'BREAKHEART PASS'.....THE ART OF ALISTAIR MACLEAN AND YAKIMA CANUTT

 Breakheart Pass (1975)

       Though probably remembered as just another Charles Bronson action-packed shoot-'em'-up vehicle, we always found Bronson merely one of many interesting participants in this movie. 

      Charlie fans, don't get upset with us....we like him just fine and he gets to scowl and Bronson-ize lotsa bad guys......but we're here to talk about the folks who made this film two or three steps above the usual stuff he was grinding out every 6 months of so.

       Let's start with a rip roaring Jerry Goldsmith score, filled with Wild West fervor and the promise of high adventure comin' down the tracks.....(for almost the entire film, we're aboard an 1870's train chugging through snowy landscapes...). Leave it to Jerry to immediately put us in the right frame of mind.....

        And now to the plot.....way above average for a medium-budgeted western and courtesy of the acknowledged master of high adventure himself, Alistair MacLean ("The Guns of Navarone", "Where Eagles Dare").

        Taking a rare excursion from his usual stories of European espionage and World War 2 derring-do, MacLean's trip into America's Wild West still bears all his signature trademarks.......a large cast of characters concealing two or more of them who are villainous traitors and a dauntless, determined hero whose steely understated courage brings about their undoing.......

       'Supposedly' a notorious wanted outlaw, Bronson's taken aboard a train loaded with an Agatha Christie-like coterie of suspects racing to deliver medical supplies to a diphtheria-stricken frontier outpost......or so they say....(heh, heh, heh)

       But in true MacLean fashion, absolutely nobody and nothing are what they seem and the perilous trip ends up littered with plot twists and dead bodies tossed around (and sometimes off)  the train) with equal abandon.

      Then about halfway through the film, MacLean throws in one of his favorite tropes....in which his utterly fearless hero engages in a nail biting mano e mano death struggle....(a la Richard Burton's brutal duel with two double agents atop a mid-air cable car in "Where Eagles Dare")

       Therefore, on top of the 'Breakheart' train as it chugs across an impossibly towering bridge, Bronson squares off with the train's duplicitous cook (former boxer Archie Moore) with both men hanging off the side, each only some slippery fingers away from oblivion. It's thrilling to the max, with seamless blending of Bronson, Moore and their stuntmen so we can hardly tell the difference between them. 

      Which brings us to the next legendary cinema icon who propels this film far above the mere routine.....the masterful veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt, who'd been leaving audiences gasping in awe since the silent film era. 

      You can thank Canutt for the astounding action-stunt sequences in "Ben Hur", "Spartacus", "Where Eagles Dare", "A Man Called Horse", "El Cid", "Khartoum" and many many more.  He finished his long celebrated career with 'Breakheart Pass' and his hold-your-breath train fight and the furious satisfying final battle (featuring cowboys, indians, cavalry and exploding train cars) provided a worthy finish to a legendary career. 

       And we don't want to wrap up this review without mentioning, the sturdy, muscular, no nonsense direction of Tom Gries who passed away too young at only 54 just a few years the release ot this film. Gries graduated up from directing episodic TV to become a talented craftsman equally capable of handling drama and action with credits such as Bronson's "Breakout", "100 Rifles", "Will Penny" "The Hawaiians", "Number One" (the last three with Charlton Heston. 

      All together, Gries, MacLean, Goldsmith, Canutt, and Bronson made 'Breakheart Pass' a richly entertaining B-Plus western that's always worth returning to from time to time.....(and by the way, that to-die-for supporting cast!.....Ben Johnson, Richard Crenna, Charles Durning,  Ed Lauter, David Huddleston Bill McKinney and those all too familiar bad guys, Roy Jenson and Robert Tessier......what a lineup.

         A fun watch anytime....4 & 1/2 stars (****1/2).

        

      

         

'THE FALL OF IRIS HENLEY'.....A CHEERLEADER BESIEGED, FALSELY ACCUSED....AND IN DANGER....

