The Missouri Breaks cover art

The Missouri Breaks Details

1976 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 690 members

It's the wild frontier and anything goes, especially in the untamed territory of Montana. Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson) leads a gang of cattle thieves out for revenge when one of its members is hanged by wealthy rancher David Braxton. Braxton, however, has hired expert manhunter Lee Clayton (Marlon Brando) to stop the gang at any .. Read more

Starring Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid
Director Arthur Penn
Genres Action/Adventure

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The Missouri Breaks cover art

The Missouri Breaks

It's the wild frontier and anything goes, especially in the untamed territory of Montana. Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson) leads a gang of cattle thieves out for revenge when one of its members is hanged by wealthy rancher David Braxton. Braxton, however, has hired expert manhunter Lee Clayton (Marlon Brando) to stop the gang at any cost. Clayton is a crazed man, driven half mad by the loneliness of his profession, a man who will never stop until he has gotten his quarry. Tom Logan is not intimidated and confronts Clayton himself. THE MISSOURI BREAKS is another vivid anti-western from Penn. Like LITTLE BIG MAN, this film takes a hard look at what life was like in the wild West, keeping the characters real and the story intense. Marlon Brando gives an unnerving performance as the insane bounty hunter, and Nicholson is sympathetic as the young but wearied cattle rustler who is in love with his enemy's daughter. The production overcame many difficulties with weather and locations to create an entertaining Hollywood epic.

Starring Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid
Director Arthur Penn
Studio MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 1 min
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Action/Adventure
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 05 Jul 2004
Production year: 1976
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of The Missouri Breaks

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    This film has a shambles of a plot but is still exciting stuff because of the ego battle between Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. Brando plays a hired bounty hunter, pitting his wits against horse-thief Nicholson amid the conflict between Montana ranchers and rustlers, and both actors twitch their way through an upstaging duel that is as mesmerising as it is brazenly arrogant. Director Arthur Penn seems to stand back, bemused, from this clash of the titans, though his view of pioneer days is still so fascinatingly uncluttered and fresh that you can almost smell the raw wood of log cabins. It's a case of never mind the quality, feel the vanity.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • A wonderfully quirky Western, brilliantly scripted by Thomas McGuane, which strips all the cute whimsy away from the... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of The Missouri Breaks

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  • 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Great film, but crappy DVD transfer

    This really is a great Western, especially interesting in that it was met with umm....confusion when it first came out. Definitely a `lost' classic whose stature will only improve with age. Unfortunately the picture quality on the DVD is one of the worst I have ever seen (especially blown up on my 85'' screen!). Still, highly recommended for an alternative to cowboy and Indian type Westerns.

      • Grant G from London
      • Posted 18 Mar 2005 15:29

  • Most recent members' review of The Missouri Breaks

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    It'll be on telly again soon......

    An OK film, well acted by Brando and Nicholson, Brando's Irish accent and curious costumes may baffle however.

    I enjoyed it but would say it's not a great film, and will be on TV again in the next 5 to 10 years.....

      • A customer from Wye Valley
      • Posted 30 Aug 2005 16:53

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118
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153
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38
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      • It's the wild frontier and anything goes, especially in the untamed territory of Montana. Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson) leads a gang of cattle thieves out for revenge when one of its members is hanged ...