Breakheart Pass

A train crossing a mountain pass in winter carries medicine and soldiers to an army post said to be hit by an epidemic. On board are a governor, a doctor, officers and a prisoner. The passengers start dying one by one, and what the train is really carrying comes out. Tom Gries directed. Charles Bronson plays the fugitive, Richard Crenna the governor, Jill Ireland the woman. Alistair MacLean wrote both the novel and the screenplay. The structure is a closed-room mystery: a train murder puzzle set inside a western. Snow, narrow corridors and a train that does not stop carry the tension. Its best-known section is the fight on the roof of the train, shot on a real train at speed, with stunt work considered risky for its time. Bronson's character is silent and built in reverse; his identity keeps shifting as the film goes on. Jerry Goldsmith's score sets the rhythm. Who it is for: viewers who like westerns crossed with crime puzzles. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a tight mystery; the solution is somewhat rushed.