Trouble Ahead | Offscreen
In America, Trouble Ahead is the typical traffic sign that warns motorists of a danger on the road. Under this flag, we propose two films that have the interminable highways that cross the most remote corners of the United States as a setting. Mechanical hell immerses us in the vast sandy plains of Utah, where a Lincoln Continental Mark III runs havoc. With a strong nod to Spielberg's "Jaws" and "Duel", "The Car" is part of this category of movies where a vehicle becomes predatory, as in "Christine" by John Carpenter or "Maximal Overdrive" by Stephen King. The result is a delightful B-movie entertainment. In "Breakdown", a couple traveling from Boston to San Diego, finds themselves in the desert of California. Soon after, the woman disappears. The man (one of the great roles of Kurt Russell) starts desperately looking for her in a most hostile environment. The dark side of the ditch that separates urban from rural America not only inspired Trump, but also but also numerous filmmakers, and Breakdown is an unusually exciting and sinister example.
Breakdown
Kurt Russell drives across the Southwest with his wife in a new Jeep. Breaking down in the middle of nowhere, he stays with the vehicle while his wife accepts a lift from a trucker to the nearest gas station. The thing is, Kurt gets the jeep going again, and by the time he's arrived at the gas station, his wife has vanished and nobody has seen her…