Oh how I miss the message boards. This film was made for one reason only...to watch good ol Chuck walk around and kick some people in the chest. That being said, sometimes that is all it takes to make a watchable movie. There are some shallow supporting cast and a love interest that I think I blinked too long while watching and they became a couple. There's also a nice nod to the camaraderie of mid-70s truckers on their CBs. So to wrap up, some fun martial arts from Mr. Norris. I've seen a heck of a lot worse.
Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.
Breaker! Breaker!
1977
Action / Adventure / Crime
Breaker! Breaker!
1977
Action / Adventure / Crime
Plot summary
Truck driver searches for his brother, who has disappeared in a town run by a corrupt judge.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
3,9 Stars? Come on! It deserves at least 4.
Chuck Norris and 18 wheelers
Don Hulette somehow went from the music to Starhops to directing this, which feels like a glitch in the matrix which is IMDB. Kind of the same feeling one gets realizing that they're about to watch a trucking movie starring Chuck Norris, who said, "I didn't know anything when I made that movie. 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."
J.D. (Chuck Norris) is a trucker from California who learns that his friend was paralyzed after being beaten by Texas City cops Sergeant Strode and Deputy Boles, who have a history of entrapping truckers and sending them to jail. J.D. warns his brother Billy to stay out of Texas City, the kid doesn't listen and goes missing.
That brings J.D. to town, winning over single mom waitresses and accidentally killing mechanics, which gets him sentenced to death by Judge Trimmings. Luckily, J.D.'s new hash slinging old lady calls in a convoy of big rigs to save him. Jack Nance is in this, too. Yes, the same Jack Nance who was in Eraserhead. Life's funny like that.
Welcome to Texas City California.
If you enjoy the good ole' boy films, then this one's for you. It's filled with bad dialogue, ridiculously underdeveloped characters, poor performances, and of course banjo music. When you hear banjo music in a film, that's usually a sign that the screenwriter wanted to indicate that it dealt with trashy characters, and there, it has succeeded. Of course seeing Chuck Norris topbuild is another indication of the audience for whom this was intended, and most likely never had a major release in the big movie markets. Norris is a truck driver searching for his missing brother, and when he gets to Texas City, a recently Incorporated town in the Sunshine State, he encounters corruption with the presence of local judge George Murdock. You know what that means. Missing brother is somewhere around.
There are so many elements of ridiculousness in this film, but where to start? First of all the long-haired hippie biker who's trying to be the 1970s version of Yankee Doodle complete with feather in his hat. The missing brother is a young driver, possibly on his first long distance haul, ordered by the police to take a detour due to an accident, Then followed by them where he disappears. The town itself is nothing more than an old Ghost Town re-established, and the corrupt judge is exactly like Boss Hogg from "Dukes of Hazzard". That character was played for laughs as a buffoon, but here, the corrupt judge is very sinister and gets away with it so that makes it very unpleasant.
Then there are the situations that Norris goes through, first dealing with a bully in a greasy highway truck stop that of course results in a fight, and everything he goes through to deal with the corruption and trying to find his brother. There were dozens of films like this made in the 1970's, all practically forgotten today, ripoffs of "Deliverance", and a twist on the Tltrashy biker films of the 60's. This one is very unpleasant, bloody and ugly, with few redeeming values. Norris attempts to give this a spiritual leaning by meditating aloud, but it's just another ugly portrait of rural America that seemed to be a manipulation to get people to fly cross country rather than drive.