Breaker! Breaker!
Breaker! Breaker! | |
---|---|
Directed by | Don Hulette |
Written by | Terry Chambers |
Produced by | Sam Schulman Bernard Tabakin Don Hulette John Burrows |
Starring | Chuck Norris George Murdock Terry O'Connor Michael Augenstein |
Cinematography | Mario DiLeo |
Edited by | Steven Zaillian |
Music by | Don Hulette Terry Chambers Denny Brooks |
Production companies | Paragon Films Inc. Worldwide Productions |
Distributed by | AIP |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 85 min. (approx.) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $250,000[1][2] |
Box office | $12 million[1] or $3 million[3] |
Breaker! Breaker! is a 1977 American action film directed by Don Hulette and starring Chuck Norris.[4]
Plot
J.D. (
When his younger brother Billy (Michael Augenstein) begins working as a trucker, J.D. warns him to stay away from Texas City. But Billy is easily fooled by an officer (Strode) on a
After Billy disappears, J.D. sets out in search of him. He goes to Texas City and barges in on a city council meeting, wherein Trimmings' stooges boast of their speed traps. He befriends a waitress named Arlene, a single mother, working at a diner which overcharges outsiders. After getting into a fight with the owner of the local wrecking yard and accidentally killing him, J.D. is arrested and sentenced to death by Judge Trimmings.
Arlene escapes from Trimmings corrupt lawmen on a motorcycle and contacts J.D.'s fellow truckers about what has happened via
Cast
- Chuck Norris as John David "J.D." Dawes
- George Murdock as Judge Joshua Trimmings
- Terry O'Connor as Arlene Trimmings
- Don Gentry as Sergeant Strode
- John DiFusco as Arney
- Ron Cedillos as Deputy Boles
- Michael Augenstein as Billy Dawes
- Dan Vandegrift as Wilfred
- Douglas Stevenson as Drake
- Paul Kawecki as Wade
- Larry Feder as George
- Jack Nance as Burton
Production
Norris said he was paid $5,000 to do the film. "I didn't know anything when I made that movie", said Norris. "We shot it in just 11 days. But it was amazing, people loved it anyway. It's a down-home kind of movie. It's still my dad's favorite."[1]
"I want to become as big in the movie industry as I've been in the karate industry", said Norris in 1977. "I know I can do it because I have the faith to do it."[5]
Reception
Critical response
Norris was not particularly proud of the film but in 1981 said it was his father's favorite of his movies and "made a lot of money".[6]
The New York Times called it "shoddy" with "wooden direction" and a "sophmoric cast".[7] The Los Angeles Times called it "a talky, melodramatic exploitation hybrid."[8]
Other media
In popular culture
The film was referenced on the May 24, 2007 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, when O'Brien used a Breaker! Breaker! lever to showcase random scenes from Walker, Texas Ranger.[9]
The film was a subject of good-natured ridicule in a March 21, 2013 video-on-demand release by
See also
References
- ^ ProQuest 154169712.
- ^ "Noted...: Chuck Norris Films Re-Enter Fight Scene". Los Angeles Times. May 2, 1981. p. c9.
- ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
- ^ Breaker! Breaker! on IMDb, accessed January 16, 2013
- ^ Lee, Grant. (May 25, 1977). "FILM CLIPS: Trek From TV to Movie to TV". Los Angeles Times. p. g9.
- ProQuest 152733428.
- ^ A. H. WEILER. (May 19, 1977). "Film: 'Breaker!' Stalls". New York Times. p. 71.
- ^ Gross, Linda. (May 10, 1977). "MOVIE REVIEW: Truckers Blitz Evil in 'Breaker!'". Los Angeles Times. p. i8.
- YouTube, May 24, 2007, accessed January 16, 2013
- ^ "RiffTrax Breaker! Breaker! Page", March 21, 2013.