Excellent, smart action film.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Breakout is a cool Charles Bronson action film. Bronson plays a mechanic who is hired by a woman to rescue an American who is serving time in a Mexican prison. Robert Duvall, John Huston (in one or two scenes) and Randy Quaid are the male supporting cast. Jill Ireland and Sheree North are the sex objects to be groped and shared by the men (Bronson is involved in two love triangles). The title scene set to a playful score by Jerry Goldsmith is very impressive. But then the film slows down with Jill Ireland (who plays the jailed Robert Duvall's wife) trying to save her husband. But things pick up after the beer guzzling Bronson makes an appearance. The action scenes with the helicopter were good but not spectacular. Mexicans are portrayed as complete idiots. The actor who played Bronson's helicopter coach and the scenes with him and Bronson were amusing. So were the scenes with Bronson and Shirlee North's husband. Tarantino might have borrowed the coffin scene in KILL BILL 2 from this film and not SPOORLOOS as widely believed.The ending was very very violent with an airplane smashing into the villain who was fighting with Bronson on the tarmac.People in the 70s could look forward to watching cool, badass and provocative action films like Breakout. We are reduced to watching SPIDERMAN and AVENGERS. I bet this film looks great on Blu ray. The DVD I watched was just about OK in terms of picture quality.(7/10)

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.

Charles Bronson must have had a blast making director Tom Gries' adventure opus "Breakout" because he delivers a memorable performance as a garrulous huckster who likes to show off. Robert Duvall co-stars as the guy unjustly accused of a crime he didn't commit and sentenced to life in a Mexican prison. Mind you, the narrative here isn't as entertaining as Bronson. Basically, one man's father has him confined to prison on trumped up charges. The guy tries to escape a couple of times but matters only worsen. Bronson's real-life wife Jill Ireland was cast as Duvall's wife. She teeters on the brink of hysteria dealing not only with her husband but also with the guys she is paying to save her. A limber Rusty Quaid plays Bronson's sidekick, and Alan Vint is cast as the chopper pilot. Stunt man Roy Jenson fields his biggest speaking role in years as a county sheriff. Rescuing Duvall is no picnic and Bronson encounters his share of obstacles. Scenarists Howard B. Kreitsek, Marc Norman, and Elliott Baker derived their screenplay from the non-fiction book "The Ten-Second Jail Break" by Warren Hinckle, William Turner, and Eliot Asinof. Gries and company spend about an hour setting up the situation, complicating that situation, and finally launching a rescue attempt before Bronson flies a chopper into the awesome looking prison where Duvall's character is incarcerated. The flight in the helicopter over the sprawling prison near the end looks really authentic because we're looking over Bronson's shoulder at the facility. A long-standing confrontation between a high-ranking prison official (Emilio Fernández) and a prisoner (provides some peripheral drama. The suspense isn't as nerve-racking during the escape sequence as it could have been. The finale where a villain is chewed up in a whirling propeller blade is audacious. I remember watching resident in Suttle Hall on the Mississippi State University campus back in the 1970s running and rewinding the death. Bronson is the only actor who plays a character that changes throughout the action. Duvall is confined to a limited performance. As Duvall's father, the great John Huston looks sinister smoking a cigar and plotting his next move against his son. "Wild Bunch" lenser Lucien Ballard makes everything appear terrific.

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.