Thunder Run (1986)

Charlie, a Korean War veteran, is paid to drive a truck which is transporting plutonium from Nevada to Arizona. But there are a bunch of terrorists who want to steal the truck, and all of its contents....Thunder run is the cinematic equivalent of one of those £2.99 spectrum games you used to get from the chemist when you got your pocket money.It does exactly what it says on the tin, hardly any build up, straight forward plot, and bad guys that seemingly get progressively harder as the film reaches its climax.It's completely silly, the first twenty or so minutes are absolute nothing more than bonding between grandfather and grandson, but as soon as they get in the truck, it's mindblowingly brilliant in an 'only in the eighties' way.We get girls on bikes cooked to death, guys in dune buggies with missiles attached, and the actual truck filled with pound shop gadgets such as barrels filled with explosives, flame throwers, and a ram at the front.And then it finishes.It's not brilliant, but if you want something to entertain in a way that Cannon films did, you'll find something to entertain here.

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.

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!"

Bullhead City, Arizona. It was great to see Hollywood coming to town. I'll admit this movie is bad but some of the people I went to high school with are in it. Dennis Deal, the General, was our high school basketball coach. The bar scene, where the two guys get in an argument over a girl (isn't that always the case?), those guys are brothers and the bartender that breaks it up is their father. Funny, eh? Anyway, I said it's bad and it is but I get a big kick out of watching it. I can point out all the places they go in the movie. The final destination is really Davis Dam on the Colorado River. Anyway, watch this movie, laugh at how bad it is and, if you're from the 'Head, it'll mean that much more to you.