Breaking Away is a 1979 American coming of age comedy-drama film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It follows a group of four male teenagers in Bloomington, Indiana, who have recently graduated from high school. The film stars Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern (in his film debut), Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie, Paul Dooley, and Robyn Douglass.

Breaking Away won the 1979 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Tesich, and received nominations in four other categories, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Barbara Barrie). It also won the 1979 Golden Globe Award for Best Film (Comedy or Musical) and received nominations in three other Golden Globe categories. The film was ranked eighth on the List of America's 100 Most Inspiring Movies compiled by the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2006. In June 2008, the AFI also ranked the film as the eighth greatest American sports film of all time as a part of its 10 Top 10 that year.

As the film's young lead, Christopher won the 1979 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the 1979 Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actor, as well as getting a Golden Globe nomination as New Star of the Year.

Dave, Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are working-class friends in the university town of Bloomington, Indiana who graduated from high school the year before, aren't sure what to do with their lives, and consider attending university unrealistic. They spend time swimming in an abandoned water-filled limestone quarry and sometimes clash with the more affluent Indiana University students in their hometown, who refer to them disparagingly as "cutters," referring to the locals' common work in the limestone industry.

Dave is obsessed with competitive bicycle racing, Italian racers in particular, because he recently won a Masi bicycle. His down-to-earth father, Ray, a former stonecutter who now operates his own used car business, is puzzled and exasperated by his son's love of Italian music and culture, which Dave associates with cycling. His mother, Evelyn, is more indulgent and prepares Italian dishes for the family, to Ray's annoyance.

Dave masquerades as an Italian exchange student to romance a university student named Katherine, and serenades "Caterina" outside her sorority house with Friedrich von Flotow's aria M Apparì Tutt' Amor to Cyril's guitar accompaniment. Katherine's boyfriend, Rod, and his fraternity brothers beat Cyril up, mistaking him for the suitor. Mike, a former high school football quarterback, insists on tracking down Rod for revenge over Cyril's objections. The university president reprimands the students for their arrogance toward the "cutters" and, over the students' objections, invites the town to field a team for the annual Indiana University Little 500 race.

An Italian cycling team comes to town for an exhibition race and are annoyed by Dave's challenge to their preordained victory. They force him to crash. Despite the disillusionment this causes him, Dave is persuaded by his friends to join them in racing the Little 500. Ray privately tells his son how, when he was a young stonecutter, he was proud to help build the university but never felt welcome on campus. Dave, having confesses his deception to Katherine, patches things up before she leaves for a job in Chicago.

Dave, the only skilled cyclist among his friends, rides most of the Little 500 without a break unlike the other teams, which switch riders. He gains a small lead, but is injured in a crash and comes in for a change. Mike, Cyril, and Moocher are unable to keep pace with the field. Dave has his feet taped to the pedals, committing him to finish the race himself, makes up the lost ground, and overtakes Rod on the last lap to win, beating out Rod's favored fraternity team.