On B List of Movie Reviews
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Breakout (1975)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
12/08
12/08:
Once upon a time, Robert Duvall had a head full of hair as evidenced in Breakout.
As usual, Charles Bronson displays his stoic persona and impressive sinews of his sleeveless arms. Randy Quaid gets
to show off his early comedic talent, and he's a funny guy. Jill Ireland, who sports too much makeup, can't hold
her own and fails to keep up with the rest of the cast.
There are quality scenes from time to time, and several of them has excellent stunt work. One fat male
character is shot in the back, and he falls out of the helicopter at least fifty feet in the air and goes through the roof of a
storage building. Yet the biggest problem is the lack of energy throughout. Director Tom Gries goes too far to try to
be the next Sam Peckinpah from the get-go. He'll give it up which thankfully brings the film back to normal.
The tagline "No prison is strong enough to hold Bronson!" is misleading. He was never a prisoner at any point. Whoever
thought of it didn't see the movie. If you can believe this, the pilot said that Bronson's character would need like
at least three thousand hours to be efficient in flying a helicopter, but he only learned how to in less than five.
All in all, Breakout needs more energy to be exciting enough.