This review originally appeared on the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s “Roll Film” movie review site (http://www.biketraffic.org/content.php?id=219_0_6_0). Each film was also reviewed by my CBF colleague, Greg Borzo, who focused more on the bike content.
AMERICAN FLYERS
2 Wheels
In 1980, Steve Tesich won an Academy Award for his smart and compassionate script for the seminal bicycle movie, Breaking Away. It appears as if all it took was a few years in Hollywood to suck his creativity dry because, by the time he wrote American Flyers, he was on formula autopilot.
Just look at the love scene. After some brief courting involving a french fry and ketchup (don't ask), our hero and his new girlfriend's scenes of passion are intercut with the national anthem playing on the TV—so we get literal fireworks as well as the launching of the space shuttle. This is about the level of subtlety maintained throughout.
For some reason Tesich has chosen to fill his screenplay with a series of "cute" setups and "clever" payoffs. For example, the main characters are told that they need to watch out for the fearsome Eddie, who will be joining them on their practice ride. Eddie turns out to be, get this, a dog! These attempts at hilarity through misdirection dominate the first half of the movie. This same technique is used to try to confuse the audience as to the identity of the character that is dying of a brain aneurysm, thereby removing any possible tension and leaving us with melodrama, but no drama.
That's right. American Flyers is not just a sports film; it's a disease-of-the-week movie. Kevin Costner plays Marcus, a doctor and bicycling champion. His younger brother, David, is played by David Marshall Grant as a misdirected youth (though he looks about Costner's age) who also has great racing potential. Together, they compete in the "Hell of the West" race as the specter of disease hangs over them.
The racing sequences themselves are only adequate. They just don't have the same kinetic energy as the bicycle scenes in Breaking Away. What the movie does have is some gorgeous Colorado mountain scenery, especially a barren area known as the Moonscape. Unfortunately, all that is gained from the photogenic scenery is undone by the annoying synthesizer music played throughout the riding scenes.
The only thing preventing American Flyers from becoming a total disaster is the dedicated effort of the cast to make an actual movie out of this jumble. Most of the actors were able to project enough likeability to keep the movie watchable, but certainly no one was in danger of being considered for an Oscar.
Kevin Costner gives a solid and earnest Kevin Costner performance. We've seen this style before in much better films, but since this is one of his earlier efforts, it's fun to see him developing his screen persona. Another pleasant surprise is that the brothers' girlfriends, played by Rae Dawn Chong and Alexandra Paul, have actual personalities. Too often, in films like these, the girlfriend role is reduced to eye candy and nothing more.
Less successful is the generic sports movie villain named, of course, Cannibal. For no reason whatsoever, he is also Costner's girlfriend's ex-husband and, at one point, he tries to push another rider off the mountain with his chin.
American Flyers was directed by John Badham, whose place in film history is secure as the director of Saturday Night Fever. An early scene of David primping in his room is reminiscent of a similar Travolta scene in Fever. This kind of "in joke" ain't much, but in American Flyers, there ain't much more.
AMERICAN FLYERS
2 Wheels
In 1980, Steve Tesich won an Academy Award for his smart and compassionate script for the seminal bicycle movie, Breaking Away. It appears as if all it took was a few years in Hollywood to suck his creativity dry because, by the time he wrote American Flyers, he was on formula autopilot.
Just look at the love scene. After some brief courting involving a french fry and ketchup (don't ask), our hero and his new girlfriend's scenes of passion are intercut with the national anthem playing on the TV—so we get literal fireworks as well as the launching of the space shuttle. This is about the level of subtlety maintained throughout.
For some reason Tesich has chosen to fill his screenplay with a series of "cute" setups and "clever" payoffs. For example, the main characters are told that they need to watch out for the fearsome Eddie, who will be joining them on their practice ride. Eddie turns out to be, get this, a dog! These attempts at hilarity through misdirection dominate the first half of the movie. This same technique is used to try to confuse the audience as to the identity of the character that is dying of a brain aneurysm, thereby removing any possible tension and leaving us with melodrama, but no drama.
That's right. American Flyers is not just a sports film; it's a disease-of-the-week movie. Kevin Costner plays Marcus, a doctor and bicycling champion. His younger brother, David, is played by David Marshall Grant as a misdirected youth (though he looks about Costner's age) who also has great racing potential. Together, they compete in the "Hell of the West" race as the specter of disease hangs over them.
The racing sequences themselves are only adequate. They just don't have the same kinetic energy as the bicycle scenes in Breaking Away. What the movie does have is some gorgeous Colorado mountain scenery, especially a barren area known as the Moonscape. Unfortunately, all that is gained from the photogenic scenery is undone by the annoying synthesizer music played throughout the riding scenes.
The only thing preventing American Flyers from becoming a total disaster is the dedicated effort of the cast to make an actual movie out of this jumble. Most of the actors were able to project enough likeability to keep the movie watchable, but certainly no one was in danger of being considered for an Oscar.
Kevin Costner gives a solid and earnest Kevin Costner performance. We've seen this style before in much better films, but since this is one of his earlier efforts, it's fun to see him developing his screen persona. Another pleasant surprise is that the brothers' girlfriends, played by Rae Dawn Chong and Alexandra Paul, have actual personalities. Too often, in films like these, the girlfriend role is reduced to eye candy and nothing more.
Less successful is the generic sports movie villain named, of course, Cannibal. For no reason whatsoever, he is also Costner's girlfriend's ex-husband and, at one point, he tries to push another rider off the mountain with his chin.
American Flyers was directed by John Badham, whose place in film history is secure as the director of Saturday Night Fever. An early scene of David primping in his room is reminiscent of a similar Travolta scene in Fever. This kind of "in joke" ain't much, but in American Flyers, there ain't much more.
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