American Flyers (1985)

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Estranged bike-racing brothers encounter all manner of hijinks en route to a big race in Colorado. Written by Breaking Away's Steve Teisch.

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of these 1985 movies.

[Edgy MD]

This is going to be good. Ewoks, Just One of the Guys, Legend ... you're in for some treats!

[Frayed Knot]

I know we had a thread (or at least a discussion) on this at one time. Probably out in Archiveland somewhere.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

It's not a good movie. But I can see myself re-watching it for the cheese factor.

-- almost unknown Kevin Costner
-- hilariously dated subplot about the dawn of sports medicine and cringe gym scenes
--biking is also way dated. They use helmets and not cowboy hats today
--big cliché sports movie. The villain in addition to being a nasty ex-husband of Costner's babe, is raging mad in every scene, cheats, impolite to the press etc. How 7-Eleven allowed a character like this to be clad head to toe in their gear I'll never know
-- the Russian cyclist was so obviously not Russian
--puzzling medical issue never really explained
--Young Jennifer Grey Alexandra Paul is worth seeing

[Frayed Knot]

I don't think I saw the entire flick, but my one memory was that of Costner's character keeping up with the pack during a race despite actively dying of the aforementioned mysterious medical issue. Yeah right! Try having a bad head cold and yet managing to keep up with the main body of the peloton.