 The Fall of Iris Henley by Jennifer Graham (2026)

     Everything you could possibly want in a speedy, twisty one-sitting YA thriller comes together here like a revved-up race car. Of course you'd expect it to move fast in our current social media world where rumors, lies and vicious slander fly like heat seeking missiles that hit their targets only seconds after they launched.

     The current target is high school cheerleader Iris Henley. This poor girl is about to endure an avalanche of false accusations designed to leave her despised, emotionally demolished and under fresh suspicion of murder.. Not just any random killing but the murders of her boyfriend Rocky and her best friend Lynette......found slain along side Rocky in what was at first thought of as a homicide/suicide pact between the two of them;

     In a matter of seconds, an anonymous post on her high school's subreddit thread sends Iris's life careening out of control. The post viciously implies she killed the victims in a jealous rage and Iris's troubles (and potential danger) only multiply from there. Because someone's clearly out to get her......maybe a person (or persons) who have a lot more than just character assassination on their mind.

     All manner of outrageous twists and turns pile up in Iris's path and readers will find themselves racing through the pages to reach the final surprises.. Is any of it remotely believable? I'm tempted to say probably not, but who cares when the book's as much fun and quick to inhale as this one? Like a Friday night treat, this one goes down like your favorite pizza and an ice cold drink......and a great palate cleanser if you've just finished reading something heavy, dense and dark.

      4 stars (****).

'IN HER DEFENSE'......A YOUNG ARTIST ENSNARED IN A CALAMITOUS COURT CASE........

  In Her Defense by Philippa Malicka (2026)

     I'll say this much for 'In Her Defense' the storyline and characterizations were compelling enough to thoroughly hook me and keep me reading to the end. But by the time I'd finished, I couldn't help wondering if it was worth the effort.

     There's not a likable, relatable, sympathetic character anywhere in sight here, although I get the sense we're encouraged to feel for the the principal lead,, Augusta 'Gus' Bird, a struggling young artist trying to eke out a living and a hopefully fulfilling career as a creative ceramicist. She's attached herself, as a dog walker/assistant, to beloved, famous and wealthy TV personality Anna Finbow. Anna's currently engaged in an explosive and bitter legal battle with controversial therapist Jean Guest. The enraged, heartbroken superstar has accused Jean of a cult-like brainwashing of her art student daughter Mary, alienating Mary from her own family..

     As the book lumbers along into past events, we see that Gus, while studying her craft in Rome, shared separate emotionally turbulent, relationships with Jean and Mary ( with whom Gus became infatuated.). Jean offers the needy Gus counseling at little or no cost while using her to ensnare Mary as yet another Nepo Baby client to enhance Jean's fame, patient list and bank account. And Mary's not the only girl victimized by Jean's specialized 'treatments'.

     The tedious Rome sequences seem to drag on forever but the book comes alive whenever it returns to unfold the riveting civil libel case between Jean and Anna, with the distraught Gus caught between the opposing forces and trying to  rekindle her estranged friendship with a now incommunicado Mary. And smack in the middle of all this mess sits Jean Guest whose seemingly caring, heartfelt nature masks a predatory spider who caught everyone in her web, one way or the other.

     The book frustrated me as a reader, offering the promise of a satisfying conclusion without actually delivering one. All the issues raised here are indeed attention grabbling.......the tortured frayed bonds between children and their dysfunctional families, and the gaping chasm between those with little money and those with too much of it....(Gus's pursuit 0f the carefree Mary and her entry into the jet-setting world of Mary and Anna Finbow gave off faint echoes of 'The Talented Mr Ripley').

     Much more of a straight drama than anything else, so I wouldn't recommend this as any kind of a psychological thriller. but simply one very serious story. that came out as merely okay for me.

      3 stars (***). 

WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP.......SPECIAL "THOSE *&^%$## SUPREME COURT MOTHER****ERS!!" EDITION......

 

Please don't forget.....

