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A contingent of the U.S. Army and a train loaded with medical supplies are en route to the quarantined area of Fort Humboldt beset with an unknown disease while carrying a governor, a priest, a doctor, and a mounted U.S. marshal along with a criminal named John Deakin (played by Charles Bronson). They are all passengers on a train that seems ordinary at first glance, but in reality, is anything but.
Breakheart Pass was both a novel and a screenplay which were crafted by Alistair McLean, who is most noted for his books that dominated the box office, the movie adaptations of his novels When Eagles Dare and The Guns Of Navarone.
Leave it to Alistair Mclean to transpose novels into movies and expect it to be filled with heart-racing adventure. While Breakheart Pass isn’t as good as the aforementioned ones, it is still an enjoyable movie, and if there is anything I have to give credit to is that it was directed at the peak of Charles Bronson’s career.
After Breakheart Pass, Hard Times and Breakout were the next two films to come out just after the first Death Wish movie came out. It’s a good blend of Western, murder mystery, and action combined. It contains some breathtaking period landscape shots of the rocky mountains along with some nice train settings. The harsh landscape is almost a character itself in the film.
The film was of good quality and was not a low-budget movie by any means. It has a kind of Murder On The Orient Express feel to it (which came out one year prior) in the first half of the movie. Each character is suspicious in some way and there are a few twists and turns that surprise you. Unfortunately, after 60% of the movie, Bad Guy and all mysteries are solved far too easily and from then on it is rather boring and run-of-the-mill. On the other hand, the speed increases and there is more action, but I would have enjoyed the movie much more without the abrupt change.
The Cast is equally impressive, featuring a motivated and very enigmatic Charles Bronson as the focus of the story, Richard Crenna. On top of that, you get a who’s who from the character actor department Charles Durning, David Huddleston, Bill McKinney, and Ed Lauter. Director Tom Gries has done a lot of TV but also two with Charlton Heston and another one with Bronson (Breakout). Among the best of these is the one featuring the fight on top of the moving train between Charles Bronson and Archie Moore (ex-light heavyweight champion of the world). Along with that, there is also a rather spectacular train wreck which was done for real. As always, Jerry Goldsmith’s music is classic and immediately recognizable but he never fails to impress when it comes to providing great scores for movies.
Overall, Breakheart Pass has a great score, an excellent cast, a slow but tense first half, and some cool action scenes in the latter half. It would have been even better without the sudden change in pace and direction.
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