User reviews

Decent if unremarkable drama of a moonshiner and the feds who are trying to shut him down. A real study in star power with Robert Mitchum commanding the screen with seemingly little effort. An interesting contrast can be made between him and his son James, making his screen debut here, their appearance is so similar that you would think their performances would have a hint of the same similarity. The senior Mitchum owns the screen with an easy charm and magnetism while the young Mitchum is stiff with a vacant stare. Keely Smith contributes a couple of terrific numbers sung in her unique style but she also comes across as uncomfortable and mechanical in any scene which doesn't require her to sing. A huge drive-in hit in its day, it's easy to see why since it has a very laid back, low budget feel.

I was 14 when I first viewed "Thunder Road" at a local drive In in North Georgia. It was in June 1958 after the movie was released in May of that year. The movie was an immediate smash hit with viewers that night, many of whom were in the "whiskey" business and who had taken the night off to see the film. After the show the exit from the drive in was blackened by the burning rubber left by many of the patrons leaving the premises, several of whom owned "whiskey cars" of equal or greater horsepower than those in the film. Since that night I have seen the movie many times and it always brings back great memories of the era. 2007 will be the 50th anniversary of the filming of the movie and 2008 will be the anniversary of its release date. Wouldn't it be interesting if someone or some company put together a 50th Anniversary Thunder Road event like the recreation of the cars in the movie along with special appearances at regional car shows, complete with car magazine articles and perhaps even a road test of the vintage autos. The re-release of the DVD to include the out takes would also be popular. Who knows what MGM and NASCAR could do with a team effort? WHB

Someone one here labeled this film "hillybilly film noir." I think that's a great description of this movie. This is about the good 'ole boys racing their souped- up '50s Fords around country roads, running moonshine and trying to evade both cops and gangsters. In fact, I wish they had more of those chase scenes because, even with primitive special-effects, they were fun to watch. The ending chase would have been longer, if I had my way.

Mitchum is fun to watch in here, too. He just looked like a rugged guy, a "man's man," as they say. His kid brother Jim made his film debut in here and wasn't bad for a beginner. He and another beginner, singer Keely Smith, are a bit wooden but passable as actors. Keely also had an interesting face.

I think this is one of those films that gets better with each viewing. Highly recommended.

THUNDER ROAD opens with a bang! A bumper snatcher (Government car that rips back bumpers off the cars they chase) grabs the plate off the hot rod belonging to the most sought after moonshiner in the business, Lucas Doolin. Doolin is probably the coolest Robert Mitchum performance. With his sleepy eyes, he slaps around the rival moonshiners, basically tells the ATF boys they'll never get him, tries to keep his younger brother (Played by Mitchum's 17 year old son, Jim.) away from the moon business. The film has a real charm to it, basically because the film never sneers at the hillbilly culture it depicts. Reportingly, the drive in classic of the 1960's, and I can see why. Recommended viewing.

Arthur Ripley directs this cult classic crime/Noir. War vet Robert Mitchum returns home to ramrod the family moonshine business. This hard headed bootlegger takes on the Feds and the Mob while burning the roads in his whiskey laden hot rods. If that is not enough, he must keep his young brother(James Mitchum)from moving up from mechanic to driver in the family business and then there is the romancing of a Memphis chanteuse(Keely Smith). Also in the cast are Gene Barry, Sandra Knight and Jacques Aubuchon. Bob Mitchum produces, and takes partial writing credit plus writes songs for this evocative glimpse of southern culture. Mitchum also oversees his younger brother's film debut.

NOTE: It is said that Elvis Presley enjoyed this movie so much he memorized bad Bob's lines of the script.

Thunder Road has a kind of raw vitality that overcomes its indifferent direction and uneven performances. Mitchum is wonderful as always, and this film must have meant a lot to him -- he wrote the story and starred, as well as co-writing and singing the radio hit that came out of it. A major drive-in film -- it was more or less in continuous release from 1958 to the early 70s -- Thunder Road embodied an attitude that prevailed in the little Texas towns I grew up in, and that is still a part of America's strange outlaw subcultures. Lucas Doolin and his kin are folks being oppressed on all sides by the forces of conformity that characterize so much of America's culture in the Eisenhower era. On one side, the emotionless forces of the government, on the other, the institutionalized criminals of "the big city," two poles remarkably alike in their indifference to the traditional regional values of the Harlan County shine runners. Despite Pa Doolin's talk of changing ways to meet changing times, the independent diversity of these folks cannot exist among the increasingly limited world of modern America. Ironically, the trappings of outlaw culture most visible in this film, fast cars, jukeboxes, even the drive-in screens the film was projected onto, are a part of the forces of conformity that transformed regional lifestyles into today's homogenous pop culture. Like Doolin says in one of the film's best scenes, the ghosts of the old backwoods are out on the highways now.

