Rated R, 1997, starring Kurt Russell, Kathleen Quinlan, J.T. Walsh, MC Gainey
The Plot... Jeff and Amy are a normal couple, uprooting their life to move across the country. Its a few bad events, and they are looking to make a fresh start, driving through Arizona and New Mexico, on their way to their new home in California. Suddenly, Jeff almost hits another truck, who ends up confronting him at a gas station. Jeff and the man exchange words, and Jeff and Amy seem to leave it behind as they pull back onto the highway... until their vehicle breaks down. Red, a trucker, stops to help, and Amy convinces Jeff to stay with the car while she rides with Red to the next town for help. Jeff discovers, however, that the car only has a few dislodged wires... so he fixes it quickly, and then drives to retrieve Amy... who has disappeared. And Red says he's never seen her before in his life. The plot thickens.
Why Its in The Dave100... among the many, or few, purposes of The Dave100 is, after revealing to you my favorite 100 movies ever, to also to perhaps get a few of you to go find some movies you've never seen... or maybe even, never heard of. This might be one of those.
There's so much about this movie that works. The plot is great, and not to intense or convoluted. The acting is above average for this type of flick, from Kurt Russell to the at-the-time-quite-striking Kathleen Quinlan, and character actor J.T. Walsh is fantastickly creepy and terrible.
There are a few plot twists, some you'll probably predict, some you won't, and the climax might be just a bit overblown, but its something you'd expect, but all in all, "Breakdown" is a worthy 90 minutes of your DVD player's time.
Hey, It's That Guy!... You'll know the late J.T. Walsh immediately, from films like "Good Morning Vietnam", "Pleasantville", "The Negotiator" and "A Few Good Men". In fact, he's such a That Guy!, that the website Fametracker actually used him as their inspiration for the JT Walsh Memorial Hey! It's That Guy! site.
Hey, It's That Guy Too!... You'll also see MC Gainey, playing Earl here. Fans of "Lost" will know him easily as Tom, but slap some scraggily hair and a big 'stache, and you've got Swamp Thing from "Con Air". He's also been in such epics as "The Dukes of Hazzard", "Wild Hogs" and "The Country Bears", though Scotty Latta probably knows him best as Gaylon, in The Judds award winning masterpiece, "Naomi & Wynnona: Love Can Build a Bridge", featuring a cameo appearance by The Goddess, playing herself.