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Breakdown (film)
Encyclopedia
Breakdown is a 1997 American thriller film, written and directed by Jonathan Mostow
. The film stars Kurt Russell
, J. T. Walsh
and Kathleen Quinlan
. The original music score was composed by Basil Poledouris
. The film was released on May 2, 1997 by Paramount Pictures
.
) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan
) narrowly miss colliding with a beat up pickup truck that darts in front of them from the side of the deserted highway. Later, while stopped at a gas station, the driver of the truck exchanges hostile words with Jeff before the couple resume their journey. Shortly afterwards, their car breaks down in the middle of the desert. Leaving Jeff with the car, Amy accepts a ride from a passing big-rig trucker named Red Barr (J.T. Walsh) to get to a nearby diner
to call for help. Jeff eventually fixes the car and drives to the diner, only to find no one there has seen his wife. When he catches up with Barr and forces him to stop, the trucker claims that he has never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff hails a passing sheriff, but a search of Barr's truck yields nothing and he is let go.
Jeff goes to a police station where he is advised to go back to the diner and wait. As he does so, Jeff meets a simpleton named Billy, who says he saw his wife arrive in one truck and leave in another, and tells Jeff where they have taken her. Jeff gives chase, but is ambushed on the road by Earl, the driver of the pickup truck. Jeff escapes by driving his car into a river. He exits the sinking car and floats down the river. Later circling back to watch his attackers salvaging it from the water, he is discovered and knocked out by Billy.
Jeff awakes in the trunk of a car surrounded by Billy (no longer feigning mental impairment), Earl and Red, who along with a man named Al have kidnapped him and Amy. Red tells Jeff his wife will be released in exchange for a large sum of cash the kidnappers think Jeff has in his bank account. Knowing he only has a fraction of the money they demand, Jeff enters a nearby bank to withdraw the little money he has. While the manager is busy with the transaction, Jeff steals some money ribbons and a letter opener from the manager's desk. With cash in hand, Jeff is then instructed by phone to leave town, where he is picked up and bound by Earl.
While gloating about how easy Jeff and his wife were to abduct by rigging their car to break down after leaving the gas station, Earl discovers that Jeff, using the money ribbons he took from the bank manager's desk, has disguised stacks of $1 bills between $100 bills on the top and the bottom of each stack. Jeff frees himself and stabs Earl with the letter opener, binds him, and forces him to reveal where his wife is. The sheriff, seeing the truck being driven erratically, pursues and stops the vehicle, forcing Jeff onto the road. Earl frees himself and shoots the sheriff with a pistol hidden in his boot. Just as Earl is about to shoot Jeff, the wounded sheriff shoots and kills Earl. Jeff uses the sheriff's radio to call for an ambulance and leaves to search for his wife.
Jeff spots Red waiting for Earl at a truckstop, and as he is driving away, Jeff jumps onto the moving truck, which returns to Red's farm. Jeff hides in a barn and watches as Red, Billy, and Al take a bound and gagged Amy and lock her in the barn's cellar and return to the house. Unable to open the locked cellar door, Jeff enters the house with a pistol and demands the key from Red, whose young son appears with a rifle and threatens Jeff, who pushes the gun away, accidentally shooting Al in the arm and allowing Billy to escape. Jeff then forces them to free Amy from the cellar, and locks everyone in it as he and Amy steal a pickup truck and drive away.
After Billy frees them from the basement, the gang pursues Jeff and Amy. Jeff forces Billy's and Al's cars off the road, but Red, in his big rig, follows them onto a narrow bridge and tries to ram the pickup over the edge. Amy's leg gets stuck underneath the dashboard, but Jeff escapes and fights Red in his truck, which drives over the edge of the bridge, catching on the pickup and a steel bridge support. As Jeff climbs up the hanging semi, Red swings a chain at him, but Jeff grabs it and pulls Red off the truck and he falls to the rocks below, but is still alive. Jeff frees Amy, who pulls the automatic shifter on their pickup truck, causing the semi to fall and crush Red. Sitting on the edge of the bridge, Jeff and Amy embrace each other.
, Moab, Utah
, and Sedona, Arizona
.