Everyone's chance to curb the madness, to put a leash on the slobbering mad dog posing as President of the United States comes on November 3rd, 2026...

Think of it of America's true 'liberation day'.....

For the rest of the world: prepare to break out champagne and fireworks if we in the USA do the right thing......

'THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS'.......THE NEW QUAD SQUAD BRING BACK THE FUN TO MARVEL......

 The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

     Like millions of others, we'd grown weary of Marvel superhero movies.....with their convoluted multi-verses,  repetitious smackdowns and tiresome end credit teasers that made us realize the 150 minute movie we just sat through was really just an elaborate trailer for the next 150 minute movie we're supposed to salivate for in anticipation. 

        Audiences let out a collective yawn, all of us suffering from SES....Superhero Exhaustion Syndrome.   (Probably also brought on by those crappy Warner Brothers DC comics movies and Disney's never ending parade of mediocre Marvel series on their Disney Plus streaming site.)

        So we approached this newest Disney-Marvel version of 'The Fantastic Four' with more than little dread......and found ourselves, dare we say it. surprised, engaged.....and yep, entertained. 

         Holy Spandex, the damn thing's actually kinda fun to watch. There's a whole tongue-in-cheeky 1960's vibe to it that coats the movie with a sheen of playful innocence.

          The new bunch of actors brought in to play the Quad Godz bring some much needed humanity and humor to the usual smash 'em-bash 'em razz-ma-tazz. There's the inevitable but reliable Pedro Pascal as rubber limbed Science Guy Reed Richards. Vanessa Kirby adding some mature sexuality to Reed's wife, the invisible, multi-powered Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as her younger brother, the impulsive flying fireball Johnny Storm and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (of "The Bear") as the massive, clobberin' orange rock Ben Grimm. 

       Together, the gang's up against super-gigantic outer space planet eater Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his equally lethal Silver Surfin' minion Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner). Earth is next on their demolition schedule but the Galacinator's willing to give us a pass if Sue gives up her and Reed's newborn son, Franklin. Galactus, tired to exploding and gobbling planets, thinks little Frankie has some awesome superpower he needs that the Four haven't figured out yet. 

       And what a problem facing Sue, who as a new fierce mama bear, won't sacrifice her baby boy. At first, that doesn't sit well with everybody on Earth, viewing as just a tad selfish on Sue's part. (Now there's a problem never discussed in books for new parents.....)

        But never fear, when Galactus, who makes Godzilla seem like a baby salamander, comes a stompin' into NYC, the four mix it up with him in a titanic battle that, for a refreshing change, doesn't overstay its welcome like most Marvel destructive derbies.

        We fully admit to having a jolly good time with this Fantastic Four - it reminded us of why we all became bedazzled and amused by comic book movies to begin with......before they took a slide into bloated self-importance and same-old-same-old. And we didn't even mind the usual end-credits teaser, which of course promises the next villain stepping up to the plate. 

         The Four next appear in the upcoming Avengers movie and since they're included in the mix, we're willing to give it a try.

          4 stars (****). 

          

"WUTHERING HEIGHTS"........50 SHADES OF HEATHCLIFF.......

 "Wuthering Heights" (2026)

      We assume the intentional quotation marks around the title is this film's way of letting us know that, to put it mildly, this ain't your Grandma's Wuthering Heights.

       Not that we ever expected it would look or sound like director William Wyler's movie-palace-popcorn 1939 version with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. 

        Or for that matter, any other subsequent version of the Emily Bronte gothic heavy-breather that's come along through the years......(usually there's one or more for every generation....)

         Every filmmaker and screenwriter treats the Bronte book like a literary buffet, picking and choosing what they like, discarding what doesn't appeal to them and spicing up what's left with their very own creative and cultural condiments. 

       And so indeed did director-writer Emerald Fennell, who made her reputation with that provocative, strikingly visual thriller "Saltburn", sort of Fennell's dream/nightmare warped funhouse mirror version of 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'.....(featuring a lower class snake who slithers into an uppercrust Garden of Eden....)

