American Flyers is a 1985 film starring Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, Alexandra Paul and Janice Rule about bicycle racing. It was directed by John Badham and written by Steve Tesich (who had previously won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the similarly themed 1979 movie Breaking Away).
The 7-Eleven team that is featured in the movie was a real life team that competed in the Tour de France in the '80s. The team was later sponsored by Motorola. Much of the race action was filmed at the Coors Classic, a now-defunct stage race that was one of the world's leading cycling events at the time of the film. Two stages in the film's featured race, the Morgul-Bismarck circuit race in Boulder and the "Tour of the Moon" at Colorado National Monument, were legendary Coors Classic stages.
The cycling legend Eddy Merckx made a brief appearance, starting stage 1. Jennifer Grey made an appearance as a blind date, made hysterical by the brothers' arguing.
Plot
Sports physician Marcus persuades his younger brother David to come with him and train for a bicycle race across the Rocky Mountains, called "The Hell of the West". However, there is a history of cerebral aneurysm in their family (which killed their father) and one of the brothers is destined never to finish the race.
A combination sport drama/road movie, Flyers is a bittersweet story of one family's triumphs and tragedies. Two brothers, Marcus (Costner) and David (Grant), have gone in very different directions. Marcus, already alienated from their mother, is suffering from symptoms of a cerebral aneurysm, a condition which tragically claimed their father and which may now be affecting David as well.
The first half of the film focuses on the family's history and background of the plot. Realizing they may not have much time left, the two brothers, along with Marcus' half Cherokee girlfriend, embark on a cross country journey to a bike race in Colorado (The Hell of the West). Along the way, David pick up a beautiful hippie hitchhiker, there is a bikes vs. horses race, and the group has run-ins with old biking buddies.
The second half of the film focuses on the thrilling 3 stage "Hell of the West" (Coors International Bicycle Classic) race. Set in the Colorado Rockies with gorgeous mountain and prairie backdrops, the brothers compete against the world's top cyclists on trails that take them from the top of the Rockies to the low valleys at break-neck speeds. Of course, there would be no movie if there wasn't some kind of dramatic event during the races. One of the brothers suffers an aneurysm and falls out of the race. It is now up to the other to quit and look after his family, or continue and try to defy the odds and win the race. To do that, he would have to conquer one of the toughest race trails on the planet, the "Tour of the Moon" at Colorado National Monument.
Reception
Released prior to Costner becoming a household name, the film only had a limited release on 16 August 1985, and grossed $1.4 million in the U.S.[1]
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