Review of Missouri Breaks, The

Introduction

Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando, in the same film? A western? That`s it, my interest was piqued and The Missouri Breaks was promptly watched. The film is about rustlers versus the ranchers they steal from and what measures are taken to protect their livestock or horses. Brando is the chap who deals with rustlers, and Nicholson is a rustler. Sounds like the cue of two leading actors going at it, head-to-head.

Video

Presented with a 1.85:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer, The Missouri Breaks, doesn`t look too healthy. It`s grainy throughout, which I thought was distracting, and its colours struggle to get through and remain somewhat bland. Detail isn`t too bad and there are no problems with compression.

Audio

This has the usual multi-lingual Dolby Digital Mono sound but in this case it`s below average. It sounds thin and light, but I could at least hear the dialogue with few problems.

Features

None. The Missouri Breaks has English subtitles though.

Conclusion

A Western starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson was something I was looking forward to. It even has pedigree being directed by Arthur Penn of Bonnie and Clyde, but the film didn`t start well when I had to rewind one scene in the opening 5-minutes and watch it a few times to figure out what was going on. This is typical of this 2-hour film as it`s a complete mess. This is a western that thinks it`s a quirky comedy, with drama, or a drama with quirky comedy, which doesn`t develop any theme or characters.

There`s a lack of continuity and exposition between a lot of scenes and characters in the story and I was left feeling very confused at the best of times. I don`t need to be spoon-fed a storyline, but I don`t expect to make it up for myself either, which is what I had to do to make any kind of sense of what was happening. The script, as it was shot here, is incomprehensible, which makes me wonder at what the Director thought he was doing. The love story subplot goes nowhere and is irrelevant, yet is forced upon the audience, while the characters are shallow and add nothing to the story. Marlon Brando, overweight and sometimes overbearing looks and acts bored, while Nicholson is wasted. The main thrust of the story, between these two actors, doesn`t come to bear any weight until later in the film, when it becomes clear that the plotting is very poor.

The Missouri Breaks is a dire western with no redeeming features whatsoever. To me it`s a complete waste of time and the only reason it scored one point at all is because of Marlon Brando`s whimsical performance.