jeimages The only reason I remember this movie is because it was (and still is) the biggest waste of time and money ever spent. I was 17 and my friend was 18. We were the age when action movies were our thing to enjoy most (ok 2nd most). We walked out feeling so insulted, we wanted our money back, but the time could never be regained.The editing is what killed this movie. As the truck gets attacked by more and more vehicles with rocket launchers attached the movie completely insults the intelligence of the audience by having these rogue bad guys in 4x4 VW Bugs shooting rockets at the truck. Please, rockets at a truck known to be carrying plutonium? What's worse is the these VW's manage to get 15-18 shots off of a 4 rocket launcher. You would see on VW with 4 rockets fire 2 of them, cut around the truck with the last one attached, come back a second later with two rockets attached, fire another, then go in front of the truck and now it's back to a full set of 4 rockets.We toughed it out hoping for a big finish that never happened. It looks like they just ran out of money and stopped.Just ridiculous.

Woodyanders Few studios could rival Cannon back in the 80's when it came to cranking out slickly mounted give the audience what they've paid to see action/adventure potboilers. Sure, their films were usually pretty empty-headed and utterly lacking in originality, but they delivered the goods just the same in an admirably precise and economical manner."Thunder Run" is a solid example of Cannon's winning formula: it's simple, basic and to the point. Forrest Tucker in his final film role affably portrays Charlie Morrison, a crusty crackerjack gear-gammer and Korean war veteran who's hired by crafty government agent John Ireland to haul a load of plutonium freight across a long, lonely stretch of Nevada desert backroads. Naturally, there's one immense hitch: a lethal band of nuclear terrorists led by a sensationally slimy Alan Rachins want to steal the plutonium, so Morrison, assisted by his loving grandson Chris (likable John Shepherd), stacks the odds more in his favor by building himself an almighty, heavily armored, tank-like 65-foot 18-wheeler supertruck called "Big Thunder." Gary Hudson's vigorous direction ensures that this tightly efficient B-picture chase thriller storms along in a pleasingly straightforward and single-minded manner akin to Morrison's truck: we've got a ceaseless rapid-fire pace, gritty, here's-dirt-in-your-eye ground level camera-work by Harvey Genkins, amusingly dopey adolescent sex hi-jinks (a klutzy stringbean electronics whiz kid dweeb does just what you think with a gorgeously slinky blonde babe), an incessantly pounding score by Jay Levy, frequent bright yellow explosions, a terrifically trashy hard rock soundtrack, engaging characters (Jill Whitlow of "Night of the Creeps" fame is especially endearing as Chris' sweet girlfriend), a few lovably cheesy gimmicks (would you believe outrageously garish, camouflage-painted Volkswagons equipped with rocker launchers?), and, most importantly, more wild, careening, knock-you-out-of-your-seat frantic and exciting piston-pumping car chase action than you can shake a tire iron at. Okay, as far as creativity is concerned this puppy's admittedly low on gas, but it still rattles along with a certain rousing streamlined momentum nonetheless.

lightninboy Probably hardly anyone has even heard of this movie, and that's all right, because the only people who would care about it are truckers and hot rodders. As far as the plot goes, let's just say there's a secret government operation here, subject to terrorists and internal corruption. Forrest Tucker was a man many people today are not familiar with, but he had a lot of roles and was a common name. And then we have John Shepherd, who is not a familiar name but is worth checking out. His character drag races a Chevy pickup, apparently one of the fastest in existence, and it seems the girls flock to him two at a time. There's also a scene with the "Cotton-eyed Joe." Anyway, Forrest and John are trucking plutonium in a high-tech customized semi with the Chevy on board, just in case they need it. The Kenworth conventional tractor has a 8V-92 Detroit, apparently the best powerplant for this mission. Now for the best part of this whole movie: Where White Line Fever gives you a truck tractor jumping through the air, Thunder Run gives you a whole semi!! Later they have to abandon the rig and use the Chevy to escape from a 12V-71 Detroit-equipped Kenworth cabover which gets wrecked. Anyway, they get like $250,000 for the run, and John asks Forrest what they're going to spend it on, and, like a real man, Forrest says "On anything we damn well please!"

halhorn The low budget, the synthesized soundtrack, the emphasis on action scenes over script...it has to be a Cannon studios action film from the 1980's!Forrest Tucker was one of the key action stars for Republic Studios in the 1950's. In many ways, Republic was the Cannon of its day. Like Cannon, it specialized in low budget action films, occasionally luring a big star from other studios (John Wayne, for example) and eventually overextending itself with pricey flops (i.e. "Jubilee Trail" and "Fair Wind to Java") and going bankrupt. Almost 30 years after leaving Republic to do a series of films for the British Hammer studio, Tucker's theatrical swan song would be his lone action effort of the 1980's."Thunder Run" is hurt by its low budget and inexperienced director (Hudson was doing his first feature), but many action sequences deliver the goods; terrorists chase Tucker through the desert, Road Warrior-style, in VW beetles equipped with heat-seeking missiles; Tucker jumps over a moving train in his 18-wheeler; "space age plastic" and some well-placed Molotov cocktails are among Tucker's defense mechanisms; and the chief terrorist is played by Dharma's TV dad (with a scar on his face, so we'll know he's the bad guy).MGM/UA has been slowly, but surely releasing Cannon's 1980's output on DVD, but this classic slice of cheese has yet to be released. Hurry up, MGM/UA! This one is not to be missed!A fun chase movie and a fitting farewell for veteran action icon Tucker (Cannon would do the same for another long-time action icon, Lee Marvin, in THE DELTA FORCE the same year). 7/10