The greatest movie ever made..!

A Major Disappointment

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

From "The Lady Vanishes" to "Murder on the Orient Express", heck even "The Cassandra Crossing". There's something about hearing a train whistle, the sound of the wheels rolling over the track, smoke coming out, and the country side flying by. As long as the train isn't heading to a concentration camp, I am in heaven by the visuals of trains in the movies, even lavish toy train sets.For this movie, it's basically just an o.k. action film, but for a Charles Bronson movie, it's an above action movie as he's out to find a killer and avoid becoming a victim, after being exposed as a fraud wanted for billing gamblers out of their money by using a crooked deck of cards. Along the way, he meets up with pretty Jill Ireland, a young woman involved with a crooked governor (Richard Crenna), and she agrees to help him when he reveals his real identity, and it's as much a surprise for the audience as it is for her. The conflict erupts between Bronson and marshal Ben Johnson who has some shady activities going on as well. The scenery and action sequences are fantastic, with a runaway train sliding off the tracks over a huge cliff, and continuously sliding down the embankment as you hear the people inside screaming. A fight between Bronson and another man on top of the train as it passes over a very high snowy train trestle is quite intense. An OK script slugs along here and there, but there are moments of excitement that will have your eyes glued to the screen. I can see young boys fascinated with trains loving this, not for the story by Alistair MacLean, but for everything that happens when those wheels rolling along the tracks take over the screen.

Classic old Charles Bronson Western. Considering its age, it's got decent acting, decent plot, and decent film work. Nothing spectacular, nothing great, but, and there's that word again, decent entertainment. I grew up on this stuff, so there's the added nostalgia factor at work for me; however, my conscience is completely clear recommending this movie if you're looking for a solid, basically conventional, older Western. For me, there's the added bonus that they couldn't rely on computer-generated special effects way back then and actually had to build and wreck stuff outside of the matrix. Mockingly, I feel the need to suggest that they must have gone through gallons and gallons of ketchup simulating blood while filming this movie, or, possibly, people actually used to bleed ketchup and somehow it just escapes my memory (there must be a vampire joke in there somewhere about humans and condiments). So, summarizing, while it's a bit of a throw-away movie, it's done well enough that you're unlikely to feel like you've lost a portion of your life to it. Maybe that's a backhanded compliment, but, from bitter and unfortunate experience, it's still a worthwhile compliment.

is the best way to describe 1976' "Breakheart Pass" with Charles Bronson. Bronson plays John Deakin, a prisoner on a train carrying medical supplies and soldiers through the Rockies to Fort Humboldt, California. Amongst its passengers are a territory governor (Richard Crenna), his mistress (Jill Ireland), a priest (Bill McKinney), a doctor (David Huddleston) and a U.S. Marshal (Ben Johnson). People start mysteriously dying on the train and they have no recourse but to turn to Deakin for assistance. Robert Tessier plays a heavy at the fort.I don't know why I put off seeing "Breakheart pass" all these years. Maybe it's because I read a lukewarm review in Brian Garfield's excellent guide "Western Films"; or maybe it's because I feared it would be another "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), one of the dullest movies I've ever seen (you can barely make out a word of Finney's heavily accented dialogue), not to mention the totally absurd murder mystery (as the ending reveals) (still, it's worth catching just for the all-star cast and the lush train sets). Both films are murder mysteries that take place on steam-engine trains back in the day; the difference is that "Breakheart Pass" has a more interesting story and Western action, which is to be expected since it was written by Alistair MacLean.Speaking of action, the energetic climax with everyone chaotically running around – shooting people and exploding things -- is the film's weakest part as it doesn't completely work. Other than that, though, this is a standout Western and a must for all Western fans. Two highlights are the tragic wreck of the railway cars and the thrilling fight on top of the train.The film runs 95 minutes and was shot on or near the Camas Prairie Railroad, Lewiston, Idaho.GRADE: A-

At the peak of his popularity, Charles Bronson appeared in this very appealing romp. While the movie certainly can be called a western, it's quite different than most westerns. Much of the movie is a mystery, for one thing, with a lot of investigation along the way. Some action fans may be disappointed that there isn't a terrible amount of action for a Bronson movie. But I found the movie entertaining all the same. The mystery of the multiple murders is intriguing, and will have you wondering who is behind it all. The movie also looks great, from its ample production values to the scenery. And Bronson makes an appealing hero, using his brains more than his fists and guns for a change. The only real flaw of the movie comes after you watch it - when you think back on what you've seen, some details don't make complete sense. But before that point, the movie does entertain from start to finish, without a single boring or tedious moment.