Breaking Away is a 1979 American coming of age comedy-drama film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It follows a group of four male teenagers in Bloomington, Indiana, who have recently graduated from high school. The film stars Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern (in his film debut), Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley, and Robyn Douglass.

Plot

Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends living in the university town of Bloomington, Indiana. Now turning 19, they all graduated from high school the year before, are not sure what to do with their lives, and consider attending university seems unrealistic. They spend much of their time together swimming in an abandoned water-filled limestone quarry. They sometimes clash with the more affluent Indiana University students in their hometown, who refer to them disparagingly as "cutters," referring to the locals' common work in the limestone industry. (The term was invented for the film because the real-world pejorative "stonies" was deemed unusable for its perceived link to marijuana.)

Awards