Breakdown **** (1997, Kurt Russell, J T Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan) – Classic Movie Review 2,928

Jonathan Mostow’s excellent 1997 American action thriller film Breakdown is a high-anxiety suspense hit for Kurt Russell as a man whose wife is kidnapped by a truck driver (J T Walsh).

Co-writer/director Jonathan Mostow’s excellent 1997 action thriller film Breakdown is a high-anxiety suspense hit for Kurt Russell.

Jeff Taylor (Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are moving to California and must drive across the country from Boston to get to San Diego. So they set off across backwoods country in their polished, brand-new Jeep Grand Cherokee, squabbling as they go.

Soon they are confronted with the weird locals as their vehicle breaks down in the middle of nowhere in the Arizona desert. Sweatily plausible and friendly tractor‑trailer truck driver Red Barr (J T Walsh) turns up, apparently to help, and Quinlan sets off with him to reach a nearby roadside diner and seek assistance. But, when Russell eventually reaches it, the lady has apparently vanished into thin air.

This simple premise from Jonathan Mostow’s story sets off an edge-of-seat, top-gear action thriller that may be the purest hokum, but it is blisteringly done and never lets up its vice-like grip on the tension.

Russell acts his little socks off as though he really believes in it all. Walsh has a great time as the bad guy, though it’s a shame that Quinlan is totally wasted in a small, passive role as the wife whose only role is that she needs rescuing.

Also in the cast are M C Gainey. Jack Noseworthy, Thomas Kopache, Jack McGee, Vincent Berry, Helen Duffy, Ancel Cook, Gene Hartline, Rex Linn, Ritch Brinkley and Kim Robillard.

When Red says to Jeff: ’49 minutes, Jeff, time to get the show on the road’,  it is exactly 49 minutes till the end of the movie. Now that’s neat film-making!

The score is composed and conducted by Basil Poledouris and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony.

The screenplay is by Jonathan Mostow and Sam Montgomery, based on the story by Jonathan Mostow.

The film is produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis in a co-production between the Dino De Laurentiis Company and Spelling Films.

It was shot on location in Sacramento, California; Victorville, California; Pyramid Lake; and Moab, Utah, from April to June 1996.

It was released by Paramount Pictures on May 2, 1997. It grossed $50.2 million in North America alone, against a budget of $36 million.

Runtime: 93 minutes.

It is J T Walsh’s final film released in his lifetime, though three posthumous release films followed: The Negotiator, Pleasantville and Hidden Agenda. He died of a heart attack in the hospital in La Mesa, California, on February 27, 1998, aged 54.

The cast

The cast are Kurt Russell as Jeff Taylor, J T Walsh as Warren ‘Red’ Barr, Kathleen Quinlan as Amy Taylor, M C Gainey as Earl, Jack Noseworthy as Billy, Ritch Brinkley as Al, Moira Harris as Arleen Barr, Rex Linn as Sheriff Boyd, Kim Robillard as Deputy Sheriff Len Carver, Jack McGee as Bartender, Vincent Berry as Deke Barr, Steve Waddington as cowboy in bank, Thomas Kopache as Calhoun, Helen Duffy, Ancel Cook, Gene Hartline, Ritch Brinkley and Kim Robillard.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,928

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