         Here Fennell, plunders the bare bones of Bronte's tale (just the parts that stick in our heads from all the other versions) and concocts an over-the-top sexual Grand Opera, dripping with assorted bodily fluids, including semen, vomit, shit and egg yolks.  So beware, this is one movie that defiantly declares......screw 'em if they can't take a yolk. 

         Truth be told, we've always held a soft spot in our heart for visualist directors who turn every camera shot into a wildly exaggerated eye-candy feast.....artists like Sergio Leone, David Lean and Fellini come to mind....(even our favorite British madman, Ken Russell). 

         Emerald Fennell's foggy forbidding Yorkshire Moors look designed for Edgar Allen Poe. The crumbling Earnshaw estate, Wuthering Heights is a maze of dark cavernous spaces, while you could fly helicopters in and out of Edgar Linton's dazzling, sprawling palatial mansion. 

        And more than matching the grandiosity of the settings are the bubbling up passions of those overheated crazy kids, Heathcliff and Cathy, played respectively with simmering passion by that tall, tall drink of gloom Jacob Elordi and eye bulging Margot Robbie, going through the whole movie as she's just been tased, an 18th century horny Barbie.

        Our mighty (and mighty moist) lovers, whom cruel fate and hot tempers have conspired to separate, finally fall into marathon humping until Heathy's inherent cruel streak overtakes him.....and then the film starts to resemble 'Wuthering Heights' fan fiction as written by '50 Shades' readers....and to be fair, incel Pornhub boys too.  When the soundtrack isn't rumbling with ominous portent, Charlie XCX pop songs take over, adding to the overall sense of overcooked excess.

     As wacky and frenzied as it all is, we embraced the movie and...yes, damn well enjoyed all of its stunning imagery and melodrama brought to a full boil. Whether you love it or loathe it, Emerald Fennell's 'Wuthering Heights' represents a singular vision that stands out in sea of big budget, play-it-safe mediocre filmmaking.

        At BQ, we support any director who's got guts enough to swing for the fences even at the risk of colossal failure and/or ridicule, and we don't mind saying we'll be first in line for whatever Emerald Fennell cooks up next.....no matter what kind of oozing fluids it might involve....... 

     3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2).

          

'WHEN I KILL YOU'.....HER PAST AND PRESENT......EQUALLY FILLED WITH DREAD, DANGER AND DEATHS....

 When I Kill You by B.A. Paris (2026)

     The dual timeline plot construction comes close to borderline annoying, the lead heroine is pretty much a whiny mess and the killer's repetitive musing about their stalking and stabbing might prompt a reader to yell out, "Oh, shut up already will ya?"

     But I must say, leave it to B.A. Paris to overcome all those clumsy stumbles and still deliver a twisty, fun read, packed with mysterious deaths and no shortage of suspects and startling moments.

     Elle Nugent had to fashion a whole new life and identity for herself after her amateur pursuit of a man she believed to be a murderer ended with incredible tragedy - with herself facing jail time and branded as a public pariah. Now living as Nell Masters, she has a new French-American boyfriend, Alex, a host of close new friends and a wonderful inherited house in London.

     But Elle's two lives, unfolding in alternating past and present chapters, are both filled with anxiety, danger and a constant sense of oncoming dread. In the past, her relentless stalking and harassment of the man she's sure she saw abducting a murdered girl goes horribly off the rails. In the present, she's convinced she's now the one being followed and worried that her tortured past and terrible mistakes have come back to do more than just haunt her and aggravate her guilt.

     As expected in a B. A. Paris thriller, I couldn't stop turning the pages and of course stayed up a little later than I wanted, just to find out what happens next. And that just sounded like a 4 star recommendation, so I don't think I need blather on any further. Fine read from an author who never disappoints.

     4 stars (****) and a thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for the advance read in exchange for an honest review.