Les casseurs

Chuck Norris didn't have a beard or moustache yet in the 70s (and thus no sex-appeal), but he already was a karate-expert. This led to him receiving his first small roles in the first half of the decade, but he slowly became an action hero icon in the second half. This film, together with "Good Guys wear Black" one year later, was the first movie that put Chuck Norris in the spotlights, and admittedly he still looks somewhat nerdy and insecure. In 1977, you wouldn't have guessed that 30-40 years later, this same man would represent pure toughness and macho behavior (or at least in the famous "Chuck Norris" jokes that can be found all over the internet).

In "Breaker! Breaker" Norris depicts an arm-wrestling truck driver searching for his kid brother who went missing with a cargo of frozen dinner meals. He ends up in a hillbilly village named Texas City (ironically located in California) where there apparently exists an entirely different law and justice system. The local judge - and self-declared emperor - Joshua Trimmings determines the laws, and orders his equally corrupt deputies to collect imaginary road taxes from passing truckers and to confiscate their cargos.

"Breaker! Breaker!" feels like a rip-off of Sam Peckinpah's "Convoy", but strangely enough it was released one year earlier. Together with that (overrated) semi-classic and a few others (like the awesome "White Line Fever"), this is part of a typically 70s hype nicknamed "Trucksploitation". Truckers revolting against the authorities, ignoring roadblocks, boosting each other via CB Radio, that sort of stuff. It's an action flick, but not at all violent. Chuck showcases his karate skills against a whole bunch of hillbillies (with pitchforks) and that's it. It's oddly structured with a climax that comes suddenly, and there isn't even a final battle between the hero and the lead villain (only between the hero and an insignificant deputy).

I can not believe this movie has such a low score, I did not think it was all that great, but I thought it was rather watchable. It went by fairly quickly, but lets just say there were parts that were disappointing. All through the movie they seemed to be building a somewhat great final showdown between Chuck and some awesome fighter, but that fight never materialized. In fact, at the beginning of the movie when they were talking about their town finally being recognized as a town they mentioned someone that was supposedly integral in the founding of the town and I thought this unseen character would be the one to have a showdown with Chuck, but instead it seemed to be some random guy. The story is a bit like a couple of other movies about small towns and dudes who come into these towns and kick butt because the small town is usually full of corruption. Here I think Chuck's brother is a truck driver who gets pulled over and ends up being taken prisoner in this town so Chuck has to come into town and rescue him. He befriends a female in town during his butt kicking exploits. This film is a bit like the movie "Ruckus", though I would say that film is the superior movie even though this one has Chuck Norris in it and that one did not.

Get ready for Dukes of Hazard meets Convoy ala Chuck Norris! This movie made me want to see Chuck as a good ol' Duke boy! You gotta love when the guy with the red shirt and blue jean overalls holding the rake says to Chuck, "I'm gonna stick ya!"

This movie doesn't have the big, tough bad guy who may or may not know martial arts that would fight Chuck at the end, but he does take on the lawman that's probably the tougher between the sheriff and the deputy. Calling him tough isn't saying much, though.

Don't call this film a western- it's more southern. Don't miss this movie- you'll get a "kick" out of it! A tip for a good laugh while watching this movie- when Chuck beats the snot out of the lawmen, think of the song, "Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do?" This works even better while watching the lawmen on the Dukes of Hazard in their funniest "crime fighting" moments!

for a Chuck Norris film,this one isn't that bad.it's one of this earlier ones.it's not his best by any means.but it is a lot of fun to watch.the plot is nothing new.corrupt town town,run by a corrupt judge and corrupt police.older brother sets out to find younger brother who disappears on his first solo trucking run.finds out out he may be somewhere in the corrupt town,either dead or alive.older brother sets out to rescue younger brother and becomes a one man wrecking crew.that's the synopsis in a nutshell.obviously there's lots of martial arts action.and it's actually pretty well done.there aren't a lot of flashy camera tricks to make it look fancy.the acting is adequate for this genre.i've seen much worse in my time.for me,Breaker! Breaker! is a 6/10

Breaker!Breaker! was Chuck Norris' first American-made movie in which he had a leading role. It was also his first movie as a good guy. This ultra-low budget flick has a clean-shaven Chuck playing a truck driver searching for his lost brother in a corrupt town run by an even more corrupt judge. While this isn't one of Chuck's best films, it is worth a watch for diehard Norris fans. I have to admit I love watching Chuck beat up bad guys and this movie delivers the goods. While the movie does drag at certain points, the fight sequences make up for the slow pacing. It's also quite obvious that this movie was made to capitalize on the CB craze of the 70's.