Is 1979’s sun-soaked ‘Breaking Away’ a forgotten homoerotic classic?
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, with the 2024 Tour de France in full swing, we’re revisiting 1979’s Breaking Away, an otherwise straight, coming-of-age sports dramedy that might hold some appeal for queer audiences.There’s a handful of characteristics that would undoubtedly qualify a film as part of the queer canon: those that revolve around LGBTQ+ characters and specific issues or themes that speak to us directly, or perhaps films made by a majority of queer creatives behind the scenes.
Or, sometimes, they’re films that we have a multigenerational cultural connection to, thanks either to the film’s star, or how we can see ourselves reflected in the story—even if it doesn’t necessarily revolve around us.
Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.However, there’s another category of films that haven’t been considered queer canon—or associated with our community whatsoever—but perhaps should be.
These are films that might not appear to be in conversation with gay audiences at all, though when you look under the surface, actually have something buried deep.
