Breakheart Pass (1974)

Charles Bronson is John Deakin, a U.S. undercover agent posing as an outlaw in order to get a ride on a train bound for Fort Humboldt on the other side of Breakheart Pass.

The train is racing to the cavalry post with reinforcements, a doctor and medical supplies because of a diphtheria epidemic. And its passengers include Gov. Richard Fairchild (Richard Crenna), his lover Marica (Jill Ireland) and Marshal Nathan Pearce (Ben Johnson), who’s taking Deakin in.

Then bodies start turning up. The doctor dies first. Then the engine fireman falls off the train. Deakin finds two missing officers dead, their bodies hidden in the train’s wood supply. And he begins to wonder what’s really going on.

Some snooping in the cargo car turns up a dynamite in boxes marked medical supplies. And lots and lots of stolen weapons.

Review:

Well, there aren’t too many Westerns in which nearly the entire film takes place aboard a train. And the film features a well-staged train crash and a fight atop a train car featuring Bronson and former boxer Archie Moore.

Unfortunately, the plot is pure silliness. The ending poorly done in spite of all the explosions and gunplay and charging horses. And the script full of holes.

Just where do those cavalry troopers come from at the film’s climax? And did anyone wonder where pretty Marica was while the good guys and bad guys were vying for control of the train? Not even her lover?

At least Jerry Goldsmith serves up another fine Western score.

Directed by:
Tom Gries

Cast:
Charles Bronson … John Deakin
Ben Johnson … Nathan Pearce
Richard Crenna … Gov. Richard Fairchild
Jill Ireland … Marica Scoville
Charles Durning … Frank O’Brien
Ed Lauter … Maj. Claremont
Bill McKinney … Rev. Peabody
David Huddleston … Dr. Molyneux
Roy Jenson … Chris Banion
Rayford Barnes … Sgt. Bellew
Scott Newman .. Raffety
Robert Tessier … Levi Calhoun
Joe Kapp … Henry
Archie Moore … Carlos
Eddie Little Sky … White Hand
John Mitchum … Red Beard

Runtime: 95 min.

Memorable lines:

Marshal Nathan Pearce: “There’s more ways to pacify Indians than shootin’ holes in them.”

Gov. Fairchild: “Thank God we didn’t lose those medical supplies.”
John Deakin: “Not much good without a doctor.”
U.S. Marshal Nathan Pearce, to Deakin: “You’re a doctor, or so you said.”
Deakin: “Not anymore, I’m not!”
Rev. Peabody: “Simple charity to your fellow man.”
Deakin: “My ‘fellow man’ is about to hang me.”

John Deakin, to Marica: “When a man is a killer, arsonist, cheat and coward, it’s hardly surprising if he turns out to be a liar as well.”

O’Brien: “My job was to arrange a train. I’m no gunman.”
Gov. Fairfield: “That’s true, O’Brien. But a noose would fit your neck just as neatly as it would fit ours.”

O’Brien, as the Indians attack: “Why the hell are they shooting?”
Marshal Nathan Pearce: “When you tell an Indian things will be a certain way and then they’re not, he’s inclined to think maybe you crossed him.”
Gov. Fairchild: “You’ve got to do something, marshal. Show yourself.”
Pearce: “Like hell.”