Year Of The Western! #28 Breakheart Pass (1975)

So here we are, three films to go in the mad rush that has been the Year 3 Months Of The Western! and I had to call a slight audible. Of the remaining three films on the list that was given to me, two are from 1976 and one is from 2000. While I am interested in the one from 2000, I wanted to stick within the relative time frame the list has gone with so far. I started in 1954 (well, technically I should have started in 1953, but I can't read a calendar) and am finishing with a range of 23 years of films. I have appreciated the evolution in presentation and the subject matter. So I wanted to keep that train rolling (very appropriately so) and picked a film that I thought would hold some interest.

I chose Breakheart Pass for 4 reasons: 1.) It has Charles Bronson in it. 2.) It is a film set in the time of the old west that I have not seen. 3.) It was made before the last two films on the list. 4.) It has Charles Bronson in it.

So let's see if the one film I picked out of the 30 belongs in the list.

Film #28 Breakheart Pass (1975)

Here is the imdb.com cast listing. Here is the wikipedia page about the production. 

This film starts with a train stopping in the small 'town' of Myrtle. It looks like it has 5 tents, one bar, and one telegraph office. It is a private military train with one car for the Governor of Nevada (Richard Crenna), and they are on an urgent and secretive mission. While waiting for the train to get filled with water, soldiers and the other passengers get off and head into the town. A United States Marshall (Ben Johnson) is trying to gain passage on the train as he knows that it is headed to Fort Humboldt and they have a prisoner that he wants to escort back south. The head of the military, Major Claremont (Ed Lauter) doesn't want to take on additional passengers and the Governor has not told him what is actually going on at the fort. Enter John Deakin (Charles Bronson) a man with a past in medicine and a price on his head for committing a crime against the US government, who just happens to be caught cheating at cards by the marshall. Seeing as Deakin is now a federal prisoner, the Major will allow him and the Marshall on the train.

Once on the train, the Governor and a doctor on board (David Huddleston... I just have to mention him because he was the other Lebowski in The Big Lebowski) tell the Major and other important members on the train, and Deakin who happens to have his hands and feet tied while sitting on the floor, what their mission is: Fort Humboldt is devastated by Diphtheria and they are bringing a large number of medical supplies and fresh troops to staff the fort while the outbreak is being treated. The doctor excuses himself to go check the supplies. 

Soon after the doctor is found dead in his room. Deakin examines the body and shows everyone that the doctor was murdered. Things are not what they seem on the train and in Fort Humboldt. People start dying, secrets come out, and the danger grows with each mile traveled. 

To really to get into too much more would be to give away what fun there is to be had in this film. This is not a character study, it is a quickly paced thriller that speeds along as fast as the train the characters are all on. Sometimes you just need a jaunty ninety minute plot in which there are fist fights, people get thrown down into mountain passes, and many train cars getting destroyed.  

This film does do something similar to 3:10 to Yuma (aside that both have trains central to the plot) in the sense that it is a ticking clock with a confrontation that is coming one way or another. It also keeps the main characters in close vicinity of each other so that way it can build tension. 

It is decided that it is fine to have Deaken wander the train freely for most of the story as there is no place for him to go. The snow covered area they are traveling through has nothing but train tracks and frozen death. If he tried to escape, he would die. It gives Bronson a chance to start piecing together what is going on and it works to keep the moving going even if it does stretch believability a bit. 

Giving Bronson's Deakin a background in medicine and science was a smart move as it also let you believe that his deductive reasoning was grounded. When he starts explaining how he knows certain things based upon the evidence presented, it does make sense. Also, it helps that he has a secret of his own that you don't find out until about two thirds of the way through the film. It doesn't take away from what you have seen previously and does add credibility to his beliefs about what is going on.

Bronson was 53 at the time of this film and he was hitting that grizzled Bronson look we all know from his later films that would make him iconic. I mention his age because he has a train car roof top fight that according the to trivia, he did all of his own stunt work for. Check it out below. Just the portions of where he and the other actor are hanging off the side of the train as it crosses a bridge are terrifying. 

There is also a stunt earlier in which a number of train cars are let loose from the rest of the train and they start heading backwards and picking up speed. In slow motion you see them jump the tracks and break apart against the hillside below. Like I said about Duck, You Sucker, you don't see stunts like that anymore. No matter how I may end up feeling about a particular film, I will always take my hat off to good practical effects and stunt work. 

Breakheart Pass feels like it would be a film that I would see on a lazy weekend afternoon on a local affiliate channel, or on TNT's Movies For Guys Who Like Movies. If nothing else was on, you would leave this film on, flipping back to after the commercial breaks. It has no lasting impact but it is enjoyable while you are watching it. 

I don't know what else to say about this film other than this: the plot unfolds at a good clip throughout so you keep wondering what is going on until close to the end, the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains is beautiful, Bronson Bronsons it up, and the score by Jerry Goldsmith is really quite good. It could have maybe stood to have a little more time to let the characters breathe but that would have slowed down the pace. 

There is nothing wrong with Breakheart Pass, but there is nothing that would eagerly bring me back either. 

Western Checklist (nowhere near official or scientific):

• Weird gang member names? Someone in the cast is named Jebbo. Sounds like a Star Wars name to me. 
• Beautiful landscapes? Yes, the snow covered mountains in northern Idaho where this was filmed is really pretty. Some of the helicopter shots of the train were really nice.
• Any terrified horses? Horses only showed up in the last 15 minutes or so, so not that many to be scared by things. David Huddleston playing dead in a few scenes made me laugh as his body would jiggle as the train rocked. 
• How many Ernest Borgnines? I will give this award to Ed Lauter. I didn't realize how many things he was in that I knew him from. He was in Gleaming the Cube!
• Any buildings catch on fire? No, but how about a train car full of ammunition exploding? 
• Does it have a theme song with the name of the film in the title? No, like I said above, the Jerry Goldsmith score is great. Probably my favorite thing from the film. I will be revisiting the music again. 

Rating:

I am going to give this film 3.25 out of 5 tin stars. Good story hook about a train full of secrets and people who are not what they seem. Bronson getting to be a badass is always a plus. It says something that I am already forgetting parts of this film even though I watched it just a couple of hours ago. Recommended to watch while napping on a lazy Sunday.