“American Flyers”, American tear jerker

From left are Alexandra Paul; David Marshall Grant; Rae Dawn Chong; and Kevin Costner on the movie poster for the 1985 movie "American Flyers".

Source: https://capovelo.com/american-flyers-cast-appear-2016-interbike-show/

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There are two cycling movies that have been inspiring to me – “Breaking Away” and “American Flyers”.

One is about a group of friends in a college town while the other is about brothers coming together at a difficult time.

I watched “American Flyers” the other night, and it had some interesting things – although low down on that list is the fact Kevin Costner was in it before he became Kevin Costner.

Prelude
“American Flyers” came out in August of 1985. I had heard about it on “Entertainment Tonight” and learned it was written Steve Tesich. He had written another cycling movie called “Breaking Away”. It was an inspiring story, based on real life events, that won him the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1979.

That was more than enough to make me want to see the movie, but I had to wait for a few years.

The movie
The first time I saw “American Flyers” was in the Summer of 1991, when I was home from university, and there was still some question as to whether or not I would return. One of the cable channels from Spokane played it, I think KXLY. Ironically, by the ‘90s, my parents had retired and moved to Lethbridge. One of the first things they got was – cable TV.

So long peasant vision.

“American Flyers” is essentially a story about family and sibling rivalry. There are two brothers, David Sommers, played by David Marshall Grant, and Marcus Sommers, played by Kevin Costner. Years earlier, their father died of an aneurysm, something that could be passed down to the boys. David stayed to support his mother, while Marcus, who is a sports medicine doctor, was off at school. David and his mother resented Marcus for not being there when their dad died, and that still haunts their relationship.

Marcus pays a visit to his brother and mother and, predictably, they get into a fight. However, before returning to Madison, Wisconsin, Marcus convinces David to come with him. Their mother is worried David may now be showing signs of the illness that took his father. Consequently, Marcus assures her David can be tested at his sports medicine clinic. When they arrive in Madison, David meets Marcus’ live-in girlfriend Sara, played by Canadian Rae Dawn Chong.

While at the clinic, David overhears Marcus talking to a friend about something, stressing he does not want to worry David. He takes that as meaning he indeed has an aneurysm.

Meanwhile, Marcus invites David to compete with him in a three-leg bicycle road race called “Hell of the West”, in Colorado. So Marcus, David and Sarah commence a cross-country journey. En route, David meets Becky, a hitchhiker played by Alexandra Paul, who joins them on their adventure.

They also encounter Barry Muzzin, who is Marcus’rival and Sarah’s ex-husband. He is just an arrogant jerk who threatens to torture Marcus in the mountains.

Leg one of the race begins, and Marcus is on fire, pedaling to victory, amid the cheers and adulation of everyone. Meanwhile, David crashes but is still able to barely make the cut.

One of the features of the second leg is a series of four checkpoints. The first cyclist to cross each one gets 30 seconds taken off their time. Marcus shows these to David. He tells hitting all four would give him two minutes, and put him right back in the race.

During the second leg, David gets all four checkpoints, while Marcus shows signs of fatigue. Then blood starts to run from his nose, he loses control and wobbles into other bikers. He loses control, signals for help, and Sarah rescues him just in time.

David finishes third, but Sarah and Becky tell him what happened to Marcus. It turns out Marcus was talking about himself. He has the same aneurysm his father did.

The brothers console each other, and agree David will stay in the race while Marcus, Sarah and Becky will support him in the team van. Their mother also arrives, and rides with them.

The third and final leg is a dog fight. Initially, David breaks away from the pack. Muzzin catches him in the mountains and tries to convince him to take second, and he will make sure that happens. David declines, and sprints to the finish. Muzzin digs his jaw into David’s shoulder and tries to run him off the road. David fights back, punching him, breaking free and sprinting to the finish. He crosses first, but has to wait. Muzzin has an 11-second lead, so if he crosses the finish line before 11 seconds passes, he wins.

Everyone watches the clock, then Muzzin, then the clock.

He can’t make it.

David wins.

The crowd streams onto the course to congratulate him, including his mom, Becky and Sarah. He looks for Marcus, who is watching the race alone and moving slowly. David walks over, hugs Marcus, then both hug their mom.

A picture is snapped of the three of them, and the movie ends with that picture, framed, hanging on a wall with other trophies as the camera pulls back.

Parting thoughts
Kevin Costner had not quite hit it big as a movie star yet, so this movie did not get the wide release his future movies would.

What struck me, was the unconditional support of Sarah, who knew her boyfriend was dying, and Becky, who really just met everyone and could have bailed at any time. Instead, she supported Sarah when Marcus got sick, and she supported David throughout the race.

Overall, I really liked “American Flyers”. Even as I wrote this, I felt a tear in my eye as David won the race, and reconciled with his mother and brother.

“American Flyers” yes, but also American tear jerker.