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(More customer reviews)IF you're a Robert Mitchum fan, it's almost impossible not to give THUNDER ROAD five stars. Heck, he even wrote and sang the title song.
Mitchum plays Lucas Doolin, a Korean War vet turned Kentucky moonshine runner, a man with "a machine gunner's outlook and death don't faze him much." Times are hard along Thunder Road, the revenuers from Alcohol and Tobacco are stepping up the pressure and a big city operator, Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon), is trying to buy out all the local moonshiners. Luke Doolin is the best runner out there, and when the revenuers & Kogan push, he pushes back.
The revenuers, personified by Troy Barrett (Gene Barry), want to shut down things and especially want help in capturing the big fish Kogan. At one point he even (mistakenly) tries to intimate Luke into cooperating. "I reckon you can do all you say," the sleepy-eyed Luke says after listening to Barrett's threats. "But first you got to catch me. If you can." Kogan's threat is more direct and lethal. He wants to buy out and build his empire. In other words, the moonshiners belong to a loose cooperative and Kogan is threatening a hostile takeover. Barrett tries to win through persuasion; Kogan's goons use guns.
THUNDER ROAD loves cars and driving. When we aren't underneath the souped-up '51 Ford's hood admiring the curves of its engine, we're speeding and chasing and crashing along the rural backroads. The chase scenes were probably pretty exciting for the time, although today they just look quaint and hokey.
Mitchum is, as always, excellent. In an interesting bit of casting, and perhaps as a nod to the dubious paternity in some areas of rural America, Mitchum's son James is cast as his brother Robin Doolin. The less said about his acting the better, but they do look an awful lot alike. Another interesting and somewhat wooden choice is the golden-throated Keely Smith as Mitchum's big city's girlfriend Francie Wymore. As a bonus to her fans, she sings a couple of songs.
THUNDER ROAD is a minor cult classic, most popular in the Appalachia region. I read an interesting bit of trivia from the IMDB site: Elvis Presley was originally offered the part of Robin Doolin, but Tom Parker put the kabosh on it. Now THAT would have been interesting.
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Transporting illegal alcohol over dark two-lane mountain highways, Lucas Doolin (Robert Mitchum) races wildly through the night, crashing road blocks and outrunning ambushes, defying anyone who triesto stop him.A man has a right to do anything,he says,including making whiskey, as long as he makes it on his own land.But when ruthless racketeers muscle in on Doolin's territoryand kill one of his men in the processthe Kentucky bootlegger declares war, fiercely determined to maintainhis hard-won business and independence...even if it costs him his life.Boastingbreathtaking auto chase scenes(The Film Daily) and a superb performance from Robert Mitchum, Thunder Road is breathtaking excitementthe most exhilarating road thriller of them all.
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