In the back woods of Kentucky, Tennessee and Macon Georga, there is a tradition of making moonshine which dates back to when these towns were first founded. However, the fact that distilling alcohol is no longer illegal, most of the fun has been taken out of it. But back in 1958 a movie came on the silver screen which made its star a national icon and a household name. The movie was called " Thunder Road" and stars Robert Mitchum as 'cool driving' Lucas Doolin. His job in the film is transporting untaxed moonshine from one county to another. Although sought after by Treasury Agent Troy Barrett (Gene Barry) who plans to put all of the moonshine distillers out of business, it's a new criminal faction who becomes more dangerous than the law. The new organization, headed by Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon) plans to take over Relow Valley by force and make the mountain people go back to raising Bumblebee Cotton. The night time, high speed chases along some of the hottest roads in the back woods, makes for exciting, shoot-em up, roll-over action and Mitchem is superb as the ex-army veteran, turned moonshine runner. Not to mention the movie's title song which he wrote and later became a radio hit. Robert Mitchum's on screen persona is what makes this 50's film a true Classic. ****

It's hard to describe the visceral jolt this film gives to anyone brought up in the South or to anyone who appreciates hot rods.

Unfortunately, my dad died shortly before this film came out or it would have been his favorite film. Raised in a poor sharecropper's family in Clay County, Kentucky, during the Depression, he and his brothers drove souped-up "tankers" running moon throughout Ky, Tenn and Virginia before and after they served in combat in WW2 and Korea. From their description of those rowdy days, THUNDER ROAD is as brutally accurate as can be. Not only were the dreaded T-Men a major hazard, with their brutal tactics, but the various families that cooked the "moon" and distributed it often had blood feuds that were resurrected or exacerbated by their competition for the illegal whisky business. The longest running feud in US history, the century-long White-Baker Feud (also called the Clay County Wars) was resurrected due to the two clans' competition in tanking the moon throughout Appalachia.

Inherently a sad but realistic work, Mitchum's excellent performance and an honest, understated script give us a snapshot of an American way of life that few outside of the rural South could ever comprehend. The culture of individualism and freedom from Federal oppression is much less today, but still exists. I believe the reason this film is such a huge cult film in the South is that it reminds us that not too long ago many of our ancestors were still willing to take on the tyrant face to face. We are, alas, just a pale copy of those who went before.

Truly one of the most under-appreciated films of the 50s, due in no small part to the overwhelmingly Yankee composition of the critics' circles. They couldn't possibly understand the film. It's a Southern thing.

Big fun on the dirt roads in Kentucky and the Tennessee! If you like car chases, you should enjoy this movie about a moonshiner played by Robert Mitchum who outruns and and outdrives the revenue men and also outmaneuvers the thugs of a dirty businessman who wants to put Mitchum's family out of business. By today's standards, the filming of the chase scenes are not spectacular and in several close up shots you can even sense that they are in the studio and the car is on some type of contraption that is making it bounce! One or two of the car crashes are also obviously not quite as realistic as they are in many films. Despite it all, this film is often thrilling due in part to Robert Mitchum's very strong performance and charisma and in part to the many scenes which are very well shot with good camera work. There's just something about a 1950's jalopy roaring down a winding dirt road in the mountains of Tennessee that makes our hearts race and few movies have captured that like this film has! The cars are almost as big of a star in this movie as Robert Mitchum is. This movie is also a very interesting slice of Americana because it gives us a glimpse of a moment in time in certain parts of America that is now gone. Also, this movie is about a rebel (Robert Mitchum) who feels that his rights as a free man are being taken away. At times the film attempts to say something about our freedoms and also about the rural Tennessee way of life, but it doesn't succeed very well in this area although this film does attempt to do so when it tries to tell the story about these mountain folk and their lives. The scene of a caravan of car headlights after dark on a winding mountain road bringing home the mountain's dead sons is touching and memorable and sad for what it represents and yet sometimes the characters and situations seem just a bit too much like caricatures instead of real people and real moments. However the movie is still able to give us an impression of what such a time in history may have been like. Robert Mitchum's character, despite his many good qualities is just a bit too immoral and self centered to win over our unmitigated support although we can't help but root for him. Watch for Mitch Ryan of "Dharma and Greg" in a small but significant role in this film. Also, watch for Robert Mitchum's son Jim in an interesting debut in this movie If you like car chases and moonshine runnin' movies, this is the one for you!

