Breakheart Pass

PG

1975

1h 35m

Western

Mystery & Thriller

List

68%

19 Reviews

Tomatometer

59%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

When diphtheria breaks out at Fort Humboldt, a train is dispatched with medical supplies and relief troops. Also on board are Utah's governor (Richard Crenna), his mistress (Jill Ireland), a marshal (Ben Johnson) and his prisoner, outlaw John Deakin (Charles Bronson). As the train passes through the mountains, soldiers go missing, telegraph lines are cut and it's discovered that there is no epidemic. There's a conspiracy afoot, and it's up to Deakin, actually a federal agent, to expose it.

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James M

A very amateur and boring movie that comes across more as a made for TV movie maybe even a soap opera during the daytime it's shocking that so many class actors such as Richard Crenna and Ben Johnson even Charles Bronson and others came across as total amateur actors. shocking, really how such a poor movie was made it seems cheap and everything seems sort of stilted, there's no flow to anything. I've never seen such wooden performances by all concerned.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/16/24

Full Review

Michael L

Really good movie with great actors Twists and turns all the way Kinda Murder on the orient express set in the turn of century American west

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/17/24

Full Review

Peter G

Not sure why this movie gets such low ratings, but it was entertaining, had good acting, was realistic, and the music was great.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/10/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Well worth the watch, James Welch, Henderson, Arkansas, April 20, 2023

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/20/23

Full Review

Liam D

A Solid Western Thriller with some great action sequences

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/24/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Based on the book Breakheart Pass by Alistair MacLean, this movie begins with a remote settlement in Eureka, California suffering from a diphtheria epidemic. An express train is dispatched toward the fort, filled with reinforcements and much needed medical supplies. There are also some important civilians on board, like Nevada Governor Richard Fairchild (Richard Crenna) and his fiancée Marica (Jill Ireland), the daughter of Fort Humboldt's commander. Then, the train stops to let on United States Marshal Pearce (Ben Johnson) and his prisoner, John Deakin (Charles Bronson), a notorious outlaw with a price on his head. The truth is that Deakin is really a Secret Service agent and that anyone who seemed on the side of the law is really using the epidemic as an excuse to send weapons to Native Americans to use against their fellow Americans. Anyone who isn't part of the conspiracy is being killed one by one. Beyond boasting other cast members like Sally Kirkland, Charles Durning and Ed Lauter. there's ultra hevy bad guy Robert Tessier and an insane fight on a train car in the snow that looks like one of the most dangerous scenes I've ever seen filmed. It was performed by stuntmen Howard Curtis (who was doubling Bronson) and Tony Brubaker (who was Archie Moore's stand-in). It's the last stunt directed by Yakima Canutt, who directed the chariot race in Ben-Hur and performed the stagecoach drop in Stagecoach that inspired the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones goes under the German truck. He also taught John Wayne how to fall off a horse, as well as inspiring how the Duke acted on screen. The drawling, hesitant speech and the hip-rolling walk that made Wayne famous were all how Canutt actually behaved in real life. Along the way, Cannutt got hurt so many times that his injuries seem hyperbole: multiple broken ribs, breaking both legs at the ankles and even having his intestines split in half while doubling for Clark Gable in Boom Town. In spite of all of those injuries, he lived to be ninety. Directed by Tom Gries (The Rat Patrol TV series, Earth II), this film has another astounding practical effect. Those aren't model train cars getting destroyed. They're full sized cars bought just to be run into each other.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

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Tom Gries

Director

Charles Bronson

Deakin

Ben Johnson

Marshal Pearce

Jill Ireland

Marica

Richard Crenna

Governor Richard Fairchild

Charles Durning

O'Brien

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Noel Murray

The Dissolve

The movie offers an unusual spin on a classic Hollywood genre... by starting in a relatively civilized part of late-19th-century America and then rolling way out into the wilderness, becoming more of a Western as it goes.

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 11, 2014

Full Review

Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

...one of the best action films of the 1970’s, with spectacular, non-fake action in and around a moving train, plot twists and clever dialogue, plus an unfamiliar setting; a train supposedly packed with medical supplies, actually full of guns and ammo...

Rated: 4/5

Jan 30, 2024

Full Review

Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

A good old-fashioned shootout sets everything to rights.

May 5, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Crackerjack entertainment.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 21, 2021

Full Review

Joe Leydon

The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS)

Director Tom Gries serves up every cliché with refreshing exuberance, and his cast is just about perfect.

Aug 16, 2021

Full Review

Jacoba Atlas

Los Angeles Free Press

The pity is that the level of achievement is so simplistic that boredom sets in rather quickly.

Nov 18, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

When diphtheria breaks out at Fort Humboldt, a train is dispatched with medical supplies and relief troops. Also on board are Utah's governor (Richard Crenna), his mistress (Jill Ireland), a marshal (Ben Johnson) and his prisoner, outlaw John Deakin (Charles Bronson). As the train passes through the mountains, soldiers go missing, telegraph lines are cut and it's discovered that there is no epidemic. There's a conspiracy afoot, and it's up to Deakin, actually a federal agent, to expose it.

Director: Tom Gries
Producer: Elliott Kastner
Screenwriter: Alistair MacLean
Production Co: Elliott Kastner Productions
Rating: PG
Genre: Western, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 35m

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