Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

RealLiveClaude As Charles Bronson was one of the action stars of the 70s, this one pass well, however, as for the story, a bit of suspense but not very surprised, would have liked to see more substance. However, great to see Jill Ireland in a good role, and Robert Duvall doing what he does best.However, Bronson does the show here, wisecracking and outgoing guy, not wanting to do the job first (money talks, eh ?) but finally goes for the challenge, even if it's risky...Good to watch on a rainy night, especially for Charles Bronson's fans and typical 70s movie fare.

Jonathon Dabell Charles Bronson was pretty old when he became a star. He'd done small supporting roles for years in westerns and war movies, but quite late in his career he was suddenly propelled into the super-star category following The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen. The biggest irony is that once Bronson became a star, his actual acting became much lazier and more wooden. He spent the "superstar years" – from the late 1960s until the late 1980s – giving monosyllabic performances in largely simple-minded films. His output during these years was prolific to say the least, but very few of the films rose above mediocrity. Breakout is just one more Bronson vehicle from that era – better than some, worse than others, a totally unremarkable and easy-to-watch time filler.Jay Wagner (Robert Duvall) is arrested for a murder he had nothing to do with and thrown into a Mexican jail. His wife Ann (Jill Ireland) is devastated and wants desperately to help him be free, but she quickly realises this is only going to happen if Jay can break – or be broken – out of the prison. She believes that she can count on the financial support of Jay's grandfather Harris Wagner (John Huston) in mounting a rescue operation, little suspecting that it is actually Harris himself who - for various personal and greedy reasons - arranged for his grandson to be busted on the phony murder charge. Eventually Ann pleads with a bush pilot called Nick Colton (Charles Bronson) to help spring Jay from jail. Offering quarter of a million bucks as incentive, Ann persuades Nick and his buddy Hawk Hawkins (Randy Quaid) to take on the job of pulling off this audacious escape. But Ann's big mistake is telling Grandpa Harris all the intimate details of the plan, therefore making the whole rescue operation doomed to fail before it begins. Except that Nick and Hawk don't like losing, and won't let a few mishaps along the way stop them from carrying out their courageous plan…..The reasons for watching Breakout are that it moves quickly, cramming incident and action into its relatively brief 96 minute duration. Huston as the villain and Duvall as the prisoner are clearly a cut above the material and give enjoyable performances, even though they are slumming. Jerry Goldsmith adds yet another catchy score to his list of catchy '70s film music. The reasons for not watching Breakout are that if you've seen many Bronson from the era, there's not a whole lot to make this one discernible from the rest. The film is put together with little obvious style of its own in a strictly by-the-numbers manner. Lastly, the periodic attempts to add a humorous edge seem generally ineffective. If you're channel hopping one day and you happen to come across Breakout, give it a go. It won't disappoint you in any great way, but neither will it be a film that has you racing down to the nearest DVD store to add it to your collection.

Maya37 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

curtis martin "Breakout" is easily one of Charles Bronson's best starring vehicles. For the most part his early 70's films fell into two categories: either junky (Violent City) or pretentious (The Mechanic). The first Death Wish film was thought-provoking, but marred by sickeningly graphic and misogynist violence; the sequels had the violence with none of the art. His late-70s films were quickie garbage (Death Hunt, Love and Bullets). His 80's films featured a sickly prurient violence level and a sleepwalking star.But Bronson did have quite a string of quality films in the mid-70s: "Breakheart Pass (1974)," "Hard Times" (1975), "Mr. Majestic" (1974), "From Noon Til Three" (1976), and "Telefon" (1977)were all quality films in which Bronson's star quality, charisma, and acting ability was able to shine through. The best of Bronson's mid-70s output in my opinion, however, is Tom Gries' "Breakout." The story has drama, humor, and tremendous forward momentum, the cast is superior (Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, John Huston, and the always-underrated Jill Ireland). Most importantly, Charles Bronson breaks out of his silent-and-stony persona and creates a character that has depth, humour, and humanity as well as toughness.Those who complain that this film has little action have obviously not seen many of Bronson's films. Very few of them are actually what could be called "action movies". For the most part they were melodramas with some gunplay, the occasional fight, and a maybe car chase near the end. "Breakout" is actually as much or more of an action film than most of Bronson's others. I think that most folks who mistakenly lament the lack of "action" in this film compared to his others are confusing "action" with sick, perverse violence. Look at "Death Wish" for instance: Bronson shoots some guys. That's the extent of the action, if you exclude the graphic rape scene near the beginning. He points a gun and shoots. He rarely runs. There's never a car chase. It's a melodrama, not an action film. `Breakout' has a helicopter escape, a fistfight on a dark runway as a twin-prop plane approaches at breakneck speed, and an attitude that make it more of an action film.So "Breakout" doesn't have graphic torture, or rape, or someone getting sodomized with a nightstick. I'll settle for a great story, fine acting, cool action, and interesting characters.