Thunder Road is an outstanding film and occupies an interesting place in Mitchum's evolution as an actor. It is a compelling and believable look at the moonshine-running culture of the Appalachian Mountains, pitting moonshiners not only against Alcohol, Tax, and Firearms (ATF) agents and state authorities but, as well, against organized crime seeking to control the trade for their own ends. Mitchum is thoroughly believable in the kind of role--a rural, Scots-Irish mountaineer--that many others have tried and failed at. The film never descends into parody or sneering elitism. The moonshiners and the authorities are both shown as individuals of good will, seeking to do their duty as they see it, and devoted to values that are basically decent and trustworthy. The mobsters are not cardboard cutouts or over-the-top villains, and this, somehow, adds to their menace. At the time he did this film, Mitchum was already well-established, with Night of the Hunter behind him, and, as well, his most recent film The Enemy Below, in which he played a Navy Captain confronting shrewd U-boat skipper in a battle of wits. After these kind of films, one might wonder why he would take this role--but I think it is because he saw that it offered some real-challenge, a role that forced him to play a gritty character in an unusual setting. Mitchum is shown as a man of great complexity--trying to encourage his younger brother to get involved with something other than fast cars and moonshine, recommending that he join the service and get involved with advanced aviation technology. His girlfriend, a roadhouse singer, is one of the most sympathetic heroines of the 50's late-film noir genre. The chase sequences are riveting--VERY well done by the standards of the time, and in many ways Thunder Road offers a rural companion piece to Bill Hickman and Steve McQueen's great chase sequence in Bullitt. This is a film to be savored, particularly by anyone who has driven through twisting Appalachian mountain roads at night, reflecting on the tough, decent, and hard-scrabble folk in that part of America.

Robert Mitchum stars in and developed the story for this popular drive-in entry about a moonshine family in the south harassed by U.S. treasurers and gangsters. Despite authentic locales and great hillbilly music, this B-flick is short on exciting action and long on dreary talk and character conflict. Stilted direction, wooden acting (even by Bob), but the black-and-white cinematography is good despite the constant back-projection. Mitchum cuts his usual menacing-yet-cartoony good guy/bad guy presence, but there's no vitality to his character--and no rapport between him and the other actors. Barely average, the film might have been good but needed a bigger budget, a stronger script, and a direction with tighter pacing. *1/2 from ****

Filmed in 1957, and sent to theaters in 1958, it had the 'Rods' of the day. This was a film of youth, and wild rebels. In some ways, you had to be born then to understand it. I saw it for the first time at the Flying Cloud Drive-In. Siting in a 1951 Ford Custom with a full race flat head engine, and my best girl at my side. Three duces, Lakers, and overdrive trans. The car, not her. To this day I can close my eyes and hear the the high pitch voice singing the theme song. "Let me tell the story, I can tell it well, 'bout the whipperwill that drove...", well you know the song if you have seen the movie.

Imagine a drive-in filled with 'Rods'. On the screen you see a 50 Ford, with its lights out, driving down a dark country road. A 57 Chev pulls out from a hiding spot and gives chase. All heck lets loose, not on the screen, but in the drive-in. Fifty 'Rods' rev their 'Mills' with the Lakers open. Flames shoot from the pipes, and the noise pounds in your guts. Outside the drive-in 20 cops are waiting for the movie to end, and play time to start. Have this picture in your mind? That's the way it was back then. The movie showed a 50 Ford front clip on a 51 Ford. The inside view of the car shows a 51 dash. I spotted that when I first viewed the movie. The 57 Ford, that Bob drove later in the movie, had a 312 supercharged engine. I know that engine well. I had to get one after I saw the movie. Oh, and the car to go with it. Bootleging is not a southern exclusive. I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, and we had 'shiners, and 'runners here. Minnesota 13 was the 'shine of the Volstead Days. Sorry, I forgot what this is all about, and no, I will not say if I did any of that. All my friends knew the song by heart, and we would sing it all the time. Bad guys drove Chev (Feds) and the good guys (Runners) drove Fords.

