Brothers and Bicycles

 Or How To Kill Your Brother By Riding Up A Mountain!

American Flyers (1985) – Two brothers share two things-a love of bicycle racing and the possibility that what killed their father might kill them as well.  Despite their conflict filled family history, the brothers decide to band together for one last race.  A race that will take them to the edge of their physical and mental endurance.

Directed by John Badham

Starring Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, Alexandra Paul

Why I Liked It – A sweet story of brothers and bicycles.

Here’s a great way to begin the new year!  Two of my favorite activities all at the same time.  Watching movies and riding bikes!  There aren’t a lot of bicycling movies, and outside of 1979’s “Breaking Away”, most people couldn’t name another.  When I went looking for lists, I was amused to see people listing the classic Italian film “The Bicycle Thief”.  Yes, it’s about bicycles, but not about bicycling.  “American Flyers” was one of the final shipment from the Netflix DVD service.  It’s been sitting on top of my DVD player waiting for me to end my period of mourning for that departed movie source.  Looking at the cast list (all of the above PLUS Jennifer Gray, John Amos, and Robert Townsend), it intrigued me.  Director John Badham’s career has a huge resume of solid work, including “Saturday Night Fever”, “Short Circuit”, and, a personal favorite, “War Games”.  Most of the cast, except for Amos, were just at the cusp of fame.  Costner had been in the off-beat western “Silverado” that same year.  His career would take off in 1987. Jennifer Gray was one year away from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and two from “Dirty Dancing”.  Rae Dawn Chong had gotten some notice in “Quest For Fire” in 1981, but would get a lift on the launching of the Arnold Schwarzenegger stardom rocket with “Commando” later in 1985.

So, with all that going for it, why is “American Flyers” such a weak movie?

The first culprit is the script, which is really curious given that Steve Tesich also wrote the script for “Breaking Away”!  In the first half of the movie, the dialogue is awkward and lacks any flow.  The basic story itself is simple and cliche.  I knew the “twist” at the end before thirty minutes of the movie had gone by.  Costner is by far the best performer here, but the script leaves him with an underdeveloped character prone to mood swings without foundations.  He plays the older brother (Marcus) who resents his mother because she abandoned his father during his terminal illness.  She couldn’t face the pain, and ran away to hide.  Which is exactly what Marcus did as well.  He is the high achiever in the family.  David (Grant) is the laid back bike bum, who takes long rides filled with fantasy racing and eastern philosophy.  He’s protective of his mother (who is a highly successful businesswoman), and spoiled by her.  Marcus is mad at everyone because they don’t act the way he does.  It’s both uncomfortable and predictable.  

Once the racing portion of the story arrives, the movie improves.  Hippy hitchhiker Becky (Paul) is cute and funny and a lift to the whole thing.  Chong’s character, Sarah, is predictable as Marcus’ assistant, and ex-wife of his former racing teammate and friend.  Insert the usual story-line tensions here. I’m not a racer, just a fan, but there are parts of the racing stuff that left me scratching my head.  Kudos to Rae Dawn Chong for her on-camera rear wheel change that takes about ten seconds.  She pulled it off to perfection.  The only thing that is worse than what I’ve already listed is how the dreaded medical issue is handled.  I’ve had a brain aneurysm.  How they handle it must drive every doctor on the planet screaming away from the screen.  They do everything wrong.  Everything.

Out of all the pieces of the movie, it is the relationship between Marcus and David that saves the rest.  The dialogue gets a little better, the scenery is spectacular, and the racing scenes are exciting even when they are suspect.  Costner and Grant work nicely off each other, and that turns out to be enough to keep me watching.

As a cyclist, you don’t get a lot of movies to choose from, so you make the compromises you need to make.  “American Flyers” is just good enough, like the ride where you never hit your zone, but you get the miles in.

You can watch “American Flyers” for free on Roku and Tubi, and for a small fee on YouTube, Apple, Google, Vudu, and Amazon.

Rating – *** Worth A Look