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Breakdown

1997, Movie, R, 105 mins

Breakdown: Review

A tough little nail-biter. Nothing fancy, nothing too ambitious, nothing deeply significant: just a frantic guy, a missing wife and a whole lot of ominous, empty road. Massachusetts couple Jeff and Amy Taylor (Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan) are driving cross-country in their shiny new car, heading for a fresh start in San Diego. Somewhere between south of the boondocks and the middle of nowhere, the car breaks down. A friendly trucker (J.T. Walsh) offers them a lift to Belle's Diner, just a short piece down the road; Amy goes, Jeff stays with the car. And then she's gone. This lean, tautly directed thriller preys on urban paranoia about the heartland, the suspicion that far from being full of friendly folks, it's a deceptively pretty cesspool teeming with perverted, inbred predators. There are echoes of Stephen Spielberg's DUEL, as well as ROADGAMES, THE HITCHER and THE HILLS HAVE EYES, but director/cowriter Mostow isn't interested in hommages: He's just looking to crank up the suspense (not the in your face action, thank heavens), bit by miserable bit, and does a very nice job of it. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh