paulackerley Review of Breakheart Pass

Breakheart Pass (1975)

ANOTHER SOLID GERSHWIN-KASTNER MACLEAN ADAPTATION AND GREAT SCORE

[7/10 · 23 October 2019]

Accurately reviewed elsewhere, especially on Rotten Tomatoes, I want to draw attention to the two producers who leave MacLean fans with a reasonable legacy, in spite of the efforts of a few other hapless production companies who almost single-handedly jeopardised the MacLean brand forever with a handful of awful translations of his novels to screen. So here, the mixture of action thriller, western and 'murder' mystery is neatly propelled by assured performances from Gershwin and Kastner's assembled cast and once again decent money is invested in the production not least in the expensively-rented heritage train shot on location against a beautiful Idaho winter mountain backdrop to ground the otherwise lightweight plot in period naturalism. 'Breakheart Pass' certainly offers an unusual spin on the classic Hollywood Western genre. This was the final of Jerry Gershwin and Eliot Kastner's MacLean adaptations, and though they never repeated the legendary success of their first collaboration, 'Where Eagles Dare' they did screen justice to four of MacLean's classic plot-twisty thrillers adding 'When Eight Bells Toll' and 'Fear Is The Key' to this one, putting together strong creative teams with a relevant skillset, in this case the tried and tested Western-genre Director, Tom Gries ('Will Penny', '100 Rifles'). Unlike the Geoffrey Reeve camp who, having been rescued by Don Sharp's additional scenes including the famous boat chase in the undeniably, though one feels inadvertently watchable 'Puppet On A Chain', then hopelessly exposed the brand becoming successful only in ruining the potential of both 'Caravan To Vaccares' and 'The Way to Dusty Death'. It's worth avoiding Richard Harris's later vanity-project 'Golden Rendezvous' at all costs. 'Breakheart Pass' meanwhile maintains something that did remain pretty consistent throughout all of the MacLean adaptations: a robust and memorable musical score. On this occasion Jerry Goldsmith's second MacLean project following his innovative and exciting score for 'The Satan Bug' a decade earlier. MacLean fans should be grateful to Gershwin and Kastner for maintaining the fine precedent set by Carl Foreman when 'The Guns of Navarone' hit the screens in 1961 and later Martin Ransohoff's 'Ice Station Zebra' which consolidated the MacLean brand as a reliable name in muscular thrillers. Meanwhile, trivia hunters may be interested to note that 'Ice Station Zebra' Producer, Ransohoff introduced Charles Manson murder victim Sharon Tate to Hollywood whose demise was depicted in 'Hekter Skelter' a couple of years after 'Breakheart Pass' by Director, Tom Gries. A plot twist that even MacLean may never have thought up.