American Flyers

Badham and scriptwriter Steve Tesich keep the syrup and scenery flowing along nicely.

American Flyers is shaky at the core, because it tries to tap-dance around its own central issues.

Not only do the pair have to prepare for the upcoming race, but, hey, they also have to deal with a hysterical mother, a dying father, and the knowledge that one brother is destined for the same fate as pops. Not quite as sickly as it sounds, with a fair few hints of the onscreen magnetism to come.

Predictable and maudlin. [14 Oct 1985]

Though the racing action scenes are initially satisfying, one soon tires of the mountain scenery. And the obvious-from-the-start ending robs the race of whatever dramatic tension it ordinarily might have possessed.

Disjointed and underdeveloped. John Badham's direction is equally uninspired, though the climactic race, shot on location during the Coors International Bicycle Classic, is filmed with an abundance of breathtaking helicopter shots that capture the beautiful scenery.

Even though American Flyers is a fatal disease movie involving a couple of bike-racing brothers, it's the film - and not any character - that dies as you watch it.