A_Different_Drummer More than a half-century before Yost The Younger decided to bring Harlan County back to the small screen in Justified (see my many reviews on the IMDb) you have this little gem.As one of the characters laments on screen, "We've been making shine here for more than 250 years" and that is all the reason anyone really needs for this film.Enjoy the chase scenes. Get a rare opportunity to catch Keely Smith (one of the greatest and most under-rated singers of the era) in a dramatic role. See a young Gene Barry puff and strut. And of course watch Mitchum give a breakout star performance.At the risk of generalizing, in his later films Mitchum was cast as the Alpha Male and he merely had to maintain the image. Here the audience gets to see him earn that image. It is a treat.Holds up well over the years but suffers from the same issues as many other 50's films. Too many wide-screen static shots. Black and white but never any greys. And every ostensibly "authentic" Kentucky boy in the film is wearing freshly creased coveralls with not a mark of dirt.See it anyway. It is a one of a kind.

bluesman-20 Thunder road. just the name brings back memories of being young. My dad's favourite movie is thunder road and he used to sing the song when I was young. He had the 45 of the ballad of Thunder road sung by Robert Mitchum. When the film was released on VHS My mom paid a $110. for it. the whole family sat down and was hooked and my dad was transported back to 1958. The film has a honest and touching quality about it. The people in it react as real people would.The story is simple and that's part of the charm.Lucas Doolin is home from the Korean War. Filled with a death wish. Luke drives his father's moonshine to the buyers. It's a dangerous job. the Mob is out to shut them down by any means needed. and the Tresury department is out to shut down the mob and the moonshiners. When drivers start getting killed and some drivers are arrested the pressure is on. only one driver is brave enough or reckless enough to keep running and that's Luke. Despite pressure from his mother and his father and his lover to quit. Luke just can't bring himself to quit. The recklessness of it gives him a thrill. Plus he doesn't like to be told what to do. When the mob boss contacts Luke and asks him to work for him Luke declines even though he knows it means a death sentence. When the Boss tells him if he can't get him then he'll get his brother Robin to drive. Luke beats the man and warns him. That No one will ever make a whisky runner out of his brother he'll kill the first man that tries. When one of Luke's cars is tagged as a whisky transport Luke sells it to a friend and buys a new car. When his friend dies in the old car the victim of a bomb meant for Luke he knows his time has run out. Trapped between the Mob and the G-Men Luke makes his last run and his last stand on Thunder Road. The Movie's influence is pretty far reaching Bruce Springsteen named one of his songs after it even tho he never saw the film. Steve Earle rewrote it as Copperhead Road his biggest hit song to date. And Burt Reynolds made a career out of his whisky runners in the 70's. And to this date it's been well remembered as the king of the drive in pictures. Tough gritty with some romance and a lot of action. The acting is decent. And Robert Mitchum can forever lay claim to the title of the king of cool after making this movie. This is the Movie that Steve Mcqueen could only dream of making !

Volker Scheunert I just saw "Thunder Road" for the first time on TV this morning a 3:00 a.m. (an appropriate time of day to watch this one). For years I had been longing to watch it and I surely wasn't disappointed at all - that is, I missed "The Ballad Of Thunder Road" sung by Mitchum. Most Germans - if they have any love for America at all - dig new York City or California but I was alway haunted by the West and later by the South. Sure, I hate racist reactionary rednecks, but I love freedom-loving stubborn individualists who are doing things their own way. And Mitchum's Lucas Doolin ist a perfect example of this kind. Technically being far from perfect - this exciting little "Hillbilly Noir" movie to me is the greatest homage to the South and its people and culture! No Civil War epic can match this. Sixties movies like "To Kill A Mockingbird" or "In The Heat Of The Night" also have a great Southern feel, but they concentrate on what was wrong with the South - mainly the widespread racism. "Thunder Road" instead celebrates Southern virtues - individualism, dedication and integrity. Besides that, it shows rural life in the 50s, including rockin' teenagers and those beautiful American cars. This is an out-and-out Robert Mitchum film, he wrote the story, produced the film, played the main role and even co-wrote the music! Mitchum is not the Happy End type of guy, but he is as cool an actor as there ever was. 14 hours after seeing "Thunder Road" for the first time, I can say that alongside "Out Of The Past" and "Blood On The Moon" it is is my favorite Mitchum movie.

whpratt1 Enjoyed this Robert Mitchum film where he plays the role as a Korean War Veteran named Lucas Doolin who returns to his family and continues to carry on the family trade of running moonshine whiskey from the family still. Lucas is a very admired young man who has two different gals that are head over heels in love with him, but he just keeps running up and down the mountain hills of the South and never seems to want to quit and settle down. Gene Barry, (Troy Barrett) plays the role as a Treasury Agent who starts to investigate this moonshine business and is hot on the heels of Lucas Doolin. However, there is another man who wants to take over the whiskey running business and this creates more problems for Lucas as all his family and friends who are in this business and are going to run into big troubles. It was nice seeing Robert Mitchum's oldest son also giving a supporting role in this film.