Breaker! Breaker!


Breaker! Breaker! is a 1977 American action film directed by Don Hulette and starring Chuck Norris in his first lead role. The co-stars include George Murdock, Don Gentry and Michael Augenstein. The film was a box-office success, grossing $12 million, but received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot

J.D., a trucker from California, returns from the road to learn that an old friend was assaulted and paralyzed by Sergeant Strode, a policeman in Texas City, California. He makes inquiries and learns that Strode and Deputy Boles have a history of "trapping" truckers for a corrupt judge named Trimmings who runs various rackets.
When his younger brother Billy begins working as a trucker, J.D. warns him to stay away from Texas City. But Billy is easily fooled by Strode on a CB radio, pretending to be a fellow trucker.
Billy disappears and J.D. sets out in search of him. After getting into a fight with the owner of the local wrecking yard and accidentally killing him, J.D. is arrested and sentenced to death by Judge Trimmings.
J.D.'s fellow truckers come to rescue J.D. and Billy, knocking Strode into a ditch before tearing the town down with their big rigs. J.D. finds Billy in a barn, and then fights Deputy Boles in a horse corral, knocking him out. One of the truckers drives his rig into Judge Trimmings' house while he is in bed with his wife, as the rest of the corrupt town burns.

Cast

Production

Norris said he was paid $5,000 to do the film. "I didn't know anything when I made that movie", said Norris. "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."
"I want to become as big in the movie industry as I've been in the karate industry", said Norris in 1977. "I know I can do it because I have the faith to do it."

Reception

Critical response

Norris was not particularly proud of the film but in 1981 said it was his father's favorite of his movies and "made a lot of money".
The New York Times called it "shoddy" with "wooden direction" and a "sophmoric cast". The Los Angeles Times called it "a talky, melodramatic exploitation hybrid."

In popular culture

The film was referenced on the May 24, 2007 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, when O'Brien used a Breaker! Breaker! lever to showcase random scenes from Walker, Texas Ranger.
The film was the subject of a March 21, 2013 video-on-demand release by Rifftrax.