BREAKDOWN
US, 1997, 95 minutes, Colour.
Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan.
Directed by Jonathan Mostow.
A test of one's values and behaviour is to experience brutality and violence. This is quite efectively dramatised in a minor thriller, Breakdown, where Kurt Russell is the victim of a highway scam, his wife (Kathleen Quinlan) is abducted, he is forced to rob a bank but eventually can't take it any more and fights back. This is an unnerving film because the set-up is not unthinkable and we are forced to wonder how we would react. The setting is isolated Arizona, spectacular to look at but a location to tell a warning tale like this.
J.T.Walsh is the leader of the brutal gang and the film was directed by writer Jonathan Mostow who went on to success with U 571 and the third episode in the Terminator series.
1. Impact of the thriller? Every driver’s nightmare? The abduction, the chases, the literal bridge-hanging – cliff-hanging ending?
2. The desert locations, the freeway, the mountains? The small town? The cliffs and the white water? The atmospheric score?
3. The title, the focus on the car, alone on the road, the consequences of the breakdown?
4. The portrait of Jeff and Amy, the expensive car, travelling, their ease with each other? His speed? The sudden appearance of the truck – almost crash? The shock? The later confrontation with the driver? His abusive attitude? At the petrol station, his threats? On the road again? The breakdown, trying to fix it? Red Barr and his stopping, courtesy, offering to help? The suggestion about overheating? Persuading Amy to go with him to get help, Jeff staying with the car? Time passing?
5. Jeff, the predicament, the car, going to get Amy? In the diner, the hostile attitude of the owner? The men and their comments? The slow-witted man and his advice? The police, not being able to do anything?
6. The confrontation with Red, the police, Red feigning ignorance? Jeff and his desperation?
7. The information of where Amy could be, going along the desert road, going into the precinct, the attack by the driver? The pursuit, the crash? The shootings?
8. Jeff and his being tied up, the confrontation with the gang members? His being brought into the house? The previous clash with the driver, overpowering him with the knife, the crash and the tables turned? The guns?
9. His hiding in the truck, being taken into the area and the house, finding Amy, watching? The gun, the confrontation with the men at the meal, the boy with the rifle, his mother? His freeing Amy? The running from the shooter after putting the rest in the cellar? The drive, the pursuit of the truck and the two cars, the crashes? The deaths of the pursuers? The finale on the bridge, the truck hanging over the bridge, the attempt to push the car over the bridge with Amy in it? Jeff and the confrontation with Red on the top of the truck, Red’s death? The rescue of Amy? The happy ending?
10. The importance of editing and pace, especially for the mounting tension, the suspense, Jeff’s desperation and now knowing what to do? His using his wits? The chases and the confrontations with the villains?
11. The plausibility of the plot, this kind of thing happening on the American freeway? The consequences for drivers – and the antagonism of the criminals, their violence, their spurning rich people, preying on them?