Simple, plain, and all 1950's. Lots of bad acting. Lots of continuity errors. Lots of hot cars. Lots of great action shots. A great title song. Look, if you were not born then, you have to see what Grandpa and Grandma made out to when they were young. No Drive-ins are around today. My 2002 Thunderbird has computers that limit my speed. I still know all the words to the song. I can still close my eyes and hear the roar of the 'mills', and see the flames from the Lakers, today. I still wish it was 'way back then', and 20 cops were waiting to play. "And when his engine roared, they called the highway Thunder Road"

Robert Mitchum - renaissance man? You better believe it as Bob besides. naturally doing the lead acting honours, is credited with the original story-line, cops a production credit and even co-writes the winsome "Whipoorwill" ballad which frequents the movie.

The movie itself comes off like a contemporary "beat" novel set to film, an unglamorous story of moonshine whisky transporters living just outside the law with Mitchum's Luke Doolan's character as talismanic main driver, not part of any team, but somehow the lightning rod around whom the whole story sparks.

While obviously low-budget, there's a good cast here who give the film an ensemble feel and if you can ignore the obvious process "driving in my car" shots, there are also some exciting car chases, particularly the concluding one which sees Doolan meet his demise.

Mitchum even introduces us to his son James in a prominent acting role and while he, not unnaturally, seems too young to be his old man's kid brother, he certainly seems like a chip off the old block. I also like the actresses who respectively play Doolan's mother, not above dispensing some peremptory corporal punishment when Mitchum Junior steps out of line and also the girl singer who gets as close as anyone to getting under Mitchum's tough skin as love interest. No beauty and obviously contrasted with the prettier more youthful girl with a major crush on Mitchum, their "love" scenes (I'm stretching the term) come across with engaging naturalism and realism.

Perhaps the film has a little too many sub-plots and characters for its own good and it takes some while to find its rhythm, but once it settles, it finds a kinetic energy which keeps you watching and draws you into its small world, inspiring genuine interest in the characters. I also just wonder if it inspired Bruce Springsteen's famous song of the same name, several years later...

Robert Mitchum is terrific as always in this drive-in classic, one of the all time great movies made about moonshiners. Bob plays Lucas Doolin, a Korean War veteran who comes home to help out with the family business of illegal whiskey. He does his damnedest to keep his younger brother Robin (played by Bobs' son James, who makes his film debut here) from entering the business as a driver, while romancing a chanteuse named Francie (Keely Smith). Lucas has his hands full dealing with a ruthless rival, Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon), while a dedicated Treasury agent, Troy Barrett (Gene Barry) tries to make a deal with him.

"Thunder Road" might not appeal to B movie enthusiasts across the board, because, in the end, it's got more drama in it than action. But the dialogue is cool, the cars are slick, the photography (credited to both David Ettenson and Alan Stensvold) is very atmospheric, and the performances are all quite engaging. Mitchum is fun to watch, exuding his own natural charisma as a character with his own moral code and own way of doing things. The younger Mitchum holds his own opposite his dad, and lovely Sandra Knight is appealing as Roxanna, the girl in love with Lucas. Aubuchon is an entertaining heavy, and Trevor Bardette is likewise solid as Lucas's father Vernon. While watching, keep an eye out for a few prominent character actors, making their own film debuts in uncredited roles: Peter Breck, Jerry Hardin, Mitchell Ryan.

Bob also co-wrote that plaintive song "The Whipoorwill", crooned in the movie by Ms. Smith, and got a hit record out of the title tune.

Seven out of 10.

