Breakheart Pass ** (1975, Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland, Charles Durning, Ed Lauter) – Classic Movie Review 6780

Director Tom Gries’s 1975 movie vehicle for Charles Bronson is Western murder mystery hokum based on a novel by Alistair MacLean, in which people are being mysteriously bumped off on a train with medical supplies and small US Army unit during a mission to Fort Humboldt, Nevada, in 1873.

[Spoiler alert] Unfortunately, the antique locomotive and the Rocky mountains scenery are more interesting than Bronson as prisoner John Deakin (who turns out to be an undercover secret agent), Ben Johnson as US marshal Pearce, Richard Crenna as territory governor Richard Fairchild, Jill Ireland as his girlfriend Marica, Charles Durning as O’Brien, Ed Lauter as Major Claremont, Bill McKinney as the Reverend Peabody, or David Huddleston as Dr Molyneux.

Ed Lauter as Major Claremont in Breakheart Pass.

That is a shame, because it has a plush production, and handsome cinematography by Lucien Ballard, while the set-up and stars are fine. All that is lacking is a rattling good yarn in MacLean’s screenplay. The desperate, throw-in-everything climax is particularly disappointing. Even the arrival of the cavalry doesn’t rescue it.

Also in the cast are Archie Moore, Casey Tibbs, Roy Jenson, Joe Kapp, Read Morgan, Robert Rothwell, Rayford Barnes, Scott Newman, Robert Tessier and Sally Kirkland.

Breakheart Pass is directed by Tom Gries, runs 95 minutes, is a Gershwin-Kastner Productions production, released by United Artists, written by Alistair MacLean, shot in DeLuxe colour by Lucien Ballard, produced by Elliott Kastner and Jerry Gershwin, and scored by Jerry Goldsmith.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6780

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