MovieChat Forums > American Flyers (1985) Discussion > Hideously Crappy Film

Hideously Crappy Film

posted 13 years ago by johnkstone1234
8 replies | jump to latest

If there was a sincere or true moment in the film, I missed it. The music sucked, the acting was abysmal (especially David, but really most of the parts), the story was completely contrived and emotionally manipulative and yet oddly hollow and unmoving. The direction was laughably bad, with every emotional shift telegraphed with hit-you-over-the-head obviousness. It all felt like a very poor made-for-TV after school special, but with a few famous or semi-famous actors. I love cycling (watching, riding) and adore beyond all measure "Breaking Away," but this was pure garbage. What a difference a good script (and good characters) make.

[–] ScootFla 13 years ago

You obviously never even watched this movie and are just making your post to be negative. American Flyers was a great movie. You were probably watching Ishtar or something and got confused (by the way, Ishtar isn't a racing movie). Don't take your vitriol out against a good movie like American Flyers until you actually watch it.

[–] johnkstone1234 13 years ago

Your assumption -- that I must not have watched this film, because anyone who did would like it -- gave me a good chuckle. You might even be serious, which is quite charming (to imagine so silly an argument). Alas, I have indeed seen "American Flyers," and was not confusing it with "Ishtar" or any other film.

When someone strongly dislikes a work that we love, it can be quite shocking. I checked out the boards for "Breaking Away" (as I mentioned in original post, a bike-themed movie I adore), and found someone tearing into it as though it were complete trash, and I don't even think they were a troll. Well, it happens all the time, doesn't it -- I can think of hundreds of times I've seen raves for films I deemed awful, and pans for ones I revere. This happens here at IMDB and in the "real world" of serious criticism, and throughout all media.

I will grant that my little rant (first post) is hardly a "review" -- but just a bunch of negative comments strung together about its various shortcomings. If I meditated deeply, I might be able to conjure the film back to my mind, and then to properly eviscerate it in a logical and aesthetic manner, but it has all but evaporated from memory, which is all for the best.

[–] mrbernstein 13 years ago

Absolutely, the movie was terrible. The writer Steve Tesich also wrote Breaking Away. Unfortunately, the director of Breaking Away Peter Yates was not used. The "Rocky" like ending was stupid has no place in cycling. I thought the Musslin character was going to get off his bike at the end of the race and start shouting for "Adrian." lol

Why do my favorite movies feature men who live alone?

[–] Dex-Durrrr 12 years ago

David was awful! But this is one of the funniest bad films ever because of this and the writing. A few of my friends make a point to watch this one every couple of years just to laugh our asses off.

There is a hilarious trailer spoof of this film on YouTube just FYI.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krUYdtvyMsU

[–] mrbernstein 12 years ago

Thanks for the youtube video that was hilarious.

You may be already aware of these, but his some nice video of the Coors Classic.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MorgulBismarckLoop

Why do my favorite movies feature men who live alone?

[–] matthew-guerra 10 years ago

If that youtube vid is any indication of your filmmaking prowess, you've just revealed yourself to be completely out of your depth. Wow.

[–] J_J_Gittes 12 years ago

I don't agree. Maybe some of us homosexuals didn't get portrayed properly in the film - but those were the times you know! But at least you can tell from their outfits that they already were into safer sex, and Mr. Kostner sure got a lot of inspiration from good ol' Harry Reemes (you know: if you get it up, keep it up and such). Anyways, Good Boys! You could see that they probably had lots of fun on the set.

[–] liscarkat (16524) 6 years ago

Every word of what the original poster (johnkstone1234) wrote is absolutely correct. This movie is amateurish and does not depict professional cycling realistically.