Fine low-budget action drama that pits the moralistic urban view of "hillbillies" against the philosophy of people from the mountain (in this case of Irish ancestry) who live by simple rules. Robert Mitchum plays Luke Doolin, a stubborn man who is a war defector and also in charge of the illegal moon-shining business run by his family for 250 years. On top of this he has against him a ruthless intermediary who wants to control the business in the area, including the county where the Doolins live and operate. I found most interesting the way innocent lives were taken up to a point: in our times, both Luke's singer girlfriend and his brother would have been killed in the middle of act 2. Sandra Knight, James Mitchum and Keely Smith are convincing in first big roles.

In this exciting drama about bootlegging in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky, there was hardly any drama but very much wild action. Robert Mitchum portrayed a man back from the Korean war whose dad as well as he were involved in this illegal enterprise. Because of his running alcohol through the region, thus making the roads wild as thunder, all too often his car ended up in a body shop after the run. Although I've seen it more than once in my life time, and liked it, still it had little story to it. Gene Barry portrayed a federal agent after him and his cohorts. Barry portrayed his calm self, though brave, and Mitchum portrayed his calm, quiet, smileless self. Both did great action feats.

If you are excited about bootlegging, and like to see unequally wild action through rough country, then this drama will be just right for you.

This movie has believable action. You can visualize yourself racing high-powered cars down country back roads. It has love--love of a young girl for an older man, and love of a man for a woman unlike anyone he ever knew as a young man. It has hate--hate for people who pretend to care, but don't, and hate for people bereft of any kindness. It has jealousy of someone who is losing the girl he wants to another man. It shows family love of backwoods people, people who are looked down upon by most others but actually have more decency than most people. It has sadness of life when things don't turn out the way they should. Though a relatively short movie, you come away with the feeling that you knew all of these people. Don't miss it. In the movie, Robert Mitchum plays a Korean war vet who has come back home to find he must fight for his way of life. He is a backwoodsman who delivers moonshine in tankers--fast modified automobiles. His people, backwoods people, eke out a living selling it. But the U.S. government wants him stopped because no federal taxes are paid on moonshine. At the same time, organized crime, selling unlicensed liquor themselves, wants his deliveries stopped and will kill to stop him. Mitchum's character sees little difference between the government and organized crime. He must also fight his brother who also wants to become a tanker driver, a profession Mitchum sees as increasingly dangerous, and fight an envious fellow tanker driver. Mitchum had asked Elvis Presley to play his brother in the movie. Presley was interested but followed Col. Parker's advice and Presley turned the role down. Had Presley accepted, he would have been perfect for the role.

I saw Thunder Road on Saturday afternoon TV in the early 1960s when I was about 10 years old. I thought the film was "really cool". Why wouldn't I, it had guns, tough guys and hot cars. By the time I was about 15, Thunder Road had gained a kind of cult status with my pals. That was a good 55 years ago.

Yesterday I saw Thunder Road again. This time on TCM. I can see why it still has (or perhaps has a new, wider) cult status. It's not because it is good cinema. It is more because it is odd cinema. The reality is, Thunder Road isn't really a very good movie, at least not by today's standards. There are no computer-generated special effects, of course. That would help. The overall film budget is clearly not there. Perhaps the one thing that jumps out at me more than anything is the absolutely terrible acting by nightclub singer Keely Smith. If you are looking to put yourself in a kind of bemused agony, her performance alone makes it almost worth seeing the movie. Robert Mitchum's son, James Mitchum, doesn't do much better.

Anyway, despite expressing these elements of negativity, I'm glad I revisited the movie, all these years later. I can still appreciate it, although not as much, or in the same ways I did back in my youth. I gave it 6 stars. I think that's fair.

Robert Mitchum returns from Korea and takes over the family moonshine business, delivering the booze to various distribution points in his souped up car. He is pursued by the Treasury (Gene Barry) and bad guy Kogan who is looking to take over everything, through the back roads of the south - Thunder Road.

The film has gained something of a cult following. It is a cheaply made black and white thriller casting the moonshiners as largely sweet, cuddly old guys and featuring some less than convincing acting, particularly by Mitchum's son Jim, here playing his brother. Mitchum who was very hands on in the making of this, is though a great presence here, playing an fully decent family man and of course a great tough guy, but otherwise this is nothing special.

Thunder Road is the film that Robert Mitchum got to use all his many talents. Not only did he star in it, but he produced it and wrote the original story on which the film is based. And if that wasn't enough he wrote the songs for the film and made a hit record singing the title song. The other song, Whipporwill, he left to the considerable talents of Keely Smith who appeared in this film with him.

