Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Martin Bradley Once upon a time "Breakdown" would have been considered nothing more than a B-Movie but the kind of B-Movie that might have gone on to become a classic. It's a very simple little suspense movie and it's beautifully directed by Jonathan Mostow. It's also something of a road-movie which, like Spielberg's "Duel" generates a good deal of suspense from its use of great open spaces and the interplay between a guy in a car (Kurt Russell) and a guy in a truck (J. T. Walsh). Russell is perfect as the slightly arrogant hero and Walsh is suitably menacing as the guy who may or may not be behind the disappearence of Russell's wife. Cult movie status beckons.

popcorninhell Now here's a film that won't win any awards. It won't lend itself to overly complicated interpretation or be remembered for anything iconic. It's wholly second-rate as far as plot and character dynamics and it resoundingly breaks the unwritten rule of referencing better films. Yet despite all this, Breakdown is a thing of unappreciated greatness. It's a hidden gem of tone, tension and tomfoolery finding the nerve, gut-instinct and popcorny-ness that looks like it was conjured from the mind of Lee in the play "True West."The plot reads like something out of a John Lemay novel. Jeff (Russell) and Amy (Quinlan) are driving through the desert in their Jeep cross-country. They breakdown on the side of the road where big rig trucker Red (Walsh) offers assistance. Amy leaves with Red to call for a tow while Jeff stays with the Jeep. Hours go by, Jeff checks the car and finds the battery has been tampered with and begins to suspect something is seriously wrong. From there the movie becomes a thriller stitched together by a ransom Jeff can't afford and handled by a group of menacing back-road truckers.Breakdown was produced by the legendary Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis who in addition to spearheading the Italian film renaissance also had a penchant for the fanciful, the scintillating and the obscure. Projects like Flash Gordon (1980), King Kong (1976) and Dune (1984) prove that even at his worst De Laurentiis was a risk-taker; one who appreciated bold ideas.For a relatively small movie made at the dusk of De Laurentiis's career, Breakdown is certainly a bold movie. It moves briskly through its plot, leaving little time for the audience to internalize the ridiculousness of the story while gleefully enjoying some fun action visuals. When the movie does slowdown enough to take a breather, it's surgical in its ability to create truly suspenseful cinematic moments. These moments approach the grandeur of Chinatown's (1974) "The future" scene made less memorable only because there are no iconic lines and, as I said, the plot is patently ridiculous.Yet it was the memory of our lead, getting the jump on Red's lacky Earl (Gainley) and the scene with Red's family is confronted with a pistol wielding Kurt Russell that brought me back to revisit this film years later. While similar "criminal trucker" films of the era like Black Dog (1998) and Joy Ride (2001) were solid in their own right, Breakdown is the only one that really sticks. When you see Russell straight-up dominating experienced truckers on the road via heavily armed car chase, I'm sure you'll agree.

blanche-2 Kurt Russelll and Kathleen Quinlan star in "Breakdown" from 1997, featuring J.T. Walsh, M.C. Gainey, and Jack Noseworthy. Russell and Quinlan play Jeff and Amy Taylor who are driving from their home in Boston to California, where they are taking new jobs. It looked to me as though they were in Monument Valley - it was similar and in the same general area, but not Monument Valley.When they hit New Mexico, they just barely escape an accident with a truck. At a gas station, the truck driver, Earl (Gainey) confronts them. They high-tail it out of there quick.Later on, their car breaks down, and they're in the middle of the desert with no phone signal. A truck driver, Red (Walsh) stops and offers both of them a ride to a diner where they can phone for help. Jeff does not want to leave the car alone. Amy wants to take the ride. She says that she will go to the diner, call for help, and wait for him.Jeff manages to get the car moving after he discovers some wires had been disconnected, but when he gets to the diner, no one has seen his wife, and the people are very abrupt. Finally, he finds Red, and the trucker tells the police he never picked up Jeff's wife and drove her anywhere. The sheriff even searches the truck. No Amy.This film will remind you of other films, but it is very, very well done. I was a wreck during the whole thing, it was so exciting and scary. In one sense, it was reminiscent of the early TV movie directed by Spielberg, "Duel," and in another way, it was reminiscent of "So Long at the Fair" or "Dangerous Crossing."Russell does a terrific job, as do all the bad guys, of which there are many. The bad guys have not one redeeming quality, one ounce of human compassion - nothing. Really, if you ran into one of the actors on the street you'd want to kick him in the groin.Loved it - highly recommended if you like fast-moving, terrifying, exciting films.