American Flyers on TV
- Thread starter Noodley
- Start date
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Foghat
Freight-train-groove-rider
Anyone who's ever road-raced will wince at how unrealistic the racing scenes are, the appalling cycling-related continuity errors and the desperate lack of logic displayed in much of the training and racing 'action'.
It's impossible to avoid sitting there endlessly thinking "that's so ridiculous", or "burly bearded types don't make it in road cycling, let alone the bleedin' high mountains", or "BIG CHAINRING FERCHRISSAKES".
Kid who rides part-time in trainers a bit even surviving the first hill in an elite event? Cobblers. High volume growling while making an all-out effort? Give us a break. "Shake and break"? Not like that. And where do all the commissaires and vehicles go near the end of the race? The list is long......
Clearly the cycle racing consultant was either incompetent, ignored, submitting to knuckle-headed producers/directors, stymied by editing or non-existent. But that's what's to be expected from Hollywood of course which after all isn't interested in portraying reality; anyone with experience of (let alone expertise in) an activity or subject dealt with in film will pick all sorts of holes unless they suspend their disbelief.
Still, the scenery of Colorado National Monument is stunning, Eddy Merckx makes an appearance doing a great Elvis impression, some bird flashes her knockers, the film has a reasonable overall feel to it (even with the cerebral aneurysm angle), it paints cycling in a good light and it does, for the benefit of your average movie-going chump, manage to capture a small amount of what it's like to be a road-racing cyclist.
4/10
It's impossible to avoid sitting there endlessly thinking "that's so ridiculous", or "burly bearded types don't make it in road cycling, let alone the bleedin' high mountains", or "BIG CHAINRING FERCHRISSAKES".
Kid who rides part-time in trainers a bit even surviving the first hill in an elite event? Cobblers. High volume growling while making an all-out effort? Give us a break. "Shake and break"? Not like that. And where do all the commissaires and vehicles go near the end of the race? The list is long......
Clearly the cycle racing consultant was either incompetent, ignored, submitting to knuckle-headed producers/directors, stymied by editing or non-existent. But that's what's to be expected from Hollywood of course which after all isn't interested in portraying reality; anyone with experience of (let alone expertise in) an activity or subject dealt with in film will pick all sorts of holes unless they suspend their disbelief.
Still, the scenery of Colorado National Monument is stunning, Eddy Merckx makes an appearance doing a great Elvis impression, some bird flashes her knockers, the film has a reasonable overall feel to it (even with the cerebral aneurysm angle), it paints cycling in a good light and it does, for the benefit of your average movie-going chump, manage to capture a small amount of what it's like to be a road-racing cyclist.
4/10
Yeah, the Russian guy was huge - at least the Americans looked more like endurance athletes - they were all pretty lean. What was with the white pot helmets too - they would be boiling halfway up the first climb.
The scenery was amazing though - nice roads too. Looks a great place to ride in the spring or autumn - don't think I'd fancy it in the summer though.
