Saw 'Breakdown'......

[FAST FRED]

....starring Kurt Russell, J. T. Walsh and Kathleen Quinlan, from 1997, via NETFLIX.

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As a tense thriller, I'd rate this flick equal in its setup to "The Vanishing" with Kiefer Sutherland and Jeff Bridges.

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And for realistic action, especially at the end, I'd rank it up there with Denzel Washington's exciting train wreck movie, "Unstoppable."

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It's one of the very best action/mystery films I've ever seen.

No kidding.

Definitely a salute, genre-wise, to heroic B movies that were very watchable back in their heyday and certainly a few really large cinematic steps above most of today's horror and/or slasher thrillers which simply don't have this fine a cast acting out as taut or as nuanced a screenplay as you get here.

It's well-worth a rental, if you're looking for exciting action and intelligent direction, IMHO.

And I believe its one of Kurt Russell's best and most believable performances ever, Snake Plissken and "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" notwithstanding.

Highly recommended.

Anyone seen it?

 

[bevo barry]

Saw it back when it was originally out in theatres (1990s or early 2000s?). Great popcorn movie. Would agree that it may have been KR's best performance ever. However, my favorite Kurt Russell character is a toss up between Snake Plissken and R.J. MacReady.

 

[CanaTigers]

I have always liked Kurt Russell as a "fitall" actor he can play just about any part from comedy to nerd to tough guy. Not sure how many of his Disney movies we watched for a quarter in school. But my favorite character would be Rudy Russo. I really like Tequila Sunrise too.

 

[l00p]

I think I remember seeing the trailer at the theater. Gonna have to check it out...after I push through the new season of Arrested Development hopefully in one sitting.

 

[RomaVicta]

Tight little movie. I remember enjoying it in the theater back when it was released.

I've always liked movies of this scale, but they've kind of fallen by the wayside of studio films.

Michael Man's "Thief" is, for me, just about the ultimate in tight moderately budgeted movies. It's even got interesting subtext not to mention a great score by Tangerine Dream.

 

[LongJohn]

Seen it a couple of times when it has been on cable. Agree that it is a good movie but it stresses me out big time! It makes for a great thriller because it is a conceivable situation.