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Plot Summary
In this suspense thriller, a man discovers the unexpected danger of trusting a good Samaritan. Jeff Taylor (Kurt Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are driving through the New Mexico desert en route to California when an incident with a lunatic driver causes their jeep to break down in the middle of nowhere. Jeff is trying to fix the vehicle when an apparently friendly truck driver, Red Barr (J.T. Walsh), stops by to offer help. Red tells the couple that there's a diner a few miles down the road where they can call for help; Jeff decides to stay with the car while Amy hops a ride with Red to see if she can find a mechanic to help them. After a long wait, Jeff is able to get the jeep running again, and he discovers that the diner is indeed a few miles down the road. But everyone there claims they've seen no sign of Amy, and Red claims to know nothing about picking her up. When Jeff attempts to file a missing person's report, he discovers mysterious disappearances are disturbingly common in this stretch of the desert; he soon realizes that someone has kidnapped his wife, but he's not sure who, or for what purpose.
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
80%- Reviews Counted: 50
- Fresh: 40
- Rotten: 10
- Average Rating: 7.1/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: Mostow knows his Hitchcock as well as his Spielberg.
Fresh: Many will note echoes of 'The Vanishing,' 'Deliverance' and most of all, Steven Spielberg's 'Duel,' with Mostow displaying much of the craft that Spielberg ambushed us with in the 1971 TV movie that put him on the map.
Fresh: A 96- minute thrill ride that twists and turns before accelerating to a wonderfully overwrought finale.
Rotten: [Kurt Russell's] lack of energy afflicts the film as much as its director's lack of ideas.
Customer Reviews
Best thriller ever!
Kurt Russell really did a great job in Breakdown and what makes this movie so great is the way that the story is because they have never done such a good job on a movie like this before. The aspect of breaking down and what follows really makes you think: "What if?"
Excellent Thrill Ride!
This is a fun movie. Originally released in the spring of '97, it holds up 10 years later. Don't break down!!
Awesome movie, extremely underrated
WHO LETS THEIR WIFE LEAVE WITH SOME STRANGE TRUCKER?! If you can get beyond this, the movie is pretty good.
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