slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order, I come to his final movie of 1985 American Flyers. Plot In A Paragraph: David Summers (David Grant) trains on his bicycle every day, hoping someday to be as good a racer as his older brother Marcus (KC) Relationships are explored as two brothers compete in a gruelling bicycle race, named "The Hell of the West" Directed by John Badham, American Flyers is brilliantly shot, nicely paced and the bicycle races are exciting (despite the obvious ending) especially during a frightening scene when someone loses control of his bicycle high up in the mountains. The performances are all interesting, and well played. KC is more subdued here, than his flashier turns in Fandango and Silverado, but it's a performance with depth. with solid support from the lovely Rae Dawn Chong, John Amos and Alexandria Paul It has a few problems, such as it leaves a lot of unanswered questions, what did or didn't the mother do, during the last few weeks of their fathers illness and did one of them actually have the hereditary problem?? It's never disclosed. Then the villain of the piece, one minute he is a giant A-hole, then you think he's not that bad, and maybe a bit misunderstood and just angry. Then he attempts to murder someone, and you think WTF?? I suspect some scenes with him may have been left on the cutting room floor. All in all, American Flyers is a feel good movie, that has a real story with believable characters facing some serious problems.

Matt Guerra For me, this is a perfect movie. Don't get me wrong, it's not Godard or Kurosawa, but what makes it a winner is that is that is says exactly what it wants to - with some style and humor. Alternately exciting, sexy, funny, heartwarming and even heartbreaking (yes, really), Badham has created a complete story that doesn't ignore the hard edges of life, but chooses not to wallow around in them either. The acting is first-rate. I can't understand reviews that claim otherwise. This is Costner, Rae Dawn Chong, and even John Amos in their prime. And the cinematography, with wide sweeping shots of the American southwest and pedal-to-pedal racing footage is no less than breathtaking. Any criticisms of this movie seem to be a criticism of the genre in which it was made. But all movies are made within a certain genre. Once you understand and accept the elements of a genre you can get down to enjoying a film for what it is. And for me, this film is a real treasure, one I come back to often.

Missileman1 ever done it? way beyond the absolute, crotch-numbing, mind-blowing hilt?? You may just get a taste of it in this classic Costner film (yes, classic, forget the purist nay-sayers).Before "Water World", "Dances With Wolves","For Love Of The Game" and "Message In A Bottle", there was "AMERICAN FLYERS." You can guage (or wager) the distance in time, maturity or credibility of Costner's films any way you want, but this little gem will not disappoint you in subject-matter interest. Let's skip all that and get to the point: this is a movie-goer's film.You don't have to be Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet, Jacques Anquetil, Eddie Merckx (in the film), Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond or even Lance Armstrong to appreciate the deep rigors of bicycle-racing in this wonderfully entertaining 1985 Steve Tesich effort. It brims with interest on several levels. Throw out the 'corny' phrases if you want, even the obligatory and patriotic PG sex scenes with David Grant and Alexandra Paul with all the phallic symbols attached - even then, I enjoyed 'em, don't care what you say.Though the film is powerfully underscored by hard-core bicycle racing (this one is way more technical than "Breaking Away"), it's basically about competition, strategy, the preparation thereof and the humanity involved in it's surrounding cornucopia of personal involvements; the trainers, the girlfriends, the family, a twisty tragedy…and the competitors, mostly embodied by the very diverse actor, director, writer and Ted Danson be-alike, Luca Bercovici – well cast.RES FIRMA NITESCERE NESCIT – ["a firm resolve never weakens", or in the film, "Once you've got it up, keep it up"] boldly emprinted on the front of David Marshall Grant's new t-shirt, once he best's his brother's (Costner) clinical and physically-challenging endurance test at the Wisconsin sports training complex (administered by the much-underrated John Amos) – will definitely make you either shrivel from the exhaustion of all-out effort or totally embrace it as a sportsman/woman. For me, from birth, recipient of 'bi-lateral dysplasia' (hips out of joint – corrected by bloodless surgery via casts from Shriner's Children's Hospital), the film Sirened me off the couch in my 12 year old, listless, childless marriage and challenged me to prove I could be once again - this time on a legitimate racing bicycle - somehow, the athlete in my decrepit and lethargic '40s' that I was in high school as a record-setting swimmer in my late 'teens. It worked. Twenty years after the film's debut, I still owe K.C. for the life-saving change. Not only is the film workable but my life as well, thanks to that happen-stance viewing. You may want to give it a try yourself. Bicycling or not, you'll truly enjoy this 20-year-old sports-classic, family movie."9" for entertainment...

Aysen08 I finally got to see this movie again after years. I remember it from childhood, a favorite of my mother.This movie is a wonderful example of the Human Spirit despite adversity. David's brother Marcus visits home for the first time in years. Their father died of a brain aneurysm and Marcus was outraged at his mothers behavior during the time. David a bit more sympathetic to his mother knowing she just couldn't deal with it. It's on this visit that Mrs. Sommers expresses concerns that she thinks David has the same disease. Marcus takes David back to Madison, WI where he lives and works, to run some tests on him.Despite Marcus and David being on decent terms you can see a clashing of heads when it comes to certain issues, mostly from lack of understanding of one another. Marcus pushes David to try harder out of love, of course David doesn't see it as such. We find out that David is actually free of the disease that killed his father, however, an overheard conversation between Marcus and a friend at the testing center leads David to believe that he's a time bomb waiting to go off. He decides he can deal with death, and takes up Marcus' offer to do the "Hell of the West" cycling race with him in Colorado.Along the way David finds love, a courage and strength within himself he didn't know was there, and new understanding for his brother. It's the crashing news that Marcus is actually the one who's ill, and the disease begins kicking in during the cycling race that finally pushes David into being all he can be.A bit sad and intense at times it's still a terrific and inspiring movie to watch. It also gives a new outlook on the world of Bicycle racing that most people will never know or see first hand. I give it a 9/10.