Breakheart Pass (1975)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Tom Gries

Writers:

Alistair MacLean (novel)
Alistair MacLean (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1975 (Finland)

Genre:

Western | Mystery | Crime | Action

Tagline:

Revenge Mystery Danger Ambush

Plot:

Train with medical supplies and small U.S. Army unit is heading through Rocky mountains towards plagued Fort Humboldt...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Railway | Explosive | Cavalry | Maverick

Cast

Charles Bronson	...	Deakin
Ben Johnson	...	Pearce
Richard Crenna	...	Governor Fairchild
Jill Ireland	...	Marica
Charles Durning	...	O'Brien
Ed Lauter	...	Major Claremont
Bill McKinney	...	Reverend Peabody
David Huddleston	...	Dr. Molyneux
Roy Jenson	...	Chris Banion
Rayford Barnes	...	Sergeant. Bellew
Scott Newman	...	Rafferty
Robert Tessier	...	Levi Calhoun
Joe Kapp	...	Henry
Archie Moore	...	Carlos
Sally Kirkland	...	Jane-Marie

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 (cut) (1975) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1989) | Netherlands:12 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Camas Prairie Railroad, Lewiston, Idaho, USA

Company:

Elliott Kastner Productions

Trivia:

Legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt's final movie credit.

Goofs:

Continuity: Although the cars were full of soldiers, as the troop cars go off the track, break up and slide down the hill, there are no soldiers visible through the open windows and doors.

Quotes:

Deputy U.S. Marshal Nathan Pearce: I reckon we come down to it, Deakin.
John Deakin: You have a choice. You could throw that gun down.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Nathan Pearce: I don't think I can do that.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Behind the Action: Stuntmen in the Movies (2002) (TV)

It's generally considered to be the odd one out in the list of MacLean's books, but the film adaptation is reasonably worthwhile.

Alistair MacLean spent most of his novelist days writing wartime suspensers or twisting, turning thrillers. The one book that he wrote which doesn't fit either of those descriptions is Breakheart Pass, a western set aboard a train. This film version of it is surprisingly enjoyable, and features the added bonus of an expressive, colourful characterisation by Charles Bronson.

The train is travelling to a fort in the Wild West with medical supplies to cure an outbreak of a nasty disease. However, some of the soldiers aboard the train are mysteriously disappearing, and anyone who's ever seen a film like this will figure out straight away that there's a murderer on board. Furthermore, the train must make its journey across hostile Red Indian terrain, where a fearsome ambush or a sabotaged stretch of track is only a spear throw away.

Bronson plays a mysterious outlaw who is held prisoner on the train, though there are plenty of clues that he may not be exactly who he says he is. Other well delineated characters are played by Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland, Archie Moore (yes, the boxer!), and Ed Lauter. One truly amazing sequence involves a rooftop scuffle between Bronson and Moore.... indeed most people who have ever seen the film remember it for that sequence more than any other. All things considered, Breakheart Pass is one of the better adaptations of a MacLean novel, admittedly not quite in the same league as Fear is the Key or Where Eagles Dare, but definitely worth seeking out, especially on DVD.