Breakdown (1997 film)

Breakdown is a 1997 American action 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 and conducted by Basil Poledouris and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The film was produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis. Breakdown follows a man and his wife who are driving cross-country from Massachusetts to San Diego. Their new car breaks down mysteriously. A truck driver stops and assists them by taking the wife to the nearest diner to phone for help. In reality, he is kidnapping her. Her husband tracks down his wife and her kidnapper.

Breakdown was released on May 2, 1997 by Paramount Pictures, and is the final film featuring J. T. Walsh to be released in his lifetime. It received positive reviews, with critics finding it "a brainy and suspenseful -- if somewhat uneven -- thriller".