Breakheart Pass

This movie was made at the height of Bronson's career. He had just done Death Wish a year before and Hard Times and Breakout were the other two to follow. It must have made a packet and its easy to see why. A train heading for a destination where Indians await and mysterious murders happening along the way. Many characters make this movie seem alas Hitchcock/Christie and the music by Jerry Goldsmith is one of the best of the 70's. His music captures the mood of every scene whether it be high pitch as the train moves along or dark as the shady characters go about their business in the carriages. Some of the location shooting is breathtaking and i actually felt cold watching it. The acting is solid as expected. Bronson, Crenna, Johnson, Lauter, Durning and even Jill Ireland are all good while not giving much away to their character. The action explodes at the end and gunfire a plenty making this one of the most entertaining action films of that era.

8/10

... to add to the mystery. The film starts slow without boring the customer. We are introduced to some of the characters who will enter a military support train from Arizona(?) to Fort Humboldt, California. The train will pass only wild mountain landscape so that there is no leave. Mysterious things start to happen and we don't know what's behind, a situation roughly comparable to A LADY VANISHES from Hitchcock. So it's more a Thriller and Murder Mystery located in the Old West than a real Western. Bronson does a good job and handles the increasing action well, the other actors give some good but not great performances. The film would be better and more credible with some less mystery events and particularly less carcasses on the train. Why not dump them in the wilderness!? It must have smelled. But overall good and well shot entertainment.

Quite popular in Germany.

Breakheart Pass is a wicked tough, badass Charles Bronson action vehicle steeped in the macho charm on the 1970's, and filled with ever changing photography as a train hurtles across the Nevada and Idaho mountains during a snowy winter. Onboard is John Deakins (Bronson), a dangerous outlaw being transported as prisoner to a remote, well guarded fort somewhere deep in the wilderness. Deakins isn't who he seems though, and neither is anyone else onboard for that matter. When a murder occurs, he takes it upon himself to wage a bloody crusade on everyone else in order to find the truth about what's going on, and the truth about their frozen voyage. Bronson is nails tough, doing some deliriously sketchy stunts and engaging in blessedly R rated, pretty intense violence for 70's standards. The cast is stacked, other passengers include Ed Lauren, David Huddleston, Richard Crenna, Charles Durning and Ben Johnson as the ruthless federal marshal in charge of Deakin's transport. A rock solid genre picture, thrilling, decked out in western production design and filled with savage, bullet ridden, bone breaking set pieces.

Alistair MacLean spent most of his novelist days writing wartime suspensers or twisting, turning thrillers. The one book that he wrote which doesn't fit either of those descriptions is Breakheart Pass, a western set aboard a train. This film version of it is surprisingly enjoyable, and features the added bonus of an expressive, colourful characterisation by Charles Bronson.

The train is travelling to a fort in the Wild West with medical supplies to cure an outbreak of a nasty disease. However, some of the soldiers aboard the train are mysteriously disappearing, and anyone who's ever seen a film like this will figure out straight away that there's a murderer on board. Furthermore, the train must make its journey across hostile Red Indian terrain, where a fearsome ambush or a sabotaged stretch of track is only a spear throw away.

Bronson plays a mysterious outlaw who is held prisoner on the train, though there are plenty of clues that he may not be exactly who he says he is. Other well delineated characters are played by Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland, Archie Moore (yes, the boxer!), and Ed Lauter. One truly amazing sequence involves a rooftop scuffle between Bronson and Moore.... indeed most people who have ever seen the film remember it for that sequence more than any other. All things considered, Breakheart Pass is one of the better adaptations of a MacLean novel, admittedly not quite in the same league as Fear is the Key or Where Eagles Dare, but definitely worth seeking out, especially on DVD.

One thing I do like about Breakheart Pass is that absolutely nobody is who he pretends to be. For the first time viewer, 90% of the fun is figuring just who the good guys and bad guys are on this train to Fort Humboldt in the Rocky Mountains. It's not revealed until about 75% of the film is done and when it is revealed the action steps up considerably.

A special train is being sent to Fort Humboldt with medical supplies and a relief force as cholera has broken out there. The territorial Governor Richard Crenna is taking personal charge of the operation, the troops are commanded by cavalry Major Ed Lauter. Along for the ride is U.S. Marshal Ben Johnson, Doctor David Huddleston, the Commanding officer's daughter, Jill Ireland. The engineer is Roy Jenson, the conductor is Charles Durning. Governor Crenna travels in style with a private car with a cook, Archie Moore and a server Victor Mohica. As you can see Breakheart Pass has a good cast.

Marshal Johnson arrests a fugitive, Charles Bronson, before the journey starts and circumstances force him to take Bronson along. People start getting killed on this trip, even before the train leaves and as I said no one is exactly who he seems to be.

Alistair MacLean for a non-American writer managed in this story to get the western ambiance down pretty good. Breakheart Pass combines the best elements of a western and a mystery and I wouldn't miss it if I was either a western or a mystery fan.