American Flyers (1985)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Disappointing Continuation

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

'American Flyers' features a strong cast who gamely (and yet sadly unsuccessfully) attempt to breathe life into a script that is leaden with an overflow of 80s melodrama; the most egregious of which is a third act switch-a-roo that feels every bit the cheap storytelling gimmick that it is.The race action is well shot, but dull and un-engaging. If director John Badham thought he was delivering a rise to your feet and cheer sports movie, he was sadly mistaken.Despite the best efforts of the impressive assembled talent, 'American Flyers' gets a flat long before it crosses the finish line.

So, after maaaaaaaany years, I decided to finally see this movie, because I am now living in Colorado, and actually rode the Morgul-Bismark circuit today. Eddy Merckx must have been ashamed of himself to see his sport portrayed this way. What did I not like? Let me count the ways: so over-simplified, so not about the sport, cheesy LETS GO music, A guy out training with his cowboy hat. Man, must that thing stink! But wait, there's more: a dude with a brain aneurysm doesn't go ride in a bike race. And you don't just sit on a fitness machine and then just qualify to ride against the national teams when you have no bike racing experience. It makes the sport look like a joke. A rider at this level rides on average 16-20 hrs per week. This made it look like you just needed to go out to the ballpark and hit a few balls around and poof, you're world class. And why couldn't they get a cyclist to play the Russian dude? That guy looks like he got on a bike the day before they started filming. I mean, its not like he said much.Some day I hope they make a proper movie out of cycling. Im sure there are some good story lines that are actually believable. People who cant stop racing after they have passed their prime. The loneliness of riding for hours and hours by yourself, in all weather conditions. The incredible torture of the hills. Make a bigger story, but at least get the details right. Now the American population should be ready to graduate out of bike kindergarten. An American won the Tour de France 7 times in a row! Can please someone make a real moving about the sport?

As a few other reviews have stated, this is a different kind of costner. An earlier, less-famous costner. He was very good in this, i didn't see the end coming either. The fact that there isn't many well known faces in this film is what makes it so watchable, because you have no pre-conceived biases due to not knowing any of the actors. You just concentrate on the storyline & what they're doing, instead of thinking about all the other stuff they've been in. The music was brilliant as well. Some f*cking breathtaking cinematography on the mountain race scenes. A simple film, executed well and with a satisfying ending. Also took me a while to realise his teacher was the guard from "lock up" & the owner off McDowells restaurant from " Coming To America" LOL.

It might be sad to sit back nowadays and reflect on the decline of Kevin Costner's career, but back in the '80s and even the early '90s he was a personable leading man whose films were generally enjoyable. Take this sporting drama from John (WarGames) Badham, for instance. American Flyers is an enjoyable cycling drama from the pen of Steve Teisch, in which the gruelling hardships of professional cycle-racing is combined with a story about two brothers rediscovering each other. There's also a key plot point about a hereditary disease which may or may not affect one of the brothers. The story is never hugely engrossing, but it serves its purpose insofar that it gets the audience interested in the relationship between the two siblings, and provides a fairly exciting climax in which one of them has the chance to win a gruelling race.Lazy David Sommers (David Marshall Grant) lives in St. Louis and spends his days watching kung fu movies, dating girls, and riding his bike. His brother Marcus (Kevin Costner) is a more successful and motivated type, who works in a high-tech gym as a sports physician. The brothers lost their father to a hereditary illness, and Marcus is quite worried that David may have the same problem. Marcus persuades David to come into the gym and undergo some medical and physical tests. The results seem OK, and a relieved Marcus invites David to join him in competing in a gruelling bike race in the Rocky Mountains, aptly named "Hell Of The West". The guys are joined by their respective girlfriends, in Marcus's case Sarah (Rae Dawn Chong) and in David's case Becky (Alexandra Paul). After a road trip to the Rockies, during which they bond quite closely, the Sommers brothers enter the cycle race. They're up against the likes of fiercely competitive Muzzin (Luca Bercovici) and Russian powerhouse Belov (John Garber). Then, halfway through the race, Marcus is unexpectedly struck by a haemorrhage – it turns out that he, not David as originally feared, is the one who has inherited the illness that killed their father….Costner gives a perfectly likable performance in this movie, but it is actually Grant who has both the stronger role and the more interesting character. It seems very strange indeed that Grant never became a big name, and spent the rest of his career as a supporting player in largely forgotten films. On this evidence, he has the looks, the personality and the acting ability to have been more successful. The story moves at a decent pace, the first third dealing with the medical tests carried out on David, the second third showing their road trip to the big event, and the final third dealing with the race itself. The last section of the film is probably the best, with a genuinely absorbing race sequence that undeniably ends on a predictable note, but manages some real excitement along the way. The cycling footage seems quite well done too (I'm a non-cyclist, but it looks convincing to me). All in all, American Flyers is an enjoyable sports drama about a sport rarely touched upon in the movies. It's no classic, but it passes the time very pleasantly indeed.