Rolling Thunder (1977)

A returning war veteran loses his family to a violent home invasion and decides to seek and retaliate against those responsible.

Director:

John Flynn

Writers:

Paul Schrader (screenplay), Heywood Gould (screenplay)

Stars:

William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Haynes

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Major Charles Rane comes back from the war and is given a number of gifts from his hometown because he is a war hero. Some greedy thugs decide that they want to steal a number of silver dollars from him. In the process they also manage to kill his wife and son and destroy his hand. The Major wants revenge so he enlists the help of his war buddy Johnny to meet the thugs in a final showdown.

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Plot Keywords:

hairy chest | social decay | violence | revenge | payback | 

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Taglines:

Welcome Home Major!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The filmmakers were told by producers to make the scene where the criminals torture Rane as bloody as "open heart surgery", with his hand being shown being mangled and ripped up with a huge amount of gore. They actually expected the MPAA to demand edits and were prepared to appeal a potential X rating, but to their surprise the ratings board gave the film an R rating and did not make any requests for changes. The torture scene was wrongly reported to have been edited under MPAA pressure (a lot of gore and focus on the torn-apart hand was removed from the final cut), when it was actually edited because preview audiences were horrified and sickened by the images and submitted comment cards saying that they would never recommend a movie with a scene like that to their friends or families.

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Goofs

None of the guns fired throughout the movie recoil ("jump") when they are fired.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Action Movies You Forgot Were Awesome (2020)

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Soundtracks

San Antone
Written by Barry De Vorzon (uncredited)
Sung by Denny Brooks

User Reviews

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

6 February 1978 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Rolling Thunder

Filming Locations:

Pearsall , Texas, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Black and White (flashbacks)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1