If you’ve seen it, no doubt it’ll have a very familiar feeling to it. That’s because in many ways, it’s the same plot as Steven Spielberg’s breakthrough movie of the week, Duel.
In that one, a driver played by Dennis Weaver is terrorized by a never-seen driver of an 18-wheeler who, for some reason, wants to run him off the road and kill him.
Maybe he’s seen Gentle Ben. Or McCloud.
Anyway, in Breakdown Russell gives his usual reliable performance as a husband who’s on a road trip with his wife, played by Kathleen Quinlan, when their Jeep breaks down (hence the name) in the middle of nowhere. A seemingly friendly trucker, played by the late, great J.T. Walsh, stops and offers to drive the wife to the next town to call for a tow. She takes him up on the offer, and that’s the last we see of her for the next couple hours.
The time in between is spent watching Russell try to find her, as he’s being hunted and terrorized for ransom by the truck driver and his band of merry yuppie-hunting, cash-extorting hillbillies.
They’d have never pulled this stunt with Snake Plissken.
Directed by Jonathan Mostow, who went on to direct Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, Breakdown is definitely one of the best B movies I’ve ever seen. And as a guy who likes to pull up close behind Smart cars in my Land Cruiser, I have a special appreciation for it (I don’t really do that, calm down).
If you have a chance, fire up the Netflix and take Breakdown for a spin.
Or better yet, see it at a drive-in.
