Search - Breakdown on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Profanity Movie Release: 1997 DVD Release: 12/01/1998 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 33 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Thriller, Crime Thriller, Psychological Thriller See Also: Breakdown, Breakdown

In this suspense thriller, a man discovers the unexpected danger of trusting a good Samaritan. Jeff Taylor (Kurt Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) are driving through the New Mexico desert en route to California when an incident with a lunatic driver causes their jeep to break down in the middle of nowhere. Jeff is trying to fix the vehicle when an apparently friendly truck driver, Red Barr (J.T. Walsh), stops by to offer help. Red tells the couple that there's a diner a few miles down the road where they can call for help; Jeff decides to stay with the car while Amy hops a ride with Red to see if she can find a mechanic to help them. After a long wait, Jeff is able to get the jeep running again, and he discovers that the diner is indeed a few miles down the road. But everyone there claims they've seen no sign of Amy, and Red claims to know nothing about picking her up. When Jeff attempts to file a missing person's report, he discovers mysterious disappearances are disturbingly common in this stretch of the desert; he soon realizes that someone has kidnapped his wife, but he's not sure who, or for what purpose. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Kurt Russell - Jeff Taylor
J.T. Walsh - Red Barr
Kathleen Quinlan - Amy Taylor
M.C. Gainey - Earl
Jack Noseworthy - Billy

While a trailer is the sole supplemental feature on the DVD for Paramount's =Breakdown, the picture and sound nearly make up for the lack of extras. The image, framed at 2.35:1 is fairly solid, with nice color and very good detail. Darker moments are an occasional problem though, as signs of grain and slight pixilation creep in. This is hardly a major distraction, but might have been helped if Paramount had used an anamorphic transfer, which, sadly, is not the case. Fortunately the sound is very strong, using a 5.1 English track that often takes full advantage of the entire sound spectrum. It's a highly aggressive track that is sure to show off any Dolby Digital system with just the right about of surround material without sacrificing clear dialogue up front. Also available are English and French surround tracks, with subtitles in Spanish and captions in English. As mentioned, the sole supplement is a trailer, which is unfortunate, since it would have been interesting to either hear a commentary track from first time director Jonathan Mostow on the rigors of making an action movie such as this, or watch some sort of documentary on making the film. ~ Trent Fordham, All Movie Guide