growing up. I remember enjoying Krull more than a half dozen times.
Recently I caught The World’s Fastest Indian on HDTV. I wanted to see it in the theater, but couldn’t get anyone to join me. So I was glad to watch it in big large format. For one thing, the salt flats are just beautiful. I wonder if it was a tough sell to backers to do a film that took place there (“Why the hell would you make a film there? there’s no scenery. Nothing to look at!”) but it’s great. Hopkins, too, is excellent (of course). One reason why I wanted to see this film is because I heard Hopkins on NPR talking very enthusiastically about it, and I had assumed Hopkins was unenthusiastic about every film he makes, and about film acting in general. So I was intrigued (I realize now that Hopkins worked with the filmmaker on The Bounty, so maybe he did this film, and did it well, for a friend).
I think Breaking Away and The World’s Fastest Indian would make a great double feature.
I agree the salt flats look quite incredible. In a truly odd coincidence, my parents had just gotten back from a trip of parks and natural wonders in Utah and had visited the salt flats maybe two weeks before watching this movie, not knowing the connnection.
I think the annual time trials, which still go on there, were about to happen or had just happened around the time they were there.