Chuck Norris didn't have a beard or moustache yet in the 70s (and thus no sex-appeal), but he already was a karate-expert. This led to him receiving his first small roles in the first half of the decade, but he slowly became an action hero icon in the second half. This film, together with "Good Guys wear Black" one year later, was the first movie that put Chuck Norris in the spotlights, and admittedly he still looks somewhat nerdy and insecure. In 1977, you wouldn't have guessed that 30-40 years later, this same man would represent pure toughness and macho behavior (or at least in the famous "Chuck Norris" jokes that can be found all over the internet).
In "Breaker! Breaker" Norris depicts an arm-wrestling truck driver searching for his kid brother who went missing with a cargo of frozen dinner meals. He ends up in a hillbilly village named Texas City (ironically located in California) where there apparently exists an entirely different law and justice system. The local judge - and self-declared emperor - Joshua Trimmings determines the laws, and orders his equally corrupt deputies to collect imaginary road taxes from passing truckers and to confiscate their cargos.
"Breaker! Breaker!" feels like a rip-off of Sam Peckinpah's "Convoy", but strangely enough it was released one year earlier. Together with that (overrated) semi-classic and a few others (like the awesome "White Line Fever"), this is part of a typically 70s hype nicknamed "Trucksploitation". Truckers revolting against the authorities, ignoring roadblocks, boosting each other via CB Radio, that sort of stuff. It's an action flick, but not at all violent. Chuck showcases his karate skills against a whole bunch of hillbillies (with pitchforks) and that's it. It's oddly structured with a climax that comes suddenly, and there isn't even a final battle between the hero and the lead villain (only between the hero and an insignificant deputy).