It was released as a limited edition of 3000 units by LaLaLand Records in June 2011 and as of October 2011 is still available. The release comprises of a 3-CD set: the first CD contains the complete score as heard in the film (which contains material from additional composers). The second CD contains an alternate early version of the score by Poledouris that represents a different, more orchestral approach to scoring the film. The third CD contains further alternates that demonstrate the changing nature of the music as scenes were rescored.
reported that 79% of critics gave the film positive reviews based upon a sample of 47, with an average
score of 7 out of 10. At Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 73 based on 19 reviews. Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle
praised the film, "Breakdown use[s] old-fashioned ingenuity — plus a compelling star, a fast-paced mystery and a deadpan villain — to come up with a sizzler." Roger Ebert
gave the film a positive review, calling it "taut, skillful and surgically effective" although he felt the "ending is unworthy of it". Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post
criticized Russell for not conveying a desperate husband willing to fight for his missing wife, writing "He does a lot of running around while making desperate faces, but he never projects a sense of deep rage. He never gets dangerous. Thus the movie is shorn of its one primitive gratification: the image of the civilized man who finds the Peruvian commando inside himself and lays waste to louts who have underestimated him."
Jonathan Mostow
Jonathan Mostow is an American film director, writer and producer.-Biography:A graduate of Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut and Harvard, Mostow also trained at the American Repertory Company and New York City's Lee Strasberg Institute...
. The film stars Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
, J. T. Walsh
J. T. Walsh
James Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh was an American character actor. He appeared in many well-known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street, Breakdown, and Good Morning, Vietnam.Walsh was known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs"...
and Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
. The original music score was composed by Basil Poledouris
Basil Poledouris
Vassilis Konstantinos "Basil" Poledouris was a Greek-American music composer who concentrated on the scores for films and television shows...
. The film was released on May 2, 1997 by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
Plot
While driving cross country from Boston to San Diego, Jeff Taylor (Kurt RussellKurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Quinlan
Kathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
) narrowly miss colliding with a beat up pickup truck that darts in front of them from the side of the deserted highway. Later, while stopped at a gas station, the driver of the truck exchanges hostile words with Jeff before the couple resume their journey. Shortly afterwards, their car breaks down in the middle of the desert. Leaving Jeff with the car, Amy accepts a ride from a passing big-rig trucker named Red Barr (J.T. Walsh) to get to a nearby diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
to call for help. Jeff eventually fixes the car and drives to the diner, only to find no one there has seen his wife. When he catches up with Barr and forces him to stop, the trucker claims that he has never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff hails a passing sheriff, but a search of Barr's truck yields nothing and he is let go.
Jeff goes to a police station where he is advised to go back to the diner and wait. As he does so, Jeff meets a simpleton named Billy, who says he saw his wife arrive in one truck and leave in another, and tells Jeff where they have taken her. Jeff gives chase, but is ambushed on the road by Earl, the driver of the pickup truck. Jeff escapes by driving his car into a river. He exits the sinking car and floats down the river. Later circling back to watch his attackers salvaging it from the water, he is discovered and knocked out by Billy.
Jeff awakes in the trunk of a car surrounded by Billy (no longer feigning mental impairment), Earl and Red, who along with a man named Al have kidnapped him and Amy. Red tells Jeff his wife will be released in exchange for a large sum of cash the kidnappers think Jeff has in his bank account. Knowing he only has a fraction of the money they demand, Jeff enters a nearby bank to withdraw the little money he has. While the manager is busy with the transaction, Jeff steals some money ribbons and a letter opener from the manager's desk. With cash in hand, Jeff is then instructed by phone to leave town, where he is picked up and bound by Earl.
While gloating about how easy Jeff and his wife were to abduct by rigging their car to break down after leaving the gas station, Earl discovers that Jeff, using the money ribbons he took from the bank manager's desk, has disguised stacks of $1 bills between $100 bills on the top and the bottom of each stack. Jeff frees himself and stabs Earl with the letter opener, binds him, and forces him to reveal where his wife is. The sheriff, seeing the truck being driven erratically, pursues and stops the vehicle, forcing Jeff onto the road. Earl frees himself and shoots the sheriff with a pistol hidden in his boot. Just as Earl is about to shoot Jeff, the wounded sheriff shoots and kills Earl. Jeff uses the sheriff's radio to call for an ambulance and leaves to search for his wife.
Jeff spots Red waiting for Earl at a truckstop, and as he is driving away, Jeff jumps onto the moving truck, which returns to Red's farm. Jeff hides in a barn and watches as Red, Billy, and Al take a bound and gagged Amy and lock her in the barn's cellar and return to the house. Unable to open the locked cellar door, Jeff enters the house with a pistol and demands the key from Red, whose young son appears with a rifle and threatens Jeff, who pushes the gun away, accidentally shooting Al in the arm and allowing Billy to escape. Jeff then forces them to free Amy from the cellar, and locks everyone in it as he and Amy steal a pickup truck and drive away.