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com There's something about Kurt Russell and a lot of the roles he has chosen over the years in his filmography during the 1980s & 1990s. As far as it has been seen, Russell has three major sides. There's the cult role, where although it wasn't recognized upon release, it became popular later. There's also the comedy or action role he has taken part in that people remember him for fondly for. And then there's Kurt Russell's thriller side of films, where he plays an ordinary man caught in extremely dangerous situations that could happen in the real world. But as far as situations go, this is by far the film that hits closest to home just because of how nerve-rackingly possible it can be. Not to mention but the tag line to the movie says it all - "It Could Happen to You". Great, thanks for reminding us.The story to this thriller is about couple Jeff and Amy Taylor (Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan) who are moving to California from Massachusetts. On their travels, their car stalls and manage to get a passerby's attention driving an 18-wheeler. The trucker, Red Barr (J.T. Walsh), offers to drive them to a next stop so they can call a tow- truck. Not wanting to leave their car alone, Jeff lets Amy go with Red. After some time, Jeff manages to get his car running and heads to the stop where he was supposed to meet his wife. As it turns out she's not there and nobody saw her arrive. This starts Jeff on a long search and rescue and his findings reveal to him things he never thought possible. Written by Sam Montgomery and Jonathan Mostow (who also directed), this thriller is tense all the way although it becomes more fictitious as it goes on, it still is a thriller that crosses the boundaries of how plausible this situation actually is.The acting is one of the strongest parts to this story. Although Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan do not have much screen time together, they feel like an authentic couple. J.T. Walsh as the passerby truck driver is also convincing in his performance for the character that he plays. There's also other roles played by other known actors like M.C. Gainey, Jack Noseworthy and Rex Linn as the town police officer. The only part of the writing that doesn't work in favor of the actors is the story's predictability. There really is no surprise. The trailer to the film alone allows some spoilers to slide. But even without viewing the trailer, the execution itself reveals its hand a little early. As to whether the secret was supposed to be kept hidden is unknown but again, it is rather obvious. The bigger question that'll linger on the audiences' mind is what's going on. This is the second strongest element to the film - tension.As the film progresses, small clue tidbits are given to the audience as to possible outcomes of what happened to Jeff's wife. With that, there's only so many solutions one can create to try understand the problem. Without the audience exactly knowing what happened to Jeff's wife is a great way to get the viewers' imaginations to run wild with thought. This is exactly why this thriller is so much scarier than running into the Sawyer family from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) (although it does have small traces of influence). The fact that several people everyday go missing is much more realistic than crossing paths with a chainsaw wielding cannibal, is why this hits closer to home; just like the movie's tagline, "It Could Happen to You". To assume any normal human being would want to be captured would be absolutely insane. Besides, if you wanted to be captured, then you're really not being captured as definition claims the action to be.Thankfully, along with the high tension come some worthy retaliation scenes that involve fighting back. Of course, if you want the protagonist to get what they want, it's going to be fun watching those scenes. Who doesn't like watching antagonists getting what they deserve? The cinematography is a nice addition as well. Handled by Douglas Milsome (Full Metal Jacket (1987)), numerous shots contain what they need to show; barren rock land,...better known as isolation. Yet as gloomy as the setting feels, it is quite beautiful to look at. Bright clear sunny skies, mountain ranges in the background and a single road highway. Definitely a different setting than your usual urban territory. Finally the music composed by Basil Poledouris (best known for his work on RoboCop (1987) and RoboCop 3 (1993)) was decently constructed. There's no recognizable main theme but Poledouris includes a number of tracks that emphasize the bleak emptiness that is the desert area of North America. Even so, his tracks that involve fighting are also well made too. All around, an intense watch.It has a bit of mystery in its story but much of that is revealed way at the beginning. However with chilling storytelling that concentrates on how it could happen to the person watching it, the events that occur are scary at times. The acting is solid, the music sounds organic and the camera-work looks great; all of which keep the tension high the whole time.