Rolling Thunder (1977)

Director:

John Flynn

Writers:

Paul Schrader (screenplay) and
Heywood Gould (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 February 1978 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Major Charles Rane Is Coming Home To War!

Plot:

Major Charles Rane comes back from the war and is given a number of gifts from his hometown because he is a war hero...

Plot Keywords:

Showdown | Revenge | Silver Dollar | Husband Wife Relationship | Baseball

Cast

William Devane	...	Major Charles Rane
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Johnny Vohden
Linda Haynes	...	Linda Forchet
James Best	...	Texan
Dabney Coleman	...	Maxwell
Lisa Blake Richards	...	Janet (as Lisa Richards)
Luke Askew	...	Automatic Slim
Lawrason Driscoll	...	Cliff
James Victor	...	Lopez
Cassie Yates	...	Candy
Jordan Gerler	...	Mark
Jane Abbott	...	Sister
Jerry Brown	...	Patrolman 1
Jacque Burandt	...	Bebe
Anthony Castillo	...	Street Urchin

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | France:-12 (re-rating) | Finland:(Banned) | France:-16 | Norway:16 (video rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Norway:(Banned) (1982-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

International Bridge, Del Rio, Texas, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

Quentin Tarantino named his distributing company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, after this film. Rolling Thunder Pictures released B-movies, cult classics, independent films, exploitation movies, and foreign films. The company went under due to poor sales.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At least two instances of incorrect uniform nameplates appear in the movie. Actual Air Force nameplates include only the last name of the wearer. However, Major Rane's plate shows his first name and middle initial in addition to his last name. And his doctor's nameplate includes his rank (Lt Colonel) as well as his last name.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Johnny: Major, I sure do hate to face all them people.
Major Charles Rane: Then put your glasses on, John.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Soundtrack:

San Antone

A powerful revenge movie, sadly obscure.

Screenplay of "Rolling Thunder" was co-written by Paul Schrader, who had just written "Taxi Driver". I feel this is William Devane's best movie, and a powerful start for Tommy Lee Jones. This is one dark movie, almost as dark as "Taxi Driver", and it misses by "not much". Basically, a gang of no-neck Bubbas do in Devane's wife and child, yet he survives the robbery. It is then revenge time, and the remainder of the movie is "out to kill", and kill it does. Devane and Jones, as recently returned inmates of the Hanoi Hilton are, in their own ways, tightly wrapped around the axle. At the movie's end, let it suffice to be known, they indeed find the bad guys. It is a real squeaker about just who the bad guys really are in this post-Vietnam movie.