BREAKING AWAY

I was on an airplane trip and my seat mate and I began talking; we found out that we both loved movies.

He asked if I had seen the movie "Breaking Away" and I answered that I loved it. He asked if I remembered the scene with the bicycle following behind the semi? I answered, "You mean the Peterbilt truck?" He asked, "You noticed WHAT kind of truck? I laughed and said, "I BUILD trucks!" He asked, "Did you notice WHAT kind of bicycle?" I said, "I thought it was Italian!" He laughed and said, "I DESIGNED that bicycle!" He also told me that he was an advisor on the movie. I told him that I'd always loved the movie's tag line: "Somewhere between growing up and settling down."

If you have never watched the movie, it is worth renting or you can borrow it from me. It's a coming-of-age story set in Bloomington, Indiana, where the local kids called the "Cutters" (because of the limestone quarries there) are in competition with the Indiana University bicycling team in a race called the Little 500. The hero, Dave, is completely enamored of the Italian bicycle racing team and pretends he's Italian. In rankings of "sports movies" this gem is always ranked in the Top 10.

My fellow passenger and I discussed the various "continuity" problems we had noticed in the movie and he and I became very competitive in naming them:

MINE: The scene where Dave is drafting the truck, he passes fields of corn at least 6' tall; as the Little 500 is held in early spring, it's doubtful the corn in Indiana would've been that tall!

HIS: In the Little 500 race the bicycles are single-speed with a coaster brake and small gear wheel on the rear hub. In close ups the upper and lower halves of the chain are parallel.

MINE: A microphone was visible when Dave was talking to his parents in the dining room.

HIS: When Dave was drafting behind the semi, his bike is on the small chain-ring and he is traveling at more than 50 mph. An earlier shot shows him in the large chain-ring behind the semi.

MINE: After falling from his bike, Dave's shirt is dirty, but when he finishes minutes later, it is clean.

HIS: When passing the semi, the entire crew is reflected in the truck's bumper.

MINE: After Dave shaves his legs, he is at the quarry later with hairy legs.

HIS: When Dave first collides with another bike during the race, he has blood and dirt on his leg; when he gets into the pit area there's no dirt or blood on his leg.

I told him that since he had designed the bicycle, he had a "TECHNICAL ADVANTAGE" over me.

We then repeated some of our favorite lines from the movie:

MINE: When Dave's mother serves zucchini and his dad said he didn't want any "I-tey" food! She said she got it at the A&P and he said "I know I-tey when I hear it; zucchini, linguine, fettuccine. I want American food like French fries!"

HIS: When Cyril asked Dave if he was really going to shave his legs and Dave said "Certo; all the Italians do it" and Mike answered that the Italian women didn't shave theirs.

MINE: When Dave's dad says, "I don't care if the second coming's coming!"

MINE: When Dave genuflects his mother said, "Dave, this doesn't mean you're turning Catholic, does it?"

He said I had the "TECHNICAL ADVANTAGE" over him on dialogue!