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Breakheart Pass (1975)

★★★½ — Breakheart Pass (1975)

Breakheart Pass is adapted from Alistair MacLean's 1974 novel of the same name, MacLean having already proven himself a reliable source of big-screen adventure with The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare behind him. The screenplay was written by MacLean himself, one of relatively few occasions he adapted his own work directly. Director Tom Gries was primarily a television man, with the feature Western Will Penny (1968) his most respected theatrical credit, and Breakheart Pass would prove one of his final films before his death in 1977. Produced through Elliott Kastner's production outfit and released by United Artists, it reunites Bronson with his real-life wife Jill Ireland, a pairing the two pursued repeatedly throughout the 1970s. The film sits comfortably within the mid-decade cycle of old-fashioned genre pictures that studios were still commissioning before the blockbuster era reshaped priorities entirely.

A snow Western. Charles Bronson stars in this. You already know exactly what you're getting. It starts off as a bit of a slow burning murder mystery before exploding (literally) into an action western finale. Really good cast. Solid story based on a novel I believe. Jill Ireland is incredibly beautiful and does more than the usual "damsel in distress" routine. It also has a pretty awesome destruction sequence. Overall it's good but not great.

Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1975 | Watched: 2025-05-11

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Physical: Amazon UK

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