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Breaking Away

1979 · directed by Peter Yates · 101 min
23,814 feet · Prominence
967th of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘Breaking Away’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey →

How this film scores

Draw54

Lifetime worldwide gross $20m, re-releases included; about $91m in 2026 money.

Rank3,117 of 11,051In 197940 of 64

How Draw works

Inflation-adjusted worldwide box office, on one global curve, and nothing else. It does not know whether a film was good.

Praise96

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics93 baseAwards79 signal → +3 lift

Oscars1 won Original Screenplay4 nominated Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Original Song Score
Golden Globes1 won Best Picture2 nominated Lead acting, Screenplay
How Praise works

Critics set the score; a tiered award record, Picture and Directing carrying the most weight, claims half the headroom above it. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since.

Legacy42

Judged directly: Cult cycling classic, fading from view.

Verdict42 of 100IMDb7.7 from 27kWikipedia17k views a monthAge47 years

Scored beside it · 1,546 of 4,039 films judged

If it does not belong in this company, the number is wrong.

How Legacy works

Legacy is a judgment, not a formula. A film can be adored by critics and culturally quiet, or lightly reviewed and permanently lodged in the culture, and no arithmetic over IMDb numbers tells the difference. Every signal behind it keeps updating.

draw 54 praise 96 legacy 42averages 64, placing it at23,814 ft
How the three become one number

Added, not multiplied, so a film transcendent on one pillar and weak on another is not zeroed out. A compression curve then squeezes the top, because the seven greatest films ever made should not be four thousand feet apart.

Whose apex this is

▲ Dennis Christopher

In these careers — elevation for this film

Dennis Christopher19,277 ftDennis Quaid18,886 ftDaniel Stern18,551 ftJackie Earle Haley18,257 ftHart Bochner17,908 ftJohn Ashton17,635 ftP. J. Soles17,635 ft