Back in his heyday as a leading man, Kurt Russell (The Thing, Escape from New York) had many movies that were massive box-office successes. From 1989 through 1996, he received top billing in five films (Backdraft, Unlawful Entry, Tombstone, Stargate, Executive Decision), earning more than $50 million in revenue. He continued that streak in the highly promoted Breakdown, which garnered $50.2 million while earning critical (81%) and audience (67%) acclaim. Breakdown was a movie I saw opening weekend in the movie theater and one that I hadn’t revisited until 2021. I remember loving it in the theaters. Unfortunately, because there have been so many ripoffs of this movie since that have done this premise better, its rewatch left something to be desired. Unlike his other films mentioned above, Breakdown fails to hold, though it is through no fault of Russell who carries it throughout, just like he does with most of his films.

1997 was a weak year in cinema, save for timeless films such as Titanic (please, Hollywood, don’t ever try to remake this movie), Good Will Hunting, and Casino. A case could also be made for Donnie Brasco and Amistad, though I would leave these out of the must-see list of the year. As this was also my junior year of college, I’m sure there are many other movies from this year that I am excluding from this list. However, I’ve seen that the list needs to compare top to bottom with nearby years. However, Titanic and Good Will Hunting are two of my fifteen favorite films of all time, and I don’t see much of a scenario where either of these films ever falls outside my Top 25. Other movies may come and go, but these two have been staples since their first viewing and all others since.

Russell stars as Jeff Taylor, a married man relocating from Boston to San Diego. Traveling with wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan – Apollo 13, The Doors), their jeep, unfortunately, breaks down in a deserted stretch of Arizona highway. Before this, the migrating couple had a run-in on the road with a local named Earl (M.C. Gainey – Sideways, The Cooler), who then confronts Jeff at a service station where he is refueling. Fast-forward an hour or so, and Earl is back on the same road, driving recklessly past Jeff and Amy’s jeep. Their jeep breaks down on the side of the road sometime later. Earl is long gone. No other cars are in sight until a trucker named Red (J.T. Walsh – The Negotiator, Pleasantville) pulls up and offers assistance. Lacking the tools needed to repair the jeep and a broken CB, Red offers to drive the couple to the town five miles down the road, where they can hire a mechanic or, at least, secure a tow truck to bring the jeep into town.

Not wanting to leave the vehicle in the middle of the desert (especially with Early and his crew lingering around), Jeff has the brilliant idea to let Amy go with this random man and wait for him at the diner that Red tells the couple is just down the road. This proves to all be a setup as Red, Earl, and the crew kidnap Amy before going after Jeff with the intent of extorting him for the $90,000 that they have in their bank account. This conveniently was mentioned a scene or two earlier when Amy, 3000 miles away from Boston, wonders aloud if moving across the country with no jobs lined up and so little money saved was the wisest move in the world.

We learn soon enough that this was a job gone wrong. The kidnapping crew is adept at spotting its targets, but a wrench is thrown into the equation when Jeff fails to get into Red’s truck, as most couples do as a team. When Jeff spots Red in his vehicle traveling in the same direction it was traveling earlier, he nearly drives him off the road. When Jeff approaches him, Red claims he’s never met Jeff and needs to know what he’s talking about. From there, the mystery ensues as Jeff tries to figure out what happened to Amy. If this sounds, at this point, very similar to 1993’s The Vanishing, it should. However, the two films take different directions. Some might feel Breakdown plays out more cleanly and offers a more satisfying conclusion, whereas some might appreciate the intrigue and squirmish feeling of The Vanishing quite a bit more.

In one of his final roles before his untimely death in 1998 at 54, Walsh failed to deliver. I assume he plays a trucker as well as anyone, though it’s all an act. He’s less convincing as a mastermind extortionist. Believing that he and his have done this many times before without getting caught is a bit of a stretch. He mentions to Early at one point about a previous operation in South Dakota, yet he’s doing this particular job just hours from his home. It’s one of many things in this film that feels like a matter of convenience more than anything else. There is plenty of this, unnoticed through the eyes of a 21-year starstruck fan of thriller movies in 1997 but blatantly obvious today.

There is plenty to like about Breakdown. It’s mindless, and I mean that in the best possible way. It doesn’t require you to think at all. You can grab a bowl of popcorn and your favorite movie drink and escape for an hour and a half. You have a hero, and you have villains. You have a premise that is extremely easy to follow. You have a recognizable star in Russell who is as easy to root for here as he is in any of his movies (he’s hardly ever not playing a good guy). Though this movie received an R-rated, it very much feels PG-13 (especially in 2021). The action will engross you. The story is predictable, but it somehow feels okay. Unfortunately, the acting outside of Russell is very poor. The visuals are below average, and the score is downright awful. Maybe it was okay for its time, but so many movies from that time had far better scores (Jurassic Park, Titanic, Gladiator, The Last of the Mohicans, Dances With Wolves, Braveheart). Of course, a movie like Breakdown doesn’t belong in the same sentence as those others, but the music didn’t need to be this bad. It’s almost as if producers of the film were worried about how much money would gross and surrounded Russell (who I’m sure earned a very nice paycheck) with mediocre talent and cheap everything else.

In the end, Breakdown fails to hold up. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out, though. If suspense movies are your thing, you could do far worse. This movie is serviceable. It just isn’t great and certainly doesn’t need a rewatch.

Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie

• The Vanishing
• Pacific Heights
• Joy Ride
• Cape Fear
• Frantic