a_chinn
Although not Robert Mitchum's best film (that would be the brilliant "Night of the Hunter" or "Out of the Past"), but it's one of my favorites of his films. Mitchum plays a moonshine runner (think a young Boss Hogg and Uncle Jesse) caught in the middle of moonshine war with the mob and some hard-nosed feds. The film was co-written and produced by Mitchum, and is rumored to have also directed much of the film. He also sang the film's theme song! The film had a chance to be even cooler with the part of Mitchum's kid brother being written for Elivis, who reportedly wanted to appear in the film, but Colonel Tom Parker demanded a huge salary that exceeded the entire budget of the small production. If you have to ding this very likable film, the story is a pretty corny one of Mitchum trying to keep his kid brother (played by his dead ringer real-life son instead of Elvis) while fending off Federal agents, rival moonshiners, and romancing nightclub singer Keely Smith.Still, Bob Mitchum running 'shine is pretty hard to resist, especially when you have some amazing stunt work from legendary stuntman Carey Loftin, the guy behind the car chases in "Bullitt," "Vanishing Point," and "The French Connection." This is easily THE definitive moonshine picture and a must see for fans of this type of picture.
classicsoncall
Hot rods, moonshine and Robert Mitchum - oh baby! - what's not to love about "Thunder Road"? OK, the film gets a little tedious at times with it's dialog and a few scenes that drag, but when it focuses on 'wild and reckless men and illegal whiskey', the picture revs up to a ninety mile per hour pace. And whoa! - long before James Bond - those moonshiners were using gadgets like the oil spray gimmick to run chasers off the road - did that really happen? You have to give Mitchum credit here, not only did he star, but he wrote the story and the title song and produced the picture. He also cast oldest son James as younger brother Robin in the story. It was the perfect part for Mitchum, the perennial bad boy of film in a role that allowed that understated malice and danger to show through.Watch for an obvious continuity goof in that lounge scene near the end of the picture with Lucas Doolin (Mitchum) and Francine (Keely Smith). As they were sitting at the table, a whiskey bottle was positioned at Lucas's elbow. When Francine goes to play a tune at the juke box, she turns around to find Lucas gone, and there are two different non-alcoholic bottles on the table.What would have made the picture better would have been a final showdown between Lucas and gangster Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon). Be that as it may, it's a worthy film that revives a certain nostalgia for those glory days of the Fifties with it's fast cars and sense of imminent danger, best expressed by Kogan when he tried to shake down Lucas with his warning that 'there's no middle way'.
whpratt1
Enjoyed this Robert Mitchum film where he plays the role as a Korean War Veteran named Lucas Doolin who returns to his family and continues to carry on the family trade of running moonshine whiskey from the family still. Lucas is a very admired young man who has two different gals that are head over heels in love with him, but he just keeps running up and down the mountain hills of the South and never seems to want to quit and settle down. Gene Barry, (Troy Barrett) plays the role as a Treasury Agent who starts to investigate this moonshine business and is hot on the heels of Lucas Doolin. However, there is another man who wants to take over the whiskey running business and this creates more problems for Lucas as all his family and friends who are in this business and are going to run into big troubles. It was nice seeing Robert Mitchum's oldest son also giving a supporting role in this film.
tforbes-2
I really enjoyed this film! Maybe this film is not on the level of some art film, but it is one very engaging story. While Robert Mitchum takes center stage in this production, I also took special note of Gene Barry as the agent intent on putting the moonshiners out of business. He showed a grittiness that might have landed him the lead role on "The FBI," had he not been starring in another show in 1965 and had not been an activist in the Democratic Party.Even though I am a Northerner, I do understand the point of view that many Southerners have about this topic. I thought Mr. Mitchum did a fine job with his role. While I noticed that some of the supporting cast might have seemed a tad wooden, they did their work just fine. The cars and North Carolina locales also worked well.And I will give this film a "10" because of the extra work Mr. Mitchum did here, as well as the portrayal of a slice of Americana far removed from the streets of New York or Los Angeles.
AD