After Billy frees them from the basement, the gang pursues Jeff and Amy. Jeff forces Billy's and Al's cars off the road, but Red, in his big rig, follows them onto a narrow bridge and tries to ram the pickup over the edge. Amy's leg gets stuck underneath the dashboard, but Jeff escapes and fights Red in his truck, which drives over the edge of the bridge, catching on the pickup and a steel bridge support. As Jeff climbs up the hanging semi, Red swings a chain at him, but Jeff grabs it and pulls Red off the truck and he falls to the rocks below, but is still alive. Jeff frees Amy, who pulls the automatic shifter on their pickup truck, causing the semi to fall and crush Red. Sitting on the edge of the bridge, Jeff and Amy embrace each other.
Cast
- Kurt RussellKurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
as Jeff Taylor - J. T. WalshJ. T. WalshJames Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh was an American character actor. He appeared in many well-known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street, Breakdown, and Good Morning, Vietnam.Walsh was known for his roles as "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs"...
as Warren "Red" Barr - Kathleen QuinlanKathleen QuinlanKathleen Denise Quinlan is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American actress, mostly seen on television and in motion pictures.-Personal life:...
as Amy Taylor - M. C. GaineyM. C. GaineyMichael Connor "Mike" Gainey , better known as M. C. Gainey, is an American film and television actor whose distinctive mustache, 6'2½" height, and threatening look have given him supporting roles as Southern/Southwestern types, thugs, and criminals.Gainey attended the University of Southern...
as Earl - Jack Noseworthy as Billy
- Ritch Brinkley as Al
- Moira HarrisMoira HarrisMoira Harris is an American actress.Harris was born in Pontiac, Illinois and is Roman Catholic. She graduated from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. During her college years, she met her husband Gary Sinise, and they have been married since 1981...
as Arleen Barr - Rex LinnRex LinnRex Maynard Linn is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Frank Tripp in the television series CSI: Miami.-Early life:...
as Sheriff Boyd - Kim Robillard as Deputy Len Carver
- Jack McGee as Belle's Bartender
- Steven WaddingtonSteven WaddingtonSteven Waddington is an English actor who is probably best known for his supporting role in Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans. He trained at East 15 Acting School in Loughton Essex. His first film role was as the eponymous king in Derek Jarman's Edward II...
as Cowboy in Bank - Thomas KopacheThomas KopacheThomas Kopache is an American actor.Kopache was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, the son of Dorothy E. . He is known as Assistant Secretary of State Bob Slatterly in The West Wing and for various roles in the Star Trek franchise...
as Calhoun
Production
Breakdown was filmed on location in Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, Moab, Utah
Moab, Utah
Moab is a city in Grand County, in eastern Utah, in the western United States. The population was 4,779 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat and largest city in Grand County. Moab hosts a large number of tourists every year, mostly visitors to the nearby Arches and Canyonlands National Parks...
, and Sedona, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona
Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona...
.
Music
The score was written by Basil Poledouris, with contributions from Steve Forman, Judd Miller, Eric Colvin and Richard Marvin.It was released as a limited edition of 3000 units by LaLaLand Records in June 2011 and as of October 2011 is still available. The release comprises of a 3-CD set: the first CD contains the complete score as heard in the film (which contains material from additional composers). The second CD contains an alternate early version of the score by Poledouris that represents a different, more orchestral approach to scoring the film. The third CD contains further alternates that demonstrate the changing nature of the music as scenes were rescored.
Critical reception
The film had mostly positive reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 79% of critics gave the film positive reviews based upon a sample of 47, with an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 7 out of 10. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 73 based on 19 reviews. Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
praised the film, "Breakdown use[s] old-fashioned ingenuity — plus a compelling star, a fast-paced mystery and a deadpan villain — to come up with a sizzler." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film a positive review, calling it "taut, skillful and surgically effective" although he felt the "ending is unworthy of it". Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
criticized Russell for not conveying a desperate husband willing to fight for his missing wife, writing "He does a lot of running around while making desperate faces, but he never projects a sense of deep rage. He never gets dangerous. Thus the movie is shorn of its one primitive gratification: the image of the civilized man who finds the Peruvian commando inside himself and lays waste to louts who have underestimated him."