The Missouri Breaks
Encyclopedia
The Missouri Breaks is a 1976 American western
film starring Marlon Brando
and Jack Nicholson
. The film was directed by Arthur Penn
, with supporting performances by Randy Quaid
, Harry Dean Stanton
, Frederic Forrest
, John McLiam and Kathleen Lloyd
. The score was composed by John Williams
.
The title of the movie refers to a forlorn and very rugged area of north central Montana, where over eons the Missouri River
has made countless deep cuts or "breaks" in the land.
experiencing hard times. He and his gang are particularly upset by the hanging of a friend by Braxton, a land baron who takes the law into his own hands.
Logan's men pull off a daring train robbery
, only to lose much of the money. They decide to seek vengeance against Braxton by killing his foreman Pete Marker and by buying a small property close to Braxton's ranch, then rustling his stock. First the gang, without Logan, rides off across the Missouri River and north of the border to steal horses belonging to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
. In their absence, Logan plants crops and enters into a relationship with Braxton's virginal daughter, Jane.
Braxton is obsessed with both his rustling problem and his daughter. He sends for Robert E. Lee Clayton, a notorious "regulator" who, for a price, will take care of rustlers personally. Clayton arrives with a fancy wardrobe, a perfumed scent, an Irish brogue
and an 1859 Creedmoor rifle with which he is deadly accurate from a very long distance.
Quickly suspicious of Logan, who doesn't strike him as a farmer, Clayton dons a variety of disguises and begins to pick off Logan's gang, one by one. Identifying himself as "Jim Ferguson," he kills Logan's young friend Little Tod by dragging him with a rope through the raging Missouri.
Clayton spies on Logan with binoculars and taunts Braxton about his daughter's affair with a horse thief. Braxton attempts to discharge him but Clayton is determined to finish what he starts. He amuses himself by shooting two more of Logan's partners, Cary and Cy, from a distance and then by wearing a "granny" dress while brutally killing Logan's closest friend, Cal, with a handmade weapon.
Logan knows it's kill or be killed. He also wants vengeance against Braxton for having hired the regulator in the first place, despite his feelings for Jane. One night after a campfire goes dark with Clayton serenading his horse, Logan slits his throat. He then comes after Braxton, who has lost his mind as well as his daughter. He pulls a weapon on Logan and is shot in the chest.
Logan abandons his farm and packs up to leave. He acknowledges to Jane the possibility that they can renew their relationship another time, another place.
magazine interview it was revealed that Brando "changed the entire flavor of his character — a bounty hunter called Robert E. Lee Clayton — by inventing a deadly hand weapon resembling both a harpoon and a mace that he uses to kill. He said, "I always wondered why in the history of lethal weapons no one invented that particular one. It appealed to me because I used to be very expert at knife throwing."
The filming was marked by Brando's erratic behavior, which included catching grasshoppers after the day's shooting and taking a bite out of a live frog.
After one horse drowned and several others were injured, including one by American Humane Association
(AHA)-prohibited tripwire, this film was placed on the AHA's "unacceptable" list.
... Robert E. Lee Clayton
Jack Nicholson
... Tom Logan
Randy Quaid
... Little Tod
Kathleen Lloyd
... Jane Braxton
Frederic Forrest
... Cary
Harry Dean Stanton
... Cal
John McLiam ... David Braxton
John P. Ryan
... Cy (as John Ryan)
Sam Gilman ... Hank Rate
Steve Franken ... Lonesome Kid
Richard Bradford
... Pete Marker
James Greene ... Hellsgate rancher
Luana Anders
... Rancher's wife
Danny Goldman
... Baggage clerk
Hunter von Leer
... Sandy
and Last Tango in Paris
and one of Nicholson's first films since Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
, the film became a notorious critical and commercial failure.
Vincent Canby's review in the May 20, 1976 New York Times cited "an out-of-control performance" by Brando. Despite its two stars, Missouri Breaks reportedly earned a domestic box-office gross of a mere $14 million.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
film starring Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
and Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
. The film was directed by Arthur Penn
Arthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
, with supporting performances by Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...
, Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
, Frederic Forrest
Frederic Forrest
-Life:Forrest was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Virginia Allie and Frederic Fenimore Forrest, a furniture store owner. He is known for his roles as Chef in Apocalypse Now, When The Legends Die, It Lives Again, the neo-Nazi surplus store owner in Falling Down, Right to Kill? and for playing...
, John McLiam and Kathleen Lloyd
Kathleen Lloyd
Kathleen Lloyd is an American actress most noted as the leading lady in 1976's The Missouri Breaks opposite Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson...
. The score was composed by John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
.
The title of the movie refers to a forlorn and very rugged area of north central Montana, where over eons the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
has made countless deep cuts or "breaks" in the land.
Plot
Tom Logan is a rustlerCattle raiding
Cattle raiding is the act of stealing cattle.In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the person as a duffer...
experiencing hard times. He and his gang are particularly upset by the hanging of a friend by Braxton, a land baron who takes the law into his own hands.
Logan's men pull off a daring train robbery
Train robbery
Train robbery is a type of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables being carried aboard trains.-History:Train robberies were more common in the past than today, and often occurred in the American Old West. Trains carrying payroll shipments were a major target...
, only to lose much of the money. They decide to seek vengeance against Braxton by killing his foreman Pete Marker and by buying a small property close to Braxton's ranch, then rustling his stock. First the gang, without Logan, rides off across the Missouri River and north of the border to steal horses belonging to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
. In their absence, Logan plants crops and enters into a relationship with Braxton's virginal daughter, Jane.
