Cycling on the Big Screen/ bikes in Film

thehungrycyclist
thehungrycyclist Posts: 70
edited December 2008 in The bottom bracket
Afternoon all...

I have just had fun reading and blogging about how the future Sir Chris Hoy was initially inspired to olympic glory by watching E.T.

read more here http://www.thehungrycyclist.com/blog/20 ... -bike.html

its so nice that such great things can come from such innocent beginnings and it got me thinking about the role of the bicycle in other films.

I can think of a few great cycling movie moments - Butch Cassidy, Bellville Rendezvous, BMX Bandits? but was hoping to write a blog article about bicycles in films.

Has anyone got any suggestions for the Top Ten Cycling Movie Moments?

Best wishes for Christmas and happy Hanukah

Tom
The Hungry Cyclist

www.thehungrycyclist.com

Second helpings are what happiness is all about

Comments

  • Ricardo H
    Ricardo H Posts: 167
    American Flyers. Kevin Costners greatest moment on the silver screen
  • SCR Pedro
    SCR Pedro Posts: 912
    Hey there,

    I haven't seen it yet, but the Flying Scotsman received some decent reviews despite it not being entirely true to the book (which I have read, and thoroughly enjoyed.)

    Cheers
    Pedro
    Giant TCR Advanced II - Reviewed on my homepage
    Giant TCR Alliance Zero
    BMC teammachineSLR03
    The Departed
    Giant SCR2
    Canyon Roadlite
    Specialized Allez
    Some other junk...
  • thehungrycyclist
    thehungrycyclist Posts: 70
    Ricardo H wrote:
    American Flyers. Kevin Costners greatest moment on the silver screen

    even better than when he was a gilled murman in Waterworld! it cant be true...
    The Hungry Cyclist

    www.thehungrycyclist.com

    Second helpings are what happiness is all about
  • thehungrycyclist
    thehungrycyclist Posts: 70
    Ricardo H wrote:
    American Flyers. Kevin Costners greatest moment on the silver screen

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfv2diohUXE

    woof woof!
    The Hungry Cyclist

    www.thehungrycyclist.com

    Second helpings are what happiness is all about
  • schlepcycling
    schlepcycling Posts: 1,614
    How about Breaking Away.
    'Hello to Jason Isaacs'
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    edited December 2008
    Jacques Tat's postman character in Jour de Fete -- several scenes during the film with him & his delivery bicycle (including one without the rider!). The improvised express postal delivery scene (inspired by space age US postal services seen on a touring newsreel) is the cycling highlight.

    Argh, I'll have to watch it now, haven't put the DVD on for ages.
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • yogi
    yogi Posts: 456
    What about 'The Bicycle Thieves', 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure and what was that 50's black & white film called with Diana Dors in it? Certainly got me into cycling, althouth the reality wasn't quite the same. Few more below, apologies for any duplication, I just lifted them of our website.

    Ghislan Lambert's Bicycle ( Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert ) - Benoît Poelvoorde, José Garcia, Daniel Ceccaldi, and Sacha Bourdo. (French with subtitles). Tragic and hysterically funny. Probably not to everyone's taste but in my view the best cycling film ever made.

    Belleville Rendez-Vous - Mari-Lou Gauthier. A grandmother and her dog set out to rescue her cyclist grandson who has been kidnapped by the French Mafia and is forced to race endlessly into a receding projected landscape; she is helped by a superannuated trio of female close-harmony chansonniers marooned in American poverty. As you can guess a pretty quirky French animation with very little dialogue, the grandmother and dog stael the show.

    Breaking Away [1979] - Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earle Haley. Rights of passage movie. The main character is obsessed with Italian cycling.

    The Flying Scotsman [2007] - Jonny Lee Miller, Sean Brown (III), Joseph Carney, and Crawford McInally-Kier. The book's better but Miller is convincing as the troubled Obree.

    Laissez Passer [2002] - Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydès, Charlotte Kady, and Marie Desgranges. (French with subtitles). Set in wartime occupied France, French resistance and film studios. The hero is an ex-racing cyclist - good film.

