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Breakdown (1997)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:46
Fresh:36
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: A brainy and suspenseful -- if somewhat uneven -- thriller.
Synopsis: After their new Jeep conks out on a desolate stretch of Arizona highway, a well-heeled Massachusetts couple accepts the help of a polite and seemingly honest trucker (J.T. Walsh), who drives the... After their new Jeep conks out on a desolate stretch of Arizona highway, a well-heeled Massachusetts couple accepts the help of a polite and seemingly honest trucker (J.T. Walsh), who drives the wife (Kathleen Quinlan) to a diner while the husband (Kurt Russell) stays behind to "protect" the vehicle. After saying goodbye, the husband gets two surprises--the Jeep starts, and his wife never actually arrived at the diner. What's more, the trucker doesn't recollect having picked her up at all. This taut suspense film, directed by Jonathan Mostow, is light on special-effects bombasticism and heavy on the old-fashioned Hitchcockian chills. [More]
Starring: Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey
Starring: Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey, Jack Noseworthy, Rex Linn, Ritch Brinkley, Susan Brinkley, Moira Harris, Kim Robillard, Thomas Kopache, Jack McGee
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Screenwriter: Jonathan Mostow, Sam Montgomery
Composer: Basil Poledouris
Reviews for Breakdown
An example of what happens when a new filmmaker comes along with a fresh perspective and manages to squeeze some life back into a by-now formula plot.
A long, drawn-out bore where the fate of each character is all-but-inscribed on his or her forehead.
Breakdown manages a constant, paranoid suspense by never revealing more about what's really happened to the wife on than the hero himself knows.
The movie will make you feel sick, but in the nicest, most entertaining kind of way.
Nifty morality play about the invidious vices of envy and showing off.
Many will note echoes of 'The Vanishing,' 'Deliverance' and most of all, Steven Spielberg's 'Duel,' with Mostow displaying much of the craft that Spielberg ambushed us with in the 1971 TV movie that put him on the map.
An engrossing, exciting nailbiter that makes the most of every single one of its efficient 95 minutes.
A terrifying movie that presses the right buttons early on and then capitalizes on your vulnerability.
If Alfred Hitchcock were alive today and working with a '90s sensibility, he'd be proud to claim it as his own.
[Kurt Russell's] lack of energy afflicts the film as much as its director's lack of ideas.
Some movies have such good set-ups, that they are virtually assured to be something of a let-down when it comes time for the follow-through. Jonathan Mostow's Breakdown is such a movie.
From the beginning, the movie grabs your attention and doesn't let go.
Are we really supposed to empathize with the empathy-proof Kurt Russell? I was actually hoping that his character's wife had run away with the trucker ...
Latest News for Breakdown
May 21, 2007:
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Curious to know who'll be directing the next James Bond flick? Join the club. One source has a short list of potential helmers, all of whom would be pretty ... distinctive. More...
June 15, 2005:
"T3" Director Hired to Remake "Swiss Family Robinson"
Jonathan Mostow, director of "Breakdown," "U-571," and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," will step behind the camera for Disney's new remake of... More...
March 09, 2005:
Paramount Looks Forward to Getting "Snow Blind"
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