Trailer

Rolling Thunder (1977)

R   |    |  Crime, Drama, Thriller

Rolling Thunder (1977) Poster

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

7/10
6,698
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66 Metascore

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  • Tommy Lee Jones and Cassie Yates in Rolling Thunder (1977)
  • William Devane in Rolling Thunder (1977)
  • William Devane and Luke Askew in Rolling Thunder (1977)
  • Tommy Lee Jones and Cassie Yates in Rolling Thunder (1977)
  • Tommy Lee Jones and William Devane in Rolling Thunder (1977)
  • Tommy Lee Jones and William Devane in Rolling Thunder (1977)

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Reviews & Commentary

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User Reviews
26 October 2005 | ccthemovieman-1
9
| One Look Says It All!
Boy, it's good to see a film one really likes that is just about unknown.....and read other reviewers who share your high opinion of that movie.

That's the case here in this simple revenge tale. My attraction to this film, outside of the interesting story, is the acting performance of William Devane, who plays the lead character. Seldom have I seen such a fascinating character.

Devane's character, "Major Charles Rane," had some interesting things to say BUT his silence was downright fascinating. Just the looks on his face and the absolute silence when his wife tells him she had been fooling around in his absence (when he had been suffering as POW, no less!) or when the robbers are giving him a horrible, sadistic beating. With the exception of one, maybe two outbursts, his language was surprisingly civil, too.

The movie had what I call "that gritty '70s look" to it but was well-filmed and probably would look very good on DVD. (We are still waiting for that to happen.) There were some solid closeup and shadow shots which added nicely to the neo-noir story. The violence is no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point and, with one exception at the end, realistically brutal........ but not overdone. The film starts slowly for the first 10-15 minutes but is a fast ride once the thieves enter the picture.

Co-star Linda Haynes reminded me of Tuesday Weld but not quite as pretty and a tiny bit harder looking. Nonetheless, she was an interesting new face and one I still don't recall ever seeing in any other film. It's also fun to see such a young Tommy Lee Jones.

Revenge movies can be a dime-a-dozen but this has at least one scene I guarantee you will never forget.

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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.

Quotes

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

Goofs

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.

Soundtracks

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

Storyline

Plot Summary

Genres

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Details

Release Date:

6 February 1978

Language

English, Spanish

Country of Origin

USA

Filming Locations

Pearsall , Texas, USA

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