If someone were to ask me my favorite, underrated and pretty well completely overlooked film of all time, I'd yell "Breakdown". I remember catching this on HBO, circa 1998-1999, when it premiered on a Friday night and I was hooked from beginning to end. The tension, acting, pacing, setting, all played a role in making this one of the best thrillers I've personally ever seen.
So let me give a brief synopsis of the story. Kurt Russell, along with Kathleen Quinlan, play a married couple that's trekking from the east coast through the western side of the country to start a new life, and job. After their new Jeep Grand Cherokee breaks down, that's when the fun begins. Watching the events unfolding as Kurt Russell's character, Jeff Taylor, frantically tries to piece together what happened to his wife gives the exact sort of tension Harrison Ford's old film, "Frantic" never had and should have had. J.T. Walsh plays a perfect villain, and sadly he died not long after this film hit the silver screen back in 1997. (I believe it may have been his last performance) He was one hell of a character actor. Everyone in this film is convincing, and so convincing I have never looked at long road trips the same. The tagline for this film was "It could happen to you.." and that definitely stuck with me throughout the years. Now everytime I stop at a rest stop, I'm paying full attention to my surroundings, the people, etc.
The reason this film worked for me is the entire film I kept asking myself "how is this going to end?", it kept me guessing and guessing. That's the mark of a good story for my money. I'm not going to spoil the rest of the story, I can only recommend you Netflix this movie. The biggest crime? There's still only a DVD version of this that I'm not even sure is in print anymore. The fact this film hasn't been given the Blu-ray treatment saddens me to no end. Great films deserve the best picture quality for home release, and this is one of them!
Nuff said..
