It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Breakout (1975) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Jay Wagner (Robert Duvall) is convicted of a murder he didn't commit because his evil father-in-law (John Huston) wants him out of the way. His wife Ann (Jill Ireland) decides to try and get him out by going to the tough Nick Colton (Charles Bronson). Nick agrees to take the job and must find a way to break into a Mexican prison and get the husband out.BREAKOUT sounds like an exciting and fun movie but sadly it's pretty flawed and the end result isn't nearly as good as one would have hoped. It's really too bad because you've got a story that was based on a true story and you've got a terrific cast yet the screenplay is somewhat all over the place and even worse is the direction by Tom Gries as it is pretty laid back and there's really not too much style on display.What keeps the film slightly entertaining are the actors. This here is a rather interesting role for Bronson because he's playing the typical tough guy that his fans love but there's another side to this character as he's really a happy-go-lucky type of person. There are countless scenes throughout the movie where Bronson is smiling and having a good time, which is something we don't usually get to see the actor do. I actually thought it was a fine performance and yes it was interesting and fun getting to see him smile.The supporting players have some very recognizable names starting off with Duvall. The screenplay really doesn't do too much with his character because most of the time when we see him he's either in a hospital bed or attacking Ireland. As far as Ireland goes, she too is better than normal here as she does a nice job playing the concerned wife. It was fun seeing Huston in his small role, although, once again, the screenplay really doesn't do much for his character. You've also got Randy Quaid and Sheree North adding some entertainment value.The film's biggest handicap other than the screenplay is the fact that it's just not all that intense. The film takes a good forty-minutes or so to get started and then from here you're basically entertained because of the cast but there's just not enough action, thrills or adventure here. The most memorable thing about the picture happens towards the end when one man meets a plane in a way you wouldn't want to.

Once in awhile I find a comment on a movie so close to the way I saw and would assess the film, that I couldn't contribute much, if anything, to it. So, I usually don't add my own comments. The few occasions when I have done so have been where the film hasn't had a large number of votes at all and where its average rating is considerably lower than I think it should be. Since I find the IMDb comments on movies very helpful for deciding films to watch or buy, I like to help give viewers a little more of a selection of comments when there isn't much offered. Such is the case with "Breakout," and the comments of July 9, 2002, submitted by Curtis Martin of Bothell, Washington. He's right on target in his assessment of Charles Bronson films over the years, and his take on the quality of this film for having some substance, with good acting from a stellar cast. I would just add that it's refreshing at times, I think, to see a film in which not everything is perfectly pulled off the first time. It makes it a little more real. And that's especially good in a film that is based on a true story. Even if Hollywood may fictionalize some of the characters and incidents. People make mistakes, things go wrong, and plans sometimes don't work. And people often don't give up. This film has such a touch of reality, and a great mix of humor, human- ness, stunts and action. A really fun and quality gem of a film that's better than the bulk of movies put out so far in the third millennium.

I liked this movie when I saw it when it first came out, and it wasn't anything special, or so I thought, but when I compare it to most of the movies I've seen lately, it, along with so many of the action type movies, were special, and so much better than most of the crap I've seen over the last 10 years or so. I watched Mr. Majestyk a few nights ago, it's always been one of my favorite Bronson movies, and this one was right up there too. The movies anymore seem to either be full of special effects with no story, or inferior rehashes of older better movies. What point is there of remaking old non special effect movies? Every time they do it, it's almost always a failure. Look at "The Getaway", the 1972 one was great, just for the casting alone (Ali Mcgraw doesn't count, she's just bad in everything), but the remake was just horrible. It's not like I hate all movies made now, but a lot of them are really just not done very well at all, story wise.

The movie "Breakout" was based on a true story by Joel Kaplan, the man who actually broke out of a Mexican prison, after being framed for murder. He wrote the book, and I dated his sister. It was actually his sister who arranged his escape, not his fictional Hollywood wife. Hollywood greatly exaggerated the true story. Even the Mexican Attorney General admitted this was the greatest escape in Mexican prison history! The New York Times backs my story in about 1972. Jack Sandy