The story is about moonshiners, those mountain people in the Appalachians and the Ozarks who distill their own spirits and sell it at a cut rate price. Of course that doesn't sit well the government which wants it share of the sin tax. You can do just about anything else, but NEVER try to evade taxes, the most heinous of crimes as the government sees it.

Gene Barry is their man on the scene, but Barry is after bigger fish. He's after racketeer Jacques Aubuchon who wants to eliminate the independent moonshiners like Robert Mitchum and his family. Barry would like Mitchum's help, but Mitchum says a plague on both your houses.

Mitchum with his hobohemian life in his formative years which included jail time among such people learned their ways very well, knowledge put to great use in creating this story. His character is something of a rebel hero, the kind Marlon Brando or Paul Newman would normally be playing, but Mitchum aces the part. It's usually in the top 10 of anybody's list in the films of Robert Mitchum.

Making his screen debut is Bob's oldest son James Mitchum whose resemblance is so uncanny he looks more like a clone than an offspring. Of course the one that the part was offered to first was Elvis Presley. Unfortunately Mitchum made the mistake of seeing Elvis directly instead of dealing with Colonel Tom Parker. Parker would probably have nixed it in any event because he was making Elvis a star who never was less than first billed in any of his films. Still Elvis would have been perfectly cast in the role Jim Mitchum played, that was his background as well. Imagine what a different direction the King's career would have taken had he done Thunder Road.

Even without Elvis, Thunder Road is a classic film from the Fifties. Shot on a low budget on location, it reaped much profit for the Mitchum coffers. Kept old rumple eyes in some of his favorite diversions for a long time, I'm sure.

In backwoods Tennessee, slick cigarette smoker Robert Mitchum (as Lucas "Luke" Doolin) wins a car chase with federal agents. Fresh out of the Korean War, Mr. Mitchum illegally transports whiskey made in his father's still. As the story progresses, it appears those were bootleggers working for Mitchum's rival, not federal agents. A powerful whiskey racketeer wants to drive Mitchum's family out of business. Hold on, it may be that Mitchum isn't a veteran, after all, because Alcohol, Tobacco and Treasury Department leader Gene Barry (as Troy Barrett) later asks Mitchum's son why his father did not serve in the army. Wait, that's not Mitchum's son turning up his collar in high school, it's his brother James Mitchum (as Robin "Rob" Doolin). Mitchum wants his son out of the family business, which has been bootlegging, way back to their ancestors in Ireland...

"Thunder Road" is a great title, especially for a "drive-in" movie. There are a lot of scenes where you can pretend you're actually "in" the on-screen car. No doubt, many guys sat there, spinning their steering wheels. With any luck, one's date got anxious and slide over in the seat, during the chase scenes. Other than that, this Mitchum production is dire. The star looks out of place as a "hardnosed hillbilly" (although "Thunder Road" certainly needed his name in the cast). Mitchum and some of his co-stars may have benefited from some rehearsal time, before facing the camera. The story could have been re-tooled to have the star be a more age appropriate WW II vet, who secretly fathered young Jim Mitchum with girlfriend Francie (contemporary singer Keely Smith). This would give the limp and stilted relationship between the elder Mitchum and Ms. Smith some life...

Federal agent Gene Barry doesn't do much to warrant his second billing, but he's dependable. Other multi-TV series favorites Mitchell Ryan (in his first screen role, as Jethro "Jed" Moultrie) and Peter Breck (as Stacey Gouge) are likewise agreeable, early in their careers. Several sources state Elvis Presley wanted to accept the role played by Mitchum's son, but was prevented from doing so when his manager asked for an exorbitant salary. After 1956, it's difficult to believe Mr. Presley would accept a secondary role in this picture, and sing tunes co-written by Robert Mitchum. Perhaps his salary request was a polite way of turning the project down. Interestingly, Mitchum re-recorded his movie theme song and had a big hit record. "The Ballad of Thunder Road" never made the US top ten, but sold steadily enough to be considered one.

**** Thunder Road (1958-05-10) Arthur Ripley ~ Robert Mitchum, James Mitchum, Gene Barry, Mitchell Ryan