Thunder Road (1958)

Director:

Arthur Ripley

Writers:

Robert Mitchum (story)
James Atlee Phillips (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 May 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Raw And Rough As Today's Billion-Dollar Whiskey War!

Plot:

A veteran comes home from the Korean War to the mountains and takes over the family moonshining business...

Plot Keywords:

Car Chase | Illegal Still | Rural | Power Transformer | Revenge

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Lucas Doolin
Gene Barry	...	Troy Barrett, Treasury Agent
Jacques Aubuchon	...	Carl Kogan
Keely Smith	...	Francie Wymore
Trevor Bardette	...	Vernon Doolin
Sandra Knight	...	Roxanna Ledbetter
James Mitchum	...	Robin Doolin

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #18919) (original rating) | Norway:16 | USA:PG (re-rating) (1975) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Company:

D.R.M. Productions

Trivia:

The role of Robin was offered to Elvis Presley, who showed interest, but the idea was nixed by Presley's manager, 'Col. Tom Parker' .

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Thunder Road was filmed in and around Asheville, NC. However, some of the scenes take place in Memphis, TN. In one of the Memphis scenes, Robert Mitchum pays a visit to the mob boss (Kogan) who is trying to horn in on his family's moonshine business. Mitchum parks his car in front of a building with "Asheville Pharmacy" in clear lettering on the window.

Quotes:

Vernon Doolin: [referring to Niles Penlands being ambushed] So it begins. Saw a corpse bird the other day, hadn't seen one in years, shoulda known it was an ill omen.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Species (1995)

Soundtrack:

Ballad of Thunder Road

Realistic, touching, movie about delivering moonshine.

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.