    El Amateur [2000] - Mauricio Dayub, Cacho Espíndola, Roly Serrano, and Victor (Kino) Gonzalez. Don't know this one but looks interesting.

    American Flyers [1985] - Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, and Alexandra Paul. This film should be watched with a sense of humor.
    http://yogi.terapad.com
  • iain_j
    iain_j Posts: 1,941
    Mr Bean's Holiday :lol:

    http://www.metacafe.com/watch/521964/mr ... bike_race/
  • bill57
    bill57 Posts: 454
    Breaking Away seconded. An object lesson in "Obsession With Continental Cycling".

    Here's a list ...

    http://uk.geocities.com/mikstar123/film ... %20List....

    Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert sounds amusing though, anybody seen it?
  • yogi
    yogi Posts: 456
    Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert sounds amusing though, anybody seen it?

    It's a great film, beautifully observed (70's cycling) - as I said funny and tragic - the best cycling film IMHO. A must see for any cycling fan.

    'A Boy, a Girl and a Bike' that was the Diana Dors film set in Hebden Bridge. Just seen it on the website quoted.
    http://yogi.terapad.com
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    YouTube clip of it here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tDvMsoLGS14

    Going cheap on amazon.fr (and has English subtitles too). http://tinyurl.com/9cwwrg

    Saw it years ago. What amused me was the appearance of an unscrupulous spiv/manager/team owner character who at the time looked like Keith Butler, patron of the Surrey League. :lol:
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • bill57
    bill57 Posts: 454
    Cheers guys, I've bought a copy, let's see how efficient Amazon.fr is. Came to 12.72 euros with delivery.
  • oldholborn
    oldholborn Posts: 114
    Klunkerz

    http://www.klunkerz.com/
  • Cunobelin
    Cunobelin Posts: 11,792
    Seamus' Bike Kultuur Never

    The ultimate cycling film list!
    <b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
    He that buys flesh buys many bones.
    He that buys eggs buys many shells,
    But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
    (Unattributed Trad.)
  • campagchris
    campagchris Posts: 773
    the following films all had bike scenes in them
    Die hard 3 (Bruce and Sam.L. Jackson borrow 2 bikes to chase terrorist's)
    Never say never again (Sean Connery evaded french police)
    The great escape (James Coburn escaped on a bicycle)
    Goldeneye (Pierce forced a bunch of cyclist's to crash on an alpine road)


    The goodies had a triple tandem :roll:
  • geoff_ss
    geoff_ss Posts: 1,201
    La Course en Tete (head of the race) is about the great Eddy Mercx. I saw it at an art house cinema in Derby years ago. I think I knew or recognised 90% of the people in the place :)

    A Boy a Girl and a Bicycle is available on DVD and I borrowed it from my brother. A bit of a weak plot but the evocation of just post-war club cycling makes it worth watching as does the Yorkshire scenery. Diana Dors and Honor Blackman star with a very young Anthony Newley.

    Geoff
    Old cyclists never die; they just fit smaller chainrings ... and pedal faster
  • blackworx
    blackworx Posts: 123
    Quicksilver

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GWOCxj_qv ... =rec-HM-r2
    Trek XO1
    FCN4
  • hisoka
    hisoka Posts: 541
    Transporter 1 and 3, 1 for kicking butt in oil with bicycle pedals, 3 for chasing down an Audi. All good stuff hehe
    "This area left purposefully blank"
    Sign hung on my head everyday till noon.

    FCN: 11 (apparently)
  • jellybellywmb
    jellybellywmb Posts: 1,379
    Wrong type of bike but BMX Bandits.
    "BEER" Proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy
  • Hell below zero !
    Hell below zero ! Posts: 59
    There was an early 1980's French film with the Beautiful French Actress Isabelle Adjani in,forget the films title but she was so wonderful,beautiful, gorgeous,ooh la la sexy and....Oh forgot to mention there is a bike race in it as well ! :oops: :oops:

Categories