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)

Tom Gries("Will Penny") directs this thin drama that casts Charles Bronson as independent pilot Nick Colton, enlisted by a desperate wife(Jill Ireland) who wants him to fly into a Mexican prison to rescue her husband(Robert Duvall) who she insists was framed by the mafia. Colton agrees for $50,000, though of course the plan doesn't go as smoothly as they had hoped...Though this has a good cast, there is little else about this film that is memorable, and credibility isn't that high either. Some goofy comedy involving costar Randy Quaid dressed as a woman doesn't help! Tom Gries did far better with "Will Penny"; perhaps his heart just wasn't in this?

Recently I saw BREAKOUT again (I think the 3rd time in app. 20 years) and I liked it even more than I did remember! It's a really pleasant lightweight action-"comedy" and it shows a side of CHUCK, which many people have forgotten over the years: that he's a humorous guy and loves a smile once in a while.When CHUCK made this one, he was the hottest ticket on earth. DEATH WISH I, the movie which defined the 70ies (alongside with THE GODFATHER), had drawn lines in front of cinemas and made millions and millions around the globe and the one he did right after that box-office smash was BREAKOUT. His status as # 1 box-office star also shows in this perfectly made movie, it has one of the best camera-works in any Bronson-movie and the supporting cast (Bob Duvall, John Huston, Randy Quaid, ...) is stellar and does a wonderful job, too. The music is composed by Jerry Goldsmith, who did quite a number of other scores for Bronson-movies, and Goldsmith is at the peak of his creative powers in the early to mid-70ies. The no-nonsense direction is delivered by veteran-director Tom GRIES, who made BREAKHEART PASS with CHUCK a little later (another nice one, but not as good as this movie).Of course the story is nothing special, just another prison-flight-movie, but that's not the point. Dismissed as lightweight entertainment, critics in the 70ies (when great action-pics were not uncommon, contrary to today) completely overlooked the above achievements and turned down the wonderful good-natured performance CHUCK delivers in this one.Just take the scene, in which nose-up Jille IRELAND arrives at his lot, Randy Quaid is just burning stinking fish (!) and a dirty Bronson with a smile (and a worthless cheque) engages in truly funny dialogue with his real-life wife. BREAKOUT has many such moments and the action scenes, which come in at a perfect timing, are also well-staged and well-delivered.Looking at this movie, one can't resent the idea that everybody on the set must have had a great time and any audience will have the same great time watching CHUCK smile and deliver a truly beautiful performance while kicking ass only once in a while in this rather untypical Bronson-movie.

Someday I'm going to sit down and count all the dopey little movies I saw at the North Cedar Drive-In Theater in Spokane in the 1970's. I'm going to come up with about 100, some good dopey, some dopes. Breakout is good dopey! Robert Duvall does something or another that gets him locked up in a Mexican prison and Charles Bronson is hired, along with his trusty sidekick Randy Quaid (How many times does Bronson yell over his shoulder, "HAAAWWWWKKK?"), by Duvall's wife (who is really Jill Ireland, Bronson's wife; are you getting all this down?) to spring him, and the baddies led by John Huston (yeah, that John Huston) keep getting in the way along with Bronson and Quaid screwing up right and left. By the end of the movie, Duvall is safe, Ireland is relieved, the head baddie in the field (you don't expect Huston to do any direct killing, do you?) has been turned into confetti, and I can't even remember if Bronson gets paid.It's all entertaining, mildly humorous, modestly gory, dopey fun and I can't think of a reason not to rent this piece of fluff for 90 plus minutes of mindlessness.