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Rating:  -
Good, but not as good as other A.McLeans stories. Bronson has had much better parts.
Rating:  -
I'm a Bronson fan, and this is definitely one of my favorites. A very fine ensemble cast, great story line, and, as mentioned in my title, the scenery is definitely breathtaking. Highly recommended western.
Rating:  -
Breakheart Pass is a solid western that stars Charles Bronson. The supporting cast is excellent & includes Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland (Mrs. Bronson), Charles Durning & Eddie Little Sky. the cast also has two actors, in small roles, better known for being sports personalities: Joe Kapp (former quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings) & Archie Moore (former light-heavyweight world champion boxer). The film was directed by Tom Gries, one of Bronson's two favorite directors. The movie is based on the Alistair MacLean novel of the same name, he also wrote the screenplay. MacLean is famous for writing the novels The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare & Ice Station Zebra. Breakheart Pass was his only western ; what makes this so unique is MacLean was from Great Britain.
Breakheart Pass is actually a Western-mystery. It centers on a train bound for Fort Humboldt where a diptheria epidemic has broke out. The train is carrying medical supplies for the living & coffins for the dead. Leading this expedition is the governor of Colorado, Richard Fairchild (Richard Crenna). He's accompanied by Marcia Scoville (Jill Ireland) with whom he's having a not-so-secret relationship with, she's also the daughter of Col. Scoville, commander of Fort Humboldt. Being the daughter of the commander is the only reason she's on the train because it's restricted to only military personnel or those involved directly with the humanitarian mission. John Deakin (Charles Bronson) is there only because he's an outlaw who's been arrested & the U.S. Deputy Marshall doesn't want to leave him behind. Marshall Nathan Pearce (the venerable Ben Johnson in a rare major role) is on the train because he's supposed to be picking up a civilian prisoner at Fort Humboldt. Major Claremont (Ed Lauter) has a detachment of about 30 or so soldiers on the way to Fort Humboldt as replacements.
The outbreak of diptheria at Fort Humboldt isn't common knowledge to everyone on the train. Maj. Claremont isn't told this until they're less than a day away from Fort Humboldt & is told by the Governor this information; & he's only told this because two of his officers had disappeared & been left behind in town. In actuality, they've been murdered & have been stashed in the locomotive's woodpile. The mystery gets deeper as the cars that contain the soldiers are loosened from the train & end uo crashing to death. The locomotive looses its fireman because he fell off the train on a bridge & plummeted to his death. The doctor dies mysteriously (murdered) & the preacher disappears (murdered).
We finally learn that Deakin is an undercover agent for the Secret Service. He's been tracking a stolen shipment of rifles & has found them hidden in the coffins, he's also found dynamite hidden in the so-called cases of medicine. The diptheria outbreak at Fort Humboldt is only a ruse; the guns & dynamite are being delivered there to the not-really captured outlaws & a band of Indians. Before the movie is over we find out almost everyone left alive on the train is part of the conspiracy, including the Governor & the Deputy Marshall. The climax is exciting &well done. Breakheart Pass is done in the vein of the traditional Western except we can't tell the good guys from the bad guys until near the end.
Rating: -
I was given this movie as a Christmas present this past year by my mother, who knows I am a huge Charles Bronson fan. Sadly, it took me quite a while to watch this film until the other day. I have to say that I was very impressed. I for one love Mr. Bronson's vigilant films and "Breakheart Pass" isn't a gritty urban revenge film, but isn't a total departure from the Charlie we all know and love.
As for the rest of the cast, "Breakheart Pass" had Richard Crenna, Ed Lauter (who was also in Death Wish 3), Charles Durning and Jill Ireland (Bronson's wife and in many of his other films). Ultimately, the acting in this movie was really good.
The premise of the movie is rather simple; a train is bringing medical supplies to an area that is infested with disease. On this locomotive are a Governor and other high status individuals whose mission is to bring these medical supplies to aid the land and replace the soldiers who fell to the disease.
Now you might be wondering where good old Charlie fits in, well he plays a (somewhat) scoundrel who is wanted by law enforcement in San Francisco and since the train is going that way, the "good Samaritans" figure they will bring him to "the law" in California. Yet during the journey, people start turning up dead. This sets the stage for a great movie.
I will admit, the movie starts out a bit slow but picks up quickly. I was surprised how this movie was more mystery than western. Of course the movie has that western flare due to the time period, but I felt the mystery really drove this motion picture.
There was lots of adventure and action, also a couple of dummies (which in many cases looks better than CGI in modern movies). Also I felt this movie was quite brutal despite the PG rating.....times have changed. Look for the fight sequence on top of the train, one of the best scenes in the film. I would love to know just where this movie was filmed, absolutely beautiful landscape.
Overall "Breakheart Pass" was a great mystery, a great western, a great adventure and a great performance by Charles Bronson. Now if only I could be a smooth as Charlie B, I wouldn't have to work full time.
Rating: -
This isn't one of the best Charles Bronson movies. However, it's hard to believe that he's in his mid-50's when he made this movie. Nonetheless, this movie would be just another western, if not for this fight scene, that takes place in the middle of the movie. Mind you, not just your ordinary fight scene, because this fight scene takes on top of a moving train, which is covered with heavy snow, in very frigid cold temperatures. Oh, I left out that the fight scene is on top of a train, that is moving on train tracks...Hundreds of feets in the air!!! There are times when the stuntmen...I say stuntmen because I doubt very seriously that Charles Bronson and Archie Moore is hanging from the side of this moving train box car...hundreds of feet in the cold frigid air, but those two stuntmen are. Mind you, this fight scene was filmed long before the computer-enhanced stunts. There is actually a train here. Clearly, the highlight, of the movie, but makes the movie worth looking at.
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