Breakdown

Breakdown is a 1997 American thriller film directed and co-written by Jonathan Mostow. It stars Kurt Russell, J. T. Walsh and Kathleen Quinlan. The original music score was composed by Basil Poledouris. The film was produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis, and released on May 2, 1997 by Paramount Pictures. It is the final film featuring Walsh to be released in his lifetime. Plot Jeff Taylor and his wife Amy are driving cross-country from Boston to San Diego in their new Jeep Grand Cherokee. They narrowly avoid colliding with a beat-up pickup truck while careening through a desolate part of Arizona. At a gas station, Earl, the driver of the truck, confronts Jeff and they exchange hostile words. Shortly after the couple resume their trip, their car breaks down on a desolate road. Leaving Jeff with the Jeep, Amy accepts a ride from a passing trailer truck driver to get to a nearby diner and call for help. Jeff eventually discovers that someone has tampered with the Jeep's battery connections. After reconnecting them, he drives to the diner, only to discover that no one has seen Amy. Jeff sees the trucker on the road and forces him to stop, but the trucker claims he has never seen Jeff or Amy. Jeff then hails a passing sheriff named Boyd, but a brief search of the truck yields no sign of Amy. The trucker, Red Barr, is allowed to leave and Boyd tells Jeff to see the deputy sheriff in the town of Brackett. After speaking with the deputy sheriff, Jeff goes back to the diner. Billy, a mentally-impaired mechanic, informs Jeff that Amy left with some men, but refuses to speak with the police, claiming they are involved. Jeff rushes to the location Billy mentioned, but is ambushed on a back road by Earl. He escapes by driving his Jeep into a river and swimming away. Jeff circles back to watch Earl and another accomplice, Al, pull his Jeep out of the water. He is then discovered and knocked out by Billy.