Brings to mind four other movies

"Breakdown" brings to mind four pictures:

- The 1973 TV movie "Dying Room Only" starring Cloris Leachman & Dabney Coleman (with a nice nasty supporting performance by Ned Beatty),written by Richard Matheson. Premise? The same as "Breakdown" except that the one who disappears is the husband.

- Spielberg's first TV film "Duel" (1971) Starring Dennis Weaver, which was perhaps the first film addressing the subject of road rage.

- The 1975 film "Race with the Devil" starring Peter Fonda, which was a car chase thriller about four vacationers and their accidental run-in with a gaggle of Satanists.

- And, lastly, the 1988/1993 film "The Vanishing." There are two versions with different actors (but the same director); the first taking place in Europe, the other in America. The story involves a man's obsessive search for his girlfriend who was apparently kidnapped while they were parked at a rest stop.

"Breakdown" successfully combines the plot of the first one with elements of the others is arguably the best of the batch. So, if you liked any of these films, chances are you'll appreciate "Breakdown." It should also be noted that the film is great for people who like desert stories or enjoy Southwest scenery.

BOTTOM LINE: "Breakdown" is nothing deep, but it's an intense, engaging, realistic thriller along the lines of "Duel," albeit more eventful. It pretty much grabs and holds your attention its entire 90 minute length. There's a great scene at the end that makes a simple statement: Some people have so foolishly opened their hearts to EVIL -- in this case greed, hate, violence and murder -- that they have BECOME hideous non-human monsters (by their own choice). For the sake of society, such people MUST be utterly wiped out from this plane of existence. Hey, "the wages of sin is death." Unfortunately we can't trust our "justice" system any longer.