Rolling Thunder (1977)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

John Flynn

Writers:

Paul Schrader (story)
Paul Schrader (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 February 1978 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Major Charles Rane Is Coming Home To War!

Plot:

Major Charles Rane comes back from the war and is given a number of gifts from his hometown because he is a war hero...

Plot Keywords:

Showdown | Silver Dollar | Revenge | Post Traumatic Stress Disorder | Grindhouse

Cast

William Devane	...	Major Charles Rane
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Cpl. 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 Rane
Jane Abbott	...	Sister
Jerry Brown	...	Patrolman #1
Jacque Burandt	...	Bebe
Anthony Castillo	...	Street urchin

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | France:-12 (re-rating) | Finland:(Banned) | France:-16 | Norway:16 (video rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Norway:(Banned) (1982-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

International Bridge, Del Rio, Texas, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

Quentin Tarantino named his distributing company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, after this film. Rolling Thunder Pictures released B-movies, cult classics, independent films, exploitation movies, and foreign films. The company went under due to poor sales.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Early in the film, while standing in line with other military personnel just back from Vietnam, the brass U.S. and Infantry lapel disks on MSgt Vohden's Army uniform are wrongly positioned. They should be on the upper lapels, but instead they appear on the lower lapels. Interestingly, the brass on the uniform of the soldier next to Jones are correctly placed.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soundtrack:

San Antone

cool film--a great editor's last

The editor on this film, Frank P. Keller, died shortly after working on the film. He also was the editor on Bullitt. He won the Oscar for editing on that film. Rolling Thunder has a very strong and deliberate editing style and pace--it all hangs together very well--and the action cutting is very tight. The quick cutaways to the blue-tinted POW torture scenes work very well too. I think part of the reason this film is so cool is Keller's editing.