Braxton is obsessed with both his rustling problem and his daughter. He sends for Robert E. Lee Clayton, a notorious "regulator" who, for a price, will take care of rustlers personally. Clayton arrives with a fancy wardrobe, a perfumed scent, an Irish brogue
Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English is the dialect of English written and spoken in Ireland .English was first brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion of the late 12th century. Initially it was mainly spoken in an area known as the Pale around Dublin, with Irish spoken throughout the rest of the country...
and an 1859 Creedmoor rifle with which he is deadly accurate from a very long distance.
Quickly suspicious of Logan, who doesn't strike him as a farmer, Clayton dons a variety of disguises and begins to pick off Logan's gang, one by one. Identifying himself as "Jim Ferguson," he kills Logan's young friend Little Tod by dragging him with a rope through the raging Missouri.
Clayton spies on Logan with binoculars and taunts Braxton about his daughter's affair with a horse thief. Braxton attempts to discharge him but Clayton is determined to finish what he starts. He amuses himself by shooting two more of Logan's partners, Cary and Cy, from a distance and then by wearing a "granny" dress while brutally killing Logan's closest friend, Cal, with a handmade weapon.
Logan knows it's kill or be killed. He also wants vengeance against Braxton for having hired the regulator in the first place, despite his feelings for Jane. One night after a campfire goes dark with Clayton serenading his horse, Logan slits his throat. He then comes after Braxton, who has lost his mind as well as his daughter. He pulls a weapon on Logan and is shot in the chest.
Logan abandons his farm and packs up to leave. He acknowledges to Jane the possibility that they can renew their relationship another time, another place.
Production
In a May 24, 1976 TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine interview it was revealed that Brando "changed the entire flavor of his character — a bounty hunter called Robert E. Lee Clayton — by inventing a deadly hand weapon resembling both a harpoon and a mace that he uses to kill. He said, "I always wondered why in the history of lethal weapons no one invented that particular one. It appealed to me because I used to be very expert at knife throwing."
The filming was marked by Brando's erratic behavior, which included catching grasshoppers after the day's shooting and taking a bite out of a live frog.
After one horse drowned and several others were injured, including one by American Humane Association
American Humane Association
The American Humane Association is an organization founded in 1877 dedicated to the welfare of animals and children.The AHA's Film and Television Unit has monitored the welfare of animals during the production of films and television programs since 1940. They are the source of the familiar...
(AHA)-prohibited tripwire, this film was placed on the AHA's "unacceptable" list.
Cast
Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
... Robert E. Lee Clayton
Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
... Tom Logan
Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...
... Little Tod
Kathleen Lloyd
Kathleen Lloyd
Kathleen Lloyd is an American actress most noted as the leading lady in 1976's The Missouri Breaks opposite Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson...
... Jane Braxton
Frederic Forrest
Frederic Forrest
-Life:Forrest was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Virginia Allie and Frederic Fenimore Forrest, a furniture store owner. He is known for his roles as Chef in Apocalypse Now, When The Legends Die, It Lives Again, the neo-Nazi surplus store owner in Falling Down, Right to Kill? and for playing...
... Cary
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
... Cal
John McLiam ... David Braxton
John P. Ryan
John P. Ryan (actor)
John P. Ryan was an American character actor, best known for his role as Warden Ranken in the 1985 film Runaway Train.Ryan died from a stroke in Los Angeles, California in 2007 at the age of 70.-Filmography:...
... Cy (as John Ryan)
Sam Gilman ... Hank Rate
Steve Franken ... Lonesome Kid
Richard Bradford
Richard Bradford (actor)
Richard Bradford is an American actor, known for his lead role as former CIA agent turned private eye McGill in the British TV adventure series Man in a Suitcase, made by ITC in 1967....
... Pete Marker
James Greene ... Hellsgate rancher
Luana Anders
Luana Anders
Luana Anders was an American film and television actress.-Career:Anders, born Luana Margo Anderson, began her career appearing in several supporting roles in low budget B-movies for American International Pictures, quite a few of them directed by Roger Corman. She was part of a group of well known...
... Rancher's wife
Danny Goldman
Danny Goldman
Danny Goldman is an American actor, voice artist, and, more recently, casting director. Among his many notable credits include a small role in Young Frankenstein, the voice of Brainy Smurf, Ozzie the Answer in the 1980s detective drama Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and as Dr. Denton on Get Smart,...
... Baggage clerk
Hunter von Leer
Hunter von Leer
Hunter von Leer is an American actor who has appeared in films, television shows, and television movies.His first film role was in the 1972 movie Unholy Rollers. He also acted in the 1977 Mel Brooks film High Anxiety and in Brooks's 1981 History of the World: Part 1...
... Sandy
Reaction
Considered perhaps the most anticipated film of 1976, being Brando's followup to The GodfatherThe Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
and Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris is a 1972 Italian romantic drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci which portrays a recent American widower who takes up an anonymous sexual relationship with a young, soon-to-be-married Parisian woman...
and one of Nicholson's first films since Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
, the film became a notorious critical and commercial failure.
Vincent Canby's review in the May 20, 1976 New York Times cited "an out-of-control performance" by Brando. Despite its two stars, Missouri Breaks reportedly earned a domestic box-office gross of a mere $14 million.