‘It’s not what I want, it’s what you want, and how bad you want it...’
For my money, Kurt Russell is one of the greatest leading men of all time. He has one of those faces, doesn’t he? You loot at Kurt Russell and it’s impossible to imagine him as anything other than a movie star. Imagine Kurt Russell looking at cakes in Asda like a normal schmuck. Go on. You can’t, can you? Pathetic. Ironically, it’s his everyman quality that makes him so bankable. No, I can’t imagine Russell living an ordinary life. But he still seems achingly human. Real. Authentic. Raw. I mean, look at his hair for chrissakes. Magnificent…
Jeff Taylor (Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are ambushed after their car breaks down in the middle of the desert. It some becomes clear that there is some kind of conspiracy afoot and maybe the whole town is in on it. What’s not in doubt is that a nefarious trucker with the call sign Red Barr (J.T. Walsh) is the ringleader – and he ain’t fucking around.
Russell is known for playing tough guys but here he flips the script – for the first part of the movie anyway. As someone who cannot hang a picture without assistance from a ‘real’ man, I could relate to the car troubles suffered by the protagonist here and his utter inability to deal with them, especially in the wake of lots of proper men getting in and out of massive trucks. Here, Russell convinces as both a timid city mouse and as a desperate man fighting back – that he delivers both sides of this particular coin so convincingly is a testament to his unerring skills as a leading man. He is ably supported by Quinlan and particularly Walsh (who is excellent) but it Russell’s charisma and star power that ensures that Jonathan Mostow’s ’90s thriller remains captivating and compelling.
Kurt Russell perhaps doesn’t get the credit he deserves as a leading man. He is genuinely one of the greatest actors of his generation. Breakdown is an underrated gem. I loved it.