Asks why mainstream cinema has served cycling (and mountaineering) so poorly, suggests a couple of great films which do feature bikes.
It’s just been announced that a new Hollywood film on a cycling theme is in development, probably to be called ‘Tour de Frank’. I await it with interest but not high expectations. The history of bikes in film isn’t that great. When I compiled a Top Ten of cycling books, the only difficulty was what to leave out, but when it came to bikes in film (mainstream cinema, that is, not ‘genre’ films) I couldn't even get to ten, never mind a Top Ten.
It’s a similar story with other great interest, mountaineering, though this has inspired a few more mainstream films - The Eiger Sanction, Five Days One Summer, Cliffhanger and Vertical Limit all spring to mind. When some climbing friends and I went to see Cliffhanger on its first release, we infuriated the rest of the audience by roaring with laughter throughout. If you know anything at all about climbing, the action sequences vary from mildly implausible to utterly ludicrous, (though, to be fair, in the ludicrousness stakes Cliffhanger is far outstripped by the dire Vertical Limit).
Where’s the connection, you may ask? Well, cycling and climbing are both hard to fake, and in both cases far too many actors and directors haven’t bothered to learn how to do it properly. The Eiger Sanction may look dated now, but at least Clint Eastwood learned to climb properly, and did many of the stunts himself, unlike Sylvester Stallone. (Similarly, in The Bridges of Madison County, Eastwood looks totally convincing as a photographer, unlike most stars who pick up a camera).
So, no Top Ten here, but a couple of picks:
Best Film With Bikes In: The Bicycle Thieves, that high-point of Italian neo-realism, rides away with the title. Made by Vittorio de Sica in 1948, it remains a classic of world cinema.
Best Film About Cycling: Breaking Away, made by British director Peter Yates in 1979. Even here, some of the action sequences aren’t totally convincing - like the one where the star is supposedly slip-streaming a truck at 60 mph, but still on the small chainring - but it’s a sharp, warm and funny film about growing up in working-class America.
Still, it makes me wish Clint Eastwood would make a film about cycling, and if he was looking for a lead then there’s at least Hollywood superstar who knows how to ride a bike, in the shape of Robin Williams.
