Rolling Thunder (1977)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Good movie but grossly overrated

Best movie ever!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Loved this from my first screening. Great acting, great story and great action. Probably couldn't be made in Hollywood today because of the need to be politically correct. Thank god for the 70s.

Major Charles Rane comes back from the war and is given a number of gifts from his hometown because he is a war hero. Some greedy thugs decide that they want to steal a number of silver dollars from him. In the process they also manage to kill his wife and son and destroy his hand. The Major wants revenge.The film was originally written in 1973 for AIP, where Larry Gordon was head of production. Gordon took the script with him when he left for Columbia, and for a time Paul Schrader was going to direct. However that fell through and the film was set up at 20th Century Fox. I feel like if this would have stayed in-house at AIP that things might have turned out better.This film is very much an exploitation film, except that it is mainstream. So everything seems toned down, with too many slow parts. It is like "Death Wish" without all the death. If this would have been handled by the veterans of AIP, it might have been a lot more fun.

I thought I was gonna see a game-changer of a vigilante movie. Instead, it pretty much runs with the pack. As good as Vigilante, Slaughter, White Lightning--not as good as Death Wish, Death Sentence, or my big favorite The Brave One. Rolling Thunder is apparently a Tarantino favorite--and not just among revenge flicks, but among any movies! Frankly, I don't see it. William Devane is a welcome addition to any movie, and he fully commits to this taciturn pressure-cooker of a human being, back from a Viet Nam POW torture hotel, but once he has reason to seek vengeance against a gang of sadistic thugs, the character is much like what we've seen Bronson do, Seagal do, Arnie do. And an ultra-bloody finale doesn't exactly qualify as a fresh plot twist. So what's to like? Well, Devane gets it mainly right, once he commits to playing a character who has very little to say, and a lot of shooting and, uh, pronging, to do. (Although, I do agree that Devane does not seem upset enough--even seems kind of jokey--in the hospital scene right after the major tragedy that ripped his life apart.) Linda Haynes does just fine as the younger woman who sort of worships this brooding, military mystery-man with all the sexy inner pain. And like any vigilante movie worth its ammo, the villains get up to some pretty shocking behavior, only to be outdone by a marginal hero who--once he guns up and hits the trail in search of prey--makes the baddies look like small-timers when it comes to shocking behavior. If I can slip in a complaint: it's a bit dull when the hero and his lady always use the same "decoy/distraction" ploy; sure...in real life, I guess you'd repeatedly go with what works,but in an action-movie, running the same trick more than once can cause viewer ennui. I know this film has some loyal fans who rate it high, and I respect that. I really did get into its intense feel as I watched it, and there's no denying it's got a mean punch. But it did not become one of my favorite vigilante movies, that's for sure. I see a few warts, and an underused Tommy Lee Jones who seems to function mainly as Devane's secret weapon for the final dust-up...like a bazooka you keep stashed until you really need it. Also, I had just seen the film called The Outfit recently--same director, and Rolling Thunder seems to end pretty much the same way as The Outfit does, right down to what you see as the closing credits start to roll. So I'm back to repeating my complaint about repeating oneself, and I hate repeating myself.Entertaining vigilante thriller that doesn't quite get full marks from me.

I didn't know anything about this movie but heard somewhat good things about this one so decided to check it out. This movie goes in a direction where you aren't sure where it's going to go until a while. The premise to this movie is done a lot of times in other films, I am not sure if this movie started it though. It's not a fast paced movie that's for sure, at least for the first hour or so. Until the revenge part of the movie kicks in and William Devane did a really good job playing the monotone and calm Vietnam vet. And no the movie doesn't take place in Vietnam but afterwards after getting out of prison camp in Vietnam and being labeled as a hero. Which clearly shows in his character and how emotionally damaged he is. Even after things start to get worse and worse for him as the story progresses. This isn't a classic movie but it's a movie from the 70's that is worth seeing and the final shootout scene is a bonus. It's also obvious how this movie probably influenced other films that came after.7.5/10