Breakdown (1997)

reviewed by
Seth Bookey


                                Breakdown, 1997

Seen at the SONY/Loews Bay Terrace on 23 May 1997 with Lynne and Sandy for $8.

There is a lot to be said for escapist entertainment. Even if it amounts to a 90-minute courteous, if it is done well, if it is a "taut thriller," it will work. Especially after the latest round of downsizing at work before a three-day weekend. It also teaches us a few things, like don't take your cell phone out of range, and don't worry about your Grand Cherokee Jeep more than you worry about your wife.

The action starts fairly quickly when Jeff Taylor (Kurt Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) narrowly miss sideswiping a beat-up pick-up truck in the Arizona desert. Soon after a tense confrontation at the next gas station, the Taylor's spanking new Jeep breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and "helpful" trucker Red Barr (JT Walsh) offers to take them to the next truck stop, Belle's, where a tow truck can be contacted. Jeffrey finally figures out what is wrong with his new Jeep, fixes it, and goes to Belle's. However, Ann is nowhere to be found, and no one recalls seeing her or the trucker. The police are not all that helpful, and the adventure continues apace from there.

The film has two major assets. First, the story never lets up. Despite many calls for suspension of disbelief, the suspense and tension are constantly keeping the viewers wondering what will happen. My sister-in-law almost didn't make it through the viewing, and our seats were stationary. The second major asset is the location shooting. The entire movie is set against the vastness of the American Southwest's desolateness, and its highways. For example, as the film opens, the car is humming along at 80 mph but the rocks out the driver window never seem to move--they are huge mountains so far off but so massive that the car practically stands still.

Even the rather interesting opening credit sequence echoes that very bizarre feeling of a detailed map to the middle of nowhere, with names of towns that you have never heard of and will never see--and that you wouldn't know how to leave if you were suddenly plunked down there. The biggest town in the movie is Population 200. Kurt Russell succeeds in playing the Boston yuppie lost among small town people, none of whom he can trust, and JT Walsh as the malefactor who relishes taking advantage of just such folks. Also noteworthy is Jack Noseworthy, who plays Billy, a co-conspirator of Red's. Most audiences can identify with Russell, since most people in the same situation would feel just as helpless as he does through a lot of the movie.

The general lawlessness of the road and west make the conclusion inevitable, but even so, viewers are left as the film began--desolate on the road. [Compare this film to La Ceremonie.]

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Copyright (c) 1997 Seth J. Bookey, New York, NY 10021

More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html


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