Thunder Road (1958)

I know it was poorly made movie. Acting by some of the others is bad. But to a 17 year old kid who was driving a 50 model Ford it was great. It made me get in my car and drive like Robert Mitchum. I even challenged a guy to a race, I was in the right lane. I asked a guy if he wanted to drag, he said sure. I didn't smoke so I borrowed my buddies cigarette and flipped it in the guys car and said here have a drag,turn right and got away fast. We laughed and laughed. True story. Robert Mitchum's son James was not much older than me. He wasn't too bad playing the part I heard Robert wanted Elvis for. Gene Barry done OK in his part. The older actors playing the mother and father were OK. There wasn't a lot of plot. Mitch Ryan and Peter Breck done OK. Sandra Knight was fair. Keely Smith should have took more acting lessons. The car crashes and driving was outstanding. When the 57 fords crashed into each other with the cigarette scene was my favorite. The theme song was great. Robert Mitchum put it out on record. Still rate it 10, as I watched it at least 50 times.

Whatever the film lacks, which is a lot, focus on the imagery -- duelling hotrods, a dangling cigarette, country two-lanes, and a precious load of illegal booze, family honor, and a good woman. This is movie myth-making at its near purest, so what else could a ducktailed Elvis- clone of the 50's have wanted. Girls may have swooned over treacle like "A Summer Place", but hot-rodders packed this drive-in classic bumper to bumper. Sure, it's badly produced ($50 budget, tops), badly acted (even Mitchum struggles with the hopeless Keely Smith), and features one of the worst canvas backdrops on record (the water-wheel scene). Still it has the King of Cool gunning down the asphalt (don't let the sleepy eyes fool you), pits rugged individualism against angry collectivism (organized crime and big govn't), and opens with a throbbing title tune (composed and sung by Mitchum) -- topped by a look and feel unlike the usual Hollywood contrivance. And who can forget those forlorn headbeams searching their way through an existential void. The imagery was compelling and caught the edgy mood of a drive-in crowd feeling their own way through a world of teenage angst. Few would grow into the mythic shoes of road-warrior, Luke Doolin, but a lot sure wanted to try. Which is why this primitive slice of small-screen black-and-white continues to resonate, even into the big-screen myth-making of souped-up starships, evil empires, and computerized magic.

Robert Mitchum - renaissance man? You better believe it as Bob besides. naturally doing the lead acting honours, is credited with the original story-line, cops a production credit and even co-writes the winsome "Whipoorwill" ballad which frequents the movie.The movie itself comes off like a contemporary "beat" novel set to film, an unglamorous story of moonshine whisky transporters living just outside the law with Mitchum's Luke Doolan's character as talismanic main driver, not part of any team, but somehow the lightning rod around whom the whole story sparks.While obviously low-budget, there's a good cast here who give the film an ensemble feel and if you can ignore the obvious process "driving in my car" shots, there are also some exciting car chases, particularly the concluding one which sees Doolan meet his demise.Mitchum even introduces us to his son James in a prominent acting role and while he, not unnaturally, seems too young to be his old man's kid brother, he certainly seems like a chip off the old block. I also like the actresses who respectively play Doolan's mother, not above dispensing some peremptory corporal punishment when Mitchum Junior steps out of line and also the girl singer who gets as close as anyone to getting under Mitchum's tough skin as love interest. No beauty and obviously contrasted with the prettier more youthful girl with a major crush on Mitchum, their "love" scenes (I'm stretching the term) come across with engaging naturalism and realism.Perhaps the film has a little too many sub-plots and characters for its own good and it takes some while to find its rhythm, but once it settles, it finds a kinetic energy which keeps you watching and draws you into its small world, inspiring genuine interest in the characters. I also just wonder if it inspired Bruce Springsteen's famous song of the same name, several years later...

Move over, 'plan nine from outer space', we have a contender here. Robert Mitchum, a capable actor in a normal movie seems lost in this one. He has a perfectly valid lawsuit against the rest of the cast for non-support. The sad part of all of this is, with a name like, 'Thunder Road', along with the subject matter and all that this conjures up, there is huge potential for a very good movie here. Whether the problem was lack of money or simply lack of interest, I have no clue, but there obviously was a problem. From phony looking car crashes (one type of car loses control on the road and an obviously different car goes careening into the ditch below) to phony looking explosions to acting that would embarrass a third grade Christmas play group, this movie had it all. Mitchum did his son no favor getting him a part in this movie. He would have been better advised to wait until the kid learned how to act and then got him a role in 'The friends of Eddie Coyle.'